Beyond Sunday
Beyond Sunday is a podcast where we dive into what our Church is up to, what's happening in society, go deeper into topics from Sunday mornings, and hear leadership talks and coffee break theology from Pastor Greg Griffith. This is a podcast of King of Kings Church in Omaha & Fremont, Nebraska. Learn more at kingofkings.org.
Beyond Sunday
Love Unstoppable - Week 2
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Dina, Tyler, and Pastor Seth explore what it really means to welcome others like Jesus does—especially when it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient. Looking at Romans 15 and the story of David and Mephibosheth, they offer practical ways to move from good intentions to genuine inclusion in everyday life.
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Favorite Guests And Documentary Day
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Beyond Sunday, the King of Kings podcast, where we dive a little bit deeper into our sermon series for the week and see what we're taking Beyond Sunday. My name is Dina Newsom, and I am excited today. Do you know why I'm excited?
SPEAKER_02Tell us why, Dina.
SPEAKER_00I don't know if you guys listened to the podcast last week.
SPEAKER_03I listen every week.
SPEAKER_00But I I I called my guest last week my favorite guest.
SPEAKER_03I know. That's somebody who's been on this pod. I feel a little bit more.
SPEAKER_00I'm sensing something, Seth. You guys are my second favorite guest.
SPEAKER_03Props like props for honesty. Yeah. That's like, hey, uh, because it's prom season. U somebody else told me no to go to prom, but like if that doesn't work out totally, would you all go with me?
SPEAKER_00Here's the deal. I've known them longer. You both are a little bit newer. So just give it time. Give it time.
SPEAKER_02So I have to wait till others retire. No, no, not retire.
SPEAKER_00You're you know, you may be creeping up fast, you know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02We'll always only be second best. No, no, not always. I can't wait to see the point system hidden in Dina's office somewhere where she's keeping score on a line graphic. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's on post-it notes. I love post-it notes. Just depends if you're nice to me and your good guess. No, I'm just kidding. All right. I I don't know if you guys know this, but this week on let's see, what day is the 16th? Thursday. Thursday of this week is International Documentary Day. I'm sure you celebrate it regularly. My question is, are you a documentary person? If so, what kind, or are you not a document? I've just learned there are documentary people. There are not documentary people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'll jump in here. I am not a documentary person. I like so my wife Aliah is. And so like she and I are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to documentaries and then sports. She looks at my watching of sports as a complete waste of time. And then she watches documentaries. And I'm it's not I'm not so strong to say complete waste of time. It just doesn't interest me. I put my time elsewhere. Seth, I'm curious your answer.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I'm a giant nerd. So like documentaries are my jam.
SPEAKER_00I was like, have you turned heard him talk about any topic?
SPEAKER_03Super nerd. Okay. So uh, but the difference is Melinda also will enjoy a good documentary, but her documentary style is true crime. And so I watch it with one eye open and I sleep with one eye open after all the documentaries are viewed because I'm like, why are you so interested in all of these wives killing their husbands? And uh I tune in to find out, I guess. That's right. Well, yeah, we'll see if you're on next one's podcast.
SPEAKER_00So I like true crime documentaries too. But what I did what I have discovered is my ex-husband, when we were married for a very long time, was a documentary person. And I hated documentaries when he would watch them. But I learned now he watched documentaries about history, about animals, about plants. Like the Discovery Channel was his favorite. And that stuff, snooze fest for me. Totally gone. But if you give me some documentaries about, I really enjoy sports documentaries, like just the overcoming story. Yes, 30 for 30, untold, love them. Um, but I also enjoy like current event documentaries, which includes true crime. A lot of true crime is, you know, this story from three years ago that now is all solved, and they can make a documentary about it. I'm hooked. I'm hooked. So my children make fun of me.
SPEAKER_03What's the name of the movie? Was it Strangers on a Train? Is that the classic Hitchcock movie? Yes. I could just see Dina and Melinda, just so listeners know, Melinda's my wife, meeting on a train someday. And like Dina would be like, I'll murder your husband. How can we make this work? And then I will bring up Ten Commandments and I'll be like, Thou shalt not.
SPEAKER_00My whole family went to Great Wolf Lodge um at New Year's time. And we had some downtime in the afternoon where everybody was kind of going doing their own thing. And I was like, you know what? I'm a little tired. I'm just gonna chill out in the room and watch my Osama bin Laden documentary. And all of my children were like, What? What? Okay. That's the relaxing activity. I'm telling you though, the Netflix Osama bin Laden, I can't even remember what the name of it is. I think Osama bin Laden is in the title. It's fascinating. It was fascinating to me.
SPEAKER_03So you're just sitting there with like the hotel robe on chocolate watching Osama.
SPEAKER_00All the kids are off in the hot tub, the pools, playing games, and I'm like, wait.
SPEAKER_02So I need to ask you guys this question because I've heard it said before. I I don't know if I've said it, I don't have the information to say to know whether it's true or not. So I'm asking you guys, the documentary experts. Is it is is this a true statement? There is a documentary that will tell you anything. Like if you're trying to believe something, you can find a documentary to prove it. Oh, YouTube exists for that very purpose.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Many documentaries if you want to just see.
SPEAKER_00It may not be a good documentary, but you can find a documentary. How do you judge between Ken with his cell phone is not necessarily the but when it's produced and has title credits, that moves it up a step in the world.
SPEAKER_01All right.
Netflix Docs And Wild Recommendations
SPEAKER_01I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I'm a big fan of the Netflix documentary. They do a good thing. Something about the style they do appeals to me because then when I go to watch a documentary on another station or from somewhere, it just doesn't feel right. It may still be interesting, but it doesn't feel right. They don't have the close-up shots of the people just looking intently at the camera.
SPEAKER_03And they always have the right tone.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_03Like they have some good farcical documentaries. We'll talk about it after the pod.
SPEAKER_02No, guys, keep going, keep going. Not this one.
SPEAKER_03This is about what this is a story about how, like this one, and it's super popular on Netflix, how everybody gets stranded on a specific cruise ship. And everyone got the cruise ship illness that it gets noravirus. And yeah.
SPEAKER_00And the cruise ship's facilities were not working properly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's one of the most popular.
SPEAKER_00I I have not watched that one just because I don't think my brain needs that.
unknownI will not go.
SPEAKER_00All of my friends have.
SPEAKER_02What are you taking beyond Sunday? That documentary.
SPEAKER_03Nope.
SPEAKER_00Let's let's talk about uh there's a great my the most recent one. Julie Easley told me about it's there's a great one about the 84 hockey team, Olympic hockey team. I don't know Miracle is it called is it 88? 8080 was when they beat 80 something, whatever that 80 is when they beat the the Soviet Union?
SPEAKER_02That was 80.
SPEAKER_00Okay, 80. Yeah. Anyway, it's really good. There's also a movie, an old movie with Kurt Russell in it.
SPEAKER_01Miracle.
SPEAKER_00Yes. That's the name of the movie. Is that the name of the documentary, too?
SPEAKER_03That I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I don't remember, but it's on Netflix.
SPEAKER_02The movie's a very good movie. Is it Miracle on Ice, or do you believe in Miracles? It's something like that.
SPEAKER_00Something, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's the famous Al Michaels. Now, see, now we're into sports, so it's like I can speak into this.
Sports Talk Turns Toward Sunday
SPEAKER_00Now you're well, that's a great segue because we had a sports theme for this weekend's message.
SPEAKER_03That's it.
SPEAKER_00We did. Bo Jackson. Do you guys remember Bo Jackson?
SPEAKER_03Okay, so we meet for team teaching and we talk about what we're gonna be talking about in messages and we pray and talk. I have a Bo Jackson jersey at home, and I totally forgot. I should have brought it in. It was like a Raiders Bo Jackson jersey, and he could have worn it. And Bo knows he could have like popped the jersey or whatever. No, I loved him. I actually I grew up watching Bo Jackson. I had a Bo Jackson poster hung up on my it's like a ceiling, it was like slanted. I really enjoyed watching him.
SPEAKER_02I really enjoyed watching Bo Jackson closer to the mic. I was like, guys, we have a microphone. Why are you using hand signals? Um, so Bo Bo was probably, I'm probably like three to five years too young to remember. So I'd never seen that Bo Nose commercial before. I did recognize, you know, a number of the people in it. I thought the first time I saw it was like, oh, that's that's hilarious. Um, what was it? Uh the the Bo diddly at the end.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_02You had Wayne Kretzky show up, be like, nope.
SPEAKER_03John McEnroe. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Tennis tennis? Yeah. It was great. So
Romans 15 Welcome One Another
SPEAKER_00this was week two of our Love Unstoppable series that Pastor Greg Griffith has taken us through. And this week was all about including. What are you guys taking beyond Sunday from this week's message?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the um, this is actually the the scripture that we all utilize earlier in the service. And it's, you know, you notice how scripture goes? Like it's not, it's not that it's the first time I've heard it. It's just for whatever reason been a number of months since I've come across it in Romans 15. And it's just such a beautiful, you know, Paul's talking about Jews and Gentiles together and what it means to be this kind of new people of God under under the banner of Christ. And it's the simple like, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. And it kind of all adds up and wells up to the glory of God, to the praise of God. And I was like, just what a beautiful verse that captures the gospel and who we are as God's people and the result of it. That's what I took away from Sunday.
SPEAKER_03And then like to add just another piece on that. That's a historic part of what makes our church our church. You know, a lot of folks talk about to um scripture alone and faith alone, but the one that's the one alone that's usually omitted is to God alone be the glory. And I think that's what love unstoppable really shows us is that uh as we're living a life that has glory to the God, to God as the result, not because we did something great, but because that's what we want to bring glory to God. We can't help but bring the love of God in the person of Jesus and talk about his story of sacrifice and resurrection. So, like I think this flowed very, very well, lock and step from Easter.
SPEAKER_02Can
A Real Story Of Being Seen
SPEAKER_02I share a cool story from Sunday? Oh, wait. It's it's like it's like it's like the end of the day on Tuesday. I'm like, I haven't shared this with anyone yet. Um, so on Sunday, it's just like a cool like seeing that scripture play, but also God's unstoppable love. So we had someone show up at our Fremont campus on Sunday, and it was his first time at our campus. He has been a member of another church in town for a number of years, but has hasn't like attended at all in the last decade. And he said the the he he had had an experience there, and he was just like, no one acknowledged me, no one saw me. He's like, he was he was it was the opposite of feeling welcomed as Christ is welcomed to him. And so I, you know, we're a small enough campus that I have a pretty good idea who's new on a Sunday. And so by the time I shake his hand, you know, five minutes before the service, he had already gotten one of his new here bags. He had he had his new name tag on. And then he starts in his story. And uh I was like, I'd love to pray for you after the service. Come find me. And what was so beautiful is the whole message was on being included in Christ, belonging. Um, even before I I don't even know what what he believes or anything like that, but like the the deficit that he had was belonging. You know, we we had the Not Alone series a couple months ago. And so then after the fact, you know, I again I the Lord just brought him there. So we're able to pray together. He he wasn't confident of his eternal destiny. I'm like, I'm like, do you do you do you know that God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit? Yes, I believe that. Do you know that he sent Jesus on your behalf because you're a sinner in need of salvation? Yes, I believe that. Like, brother, we're we're gonna be in heaven one day together. The Lord just happened, it just happened on a day that we're talking about being included.
SPEAKER_00So I love when God works like that.
SPEAKER_02Amen. And just a reminder of like, I did nothing. Like it was, it was it was all the Holy Spirit set it up on a perfect day of being included in Christ. And here he is, and I and then I said, I need you at Pizza with Purpose next Sunday. He's like, I'll be there.
SPEAKER_03Nice, great. How about you, Dina? What are you bringing beyond Sunday?
SPEAKER_00Um, you know, the part that really spoke to me that Greg said is you are meeting them where they are at, not where you are at. And that really spoke to me because I think a lot of times when we think of the word include, we're bringing someone to us. You know, we're we've got to just invite them, which was all last week was, you know, the in like, or next week, sorry, is the invite that we're talking about. But it was just a lot of um, I think it feels like half the work is on them. And I think Greg did a really great job of presenting that no, really all the work is on you. Like you are the verb in in inclusion, um, taking that extra step out and not waiting for them, you know, in several of the the points that some of them we'll talk about today. But even like when he was talking about praying for them, don't ask them what to pray for. They don't know. Like if they're far from God, that they don't have a concept of that. They don't know what to ask God for. And so you just telling them that you're praying for them, blessings, you know. I just that really resounded with me on Sunday. So yeah. Um, he commented that it's the power of the Holy Spirit that gets them there. It's not, you know, it's it's us meeting them where they're at and then the Holy Spirit getting them to where they need to be.
David’s Table And Radical Inclusion
SPEAKER_00All right. So what does it mean to be true, to truly include someone in our lives? And how does that reflect the teachings of Jesus?
SPEAKER_03Well, I think to go along with what you just talked about, that like the impetus of the inclusion is on the people that are already in the family, in the kingdom, whatever it is. And you really see this with the character of David uh inviting into his table fellowship the character of Mephibosheth. And so um, you know, there were a lot of promises that were made when Saul was the king, but there were also promises that were made between Jonathan and David. And one of those promises early on is that whatever would happen between them, that they would always be welcome at the table of the other one. And so this is David making good on this promise. And oftentimes that's overlooked. Now, David could have said, Well, I got what I wanted.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03The Lord has blessed me with this great table. There's a bunch of people around it, and I'm never gonna run out for you know for food. The Lord's gonna continue to provide it, all these people are here for it. He actually went out and sought after a person who was trying to not be found because he was afraid and he was afraid he's gonna be murdered, uh, you know, like this was talked about in the message too, that it was very common back in that day that you wanted to remove all possible errors because in the future, that heir or the heir's offspring, whatever, uh, are gonna cause an issue for you. And David very well could have done that. And I don't think many people would have faulted him, and yet he went after Mephibosheth, who was not trying to be found, and yet was very radically inclusive to hey, I want you at my table. Um and the great thing was like there's often times where we we would look to like invite someone to our table that is opposed to us potentially, but we're doing it for like a Sun Tzu art of war type deal of like keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, which was also a practice that David could have a Vildham suit himself too. But instead, he just sees pure kindness. Uh, he has been shown that so many times in his life through the grace of Yahweh, that he's like, I I can't help but do this from my table. And I think the application is very simple, and that is the the responsibility uh is on us to go out and help people. The responsibility for their salvation is taken care of through the Lord, through the Spirit, doing the work, but like actually doing spade work to get to know people and know our neighbors and include them in our plans for dinner and stuff, that is on us. And I think we've probably done a pretty bad job of that. You know, we as in Big C, the church. Uh, but it was so great to see a character like David, with all of his faults, do something pure and kind.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't think it's any accident, the scriptural emphasis on food and eating together. And even if you've never done any sort of scriptural study on it, you just kind of know from experience some some level of connection happens deeper when you're sharing a meal with someone than just a normal conversation. And I don't I don't know the psychology or even necessarily the spirituality of it. It's just that it's there. And so even the was it at the end where where Greg was referencing out of the book of Luke where Levi was hosting this big party and there was feasting. And um, and it's it's not an accident that some of the examples Greg gave was over coffee or having lunch, or like you just said at the dinner table. Um, there there is power when we are at that level of connection and inclusion. Um, and I don't know if you guys noticed, but I guess you guys noticed the you two, but the people really overselling us.
SPEAKER_01But okay, we'll take it.
SPEAKER_02But there was that there was that extra seat up there next to Greg and just kind of illustrating, like, yeah, there's a seat for you at my table. Um and and again, it it inclusion doesn't have to be a meal or a coffee, but it just so happens that if you have that level of connection, you are doing the work of including. And then, of course, it's no accident that what does Jesus do for us? He invites us to his table. Um, and so every time we drink of the wine and eat of the bread, the body and blood of Jesus, like we are right there with Jesus and receiving right from him.
SPEAKER_00I like the imagery. Um, oftentimes just eating with someone is called breaking bread with them, but also we refer to communion as breaking bread. And I like that connection there because it is very uh sanctified, yeah, set apart.
SPEAKER_02And it was, was it like last month I was on this with you and Zach? We talked for five minutes about nachos. Yes. So yeah, I remember that one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So no no bread and no bread and no nachos right now.
SPEAKER_03I'm still waiting for my nachos. I was told that there in the future might be nachos.
SPEAKER_00Uh you might have to settle for chicken tonight. Are you coming to chicken tonight? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But I want to go back to the story. Uh, the kindness that Mephibosheth received at David's table was actually paid back to David later on. And uh oftentimes it's just a small part of a story, but he was betrayed by people. David was betrayed by people. And others said that Mephibosheth was a group or part of that group that betrayed him. And instead of like just justifying himself, he just basically came to David and said, Look, uh, you know how we've been connected in the past. And you know that um I would never do this to you. So if you want to punish me like you're punishing all the rest of them, I will gladly receive that punishment because we're that close. But you know that this is not something that I would do. And David believes him. So out of all the things that Mephibus Seth could have done, he could have involved himself in the coup. He had the opportunity to do so. But because he had such a strong bond with David, he didn't. And you know, David didn't do it for that outcome. But I do kind of wonder like, how much better could our lives be because we have more people in our corner that are of Christ, whether they're calling us out on conviction that we need somebody to do that for us, or sticking up for us and letting us know that we're not walking alone and that we actually have people sitting at our table that care about us. So I love how, you know, like even little stories like that come back around. You're like, man, Holy Spirit, you're really teaching some good stuff today.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. We're going a little afield of your question here, but I um just building off that. So in in in the 2nd Samuel 9 passage, I think Greg read this. Um, but I think it's the only words from Mephibosheth in here where he refers to himself initially as a dead dog. And then later, David refers to him as as if he were a son of the king. And like I was thinking about like, you know, you have like a G a Jesus and Zacchaeus sort of thing. Similar situation at a table. Absolutely. And the and and Greg masterfully pointed out, like, David is a it's a foreshadowing and a typology of who Jesus, Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment. Um, and so what does Jesus do? Is he takes, he meets us right where we are, and then he gives us a new identity. And so Mefibashef, I'm I'm a dead dog. I he talked about how crippled he was, right? And um, and then you know, he he's on the outs, that sort of thing. And Dave's like, no, you have a seat at the table. Zacchaeus, tax collector, defrauding everyone. Jesus says, I'm gonna come to your house today, we're gonna have a meal. And then that's where the transformation takes place. Um, like in it's inclusion, man, it's like it like the Lord works through it, the spirit works through it. And I often say this at the Fremont campus, like when we talk about transforming lives through the power of Jesus, that's not just a slogan. Like God actually does that. And he so he did that for Mephibosheth, did it for Zacchaeus, and he does it for each of us, and he does it for um those in our my four. Yep.
SPEAKER_00There's so many of the accounts um in the scripture of Jesus where he sought out those that are the outsiders, you know what I mean? The, the, the weirdos, the the not in the crowd ones, you know, the people who are different or the people who are shunned. And I think that is speaks volumes to if we want to act like Jesus, we have to seek them out too, and not just stay in our comfy little circle. And there are people in our comfy circle that we need to pray for, and maybe they're included in our my four, but who is on the edges of that circle that we can include in that too? Yeah.
Prayer That Builds Belonging
SPEAKER_00How can we effectively pray for those who are far from God or just fans of God? God without making them feel uncomfortable or pressured.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, Greg talked about, you referenced it a little bit earlier, Dina, um, that one, I don't think it needs to be complicated. You know, Jesus is clear, like, don't you're your your father knows what you need before you ask. And so it doesn't need to be eloquent, doesn't be complicated. And Greg left it at just a beautiful high level of uh abundance and blessings and favor. Um and and it kind of two things. One, that's just it's just a good thing to pray for people, but also he just kind of made the simple point of who who would who would who would like shirk at that or be upset at like, oh, well, thank you. And so it's both an authentic prayer, but then it's also care cultivating goodwill and relationship with those that we genuinely are praying for, and we know that God wants to reach because God wants to reach everyone. He wants everyone that is currently hellbound to come to the knowledge, saving knowledge of Jesus and have their eternal destiny uh transformed.
SPEAKER_00Even if they aren't all the way in and believing that yet. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right. I actually like watching videos about that on YouTube with my boys. A documentary, yes, a short form YouTube documentary, a mini docuseries. But there are there are plenty of very young evangelists that are out there that take a very different approach to evangelism and street like preaching and street praying. And I actually really appreciate the street praying because it's not necessarily like, I don't know you, but I'm gonna tell you what's wrong with your life. I have honestly, I I have never personally seen that work where somebody was like, you know what? I don't know you at all, but I trust you to gauge how my life's going. But I have seen some very powerful things happen when someone just comes up and says, you know what, I don't know why, but I think I'm supposed to pray for you. And here we go. Uh so watching some of these videos of like, you know, the younger evangelists praying for people and seeing that transformation actually occur where folks just break down because they are like, nobody's ever been kind to me from the church before, or uh, maybe they have just like their crestfallen because nobody was kind to them, period. Doesn't matter what the circumstance was. So just to have something of like eternal kindness be dropped on somebody, it just has this really profound experience. Whether they believe it or not, I don't know. I I was actually watching, I like to watch what atheists have to say specifically about their interactions with church. And there was a guy who's like, I have always mocked the church openly. This guy's probably in his mid-30s. Uh, he's like, I don't get it, I don't, I don't understand how you reach these conclusions. But there was one day where I was just absolutely beaten down by life, and I had tried absolutely everything. So I walked into a church and somebody said, Can I pray for you? Things look like they're a little rough. You all right? And he said, No. And so he just said the whole church. So it was a smaller church, the whole church stopped and prayed over him. And so his point was this church did something right. And he's and he he was honest. He was like, I still don't know like uh what I believe when it comes to this, but I am way more open to hear what they had to say because they just stopped everything with this radical act of kindness and included me in this holy moment and it felt holy, even though I don't know what to do with all of this stuff. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's amazing. The the um this came out of uh church planters in England. So I first heard it probably 10 years ago. The concept's actually quite scriptural, but sometimes putting language to it. And so, kind of in a prior church era, um, typically the order went you um agree to believe these certain things, then you shift your behavior to match what it looks to be a part of this community, and then you experience the belonging of the community. And so it was believe, behave, but belong. And and what we're what we're seeing in this David Mefivishev, in Jesus Sacchaeus, Jesus and Levi, and in this prayer example, right, is that there's there is an aspect of belonging where it's like at that point where they belong, as they're belonging, they might not even at in most cases be believing what we believe. But because there's such a deficit of belonging in our world right now, people are craving it. And they and it's certainly from an eternal perspective, like that's what everyone needs. And so it's like the attractiveness of what Jesus is doing in and through his church draws them to a place of belonging. And then over time, they find that their beliefs, like, I might actually believe what these crazy Christians believe. I might actually be a crazy Christian. Like, yeah, like wow, a virgin birth and a resurrection from the dead, and like what? Yeah. Um, and and then as growing the Lord and be connected community, then yeah, even your behavior as you get sanctified starts to shift and be conformed to the the pattern of Christ. Um, and so it it it allows us to really emphasize that belonging, that welcome, that sense of like you belong here before we say you need to subscribe to X, Y, and Z. Um, and then we just leave the rest up to the Lord.
unknownYep.
SPEAKER_03I think that makes ministry very messy. Uh, but I think a messy ministry in that it's just not clear, clean and clear should be the marker of an actual, active, vibrant ministry. Yeah, read the New Testament. Yeah. Yes, it's very messy. But can you imagine being like in the middle of a sermon, a demoniac comes into the worship center and you stop everything, yeah, proclaim the word of the Lord over them, and then all of a sudden, like, fine, that person's fine. Like, that's messy ministry. But that is how Christ did ministry, that's how the New Testament church has done ministry. Uh, so I actually like the fact that King of Kings has these kinds of moments here where we're messy. I wouldn't say that.
SPEAKER_00Or we're willing to be messy. I think that's part of it is to the willingness to be.
SPEAKER_03We are willing to engage in the mess of people's lives and not have them clean themselves up before they come to Jesus and not take a bath before they take a shower.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00All right. Discuss
My Four And Practical Next Steps
SPEAKER_00how King David's desire to show kindness relates to our mission to include our my four today.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I was definitely thinking about it. So a couple of my four are in my neighborhood, and then a couple of uh the other two are uh parents in my daughter's preschool class. And so that's what I've been kind of praying, praying about since Sunday is I mean, what is what does this look like? And so is it a is it a text or a call uh for coffee? Is it an invitation to dinner? Is it setting up play dates? Um, but the the spirit of it is that they're not asking for it, right? Dave Mephivishes wasn't asking, like you mentioned, Seth. Um, we're taking the step to meet them where they are. Um, and then we're also not forcing any sort of Jesus thing. We we really are never forcing it, but especially it's like we're we're not saying, um, come listen, come listen to this, come to come to this Bible study or come listen. It's like we're just including in our our normal rhythms of life, our normal routines of life. And as prayer opportunities come up, say, hey, I'm praying for you. One of the one of them on my forward, they're trying to sell their house. Um, and it's been a really long journey. Um, and so for me to just say, I said a prayer this morning that um that God would bring the right buyer to you so you can sell this house. I know that's what you guys are wanting. Um, but it's it's speaking of messy, right? It's like it's it, there's not like a playbook, right? It's it's like there's some principles there, but it's real life and it's trusting the Holy Spirit. Some people like that are highly adaptable, like, yes. Other people that really want it to be super clear cut. It's like, well, sometimes it isn't that. And it's just take it day by day. Um, but when we're active in prayer and relationship, like God opens doors.
SPEAKER_03I think there's a big, like, there's a big warning that I would guard against if this was like a if you do this, then the next step is this. If there was an actual like step-by-step process, it would be, but I checked all of the boxes and the end result isn't what it I thought it's supposed to be. So therefore, yeah, uh, this doesn't work. Yeah, it's not formulaic. Exactly. And there's actually something really helpful about that is you you can't just expect that you can plug and play somebody else's experience or knowledge or whatever it is onto every single relationship. And I think that would be the trying to put a square peg in a round hole type scenario that we just as organizations, you look for that. How can I implement a process that will make this replicatable and easier to communicate to everybody else? There isn't anything that's easy about just developing a good, healthy personal relationship with somebody else. But that's what makes it good and healthy, is you have to do the hard work to know them. Yeah, super messy, but awesome.
SPEAKER_00If this is something that you, our listeners, are struggling with or kind of, you know, unsure of how to implement your MyFour, you can go to our website or on the app and you can enter your MyFour and you will get texted, sent. I'm not even sure how many, what ways it's coming to you, but you will get tips and ideas. And you know what? Some of them may not work for the people, they may work for one of your four, and not all four of your four. Some of them may not be in the realm of what you're comfortable with, but it is just suggestions because, like we're saying, it's there's not a secret formula for it that you can identify. And God works in hearts at a different speed for everyone, or maybe we allow him to work at different speeds in each of our hearts, you know. So we think, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02The other thing uh as we were talking about the, you know, we have the locks on the chain link fences at each of our campuses. And so as as we were talking about that in Fremont on Sunday, um, I was like, okay, so however many locks there were, I think we had 70 or 75 times four. So we're talking, you know, 300 individuals that God has made and Jesus died for and that we're praying for. Um, and so every time I encourage the congregation, every time you pass a lock, you know, just just lift it up to the Lord. Um, because these are these aren't projects, these are people that He loves so, so, so much. Um, and I'm personally looking forward to, again, it's not a formula. So you can't, we can't even like organizationally plan on it. But like if we all commit to this as a church, there will be stories and testimonies where the Lord shows up that we could have never scripted. That's gonna be the super fun celebration part. Um, and so I I guess, listener, if you're on the other side of this and you have some sort of encouragement to share how you're engaging in my four, how the Lord's already showed up as you've been praying and identifying and including. Um, man, I guess Dina, do you want to be the first one to hear from them?
SPEAKER_00Like I would say reach out to anyone that you're comfortable with on staff.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. Any of us. Um, because we be a guest on the pod.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03There might be queso. Apparently there isn't still maybe queso.
SPEAKER_00I could have brought tortilla chips. I had tortilla chips left from my lunch. I could have brought in. I just didn't think that the crunch, crunch, crunch would be that appealing.
SPEAKER_02So maybe if you have a My Force story, just condition it on. I will share it as long as there is chips and queso.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Or you can bring the queso. And we will more than welcome you to tell your story.
SPEAKER_02Just imagining all the crunching mouths.
SPEAKER_00Anyway, yeah.
Bo Jackson And Being Picked Up
SPEAKER_00All right. So how can we take inspiration from Bo Jackson's story of overcoming obstacles when facing our own spiritual challenges?
SPEAKER_02I want to hear from you because you like you were you were more associated with Bo Jackson from when you're growing up.
SPEAKER_03Vincent Bo Jackson was born. No, I'm just gonna I won't go that documentary style from deep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So first of all, I hope that people connected the two names here because Mephibosheth is a very difficult name to say. It doesn't roll off the bottom. Say it five times real fast. Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth, Mach. Nope.
SPEAKER_02You made it through three.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I was very impressed. Anyway, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03But I hope that folks that listen to the message realize like Bo Jackson was chosen specifically because he shares a similar name to Mephib Bo Sheth. And so that there's some connections here that make it a little bit easier. So I mean, one story with Bo Jackson is that yes, he was a collegiate, amazing uh football player and baseball player. And he played for Auburn. And uh in his, I think it was junior year, no, I'm sorry, in his final year of playing football, so it was senior year of playing football, and there was no NIL deals or anything like that. So you did your last year, that was your last year of eligibility. Um he had an award-winning year. Like it was fantastic for football. His passion, though, was always always baseball. So the football season completes, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look like they're gonna get the rights to draft them the next year. So they say, well, why don't you take our plane, come down to our facilities, take a tour of it, just get a feel for our organization. And at that time, even then, which is we're talking back in the 80s, um, there was a lot of sensitivity towards college players receiving any kind of benefits whatsoever. Oh, a smart guy. So he checks in with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers organization. And they're like, Oh yeah, we cleared it with everybody. And you can kind of see where this story is going. So they fly him out to Tampa Bay, he sees their facilities, talks to their coaches, has a wonderful time, comes back. Life is the same for him. He walks out on the baseball field for his first game. I think it was, I think it was his very first game of the season. And the coach comes out and says, Oh, I'm so sorry. You can't be on this field right now. He's like, Why? Well, because you see you received a gift from someone else, and it's a very expensive gift. You accepted a plane ride to Tampa Bay. And he's like, But I cleared it with everybody. He's like, there's no record of them clearing it all. So he sat down on the field and cried until the game started. And I look at that and think, like, there is something very similar in that kind of posture of a body that's very similar to the actual physical posture of Mephibosheth, who was dropped by his um, I guess you could call it a nanny when he was really young and that crippled his legs. And I just wonder how many people need to be picked up right now. Um, whether they're on a baseball field, it doesn't matter, or whether they're dropped on the floor, it doesn't matter. Something has knocked them down significantly. And what would it take to pick them up? Well, I mean, for Bo Jackson, it took a lot of coordination uh and a lot of um regret with the NFL, which is why he was drafted by MLB first. Uh it was kind of like biting his thumb at the organizations that did this. For Mephibosheth, he needed someone to actually come in and pick him up off the floor. For the man who is born crippled that walks to G or doesn't walk to Jesus yet, but like is brought to Jesus because his friends were kind enough to be able to rip apart the roof of the home in Capernaum to lower him down. The only thing that's able to pick us up from any of these things is Christ. And so that's what I really loved about this message. It was very Christocentric. That is, it was all focused on Jesus. It doesn't matter if you're working at it from Bo, Jackson, Bo, Mephibosheth. We're the Bo that kind of exists in all of us that are knocked down and we need Jesus to pick us up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you can I don't know what that was. There are no chips under there. They're clearly not under the table.
SPEAKER_00Tyler's knocking things over, kicking things.
SPEAKER_02Um, but yeah, we're the uh you know that final video clip where you could you could tell um life has really humbled him, but he's also gained perspective of what is most important. And then, you know, for for us, like what is most important? Well, to to live is Christ and to die is gain, like the gospel is everything, Jesus is all in all. Um, and and so to kind of see that life progression from when he was that unruly high schooler to the the scene that the Seth just uh Seth just outlined to his amazing career, to the injury to now um being like Hall of Fame, yeah, whatever. No big deal. Um like that think about with the be that beautiful progression as we are reaching out to those who are broken and hurting in need in our lives. Um, like, yeah, like Jesus can really powerfully work through and he does um meeting broken people where they are and then bringing about redemption and restoration into a destiny they could have never imagined so that they then can be world changers and um what we're gonna be talking about in a couple weeks, inspiring others in their my four.
SPEAKER_00I wrote down a couple of things that he said when he was talking about his injury. Um and he said, I was good for the sport, but the sport was great for me. Sports wasn't the center of my universe. So then his universe didn't end with the injury. Um, but what I really liked was he said, life, life was laid out, his life was laid out how God wanted. Like all things considered, this was what the story that God wanted. And how amazing is that to accept what could be a huge disappointment to other people, um, not as a fluke or something that this was the plan all along, you know. And I just really appreciated that perspective.
Gratitude That Makes Faith Attractive
SPEAKER_00What role does gratitude play in sustaining our mission of inclusion and sharing God's love?
SPEAKER_02Dina, you haven't answered first.
SPEAKER_00I I'll I'll answer first on this one because gratitude's my thing. You guys know, like I do the Thanksvember in November, like it's and that's I try very hard to find myself in a um posture of gratitude often. And so I think really with inclusion, gratitude is you being open and welcoming to others, you know what I mean? Because you're thanking them for wherever they are at, like or whatever they have given. And if you are truly grateful for things, you are grateful for whatever amount you got. People don't have to be the perfect picture of something. Your friend doesn't have to mow your lawn when you're out of town, but you can still be grateful for them as a neighbor. Or, you know, those are little things, but gosh, to be grateful for what God gives us or the stories that He shares with us, or just the people that He places in our lives to interact with and be truly grateful for that. Where Bo was grateful for his story, even though it wasn't the perfect story, uh, just to find yourself in a place of that. How much does that include others? Or how inviting can that be to others to where, oh my goodness, this person is grateful and happy or joyful, like you talked a little bit about joy. Was that this week that you were during the given moment talked about joy, you know, to really be in a place of joy regardless of your circumstances? And I think that that's something that Christians have that other people sometimes don't understand. And so bringing people into that story and into that relationship with Christ, you know, to me, that's a huge part of it of learning to be grateful for what God gives us.
SPEAKER_02And I would I would just add, like, grateful people are attractive people. Like it, because there's just something about it. It's like, I want to be around you. And we we don't do it for others' attention, but that is an absolute byproduct that other people are going to be drawn to us more when we're exercising and living in gratitude to God.
SPEAKER_03And I think that the gratitude is one of those huge indicators that turns a person from your stereotypical Christian who got their ticket to heaven and they hold on to it so tightly, and they're the ones that are like the most restrictive over other people getting it. What'd you do to get that? Like it was given to you as a gift. Why are you holding on to it so tightly? But I think it's gratitude that really changes somebody's perspective so much so that they're like, you know, I didn't do anything to get this, and this is amazing. Like, I would have been left on the ground moping and sad and crying on the baseball field. But because I don't have to be there anymore, I love the fact that, hey, do you know this Jesus guy? This is what made all the difference for me. I think it's gratitude that just changes the perspective of what I you know, like some people call it the holy huddle or whatever it is, of you know, church people that are just like so closed-fisted over the gifts of God. And then you read a text of like the right the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous alike, and you're like, wow, God is good. Yeah. And, you know, maybe we can all be equally as grateful uh and we can meet in gratitude, whatever you think of the Lord, we can meet in gratitude, and I can meet you there and show you where these gifts have come from. So I love the the posture that gratitude gives to a person.
SPEAKER_00All right.
Final Takeaways And Next Week
SPEAKER_00As we wrap up today, what are your final takeaways from this week's message?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the one of the quotes that I wrote down, we were talking about prayer earlier. Uh, Greg said, if you want your spiritual life to grow, start praying about the things God cares about. Like, yes and amen. Yep.
SPEAKER_03Yep. Uh and and when he had brought up that same question during that same time period of like, hey, how's your spiritual life going? Well, it's kind of dry. It was something like that. That wasn't the exact quote. And then, well, what are you praying about to like be blessed? What are you praying about to grow in your spiritual life? Who are you praying about that they would grow? And he's he wasn't recommending like, here's the formula you have to follow so that you grow spiritually, but the byproduct of praying for someone else and their blessing and praying that the Lord would grow them is that you. grow to and you're growing closer to the one that can actually solve these issues. So that's what I'll be taking. Uh that and I've just a huge appreciation for what we're doing with the locks. It is something tangible that people can see regularly and interact with by praying and interceding for people that like, oh this is who we are. We care about people who are not close to Jesus yet. And I think the focus is the word yet. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yet yeah. I am taking away just the idea of Bo Diddley um of me not knowing Diddley. I feel like the idea of including people or people that are far from God, you know, they feel like you have all the answers. And I think just the idea of remembering that you don't I don't know diddly, but God does. And so let me invite you into a relationship with him through me that we can not know diddly together and we can find out because he's going to lay it out for us, you know, and give us the answers. So I like that idea. Well said Dean Welcome I don't know diddly all right well thank you guys so much for being here today. We are going to do week three of Love Unstoppable next week which is about inviting. And until then let's keep living our faith beyond Sunday.
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