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Episode 173: New Beginnings
2 Playsin 12 hours
It was an exciting time to be alive in Jerusalem back around AD 30-33. Not only did you have the chance to run into Jesus in the flesh during His ministry years, but you would have heard first-hand accounts of (or even bore witness to!) His victory over death. Imagine getting in on the ground floor of the Jesus movement! Those church fathers (and mothers) had a front row seat to the action. But what they began, we get to continue. In this week’s episode, Pastor Chuck Schlie will help us experience the passion of the early church and learn from their example on how we can ignite the same fervor for the gospel today.
If you’d like to dig deeper, check out these discussion questions. You can complete them on your own, with your Community Group, or with family and friends.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Normal Goes a Long Way'
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The following podcast is a Jill dev Divine Media production.
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Thank you for listening to Normal Goes a Long Way. I'm your host, Jill Devine. And this week's sermon series is based off of chapter 28 from the story, New
Parental Goodbyes and Jesus' Ascension
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Beginnings. Well, hey, i saying goodbye is never easy.
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It's tough stuff, as any parent knows all too well, but it comes with a job, doesn't it? Letting go is a big part of being parent.
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You drop your little boy or your little girl off at preschool, and you don't do it in front of them, but when you get in the car, you kind of let go and you you cry.
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or kindergarten that first day, or or or the first day high school for that matter. ah You drop your kid off at college, and you don't do it in front of them, but when you get back in the car, you cry again.
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ah you walk your daughter down the aisle on her wedding day, and you cry some more. Your adult child you know grows up and moves out of town to take on a new job.
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Those goodbyes put a pit in your stomach and a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye. Saying goodbye is tough stuff, but it's necessary.
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Without them, there's no growth. Now, I have similar thoughts when it comes to Jesus' ascension into heaven, his goodbye. see, Easter is over.
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ah Resurrected Jesus has been with his followers for 40 days, but one day he met with his disciples in Galilee. He gathered them together on a mountain, and he blessed them, and then he gave them this promise and instruction that you will receive power.
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When the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the ends of the earth.
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That's the plan. That's the mission. and And after he said this, he was taken up before their eyes and a cloud hit him from their sight. And the disciples looked up in the heavens as deer staring into headlights. And when all of a sudden, two angels appear and stood among them and said,
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I'm out Galilee. What you doing looking up in the sky? the same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way that you have seen him go into heaven.
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Translation, snap out of it, boys. ah Jesus is gone, and someday he'll come back. But in the meantime, there is much work to be done.
Pentecost and the Birth of the Church
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Oh, but don't worry, he'll be with you. You're not gonna go it alone. You see, Jesus' goodbye really wasn't a goodbye, but his ascension was necessary.
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Jesus' ascension to the right hand of the Father it a very important matter. Why? So the kingdom would grow.
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As long as Jesus, the man, existed on earth, in the world. He was only at one spot at one time. if If you wanted to hear him or see him or talk to him or experience him, you had to be in the same spot where Jesus physically was.
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But at the ascension, Jesus leaves time and space, and he enters into the presence of his Father, where there are no limits to time or space whatsoever.
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You see, Jesus is still doing the work that he did before, but now he is working in people all over the globe, all at the same time.
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By the power of the Holy Spirit, his work continues through his word, ah through the sacraments we saw today with August, through baptism, through the Lord's Supper, and through this beautiful creation of his called church.
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Fifty days after Easter, ten days after our Lord returned to heaven, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was set loose to have his way, and what a way to start.
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They were all together in one place. There was about 120 of them when suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
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they saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Whoa!
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Then Peter stood up and he started preaching to the crowd. He gave them the law. Hey, folks, bad news. ah You crucified the Son of God.
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Way to go. And then he preached on the gospel, but God raised him from the dead and whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and they said to Peter and the others, brothers, what should we do? What do we do?
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and Peter replied, repent. Change your ways. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.
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And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off. for all whom the Lord our God will call.
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And so they did. And those who accepted the message and were baptized, about 3,000 of them were added to their number that day. And that's how the church was born.
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New beginnings. You take a look at that number there, 3,000. three thousand Amazing. I want you to hold on to that number, 3,000, for just a minute because I want to show you something.
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But first, ah the first thing you need to know is this. I want to point out that God's people had been celebrating Pentecost. It was also known as the Feast of Weeks.
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And they've been celebrating the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, same name, vice versa, for a long, long, long time. This goes all the way back to Moses of the Old Testament.
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Pentecost was a festival day when the Jews celebrated two things. One thing was this the spring harvest. It was gathering it in the spring harvest. It was a day of celebration.
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The other... is the anniversary of what they believe to be the day that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.
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And so for the Jewish people, Pentecost has always been about both. The giving of the law and the giving of the harvest. and This is fascinating.
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God leaves nothing to chance. And we see this over and over and over again in his word. There's no way this can be made up. No way. Now the the Jews held seven feasts or seven ah holy festivals throughout the year.
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And wouldn't you know it? Out of all the special holy days on the Jewish calendar, God sends the Holy Spirit on this particular day of Pentecost.
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Now remember, Pentecost is about the harvest. Jesus predicted there would be a great harvest, but he wasn't talking about wheat. He was talking about people.
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And when the Holy Spirit came and rested on the disciples who then proclaimed Jesus' message to all the people from all over the world who came to Jerusalem that day, from all over the world on this holy day, the harvest began. 3,000 people were gathered into this new community. 3,000 people came into this new kingdom. 3,000 people were saved, 3,000. Super interesting number, here's why.
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Because I want you to remember, ah Pentecost was also about celebrating God giving the Ten Commandments to his people through Moses way back when. And you might remember the scene, right? Moses walks down the mountain, down Mount Sinai with
Communal Life of the First Church
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the two tablets. He gets to the bottom. What does he see?
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you remember? These people are are dancing around and they're worshiping a golden calf. What the what? And you recall Moses was more than ticked off.
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God all the more so. And as a result, God punished his people that day. And about 3,000 people died. Interesting number, don't you think?
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that God's calendar is so carefully prepared, so carefully carried out that the day the Jewish people believed the Ten Commandments were given, and about 3,000 people died that day because of the rebellion against it, 1,200 years later the day, about 3,000 people came to spiritual life by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amazing. You can't make this stuff up.
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And just as amazing was the very first church, listen to this, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and the prayer. And everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and miraculous signs were being done by the apostles. Amen.
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And all the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods they gave it away to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts, and they broke bread in their homes, and they ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
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And the Lord... added to their number daily. Those who were being saved, that's how to do church. That's how to be the church. They continue to meet together. They devoted themselves to what was being taught them.
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They did what God asked them to do. When they stopped doing the stuff God told them not to do, and they prayed for big things.
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Weird, big things, and they worship, and they broke bread together. And if somebody was going through a tough time and had a physical need, somebody else would sell some of their stuff and give it away freely.
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Crazy stuff. They were radically loving toward one another. There was joy in this community, and lives were changed. And this church, they they had it figured out that everybody was important.
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No one was perfect, but each of them had gifts. And so no one felt demeaned in this body of believers. Everyone was important. Everybody mattered. that and They were together and they, get this, they found favor with the people of the city. They weren't considered a bunch of kooks.
Challenges of Modern Churches
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They weren't this weird group of religious nutjobs out, no. They weren't considered this hateful little group of people who wouldn't let anybody else in. No, no, no, not at all.
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They found favor with the people, insiders, outsiders, and the Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved. It was a beautiful thing, ah church.
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I'll tell you what, to me it's still it still is.
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Oh, it's not perfect. And there's no way to be a perfect church. But there's a million ways to be a good one. I love the church.
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I do. And not just our church. I'm just talking about the church. And so does Jesus.
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He calls the church's bride. And the church has always a great challenge. ah we We have that same challenge still today. It was a tough time back in the first church. day And it still is a tough time. And let's admit, as churchy people, we're not doing anything.
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a great job in general as a group living out the message. There's not a big difference between those who are in the church and those out the church if you looked at the stats about who does what. and And all too often the message of Jesus just doesn't match up with our lives.
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that We struggle walking the talk. And unfortunately, hypocrisy kills the message. And all too often we have retreated and we have holed behind church walls when the message so desperately needs to to move out in the community. And in general, we have lost relevance with the majority of our society. Hey, but all is not lost.
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Jesus has not left us to ourselves. He is with us. His spirit is alive, and we are his witnesses.
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We are salt. We are light. We are the church, and we are called to be the message. ah But not like this, not like this.
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Easter is over, see you at Christmas. A little passive aggressive there at a totally different Messiah Lutheran Church, not our church, totally different Messiah Lutheran, okay?
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All right, let's look at some more church signs. Don't wait for the hearse to take you to church. All Very welcoming, very welcoming. ah Here's a classic, you know, where will you be sitting in eternity, smoking or non-smoking? That's kind of clever, right? How about this one?
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Here's your sign to come to church. ah Really? about this one? What's missing? You are.
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you know what? I wonder if that ever brought anyone in ever. I'm guessing a big no. ah Now this one is unfortunate. God's love is deeper than the snow. Oh.
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okay but I don't know, you know what? I've never been too big of a fan of the old church signs. it makes sense, right? It's kind of cute, you know, if you're on the inside, you know, but but I'll tell you nine times out 10, they just kind of just come off way too smug and condescending everybody else. My hunch is that they turn outsiders off and away from Jesus. Although I will say this, I do like this one.
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That's right, I'll give you chance to read Yeah, that's right, go Cubbies, that's right. That one's good that one's a good one, okay. And this one is good, this one is good too, that's right. Don't let worries kill you, let the church help.
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like that. and This one also makes me laugh. Now's the time to visit our pastors on vacation. um That's, oh. How about this one? Trouble sleeping? Try one of our sermons.
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Kind of tough on the old pastor there, let's just say. But but here's the thing. You know what would be better than a message on a church sign? how about you be the church sign?
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about we be the message? What did he say? You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.
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Let your light so shine before others so that they would see your good deeds and give praise to your Father in heaven. Be salty.
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Stay lit.
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You be the message. You be the witness. little salt. A little light. Connected to ah big savior will get the job done. That's how the kingdom was built and gets built.
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I like what Philip Yancey wrote. He said, the images that Jesus uses to
Everyday Acts of Kindness
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portray the kingdom are like a secret force.
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Among wolves, treasure hidden in a field, the tiniest seed in the garden, wheat growing among weeds, pinch of yeast worked in bread dough, a sprinkling of salt on meat.
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All these just hint at a movement that works within a society, changing it from the inside out. You don't need a shovelful of salt.
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To preserve a slab of ham, dusting will suffice.
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Jesus said, you will be witnesses. But don't get all caught up doing witnessing. There's a difference. ah You'll be much more effective being witness than doing witnessing project.
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Take it from me. I speak from experience. Tell you a story. And this one goes back to my first year at trying to be a pastor here at Messiah. It's an oldie. But there's a few of you, i'm guessing, who might have heard this one before.
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ah My wife actually reminded me this one last week.
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I tried. um really did. i tried doing some witnessing. It happened, or it didn't happen like this.
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ah Late one afternoon, i was at church here, and phone rang, and i picked it up, and the other end of the line was a man named Vernon, and he told me he was hungry, and how he had been walking from Arkansas to St. Charles because his mom was in a hospital here, and she was dying, and I know, i know,
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ah But I found myself promising to come to the rescue. um was going to do some big time witnessing. I was going to evangelize. I was going to tell them about Jesus. And so I said that I would meet up with Vernon, who had booked a night at the Red Roof Inn.
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and I picked up some devotional materials, portals of prayer and the Gospel of John, to be precise, and I stopped off at home, and I explained to Mary that I was not going to join her and the kids for dinner, but I instead was going to go out and save this guy Vernon.
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She wasn't thrilled with the idea. um but Then I grabbed half the dinner off of our table and I raided our fridge, but there was no dessert. And so I made a quick stop off at the Schnucks there and bought this really great looking French silk chocolate pie. Oh, and I was off.
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And I went down, you know, 94 there. the hotel motel, and I was kind of going over my evangelism speech. What should I say? What would be my approach? Do I launch into the parable of the prodigal son? Or maybe I go straight for John 3.16. Or maybe I should ask him where he wants to spend eternity, smoking or not smoking.
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Well, then I was there, and I climbed the second floor stairs, and since the curtains were open a little bit, and i was i was not, you know, i was a little afraid, okay? I watched TV, too. And so I peeked in the window of room 213, and there was my Project Vernon.
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comfortably lying on the bed, head propped up by a pillow. He had the yellow pages out, thing of the past. It's an old story. Smoking a cig, watching TV, big gulp in one hand, a phone in the other, undoubtedly making calls to people like me.
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but but I wasn't gonna let that stop me. I had my speech to give, and so I... knocked on the door and I handed him the grocery bag and really wasn't invited in, but I made my way into the smoky room and he set the bag on that little table there that they always have by the door and and he said, what do you got for me?
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And he proceeded to unload the bag and he took out the chicken and the potatoes and some bananas and the pie and all the rest. However, I did notice that he left the devotional materials in the bottom of the bag and he looked straight at me and he said those words that I will never ever forget.
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he said, hey, you forgot the fork.
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How am I going to eat a darn pie without a darn fork? But he didn't say darn.
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After an awkward apology, I tried to break into my sermon. That's when it hit me. I mean, literally, the door was closing. He told me American Idol was on and he wanted to watch it. And then the door was shut.
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I stood there.
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Chuck, you are such a chump.
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What sucker. You wanted to give him Jesus, but all he ended up with was your dinner, American Idol, and no fork.
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And that's why I keep this fork in my office.
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I'll be ready.
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And this little guy reminds me of a couple lessons from that experience. One is don't take any credit for any success.
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And don't beat yourself up for too much failure. You tried. is the Holy Spirit. He's the one with the power, not you.
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ah Secondly, keep trying. But don't get all jacked up into trying to carry out one big witnessing event that because after all, people are not projects.
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Rather be a witness every day through a million different small ways, nothing flashy, little salt, a little light.
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People are looking for something different. They're watching. As Dwight Moody put it, out of 100 men, one will read the Bible, 99 will read the Christian.
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So be the message. ah Be the gospel lived
Call to Action: Be the Message
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out in the community. Wherever you are, you see the church is a community of people who live out the gospel, not just in the church building on a Sunday morning, but living witnesses in your neighborhoods in St. Charles County, the state of Missouri to the ends of the earth.
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And it's not easy, okay? No. you know what the problem is? By nature, we are sinful. That's who we are by nature.
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And so it it's not easy living the message.
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Don't give up.
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It's good. It's good. We have Jesus. We have the Holy Spirit. We have the Gospel.
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ah We are the message and the messengers and everything we do is an opportunity to reflect the message of Jesus Christ to those around us a little at a time, a little salt, a little light.
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Through a million little ways, Jesus continues to call his disciples to be my witnesses. All that's needed is just some open hearts and his spirit and some love and it changes the world little at a lot of time.
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So how about you? The great thing is you don't have to wonder where you where you should start. Where do I start being the message? oh you can start right now.
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You start today, you start right where you are. You start your home.
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Starting your place of work with the people you interact with every day. These are the very people that God placed you to be the message to, know, the lonely neighbor next door, to the stressed out coworker in the office, to the kid that you see sitting by himself at lunch. Oh, wow.
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And hey, Carly, if you are watching today, good job, kid. Keep it up. I gotta tell you this real quick, Carly, she just started school at Kansas State and and I heard, you know, because my spies are everywhere.
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College freshman went to big lunchroom there and she saw just one kid eating by themselves and well, let's just say that she's being the message of Jesus Christ.
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Do that. Be his witness.
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Be the church.
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Be the message. Yeah. You were made for this. Amen.
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Please join us again on Thursday of this week as Miss Hannah and Miss April take this week's chapter and sermon series and present it in kids form.
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And you can learn more about this right now at normalgoesalongway.com. We really appreciate you hitting play on this week's episode and can't wait for you to come back on Thursday.