WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: good-new-culture-a-sinful-woman Publishing Date: 2022-08-14T06:00:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/good-new-culture-a-sinful-woman/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.780 That's not the full thing, but we're going to start talking about kingdom culture and 00:00:03.780 --> 00:00:07.820 how we can walk in it. 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:13.060 To begin with, and I've said this a few times, culture is the collective thinking. 00:00:13.060 --> 00:00:17.880 It's the collective thinking of a people, and it's evidenced in collective values and 00:00:17.880 --> 00:00:19.620 collective behavior. 00:00:19.620 --> 00:00:23.060 Culture is the collective thinking of a people. 00:00:23.060 --> 00:00:27.980 Is the collective thinking of a people. 00:00:27.980 --> 00:00:32.440 Once a people begin to think and believe a certain way, collective thinking and belief 00:00:32.440 --> 00:00:37.340 of a people, once they begin to think and believe a certain way, you'll see it in their 00:00:37.340 --> 00:00:40.240 values and you'll see it in their behavior. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:45.420 It is made evident in their values and made evident in their behavior. 00:00:45.420 --> 00:00:49.640 We don't realize it because much of it is invisible, till it becomes visible. 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:56.040 We don't realize how powerful a force it is. 00:00:56.060 --> 00:00:59.320 It takes time for culture to develop. 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:04.800 It takes time for culture to develop. 00:01:04.800 --> 00:01:13.000 That's why, and when it develops, it's almost like the yeast that you put in dough. 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:17.480 It leavens the lump and you do not see it happening, but it is insidious and it keeps 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:20.480 happening. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:23.160 And so we don't realize it till suddenly it emerges. 00:01:23.160 --> 00:01:27.840 And when it emerges, it either looks ugly or it looks godly. 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:31.640 And it applies to the world, it applies to churches, it applies to your families, it 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:34.280 applies to our lives. 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:35.600 And so it's a collective thinking. 00:01:35.600 --> 00:01:41.200 So we actually have a collective thinking that has been shaped over the last many years. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:48.640 And when we have a collective thinking, we have a collective way of believing. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:52.000 When we have a collective way of believing, we have collective values and then it shows 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:53.000 in our behavior. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:02:00.040 And so one of the things we need to do as a church is continuously examine our culture. 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:05.720 Because God's truth keeps unfolding and as it unfolds, culture must change. 00:02:05.720 --> 00:02:13.520 So, and I know I've said this many times before, what we knew two years ago is incomplete. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:16.120 We keep moving towards completion. 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:23.320 And so the truths we knew two years ago will be added on to by Jesus and when he does, 00:02:23.320 --> 00:02:29.060 we need to examine our culture, improve on it and preserve it. 00:02:29.060 --> 00:02:36.680 We fight for it, we examine it, we improve it, we fight for it, we preserve it. 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:43.840 And when we don't fight for it, either it becomes crusty and institutionalized or it 00:02:43.880 --> 00:02:50.880 becomes something that Noah did or Moses did, but it isn't what God wants to do today. 00:02:54.880 --> 00:02:58.640 And as we get older, as you get older, you've got to be careful of this, eh? 00:02:58.640 --> 00:03:05.880 Because as we get older, we prefer the ways we know well. 00:03:05.880 --> 00:03:09.280 As we get older, we prefer the ways we know well. 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:14.640 And we've got to literally fight against this. 00:03:14.640 --> 00:03:21.640 Because every movement of God has been stopped because at some point, people stopped thinking 00:03:21.640 --> 00:03:24.520 that truth keeps unfolding and more will be added. 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:28.520 And that's how culture becomes a monster. 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:32.840 We've got to guard against it. 00:03:32.840 --> 00:03:38.360 One of my cries as I get older is, Father, could you show where truth needs to now be 00:03:38.440 --> 00:03:44.760 reshaped or where my life needs to be reshaped by the new truths that God is showing us? 00:03:44.760 --> 00:03:48.680 Because He'll continuously show it. 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:54.920 For those of you who are relatively new, one of the things that Paul's dad used to often 00:03:54.920 --> 00:04:01.520 say is the simple question, if you went and asked Noah, what shall I do to be saved? 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:03.360 What would he say? 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:04.720 Get into the ark. 00:04:04.720 --> 00:04:06.960 If you went and asked Moses, what shall I do to be saved? 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:09.320 He'd say, follow the Ten Commandments. 00:04:09.320 --> 00:04:11.160 If you went and asked David, what shall I do to be saved? 00:04:11.160 --> 00:04:16.280 David would probably say, worship before the Lord and the ark of the covenant. 00:04:16.280 --> 00:04:18.960 You get to John the Baptist, what shall I do to be saved? 00:04:18.960 --> 00:04:22.580 And the answer is, repent and be baptized. 00:04:22.580 --> 00:04:26.560 You get to Jesus and you would think that it should stop with Jesus and you ask, what 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:27.560 shall I do to be saved? 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:32.260 And he says, unless you be born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. 00:04:32.260 --> 00:04:36.240 You think it would stop there and then you go and meet a guy who's learned under Gamaliel 00:04:36.320 --> 00:04:38.080 and you ask him, what shall I do to be saved? 00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:41.080 And he says, not by works, but by faith. 00:04:41.080 --> 00:04:43.680 How can one truth keep unfolding? 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:47.000 What if we held on to what Noah said or Moses said? 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:50.760 What if we held on to denominational aspects of things? 00:04:50.760 --> 00:04:56.080 What if we held on to what Acts 29 has taught two years ago? 00:04:56.080 --> 00:05:00.720 This is how culture destroys us or stymies us or stops us. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:05.240 And then God looks looking, God goes looking for a remnant. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.240 That's how critical this is, guys. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:14.240 Wow, those kids are noisy. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:26.240 So, it's a powerful force that invisibly influences the way we think and live. 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:30.240 It invisibly influences the way we think and live. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:37.240 And so what happens is over a period of time, the very atmosphere in a place or the zeitgeist 00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:41.240 of a place begins to reflect the way culture is. 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:44.240 So, if you go to Vegas, there's a certain culture. 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:47.240 If you go to Saudi Arabia, there's a certain culture. 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:50.240 And it's so different from each other, eh? 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:52.240 It's so different from each other. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:54.240 Vegas is so different from Saudi. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:55.240 It begins to affect your language. 00:05:55.240 --> 00:05:57.240 It begins to affect the way you dress. 00:05:57.240 --> 00:05:58.240 It begins to affect the way you think. 00:05:58.240 --> 00:05:59.240 It begins to affect the way you speak. 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:01.240 It begins to affect what is possible. 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:03.240 It begins to affect what is not possible. 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:04.240 It affects everything. 00:06:04.240 --> 00:06:07.240 We are just not aware of it because it's all around us. 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:08.240 And it takes time. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:09.240 And that's why you have to fight for it. 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:12.240 You have to fight against that which tries to erode. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:15.240 And you have to fight for that which you need to preserve. 00:06:17.240 --> 00:06:21.240 And what is scary is when you're in a place where culture is so powerful, 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:26.240 and what is scary is we begin to fight for things that are old 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:28.240 when God is bringing in the new. 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:31.240 Any questions on that? 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:37.240 Play, if you're getting older, play games with your mind. 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:39.240 Keep your mind sharp. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:43.240 Do things that are out of the ordinary. 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:46.240 You've gotten used to a pattern, change the pattern. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:48.240 Change the pattern. 00:06:49.240 --> 00:06:53.240 Unfamiliarity is what breaks us into new places. 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:54.240 Go ahead. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:03.240 Yeah. 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:05.240 Rephrase that question. 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:16.240 Yeah, I have a feeling whenever God wants to introduce something new, 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:19.240 he begins to process over a period of time. 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:22.240 He knows how change is not easy. 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:24.240 And so he begins to drop these hints. 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:27.240 Then there are breadcrumbs and it's being said. 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:29.240 Then you begin to notice it when you're reading scriptures. 00:07:29.240 --> 00:07:33.240 And he said this in the Old Testament that before I want to do something, 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:35.240 I begin to announce it. 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:40.240 With a church like this where things are, where the prophetic is easy or flows easy, 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:43.240 he'll begin to give us hints that he's up to something. 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:46.240 And he begins to announce it so that he prepares us. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:48.240 That's a strange thing. 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:51.240 Before Jesus had to come, there was preparation. 00:07:52.240 --> 00:07:58.240 And the preparation began somewhere in First Kings and then wove its way into Malachi. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:00.240 And then the last was Malachi. 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:04.240 And then you jump into the New Testament and there's Elijah, John, who's a type of Elijah. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:06.240 And he begins to say the same thing. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:09.240 Israel was being prepared for the one who was to come. 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:11.240 And their culture blinded them. 00:08:11.240 --> 00:08:13.240 Because what did their culture teach them? 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:17.240 That a king cannot grow up in Nazareth. 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:19.240 What good can come out of? 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:24.240 And so hints will always be dropped. 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:31.240 It's just that why change when we have a good thing going? 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:34.240 That's the problem. 00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:37.240 Why change when we have a good thing going? 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:39.240 Because a good thing ain't a God thing. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:44.240 We change because we want a God thing going, not a good thing going. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:47.240 If I... 00:08:47.240 --> 00:08:48.240 Yeah. 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:53.240 Preferably use a sledgehammer. 00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:59.240 But if you're scared of a sledgehammer, just try using water or something. 00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:06.240 The other thing with regard to culture is that we have a lot of people who are afraid of water. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:12.240 The other thing with regard to culture is that it is effortlessly, it is effortlessly, 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:18.240 once it's established, it's effortlessly and unconsciously passed on from generation to generation. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:23.240 Effortlessly and unconsciously passed on from generation to generation. 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:30.240 From generation to generation. 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:33.240 It just becomes so normal for people to live in that. 00:09:33.240 --> 00:09:36.240 In Jeremiah 32 or 36... 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:41.240 Sorry, in Jeremiah 35, you read about these guys called the recubites. 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:44.240 And Jeremiah kind of springs a trap for them. 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:48.240 He brings bowls full of wine and he places it before the recubites. 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:51.240 Because it's a parable that he wants Israel to notice. 00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:53.240 And he calls these recubites and he says to the recubites, 00:09:53.240 --> 00:09:55.240 listen, why don't you drink this wine? 00:09:55.240 --> 00:10:00.240 But the recubites come from this clan that was started by a guy called Johnadab. 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:04.240 And Johnadab had given them this simple principle that was practiced over years. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:09.240 You will not drink wine, you will not have houses, you will build tents, you will stay in tents. 00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:12.240 And these guys had continued that for years. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:18.240 And so even though Jeremiah, this great prophet, is offering them wine 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:22.240 and he was supposed to be the voice of God, these guys say no. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:26.240 Once culture is established, filters are built, man. 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:30.240 One of the things Jesus wants to do amongst us is, 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:33.240 hey, can I introduce this idea of kingdom culture? 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:37.240 And I'll tell you how simple it is so that you can begin to operate in it. 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:39.240 Your mind will think like it. 00:10:39.240 --> 00:10:41.240 And we'll just take a portion of it today. 00:10:41.240 --> 00:10:44.240 And then over the next many weeks, I don't know when we'll exhaust it, 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:47.240 we'll just go from portion to portion to portion. 00:10:53.240 --> 00:10:55.240 Yeah, he honored them. 00:10:55.240 --> 00:10:56.240 It was almost like a test. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:59.240 What I'm saying is these guys were so used to a certain way of functioning 00:10:59.240 --> 00:11:02.240 that instead of giving into what Jeremiah was saying, 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:05.240 it was like, nope, this is what our dads taught us. 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:08.240 And then Jeremiah says, look Israel, they listen to their father. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:11.240 How come you don't listen to the father? 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:19.240 Culture has changed through influencers. 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:23.240 I love, I mean, I've seen business cards with the title influencer now. 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:26.240 I find that freaky. 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:27.240 Yeah. 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:28.240 Who are you? 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:30.240 I'm an influencer. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:33.240 So culture has changed through influencers. 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:37.240 And influencers use words. 00:11:37.240 --> 00:11:40.240 Culture has changed through influencers. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:42.240 And influencers use words. 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:44.240 Words affect thinking. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:46.240 Thinking affects beliefs. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:48.240 Values are then created. 00:11:48.240 --> 00:11:51.240 Behavior is modified. 00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:55.240 And you have to pay a price for the words you use. 00:11:55.240 --> 00:12:00.240 What I'm finding difficult now is the world is willing to pay a price for the words they use. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.240 We are not. 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:13.240 I keep referring to Harvey Milk, who used words to give life to LGBTQ being the norm. 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:16.240 But he paid a price for the words he spoke. 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:17.240 And he paid it. 00:12:17.240 --> 00:12:18.240 They beat him up. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:19.240 They did everything. 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:22.240 But today, look at the effect of his words. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:26.240 And while he was using words, the church was not using words. 00:12:27.240 --> 00:12:29.240 Influencers use words. 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:32.240 You must speak, guys. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:34.240 This kingdom must have a voice. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:35.240 And it's not God's voice. 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:36.240 It's not lightning. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:37.240 It's not thunder. 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:38.240 It's not a rainbow. 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:40.240 It's you. 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:44.240 You must use words. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:50.240 The world has always been framed for better or for worse by the spoken word or the written word. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:53.240 Someone writes a book, changes everything, man. 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:01.240 Okay. 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:05.240 So before we talk about kingdom culture, just I know we've been over this before, 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:08.240 but just want to quickly say the church is not the kingdom. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:11.240 The church is not the kingdom. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:14.240 The church is not the kingdom. 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:23.240 We've gone over this before, but the kingdom is the rule of God. 00:13:25.240 --> 00:13:35.240 The church is, simplifying it, the church is the fellowship of men and women 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:46.240 who have received the rule of God in their lives. 00:13:49.240 --> 00:13:51.240 The church is not the kingdom. 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:55.240 The kingdom is the rule of God, the reign of God, like the presidency of Obama 00:13:55.240 --> 00:13:58.240 or the presidency of Biden or the presidency of Trump. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:01.240 That's a rule of Jesus, the presidency of Jesus Christ. 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:07.240 So that is what is afoot in the world, whether the world recognizes it or not. 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:11.240 The presidency of Jesus Christ is what prevails in the world right now. 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:12.240 So the kingdom is the rule of God. 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:13.240 It affects everything. 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:16.240 There's nothing that's free of the rule or the reign of Christ. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:18.240 So that's the kingdom. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:24.240 The church is the men and women who have received this rule into their lives. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:27.240 And therefore, one of the things God does with the church is that 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:44.240 he uses the church to be a witness, an instrument, and a custodian of his rule. 00:14:45.240 --> 00:14:47.240 That's one of his intents. 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:48.240 Okay, so you're my sons and daughters. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:52.240 I know you understand now what it is to enter the kingdom of God, 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:55.240 because I said to you through my son that unless you be born again, 00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:57.240 you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 00:14:57.240 --> 00:14:59.240 Now that you're citizens of the kingdom, 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:03.240 I want you to be a witness to what the kingdom looks like. 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:07.240 We give people a taste of what it is. 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:09.240 So every time you pray and a prayer is answered, 00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:13.240 people see what a future kingdom looks like in the present. 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:15.240 Every time someone is healed, 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:17.240 people taste of something that awaits them in the future, 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:19.240 but it is already present. 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:22.240 Every time you take away someone's sorrow and bring them joy, 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:24.240 bring them comfort, clothe someone, 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:27.240 you are bringing something in the future into Middle-earth, 00:15:27.240 --> 00:15:29.240 and they get a taste of it. 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:31.240 For Jesus, this was super important. 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:34.240 Yes, he came to preach the kingdom, 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:39.240 but it was so necessary for him to make sure that his words were matched by work. 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:48.240 And so we are a witness to this, his rule. 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:50.240 We are an instrument of his rule. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:51.240 Who does he use? 00:15:51.240 --> 00:15:52.240 He can do this through angels. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:55.240 He can do this without intervention, but my God, he uses people, man. 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:01.240 So a lady who walks down the steps in a red jacket 00:16:01.240 --> 00:16:05.240 now gets affected by a bunch of guys who are instruments 00:16:05.240 --> 00:16:09.240 and a witness to the rule of God, which wants to touch her life. 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:11.240 And it is impossible for her to escape it. 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:14.240 It begins like this, a little seed is thrown in. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:17.240 How long did it take before you got saved? 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:20.240 I had people following me around for years on end 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.240 before one day things changed. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:23.240 Who was responsible for it? 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:24.240 I don't know. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:25.240 I think all of them. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:32.240 We are custodians of his rule, as in... 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:36.240 If you go to Mecca, 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:40.240 the king of Saudi is called the custodian of the two mosques, 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:43.240 as in he is supposed to look after, make sure it is intact, 00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:45.240 make sure it is presented properly. 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:46.240 We are custodians of the kingdom. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:48.240 It should show in our lives. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:49.240 It should show in our marriages. 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:51.240 It should show in our marriages, in the way we conduct church, 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:53.240 in the way we present Jesus. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:55.240 Jesus is not a high God. 00:16:55.240 --> 00:17:01.240 He is a really nice God, friendly God, low God. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:05.240 I shudder when I think of God being a high God. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:09.240 He was a high God as long as we didn't know him as Father. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:12.240 The moment he became Father, things changed. 00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:23.240 Sometimes that's how you judge the timber of a church, T-I-M-B-R-E. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:25.240 Is he recognized as Father? 00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:27.240 Because if he is not recognized as Father, 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:29.240 you do not have a Christian God. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:31.240 When someone walks into a place, 00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:33.240 if they don't see God as Father in that place, 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:34.240 you do not have a Christian God, 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:36.240 because every God can be God, 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:38.240 but only one God can be Father. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:39.240 And if I don't get that right, 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:41.240 I don't get the Christian God right. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:44.240 Because Jesus came to show us that. 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:54.240 Even the kingdom that Jesus has established is governed by culture. 00:17:55.240 --> 00:18:00.240 It's governed by a certain culture. 00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:09.240 In fact, I'd say that he gave the law so that he could create a culture. 00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:12.240 The law was given so that he could create a culture. 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:14.240 What is a culture? 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:16.240 We hear about it in 1st Peter. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:17.240 What is a culture? 00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:21.240 We hear about it in 1st Peter where it says peculiar nation, 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:24.240 peculiar people, a holy nation, 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:27.240 a royal priesthood. 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:30.240 When Israel got the law, 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:32.240 part of God's reason was, 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.240 listen guys, I'm giving you a new way of living 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:38.240 so that the nations around will know that you belong to a different king 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:39.240 and you have a different culture. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:44.240 It made them so distinct from the other nations around them. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:51.240 So the kingdom has culture and it is really important to God that we live that way. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:55.240 Paul's letters after the first chapter of greeting and the last chapter 00:18:55.240 --> 00:19:00.240 where he tells you where he's going and says, 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:01.240 say hello to these and that, 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:08.240 Paul's letters, the middle is always about this is how we live. 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:10.240 It's behavior. 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:13.240 This is who you are, therefore this is how you must live. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:17.240 I will pick on a few today. 00:19:19.240 --> 00:19:20.240 So here's a question I have for you. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:29.240 If you could use three or four words to sum up what kingdom culture is, 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:30.240 how would you phrase it? 00:19:32.240 --> 00:19:36.240 Guys on the sound booth cannot say anything because they know the answer. 00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:43.240 So how would you phrase kingdom culture if you had three or four words to express it? 00:19:43.240 --> 00:19:44.240 How would you phrase it? 00:19:47.240 --> 00:19:50.240 If you had three or four words to explain kingdom culture 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:53.240 in words that are more understandable, how would you phrase it? 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:02.240 Shall we just say hello to him anyways? 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:10.240 Hey Chad, I just want you to know that you're 00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:14.240 not supposed to be here. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:15.240 I'm just curious and you disturbed me. 00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:16.240 Just so you know. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:19.240 Don't say. 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:29.240 Nice salvage. 00:20:29.240 --> 00:20:30.240 I'll call you back. 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:33.240 Bye. 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:38.240 Don't be surprised if my mom calls me next. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:41.240 Okay, so how do you define kingdom culture? 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:44.240 Some simple words for kingdom culture. 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:47.240 Free. 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:48.240 Love. 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:50.240 Representing Christ on earth. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:51.240 Representing Christ on earth. 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:52.240 You can't get this wrong. 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:55.240 God's heart. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:57.240 Self sacrifice. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:20:59.240 Joy. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:01.240 I knew you would say that. 00:21:01.240 --> 00:21:03.240 Paul's motto for life is let's have fun. 00:21:05.240 --> 00:21:06.240 It's a good one though. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:09.240 Peace. 00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:14.240 Okay, you're all right, but I'm going to be a writer. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:18.240 So what is kingdom culture? 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:22.240 Let's just go down the road of it is a good news culture. 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:25.240 So what is kingdom culture? 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:28.240 It's a good news culture. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:31.240 So let's just go down the road of it is a good news culture. 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:38.240 And so the question then is what does good news look like? 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:46.240 Everything about this culture, kingdom culture, is a good news culture. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:47.240 It's a good news culture. 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:53.240 In fact, in the book of Luke on many occasions you would hear Luke writing about 00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:57.240 Jesus went and preached the good news of the kingdom. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:01.240 Luke chapter four, Luke chapter eight, Luke chapter 12, good news of the kingdom. 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:06.240 Acts chapter eight again talks about and so he went about preaching the good news of the kingdom. 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:11.240 This culture or this way of thinking is always good news. 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:14.240 We don't think so and not as the world think that of us. 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:18.240 And so everything you mentioned is part of this good news equation. 00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:23.240 So we'll take stories, we'll take teachings of Jesus over the next few weeks 00:22:23.240 --> 00:22:27.240 and look at the good news culture that Jesus wanted here on earth. 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:29.240 So it's a good news culture. 00:22:29.240 --> 00:22:37.240 Luke 443, Luke 8 1, Luke 16 16, Acts 8 12. 00:22:37.240 --> 00:22:38.240 You'll see that. 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:43.240 So we'll take the story today from Luke chapter seven, verse 36 to 50. 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:45.240 Luke seven, 36 to 50. 00:22:45.240 --> 00:22:50.240 Just pull out some principles from that and then try to practice it this week. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:23:00.240 Luke chapter seven, verse 36 to 50. 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:04.240 Okay, let me read from the NIV. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:09.240 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:13.240 he went to the Pharisee's house and he reclined at the table. 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:18.240 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:21.240 so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 00:23:21.240 --> 00:23:27.240 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. 00:23:27.240 --> 00:23:31.240 And she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. 00:23:31.240 --> 00:23:35.240 When the Pharisees who were invited him saw this, he said to himself, 00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:41.240 if this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is, that she is a sinner. 00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:44.240 Jesus answered him, Simon, I have something to tell you. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:46.240 Tell me, teacher, he said. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:48.240 Two people owed money to a certain money lender. 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:51.240 One owed him 500 denarii and the other 50. 00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:55.240 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. 00:23:55.240 --> 00:23:56.240 Now which of them will love him more? 00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:59.240 Simon replied, I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven. 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:02.240 You have judged correctly, Jesus said. 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:03.240 Then he leaves Simon alone, eh? 00:24:03.240 --> 00:24:06.240 And he turns towards the woman and says to, and said to, 00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:09.240 then he turned towards this woman and said to Simon, 00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:12.240 Do you see this woman? I came into your house. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:17.240 You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 00:24:17.240 --> 00:24:23.240 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I entered has not stopped kissing my feet. 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:27.240 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:31.240 Therefore I tell you, how many sins have been forgiven as a great love has shown. 00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:34.240 But whoever has been forgiven little loves little. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:36.240 Then Jesus said to her, your sins are forgiven. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:40.240 The other guests began to say among them, who is this who even forgives sins? 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:44.240 Jesus said to the woman, your faith has saved you. Go in peace. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:48.240 Guys, so here are the things we need to know about her. 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:52.240 What's her job? She's a prostitute. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:02.240 Because sometimes when we read scriptures, we just make everything so romantic and so nice. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:06.240 And there's this poor little woman sitting there and we sanitize it. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:10.240 And it's not true. It's not true. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:14.240 So what's her job? She's a prostitute. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:22.240 Social status, a word we don't use too often, a word that carries a lot of strength in it. 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:24.240 She's a whore. 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:26.240 What about her purity? 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:32.240 She's absolutely impure, probably hangs around with gentile clients too. 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:35.240 And that kind of impurity in those days was contagious. 00:25:35.240 --> 00:25:39.240 You couldn't have her come anywhere near you. 00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:45.240 Was she successful at her business? Yep. 00:25:45.240 --> 00:25:48.240 Because she could afford an alabaster flask of perfume. 00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:54.240 So she probably was good at prostituting. 00:25:57.240 --> 00:26:06.240 And then she has the audacity to be an intruder in someone's house uninvited. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:12.240 Suddenly it doesn't look all that romantic and poetic, right? 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:21.240 There's a guy called Gary Smith who's a Jesuit priest who used to work the streets of Portland. 00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:30.240 And he said that if you want to know the indignity that humans can visit on another, go speak to a woman on the streets. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:37.240 You've got to destroy this image of some beautiful poor woman sitting at Jesus' feet. 00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:39.240 She must have been messed around so badly. 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:49.240 But how come she has the audacity to intrude and come into a Pharisee's house? 00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:54.240 I'd suggest to you it is perhaps because she knew that Jesus was a friend of sinners. 00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:00.240 I don't know if someone can say that of me. 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:05.240 I don't know if someone can say that of you. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:15.240 Sometimes when these stories happen, guys, we are so far from the one who we call Lord, it's scary. 00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:17.240 There's almost no semblance. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:20.240 That bothers me. 00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:23.240 They would not say of me. 00:27:23.240 --> 00:27:29.240 After, I've been a Christian for 32 years, they would not say of me that Jacob, oh yeah, he's a friend of sinners. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:38.240 That gives her the audacity to walk into someone else's house. 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:45.240 And what she's doing there is erotic. 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:57.240 She goes there, and to begin with, untying her hair would be like a woman today wearing hardly anything. 00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:03.240 It is as unashamed as today a woman not wearing much. 00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:11.240 She unties her hair and then she goes, sits behind Jesus, and then she starts wiping his feet with her hair. 00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:14.240 You have no idea what people around were thinking, eh? 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:21.240 This was what a prostitute would do as a sexual favor for a client, and she's doing that. 00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:23.240 Only the intent is different. 00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:30.240 This story seems so not Christian. 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:32.240 It doesn't fit in a church like this. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:35.240 And you and I thought that we were cool. 00:28:35.240 --> 00:28:38.240 This is the good news culture. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:40.240 We'll talk about it some. 00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:49.240 So our actions would have been erotic in the eyes of people. 00:28:49.240 --> 00:28:54.240 It was almost like it was a sexual favor being done to a client. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:59.240 And yet, Jesus allows this shame to be removed. 00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:02.240 It was a sexual favor being done to a client. 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:07.240 And yet, Jesus allows this shameless act to continue. 00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:09.240 And he does not stop her. 00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:14.240 And he's losing his reputation in the bargain. 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:17.240 Man, you and I are so careful about our reputation. 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:27.240 The good news culture cannot go forward as long as I want to maintain my dignity. 00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:32.240 These are some non-negotiables that Jesus has put in place. 00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:34.240 There's nothing we can do about it. 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:41.240 I cannot progress the good news culture till I allow my dignity and my reputation to regress. 00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:52.240 So he's in this man's house. 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:55.240 Please don't think Pharisees were evil. 00:29:56.240 --> 00:30:01.240 You and I have bouts of Phariseism every week. 00:30:01.240 --> 00:30:06.240 So they were not evil people, but you would be scandalized too, man. 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:11.240 If this was happening to me and you caught me sitting like this and a woman doing this, you would say, 00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:14.240 you know, something's really wrong with Jacob. 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:22.240 If you were sitting there and I saw it, you'd be in probation the very next week. 00:30:23.240 --> 00:30:26.240 So please be aware that we shouldn't... 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:29.240 You know, whenever we read stories like this, we think, 00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:34.240 I can think of that church and if they went to that church, man, she'd be treated that way. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:36.240 No, you would treat them that way. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:38.240 We would treat them that way. 00:30:39.240 --> 00:30:41.240 Any questions before we go on? 00:30:43.240 --> 00:30:45.240 Any questions before we go on? 00:30:45.240 --> 00:30:49.240 The guests are appalled that he's not censoring wickedness. 00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:55.240 Because he's supposed to be someone who's a rabbi, a prophet, and he's not... 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:59.240 As a godly man, he shouldn't be allowing this. 00:30:59.240 --> 00:31:01.240 So how do we deal with it? 00:31:01.240 --> 00:31:08.240 We just go once a week now to Wally or we go once a year, but this is not how we think. 00:31:08.240 --> 00:31:11.240 Culture is thinking. Culture is collective thinking. 00:31:11.240 --> 00:31:13.240 We do not think like this. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:21.240 I'm not saying that this means that everybody now must go and take care of the homeless, the drug addicts, and the prostitute. 00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:26.240 I'm saying... We'll come to what I'm saying, but the thing is, this is not how I think. 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:29.240 You are not known as a friend of sinners. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:34.240 What a cool title, eh? 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:36.240 Jacob, friend of sinners. 00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:45.240 Any questions, guys? 00:31:51.240 --> 00:31:53.240 Okay. 00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:58.240 It's strange, but it is Jesus' acceptance. 00:31:58.240 --> 00:32:01.240 It is Jesus' acceptance. 00:32:01.240 --> 00:32:03.240 This is such a strange thing, man. 00:32:03.240 --> 00:32:05.240 I wish I'd learned it. 00:32:05.240 --> 00:32:09.240 It is Jesus' acceptance that begins the process of repentance. 00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:14.240 It is Jesus' acceptance that begins the process of repentance. 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:18.240 Jesus' acceptance of what? 00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:20.240 Of a woman who... 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:24.240 I don't know if the Holy Spirit told Jesus what she was up to. 00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:30.240 Must have freaked Jesus out a little when this woman came and he's eating a meal and she comes and starts washing his feet with it. 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:32.240 Please understand, Jesus wasn't aware of everything. 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:34.240 He was aware of things that the Holy Spirit showed him. 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:37.240 What if the Spirit of God didn't show him what this woman was doing? 00:32:37.240 --> 00:32:40.240 What if the Spirit of God didn't show him what this woman was up to? 00:32:43.240 --> 00:32:46.240 And then he looks at her face and he begins to realize what's happening. 00:32:46.240 --> 00:32:48.240 But initially... 00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:55.240 But his acceptance of the person begins to lead to the process of repentance. 00:32:55.240 --> 00:32:58.240 We want to have them repent and then accept them. 00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:02.240 He accepts and then it leads to repentance. 00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:05.240 Very strange switch he makes here, man. 00:33:05.240 --> 00:33:06.240 This is the good news culture. 00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:08.240 It's very different from the culture that we are cultivating. 00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:09.240 We cultivate culture. 00:33:09.240 --> 00:33:12.240 He's trying to cultivate good news culture. 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:18.240 And so in Jesus' acceptance, repentance begins. 00:33:18.240 --> 00:33:21.240 And then he waits for the repentance to be expressed in action. 00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:24.240 He waits for the repentance to be expressed in action. 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:28.240 And suddenly the erotic becomes extravagant. 00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:31.240 Suddenly the erotic becomes extravagant. 00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:34.240 Don't remember the last time I used the word erotic in a teaching. 00:33:34.240 --> 00:33:37.240 Suddenly the erotic becomes extravagant. 00:33:37.240 --> 00:33:43.240 Where normally you annoy someone's feet with oil. 00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:47.240 You give a lot of oil in the back of your head. 00:33:47.240 --> 00:33:59.240 where normally you anoint someone's feet with oil, she doesn't use oil, she uses expensive perfume. 00:33:59.240 --> 00:34:10.240 Normally you take a towel to wipe someone's feet, she doesn't use a towel, she uses her hair. 00:34:11.240 --> 00:34:18.240 Normally you use water, she uses tears. It must have been such an odd scene, eh? 00:34:28.240 --> 00:34:35.240 Jacob, what was the repentance that you noticed that changed everything? At what point did that become repentance? 00:34:36.240 --> 00:34:42.240 I don't know, I was thinking about that. What was it Jesus that made you realize what was happening? 00:34:42.240 --> 00:34:46.240 Was it her tears? When she starts crying and she's... 00:34:46.240 --> 00:34:49.240 I mean she would have come with an alabaster... 00:34:49.240 --> 00:34:51.240 Flask, yeah. 00:34:51.240 --> 00:35:01.240 ...to... she wanted to present it to Jesus. When she got there, she would have been overcome with how inadequate she was and how amazing he was. 00:35:01.240 --> 00:35:07.240 And that probably would have started her tears. She probably wasn't planning to come, and all he was crying at his feet. 00:35:07.240 --> 00:35:10.240 I don't think these actions were planned by her. 00:35:12.240 --> 00:35:16.240 I think one of the beautiful things about repentance is you can't script it. 00:35:19.240 --> 00:35:23.240 As it evolves, Jesus is seeing it happen. 00:35:23.240 --> 00:35:26.240 It is his kindness that leads us to be... 00:35:26.240 --> 00:35:31.240 Yeah, his kindness and his acceptance of... 00:35:31.240 --> 00:35:34.240 This is something we need to give, guys. 00:35:34.240 --> 00:35:39.240 And then you don't need a prayer. You don't need to hear a prayer to release forgiveness. 00:35:39.240 --> 00:35:44.240 One of the things Jesus says to his disciples is, if you retain it, it is retained. If you release it, it is released. 00:35:44.240 --> 00:35:49.240 We must be able to see repentance a mile away, just like Jesus sees my repentance a mile away. 00:35:50.240 --> 00:35:53.240 Before I can say words, his words are already... 00:35:54.240 --> 00:35:57.240 You had me at... hello. 00:35:59.240 --> 00:36:02.240 He doesn't say that. That's Tom Cruise. 00:36:04.240 --> 00:36:06.240 But the point is... my God. 00:36:07.240 --> 00:36:13.240 I was looking around and I thought someone thought that was scripture. No, it was a line from Tom Cruise. 00:36:13.240 --> 00:36:14.240 Yeah. 00:36:14.240 --> 00:36:17.240 It's been a long time since you've been in a church. 00:36:22.240 --> 00:36:27.240 I don't know the fullness of the story, but there's something about it that we must learn. 00:36:28.240 --> 00:36:30.240 We don't pause on these stories. 00:36:31.240 --> 00:36:33.240 We don't pause on these stories. 00:36:33.240 --> 00:36:38.240 I want to pause on these stories over the next little while so that we understand what good news culture looks like. 00:36:45.240 --> 00:36:49.240 And the other strange thing is she's not kissing his cheek, his hands. 00:36:49.240 --> 00:36:55.240 She's going for the lowest unclean part of the body because bond servants used to wash feet. 00:36:55.240 --> 00:36:57.240 She's kissing his feet. 00:37:03.240 --> 00:37:08.240 The other thing I want to destroy from your minds is some beautiful looking woman. 00:37:08.240 --> 00:37:13.240 I've seen prostitutes who have been prostitutes on the streets here in Vancouver for about six years. 00:37:13.240 --> 00:37:16.240 Usually by the time they've got cuts on their mouth. 00:37:22.240 --> 00:37:26.240 They have become so grotesque because of what man has done to them. 00:37:26.240 --> 00:37:32.240 So we need to perish this biblical poetic license we take with these stories. 00:37:32.240 --> 00:37:37.240 And into this cesspool comes the good news culture. 00:37:37.240 --> 00:37:40.240 And it does something to lives, man. 00:37:45.240 --> 00:37:50.240 And I know some of us are going to Wally and I have a word for you who are going to Wally to do this. 00:37:50.240 --> 00:37:54.240 Do not think that going to Wally makes it good news culture. 00:37:54.240 --> 00:37:57.240 The good news culture is the good news culture. 00:37:57.240 --> 00:38:02.240 Do not think that going to Wally makes it good news culture. 00:38:02.240 --> 00:38:04.240 The good news culture has to be here. 00:38:06.240 --> 00:38:08.240 What you're doing is phenomenal. 00:38:08.240 --> 00:38:12.240 But I pray God that we will begin to think like this. 00:38:12.240 --> 00:38:14.240 Then we don't have to go to Wally. 00:38:17.240 --> 00:38:19.240 We can go anywhere. We will see. 00:38:19.240 --> 00:38:23.240 I want my mind not to be blinded anymore. 00:38:27.240 --> 00:38:30.240 Please don't think I'm diminishing the value of what you do in Wally. 00:38:30.240 --> 00:38:33.240 Thank God you're doing it and setting an example for us. 00:38:35.240 --> 00:38:38.240 But we're looking at more than an action. We're looking at a way of thinking. 00:38:43.240 --> 00:38:49.240 Jesus says publicly, and this is the last point before we touch on some of the things we can take away as good news culture. 00:38:49.240 --> 00:38:53.240 Jesus says publicly, your sins are forgiven. Your faith has made you whole. Go in peace. 00:38:54.240 --> 00:38:58.240 He usually says that to people who are sick, if the woman with the issue of blood touched you, 00:38:58.240 --> 00:39:01.240 he says, your sins are forgiven. Your faith has healed you. Go in peace. 00:39:01.240 --> 00:39:05.240 To lepers, he'll say that. Your faith has made you whole. Go in peace. 00:39:05.240 --> 00:39:08.240 He says that to a woman who is doing this to him. 00:39:08.240 --> 00:39:13.240 And he turns to the rest of the crowd and says, what are the things that we don't do? 00:39:13.240 --> 00:39:16.240 And I pray God that I change in this and you change in this. 00:39:16.240 --> 00:39:22.240 Guys, we are looking to give people an understanding of the forgiveness of God. 00:39:22.240 --> 00:39:27.240 We are looking to give people the divine assurance of heaven. 00:39:28.240 --> 00:39:33.240 Jesus does that, but something that's so important to Jesus is, 00:39:33.240 --> 00:39:37.240 can I now bring her back to be included in the community that she has been excluded from? 00:39:37.240 --> 00:39:40.240 And that is super difficult. 00:39:40.240 --> 00:39:46.240 The good news of the culture always brings people that are on the outside to the inside. 00:39:46.240 --> 00:39:48.240 And that is where it's costly. 00:39:48.240 --> 00:39:50.240 Leading a person in prayer is easy. 00:39:50.240 --> 00:39:57.240 So let's assume that I lead him in prayer and I give him the divine assurance of being born again 00:39:57.240 --> 00:40:01.240 and his sins are forgiven. Great. I can walk away now. 00:40:01.240 --> 00:40:09.240 But there is nothing that I've done to bring Nick back into the community that he has been out of for years. 00:40:11.240 --> 00:40:14.240 That is something that Jesus is so insistent on. 00:40:14.240 --> 00:40:16.240 That is part of the reason he created the body. 00:40:16.240 --> 00:40:20.240 He puts the solitary in families. 00:40:20.240 --> 00:40:22.240 So Jacob, how do we go about this? 00:40:22.240 --> 00:40:26.240 Let me begin by thinking like that so that I'll do something about it that will create safe spaces 00:40:26.240 --> 00:40:28.240 because we don't create safe spaces. 00:40:28.240 --> 00:40:32.240 We leave it to ministries. 00:40:32.240 --> 00:40:37.240 We leave it to ministries. 00:40:38.240 --> 00:40:41.240 This is not going to be a fun series. 00:40:41.240 --> 00:40:44.240 It's going to be difficult. 00:40:46.240 --> 00:40:51.240 Jesus' concern goes beyond forgiveness. 00:40:52.240 --> 00:40:58.240 His intent is, can I restore this woman to the community? 00:40:58.240 --> 00:41:03.240 Can I have her socially accepted? 00:41:04.240 --> 00:41:08.240 Are you able to do that? 00:41:08.240 --> 00:41:19.240 This is why I was fascinated when Prashanth Pawan and Mohini found that lady in Wall-E and brought her home. 00:41:19.240 --> 00:41:22.240 They didn't even think about it. 00:41:22.240 --> 00:41:25.240 Just brought her home. 00:41:28.240 --> 00:41:31.240 Acceptance, inclusion. 00:41:34.240 --> 00:41:37.240 Any thoughts? 00:41:37.240 --> 00:41:40.240 Anything you want to say towards it? 00:41:40.240 --> 00:41:43.240 Do you realize how difficult it is? 00:42:03.240 --> 00:42:06.240 I'll have to visit your house next week. 00:42:09.240 --> 00:42:11.240 He still can't get it figured. 00:42:11.240 --> 00:42:17.240 One day I got up and I went, my office is empty because he traded it for guys. 00:42:17.240 --> 00:42:20.240 And then he refused to admit it after that. 00:42:22.240 --> 00:42:26.240 We'll talk about how do we deal when we are exploited another time. 00:42:26.240 --> 00:42:29.240 There's good news culture with exploitation too. 00:42:29.240 --> 00:42:33.240 You can't get exploited if you don't allow someone to exploit you. 00:42:33.240 --> 00:42:35.240 There are boundaries that need to be set. 00:42:35.240 --> 00:42:43.240 One sermon cannot cover everything. 00:42:43.240 --> 00:42:49.240 But one of the things we need to realize is we are not as concerned about inclusive. 00:42:49.240 --> 00:42:55.240 I remember May, maybe sat someone for a day and a half for hours. 00:42:59.240 --> 00:43:01.240 Okay, just keep that in mind. 00:43:01.240 --> 00:43:04.240 So here are the things that we can put down as good news culture. 00:43:06.240 --> 00:43:09.240 And may you practice at least one of this this week every week. 00:43:09.240 --> 00:43:13.240 Can you pick up one of the things we talk about? 00:43:13.240 --> 00:43:17.240 So the good news culture, we'll call it GNC. 00:43:18.240 --> 00:43:22.240 I think that's some vitamin, right? 00:43:22.240 --> 00:43:24.240 Yeah, I've seen GNC on bottles. 00:43:24.240 --> 00:43:26.240 Okay, that's what it is. 00:43:28.240 --> 00:43:29.240 Vitamins for life. 00:43:29.240 --> 00:43:32.240 So good news culture, invite the uninvited. 00:43:32.240 --> 00:43:35.240 This is something, that's one. 00:43:35.240 --> 00:43:37.240 I'll give you a set of six or seven. 00:43:37.240 --> 00:43:39.240 You can pick one of them and practice it this week. 00:43:39.240 --> 00:43:41.240 And then we can talk about it next week. 00:43:41.240 --> 00:43:43.240 Invite the uninvited. 00:43:43.240 --> 00:43:45.240 Accept. 00:43:45.240 --> 00:43:49.240 And you'll have to define what accept looks like for you. 00:43:51.240 --> 00:43:53.240 Accept the rejected. 00:44:00.240 --> 00:44:05.240 Touch the untouchable. 00:44:07.240 --> 00:44:09.240 I'm not talking about going all the way to India. 00:44:09.240 --> 00:44:11.240 And I'm not talking about Dalit. 00:44:11.240 --> 00:44:13.240 And I'm not talking about Dalits or untouchables. 00:44:13.240 --> 00:44:16.240 I'm talking about the untouchables here. 00:44:19.240 --> 00:44:21.240 I can't even believe that. 00:44:21.240 --> 00:44:23.240 That's what they think of it. 00:44:26.240 --> 00:44:28.240 Accept the rejected. 00:44:28.240 --> 00:44:30.240 Touch the untouchable. 00:44:32.240 --> 00:44:35.240 Acceptance can happen without touching. 00:44:35.240 --> 00:44:38.240 I want to accept them in here and in here. 00:44:38.240 --> 00:44:41.240 Then I want to be able to do something for them physically. 00:44:41.240 --> 00:44:43.240 But they're very similar. 00:44:43.240 --> 00:44:45.240 I can accept the rejected. 00:44:45.240 --> 00:44:52.240 And not do anything that will embrace them or make them feel physically any closer. 00:44:52.240 --> 00:44:57.240 I was sitting next to a guy in an airplane. 00:44:57.240 --> 00:45:01.240 And he started coughing. 00:45:01.240 --> 00:45:04.240 Like crazy. 00:45:05.240 --> 00:45:09.240 And first I started praying, Father keep me safe. 00:45:11.240 --> 00:45:14.240 But he wouldn't quit coughing. He really started coughing. 00:45:14.240 --> 00:45:17.240 So now I'm not breathing. 00:45:17.240 --> 00:45:21.240 I've inhaled, I'm not breathing and I'm still saying, Father keep me safe. 00:45:21.240 --> 00:45:25.240 And then at some point I realized, okay, pray for him. 00:45:25.240 --> 00:45:27.240 So start praying for him. 00:45:27.240 --> 00:45:30.240 So I accept that this guy is coughing. Pray for him. 00:45:30.240 --> 00:45:34.240 I'm glad you're praying, but do something a little more. 00:45:34.240 --> 00:45:39.240 So then I let go of my breath because now I'm breathing normal while he's coughing. 00:45:39.240 --> 00:45:42.240 And then I picked out lozenges, gave it to him. 00:45:42.240 --> 00:45:45.240 I gave him a bag to throw into. 00:45:45.240 --> 00:45:50.240 And then I started massaging his back because he was really coughing and nobody wanted to get near him. 00:45:50.240 --> 00:45:55.240 So there's an acceptance and then there is a physical action. 00:45:55.240 --> 00:45:57.240 And one may lead to the other. 00:45:57.240 --> 00:46:00.240 But they are very similar. 00:46:00.240 --> 00:46:04.240 I was appalled at how I held my breath, man. 00:46:04.240 --> 00:46:07.240 It's just crazy what happens to you. 00:46:07.240 --> 00:46:15.240 You know, many times these things, we don't go down this road because of either fear or because of the inconvenience. 00:46:15.240 --> 00:46:19.240 See, the good news culture is highly inconvenient. 00:46:19.240 --> 00:46:22.240 That is why preaching the good news is so much easier. 00:46:22.240 --> 00:46:24.240 Just preach and leave. 00:46:24.240 --> 00:46:28.240 Pastors have become experts at that. 00:46:28.240 --> 00:46:31.240 And college professors. 00:46:31.240 --> 00:46:35.240 I just thought I'll shoot one your way, Paul. 00:46:35.240 --> 00:46:38.240 They want to take all the blame on myself. 00:46:38.240 --> 00:46:40.240 Touch the untouchable. 00:46:40.240 --> 00:46:43.240 Defend the victim. 00:46:43.240 --> 00:46:50.240 Defend the victim. 00:46:50.240 --> 00:46:51.240 I love this next one. 00:46:51.240 --> 00:46:54.240 I pray, God, that I get to do this this week. 00:46:54.240 --> 00:47:02.240 Honor the ashamed. 00:47:02.240 --> 00:47:05.240 Here's another one that I want to see if it'll happen this week. 00:47:05.240 --> 00:47:07.240 Make the... 00:47:07.240 --> 00:47:16.240 Make first those who are last. 00:47:16.240 --> 00:47:22.240 Last. 00:47:22.240 --> 00:47:25.240 Give faith to the faithless. 00:47:25.240 --> 00:47:28.240 You can pick one of these or two of these. 00:47:28.240 --> 00:47:29.240 Ask God. 00:47:29.240 --> 00:47:32.240 When I was driving here, I was saying, Father, this is your desire. 00:47:32.240 --> 00:47:33.240 Make it... 00:47:33.240 --> 00:47:35.240 Give us an opportunity. 00:47:35.240 --> 00:47:37.240 Make whole what is broken. 00:47:37.240 --> 00:47:38.240 They're very similar. 00:47:38.240 --> 00:47:39.240 Some of these are overlaps. 00:47:39.240 --> 00:47:43.240 Make whole what is broken. 00:47:43.240 --> 00:47:46.240 And the last one is the toughest. 00:47:46.240 --> 00:47:53.240 Receive back into the community. 00:47:53.240 --> 00:47:54.240 And you are community. 00:47:54.240 --> 00:47:57.240 You are the Samaritan. 00:47:57.240 --> 00:48:03.240 Yeah. 00:48:03.240 --> 00:48:04.240 Yeah, man. 00:48:04.240 --> 00:48:08.240 Yeah. 00:48:08.240 --> 00:48:09.240 Yeah. 00:48:09.240 --> 00:48:10.240 Yeah. 00:48:10.240 --> 00:48:15.240 Every person in society falls under this. 00:48:15.240 --> 00:48:20.240 In fact, at some point, we talk about how do we deal with the oppressor? 00:48:20.240 --> 00:48:24.240 The good news of the culture is also for the oppressor, for the ones in power, 00:48:24.240 --> 00:48:27.240 for the ones who have victimized this woman. 00:48:27.240 --> 00:48:29.240 Surely the good news culture is for them too. 00:48:29.240 --> 00:48:33.240 As we go down this, we realize, oh, shucks. 00:48:33.240 --> 00:48:38.240 Yes, we took a story that Jesus was sharing, and so we are highlighting this woman. 00:48:38.240 --> 00:48:43.240 But there are people that are wanting to sleep with her, wanting to stone her, wanting to pay her. 00:48:43.240 --> 00:48:44.240 What about the oppressor? 00:48:44.240 --> 00:48:47.240 He needs a good news culture too. 00:48:47.240 --> 00:48:49.240 So here are the... 00:48:49.240 --> 00:48:51.240 Thanks, Heidi, for bringing it up. 00:48:51.240 --> 00:48:53.240 So here's the thing. 00:48:53.240 --> 00:48:57.240 This is not just for the ones who are being victimized. 00:48:57.240 --> 00:49:00.240 Everyone needs this culture, man. 00:49:00.240 --> 00:49:01.240 And they don't see it. 00:49:01.240 --> 00:49:07.240 So the ones that I'm picking, and I'm hoping will happen to me this week, is five and six. 00:49:07.240 --> 00:49:18.240 I want to be able to somehow honor the ashamed and make first someone who has gotten accustomed to being last. 00:49:18.240 --> 00:49:23.240 Conferring worth is something Jesus delights in. 00:49:23.240 --> 00:49:27.240 The parable of the lost coin is basically that. 00:49:27.240 --> 00:49:33.240 Who would even look for a five-cent coin that goes under your sofa? 00:49:33.240 --> 00:49:35.240 And yet there you go, looking for it. 00:49:35.240 --> 00:49:38.240 And then when you find it, you make such a noise about it. 00:49:38.240 --> 00:49:42.240 And the five-cent coin's thinking, oh my God, I didn't know I was so valuable. 00:49:42.240 --> 00:49:45.240 There is something called conferring worth. 00:49:45.240 --> 00:49:49.240 And this is the good news culture. 00:49:49.240 --> 00:49:51.240 Any questions? 00:49:51.240 --> 00:49:53.240 Yep. 00:49:53.240 --> 00:49:54.240 Number seven. 00:49:54.240 --> 00:49:58.240 Give faith to the faithless. 00:49:59.240 --> 00:50:04.240 Jesus turns to this woman and says, hey, your faith has made you whole. 00:50:04.240 --> 00:50:05.240 She had no idea. 00:50:05.240 --> 00:50:07.240 She didn't even know what she was doing. 00:50:07.240 --> 00:50:10.240 But there was something she recognized in Jesus. 00:50:10.240 --> 00:50:18.240 And he immediately realized that, okay, she's trusting him to bring her wholeness. 00:50:18.240 --> 00:50:20.240 She is trusting him to bring her wholeness. 00:50:20.240 --> 00:50:21.240 She does not know how. 00:50:21.240 --> 00:50:22.240 She doesn't do what she's doing. 00:50:22.240 --> 00:50:24.240 But there's something inside of that that's beginning to clear. 00:50:25.240 --> 00:50:36.240 Can I, in my interactions with a person, begin to have them have hope in someone who can put their lives back together? 00:50:36.240 --> 00:50:38.240 Give faith to the faithless. 00:50:38.240 --> 00:50:40.240 Give them a glimpse of this can happen. 00:50:40.240 --> 00:50:48.240 For the guy yesterday who was on the 17th floor wanting to jump, you don't know how much faith and hope came into his life yesterday. 00:50:48.240 --> 00:50:50.240 He's sitting there weeping. 00:50:50.240 --> 00:50:53.240 And he's saying, you have no idea. 00:50:54.240 --> 00:50:56.240 And he can see that it's come full circle. 00:50:56.240 --> 00:50:59.240 I was planning to jump off this room. 00:50:59.240 --> 00:51:02.240 And now I have come back to the same room. 00:51:02.240 --> 00:51:03.240 What are the odds? 00:51:03.240 --> 00:51:06.240 And you are saying to me that you will give me life and you will give life through me. 00:51:06.240 --> 00:51:10.240 Suddenly there was this small tunnel that opened up through his pain. 00:51:11.240 --> 00:51:13.240 And he's sobbing uncontrollably. 00:51:14.240 --> 00:51:16.240 Faith to the faithless. 00:51:16.240 --> 00:51:18.240 Just a little bit of hope, man. 00:51:18.240 --> 00:51:20.240 It is brilliant light, eh? 00:51:20.240 --> 00:51:22.240 A little bit of hope is brilliant light. 00:51:22.240 --> 00:51:24.240 It's piercing. 00:51:27.240 --> 00:51:29.240 Any other questions? 00:51:34.240 --> 00:51:36.240 Okay, let's quickly pray. 00:51:36.240 --> 00:51:38.240 Just if you know how to pray for this, pray. 00:51:39.240 --> 00:51:41.240 And then I'll conclude. 00:51:41.240 --> 00:51:45.240 I'm off to Bahrain and India on Tuesday and I'll be back on the 26th. 00:51:47.240 --> 00:51:49.240 But let's just pray for this first. 00:51:49.240 --> 00:51:53.240 And then if you need prayer, there will be four people out here who will pray for you. 00:51:53.240 --> 00:51:55.240 So if you have a need for prayer, feel free to come up. 00:51:56.240 --> 00:51:59.240 Are we meeting for prayer tomorrow evening? 00:51:59.240 --> 00:52:00.240 Don't know. 00:52:00.240 --> 00:52:02.240 But you'll get an email if you are. 00:52:02.240 --> 00:52:05.240 Likely Tuesday and Derek will lead it or one of the other guys will lead it. 00:52:05.240 --> 00:52:06.240 Sorry. 00:52:06.240 --> 00:52:08.240 Let's pray. 00:52:14.240 --> 00:52:17.240 Holy Spirit, this can't be. 00:52:17.240 --> 00:52:19.240 This can't be just a sermon. 00:52:19.240 --> 00:52:21.240 It has to be real. 00:52:21.240 --> 00:52:22.240 We have to learn this. 00:52:22.240 --> 00:52:24.240 It's our time to learn this. 00:52:24.240 --> 00:52:32.240 Please help us how to put it into words so that we can pray your will for us and to you so that we can walk in it. 00:52:34.240 --> 00:52:36.240 Yeah. 00:52:47.240 --> 00:52:49.240 Okay. 00:53:17.240 --> 00:53:19.240 Yeah. 00:53:47.240 --> 00:53:49.240 I just prayed. 00:53:49.240 --> 00:53:51.240 I prayed against inhibitions. 00:53:51.240 --> 00:53:53.240 I prayed for. 00:53:53.240 --> 00:53:55.240 I don't know. 00:53:55.240 --> 00:53:57.240 We have to show it. 00:53:57.240 --> 00:53:59.240 Let's share it. 00:53:59.240 --> 00:54:01.240 Let's move together. 00:54:01.240 --> 00:54:03.240 Let's move together. 00:54:11.240 --> 00:54:27.240 Lord Jesus, please give us the heart of obedience to overcome the doubts that we have about this anxiety and the fear that we have when we go towards evil Christian groups. 00:54:27.240 --> 00:54:29.240 Yes. 00:54:29.240 --> 00:54:35.240 Give us obedience so that we listen to you and we go towards God. 00:54:35.240 --> 00:54:43.240 Let our faith impact the obedience to go from this room to the church and to the street. 00:54:43.240 --> 00:54:51.240 If not for that obedience, Father, that night would not have seen that beautiful thing that happened last night. 00:54:51.240 --> 00:54:53.240 You like the heart of obedience? 00:54:53.240 --> 00:55:11.240 So we're used to highlighting our lives, the lost ones. 00:55:11.240 --> 00:55:25.240 But if you were, if you were a person who lived through the 1990s, you would be so comfortable and content in your 1999s that the ones you didn't see again. 00:55:25.240 --> 00:55:33.240 But in this story that we talked about today, Father, he was surrounded by the culture that he was supposed to be living in. 00:55:33.240 --> 00:55:37.240 But yet he knew that wasn't his culture. 00:55:37.240 --> 00:55:47.240 And because of his awareness, his awareness of how he was supposed to walk, she knew that he was a friend of his. 00:55:47.240 --> 00:55:57.240 So Father, may we start shifting, may the importance of the one become so critical, so important in every area of how we walk. 00:55:57.240 --> 00:56:05.240 It's no longer about us, Father, but it's about those out there who you have been yearning and dying for. 00:56:05.240 --> 00:56:11.240 Father, sometimes it can be so easy to be comfortable with where we are. 00:56:11.240 --> 00:56:17.240 But your desire is for us to go out, your desire is for us to find our lost. 00:56:17.240 --> 00:56:23.240 It's what you display that's what we display you to the world around us. 00:56:23.240 --> 00:56:33.240 So may the one become so important, Father. May each person, each day, in each situation with, may they be so highly aware of you. 00:56:33.240 --> 00:56:39.240 He's sitting at the table, maybe he didn't know. But all of a sudden he's very clear about it. 00:56:39.240 --> 00:56:47.240 Hey, this is what's going on, this is how I need to respond. There's importance here, there's significance here. 00:56:47.240 --> 00:56:49.240 Yeah. 00:56:51.240 --> 00:56:57.240 Father, we can identify ourselves as a woman, a valid one, because we were a one-step woman. 00:56:57.240 --> 00:57:03.240 And thereby we can pour everything that holds us back onto your feet, Father. 00:57:03.240 --> 00:57:09.240 Pour everything out, Father. Every human, Father. Every people's, people's see things that we can't identify. 00:57:09.240 --> 00:57:17.240 But we can just pour it out, Father, until you are. And then pour it onto the floor. That is your purpose. 00:57:17.240 --> 00:57:19.240 One. 00:57:19.240 --> 00:57:27.240 How does overcome convenient comfort and comparability? 00:57:27.240 --> 00:57:33.240 We are able to overcome this. Open our eyes. 00:57:33.240 --> 00:57:35.240 Open our eyes. 00:57:35.240 --> 00:57:37.240 Open our eyes. 00:57:37.240 --> 00:57:39.240 Open our eyes. 00:57:39.240 --> 00:57:41.240 Open our eyes. 00:57:41.240 --> 00:57:43.240 Yeah. 00:57:43.240 --> 00:57:51.240 Jesus, I want to piggyback off what Prashanth said. We lay our hands on our eyes right now. 00:57:51.240 --> 00:57:57.240 We want our eyes opened. To see how you see, to see what you see. 00:57:57.240 --> 00:58:01.240 To know what is immediately urgent, to notice what is unnoticed. 00:58:01.240 --> 00:58:05.240 Doesn't matter whether it's a homeless person or a person with a mansion. 00:58:05.240 --> 00:58:07.240 I lay hands on my eyes right now. 00:58:07.240 --> 00:58:15.240 And I say, open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open my eyes, my physical eyes, my heart eyes, my spiritual eyes, my mind's eyes. 00:58:15.240 --> 00:58:19.240 Open my eyes so that I'm not blinded anymore. 00:58:19.240 --> 00:58:27.240 And then during the week, help me to get one, two, three of these things that represent the Good News culture. 00:58:27.240 --> 00:58:31.240 Let me be able to practice it. Open my eyes and I will see. 00:58:31.240 --> 00:58:34.240 When I see I have the choice. But bring me to that place of choice. 00:58:34.240 --> 00:58:36.240 Please ask for all of us. 00:58:36.240 --> 00:58:39.240 Teach us Jesus. Teach us the Spirit of God. 00:58:39.240 --> 00:58:43.240 You're the only one who can do this for us. We want to be like Jesus. 00:58:43.240 --> 00:58:46.240 We want to be like Jesus. 00:58:46.240 --> 00:58:50.240 So we thank you. 00:58:50.240 --> 00:58:52.240 Amen. 00:58:52.240 --> 00:58:54.240 Bless you guys.