We're in a series right now, going through the Gospel of Mark. If you brought a Bible, you can turn to chapter 10 or find that on your phone. And this series is Move Beyond, because we all have blockers. We all have different stuff that gets in the way in our relationship with God, and we need to move beyond that by faith, do it together. And one of those that's relevant for all of us, it's the area of cultural norms. This is what's common. This is the thinking, some of the patterns, some of the lies that exist in the culture. And our calling as a follower of Jesus is not just to fit in and imitate, but actually we're going to need to break through some of those cultural norms, maybe even patterns in our own families that have been there for generations, and break through some of those norms. And that's what Jesus is doing in this passage. We're gonna take a look at Mark chapter 10, starting in verse 13. Let's pray together. Father God, we thank you that you meet us here. Lord, you don't give us a spirit of timidity, but power and love. And God, we thank you as we wait on you and look to you that you renew and restore and refresh. God, we wanna soar like eagles, not just flapping our wings around, but with the fresh wind of the Holy Spirit. God, we pray today that you would do a work in our thinking and also in our hearts, in Jesus we would be more like you. We pray in your name, Lord. Amen. As we read the Bible, the wisdom and also the love of Jesus, they shine. That combination, Jesus full of grace and truth, his wisdom and his love, and they shine in the worst circumstances. You notice in the Bible there's so many moments where there's tension, there's controversy, there's sin, there's conflict. And that's true in our lives as well. And during that time, as we're reading, what does Jesus say and what does Jesus do? We wanna imitate Jesus, we wanna learn from him, and the context in this passage is age discrimination. Discrimination in terms of age. Jesus in a passage with children involved and the disciples. Age discrimination is something that can creep into all of our minds. I'll admit, in the context of doctors and physicians, I've had thoughts when the doctor entered the room that this doctor is too young. and that if they have not been doing this procedure for decades, I don't know if I can trust them just on age alone. Maybe I'm the only one in the room, but sometimes we have age discrimination we project, and that's what's happening in this passage. Again, we wanna imitate Jesus, what's he saying and what's he doing. Let's take a look at Mark chapter 10, and we're gonna start in verse 13. It's a short passage today, verses 13 to 16. People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Jesus touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. And I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them, and he blessed them. The context is a house. Jesus is in a house where parents and kids are coming. And parents are bringing their kids. And more kids are coming. The Greek verb is continue bringing. And there's more kids and more kids. Jesus is good. Jesus is loving. Jesus is speaking truth. He's healing. He's teaching. He's preaching. And they're bringing the kids for a blessing. And more and more kids are coming. And you think, yeah, I can picture that. That makes sense. I see kids coming to Jesus. But the surprising part in the jolt here is that the disciples rebuke the ones bringing the kids. And they rebuke the kids. Can you imagine the disciples, who are the ones who know Jesus the best, they're stepping in and saying, away from Jesus. Kids are wanting to come to Jesus. The disciples are saying, away from Jesus. Telling parents, away from Jesus, get out of here. Away from Jesus. Just let that sink in because we live in a culture where there are many voices and many strong arms pushing kids away from Jesus. What we read in this passage is still lived out today. And the disciples, they have their minds filled with worldly thinking. Worldly thinking. Think of these questions. Are kids very valuable? The disciples would say no. Jesus says yes. Does Jesus have time for the kids? The disciples are thinking, no, he's got so many other things for kids. And Jesus is thinking, I absolutely have time for the kids. Will the disciples choose God's view, or are they just going to fit in to the cultural norm? At that time, kids were seen as second rate. Well, the disciples bought in to that cultural norm and Jesus is bringing God's view. There's a conflict here. Every time the disciples are saying no, kids are not that valuable, Jesus doesn't have time, we're not gonna embrace God's view of kids, Jesus is saying yes, yes, yes. For us, for me, I don't wanna be saying no in life when Jesus is saying yes. And I don't wanna be saying yes to things when Jesus is saying no. Well, what's worldly thinking? So often, it's well-intentioned. Sometimes it's malicious, but more often, I would say it's well-intentioned. And it's presented as being wise, and so understanding, so insightful. It's presented as being wise, and it's well-intentioned, but here's the problem with worldly thinking. It's different than what Jesus is thinking. And if it's different than what Jesus is thinking, that's a big deal. Because we want to be in alignment with heaven, in alignment with God. We want to walk in the favor and love, in the presence and the word of God. We want to walk there. To take a wrong turn. And we see worldly thinking here. We see this conflict. 1 Corinthians 2.16 says, we have the mind of Christ. Incredible that the mind of Christ is available to us through the Holy Spirit. When you give Holy Spirit access to the different parts of your life and your thinking, when you're spending time in God's Word, this is what we read here. We discover in this passage the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ and God helps us to renew our mind, which we need so deeply. And God wants to do that today as we get into His Word. Jesus says in verse 15, I tell you the truth. It's one of his favorite phrases. When he says, I tell you the truth, he's saying this is solid, he's sincere, and this is serious. I tell you the truth. If you do not receive the kingdom like a child, you will not enter the kingdom. And he doesn't say that casually, like, ah, you're not going to enter the kingdom. He says it emphatically. You will not enter unless you embrace the kingdom like these children. He's not saying immaturity is good, but he's saying a childlike faith. Well, what's the difference? What's the difference? Worldly thinking is that we're cynical. We're skeptical. And you know what? With adults, a lot of times we've been hurt and disappointed. People have mistreated us, and we get a calloused heart. So now we approach Jesus with some of this pain, and we're not ready to trust him. And the kids, they trust, they believe, they have faith. Jesus said it. You can take it. You can take it as solid fact. You can bank on it. Well, what else? In our world, we're so addicted to performance that we think you've got to earn God's love. And based on how well you keep all the commandments, that's how much God loves you, and you don't get in the kingdom unless it's based on merit and earning it. Well, that's the opposite of the Bible. And kids know this is a gift, a relationship. Jesus, enjoy it. In our world, we like to boast, we like to have pride, but kids are humble, and kids receive, and kids give glory to God. They know the goodness is coming from Jesus. God wants to help us, and in our soul, not be stuck, not be grumpy, not buy into the lie of self-sufficiency, but like a child, trust, enjoy the relationship, the gift, and give God the glory. And Jesus is bold about that. When we compare worldly thinking versus the Word, here's two traps that can affect us individually and also with churches. I'm calling these traps traditions and trends. Traditions and trends can be idols. Now, traditions are not all bad. We have great traditions. Baptism? Awesome. Communion? Incredible. It's right from the word. These traditions are solid. But I'm talking about man-made traditions that don't line up with scripture. They can become idols. And same thing with trends. Trends are not all bad. God gives innovation. God gives new solutions sometimes. But I'll tell you, there's a danger in just chasing after whatever has the bling, whatever's popular, whatever everyone else is buying and running to. You can have an idol with what's trendy. You probably have a bent personally. You might be bent a little more like, old school, if we've done it in the past, we're always gonna do it that way. Or you might be a little more bent towards, oh, if it's cool, I'm going all in. If it's cool, that's me, I'm on it. Well, I'm going to dive into some scripture here to help us get a clearer perspective and recognize with traditions and trends some of the dangers. In Mark chapter 7, a couple chapters earlier, this has to do with traditions. In verse 5, we have the Pharisees. They are all about traditions. Religious dead traditions. So the Pharisees and the teachers of Allah, they asked Jesus, why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands? You can just hear it. They're ticked, they're looking down upon, and they're saying this with a lot of pride. You know, the disciples of Jesus, they weren't washing their hands, cleaning their hands like the tradition. that the Pharisees love. Jesus replied to this, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. Yeah, he said that. I'm just reading the scripture. This is what Jesus said. He called them out. As it is written, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are but rules taught by men. You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. And Jesus elaborates in verse 18, and the rebuke again isn't soft. He asks, are you so dull? Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean? For it doesn't go into his heart, but it goes into his stomach and then out of his body. In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean. He went on, what comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from the inside and make someone unclean. The Pharisees were experts in cleaning the outside of the cup, and the inside is full of junk. And there's a religious veneer, and in their traditions, that they, well, they could keep those man-made traditions, and they thought that, you know, walking with God, purity, had to do with it. But really, God sees the heart. And their hearts were off. Their hearts were really far off. Well, the same thing can be true with trends. And in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 14, Paul is writing to, again, a group of people just like us, a church in Ephesus. And in Ephesians chapter four, verse 14, he says, then we will no longer be infants. That's kind of spiritually babies or sometimes spiritually immature. And instead of being tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. In other words, you will be solid in the word, an oak of righteousness, so that when you hear a teaching, and oh, that teaching, and now this is a popular teaching, you will not just drop scripture and run after every teaching that's cool and popular, even if it's on Christian stations, or even if it's someone who says they read the Bible. You gotta know the difference and be discerning with trends. And you gotta be solid and have depth in the word. Trends and traditions can become idols and lead to stumbling. Solid churches, by God's grace, I pray that we would be a solid church, remain a solid church. I can't tell you how many churches 10 years ago that were solid are not solid right now. Five years ago. Two years ago. You know what happens? People will say to me, hey, I'm moving to this area, what's a good church? And I'll make a suggestion. And then I'll double check with someone else, and they'll say, no, that church has totally changed. Do you know what they're believing? Do you know what they're teaching? And then I check it out, and it's directly against the Bible. And I think, wow, I've just made a recommendation. Then I gotta go back to that person and say, actually, what's going on in that church is directly against the Bible. I think you need to know. And so, I'm all about unity and love and supporting each other, but we gotta make sure we're aligned with Jesus and solid in the word these days. And in America, whichever church you end up going to, if you move and you go somewhere else, be discerning. Are they teaching the word? Are they in alignment with Jesus? And then choose a church that is, that's loving, that's all in the word, that worships, that witnesses and serves the community. Look for that healthy church. Here's a picture, kind of comical, of when I think about the church these days and Christians these days. That's the picture I get right there, where there's the boat and the dock. You ever been there? And the cooler, and it's full of beverages. And it's like, wait, I just wanted to kick back and chill and enjoy what's in this cooler, but I'm finding it harder. And now the boat and the dock, they're getting further apart. And like, what am I going to do? And Christians today are like, what am I gonna do? Because the world seems to be going that way, and the Bible's this way, and I'm trying to do both. I've been doing both for a long time. I've been able to just hold my cooler and do both for a really long time, but now it's getting harder to do both. Like, what am I gonna do? And you look at this picture, and now it's even more intense. It's decision time. And I think so many Christians right now are at that crossroads of like, it's decision time. Like, which way are we going? Are we going with God, are we not? Like, are we going halfway? How does it feel to go halfway? Well, you usually end up in the water. when you try to do both. And they're getting further apart, and you gotta make a decision. Romans chapter 12 says, do not conform to the patterns of this world. The patterns that go against God don't conform. In other words, if you follow Jesus in the sound, you're gonna be in the minority often. I wanna say that if you're following Jesus in the sound, you're gonna have habits, beliefs, mindset, you're gonna treat people different, and you might be the outlier in many conversations. So what do you do with that? Well, Romans 12.1 says we offer ourselves in worship to God because of His great grace and His mercy. And as we offer ourselves, because worship is to offer ourselves, it's not to sing a song. Singing songs are part of that expression, but real worship is when we offer ourselves to God. And when we do that, then we discover His good and pleasing, His will. We want to be teachable. We want to be flammable. We wanna be trusting, like kids. And that's gonna mean going against the cultural norms, just like Jesus is in this passage. Jesus is bold and he's humble. Think of that combination. Maybe you're bold, but not so humble. Or maybe you're humble, but not bold. And I challenge you that Jesus, no one is bolder than Jesus, no one is more humble than Jesus. And both together. He's bold and he's humble. Well, let's continue to track his boldness, because this second area, the first one declaring that his kingdom is different from the world, that's the first one, which means there's a choice to be made. If the kingdom's that way and the world's going that way, now I gotta make a choice. That was the first one. And then here's the second one, standing up to the interference. Jesus is gonna stand up. Look at verse 14, there's a key word. Jesus is indignant. Now, that's not, if you've ever seen pictures of Jesus and artistic works of Jesus, you don't see too many where he's indignant. And you might not choose that word as you describe Jesus, but I wanna tell you Jesus was indignant. Mark is gonna pick up on the emotions that Jesus experiences. You say, well, what exactly is indignant? Well, does it mean very displeased? Almost, it's actually much stronger than very displeased. Much stronger than very displeased. When the disciples step in and say, get the kids away, Jesus is indignant. He's indignant, but he doesn't sin. You can be indignant and choose not to sin. And I think indignant is often the first step towards the church becoming alive. You know, the church in America, if I used a metaphor, is kind of like a sleeping giant with a lot of knowledge and gifts and some time and talents. And I think it might take indignant before we kind of get after it living for Jesus. Well, indignant, what would stir that feeling? Well, when you think about kids around the world without clean water, but could have clean water, or kids around the world dying every day because they have no food, you might get indignant. When you think about kids neglected right now, when you think about kids abused, physically abused, when you think about kids sexually abused, you might get indignant. When you think about human trafficking all over the sound, you might get indignant. And what I want to say to you is indignant isn't unlike Christ. In fact, there's a lot of things that we just stuff and say, well, that's just our culture, when actually we should have that sense of being indignant, which could lead to some positive action and some positive change and tackle some injustice. Jesus steps in to this situation. There's injustice. The kids are being pushed away. And Jesus brings strong rebukes. Here's another piece about Jesus that we often push aside. When you're reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, notice how often Jesus is rebuking somebody. He's rebuking all the time. We say, well, we wanna be like Jesus. How often are we rebuking? like just one another in love, right? On the West Coast, we say, no, we're not into rebuking. You do you, I'll do me, no rebukes. Agreed? Agreed. No accountability? Agreed? Agreed. And I just propose, is that like Jesus? Because he seems to bring accountability, standards, consequences, and rebuking, and he seems to be indignant and talk very directly to the religious leaders and others. So we take that in and it kind of reshapes our view of Jesus. What does he bring? He brings a double command. He says first, stop blocking, and then the positive, start supporting. God wants to deliver us from the sin and the destruction, not so we'll just sit around kind of bored. God breaks patterns of sin in our life so that we have freedom in life and we can bless other people. Now, it's a both-and. In this passage, it's a both-and. Stop blocking. What is that? Let's go a little deeper. When God is moving, the devil wants to run interference. When God is on the move, the devil wants to block. It's a pattern throughout Scripture. It's gonna be true in our lives. Any football fans here know about pass interference? Pass interference. Now, what is pass interference? When wide receiver's on the run, on the run for the Lord, then there'll be a defender with interference, tries to push, shove, hold back, and that holding back, they throw a flag. They throw a flag. And in this passage, you could throw a yellow flag with the disciples because they're running interference on the work of God. Now, throughout scripture we see this. Joseph, God gave him a vision, and he was moving forward with the vision, and his own family ran interference. They took him, they threw him into a pit, they threw him into slavery. They almost decided to kill him. They ran interference. Sometimes your own family will be the ones who run interference. And you're gonna have to overcome that in God's strength. Well, who else? Nehemiah was doing incredible work in the city, God was moving, and Samballot and Tobiah show up to run interference. Paul says the doors are opening to the Corinthians, the gospel, incredible opportunities, and he says there are many who oppose me, many who want to run interference. Jesus at every turn, there was interference from the disciples, like this passage, there's interference from the religious leaders, there's interference from government leaders, and there's interference from the devil and demons. Running interference when God's moving. So how do we process this? First of all, bank on it. When you're living for the Lord, the interference will come. Just so you won't be surprised, just bank on it. It's gonna come. Watch for it and then overcome it in the power of the Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit, overcome it. And how do you overcome it? You shift into that position of supporting. In this passage, that supporting, that positive direction with kids, with kids. You know what's happening in this passage? Jesus cares about the souls of kids. Jesus couldn't care more deeply about the souls of kids, your kids, your grandkids. If you don't have kids, kids you know, kids in the neighborhood, kids at school, your friends' kids. Jesus cares about the soul of every kid. And out of this, I would say let's give the very best to the kids in the next generation. I don't have a lot of orange in my closet, but I wore orange today because we embrace this color orange when we think about Grace Kids and student ministries at our church. Well, what's the story with orange? We take the heart from home, the red, the heart Parents at home, and then we combine church the light of the world in the yellow and bring it together for orange It's our philosophy that kids Spiritually nourished it's gonna happen at home and at church and actually home is first church is second and spiritual nourishment for kids. And it's a biblical approach. Let's think about home. I believe that conversations, when we're coming and going, debriefing, when the kids hear something that they're taught at school, or a friend says something, or they watch a movie, let's talk a little bit, let's debrief what's true, what wasn't true. Let's line up with God. Those conversations are so valuable. What else? Habits. At home, Prayer, time in the word, those habits. It could be before bed, it could be early in the morning, it could be before a meal, but those habits of some prayer at home, some time in the word at home to grow in faith together, to feed those souls. What else? Another habit I think that's powerful is consistently going to church. You say, oh, I knew the pastor would say that. I just knew it. If I worked at Costco, I would just encourage parents to be consistent with going to church. A priority, a rhythm, spiritual nourishment, and to guard that priority. These habits, they make room for God, and they help kids flourish at home, spiritually at home, that environment. I was in college ministry for 10 years, and I can't tell you, because I would ask college students, hey, what's your background? What's your faith background? Personally, I didn't know about Jesus, have a Bible, go to church, I didn't have any of that as a kid. The first person that ever shared with me was at college, so I didn't have any of that. But I can't tell you how many college students I would ask, tell me about your upbringing. And I might ask, is it a Christian home? And there's this pause. Well, I mean, we are Christians, but I don't know. And they'd usually say, it's kind of partially, kind of halfway, kind of like foot on the boat, foot on the dock. Like there's some there, but it's just kind of a mixture. And I can't tell you how many students will look back and say, I grew up in an environment where my parents were kind of half-hearted. Towards it half in half the stuff. Maybe depends what they felt like and The next generation in America right now There's significant things happening in the next generation and I believe the healing and restoration we need for the souls of the kids starts at home and and uh the second part is the church i'm so grateful i thank god for our team next gen ministries pastor mark pastor jesse uh also i think of becca amanda gail sherry like i could keep going with leaders i'm so excited that so many people have stepped up recently because right now there's tremendous growth in our next gen ministry It's amazing what God's doing. When I think about our facility here, we've had under construction for the kids' classes last two years, and we just need to keep moving that forward. For middle school and high school, there's so many more kids coming right now that we've been creatively looking for rooms where there's, like, where can we gather? So on the wing, like, we found some rooms, but they need some work, and there's more we can do with the facility. The main thing is the relationships. And that's what's happening here is the connection. As a dad, I'm so grateful. You know, one of my kids' soccer games, there was one of the leaders that just showed up to encourage at the game, because it's about relationships. The facility just supports. It just says to the kids, you're valuable. But it's the relationships. That's where it happens, in that connection. We're a multi-generational church. We celebrate that. In those relationships, the kids receive so much. And I'm so grateful with, we have, you know, Elementary, middle school, and high school in our family. Those are our kids. And I am so grateful to see what the kids receive through Next Gen Ministries. Praise the Lord. What about across the globe? Not just at home and church coming together, but across the globe. Do you know that every child is a gift? The Bible says every child is knit together in their mother's womb by God. From the womb to every age, every stage, loved by God, made in God's image, sacred, precious, every child. And when you think about the foster care system in America, I kinda wonder, why do we still have it? I mean, if Christians mentored, cared, we don't need it anymore, just wouldn't need it. What about globally, 153 million orphans? Globally, do we just sit back and pretend like that doesn't exist? I mean, just not be aware, not care, not do anything? Like, do we just not? This passage, and you look at Jesus' heart, it just moves us towards the kids. In the U.S. today, I believe there's a more fierce battle for the souls of kids than we've ever seen before. Numbers are skyrocketing in terms of nuns, meaning no faith whatsoever. The biblical worldview is getting more and more rare, and following Jesus, those numbers are declining rapidly. So do we just kind of watch that? Jesus in this passage, when he's indignant, I think there's a part where he says, not on my watch, not on this house, will we just sit back and watch the disciples push the kids away from Jesus. So, let's be intentional, just like Jesus here. Here's an encouraging story, because God is moving. We have international partners around the world, and I wanted to share, this is encouraging, when you think about Colombia, another nation. Together, we are reaching and encouraging faith in so many nations, including Colombia. Christian in Sara Rico, they're serving, and they're serving with the Jesus film. across the Caribbean and Latin America. And they've just taken the Jesus film, and this is just recently, Christian was able to travel to a remote town in Colombia to participate in the very first public showing of the Jesus film in the Guambiano language. This was the first time the Misek people heard and saw Jesus speak in their native language. And the people also received now a New Testament in their language, the Gambiano language, in audio and in print, over 700 people. When someone told me about Jesus, it changed my life, and it changed our kids' lives, and it changed the generational pattern in our family. And I'm so excited about what's happening in this remote area in Columbia, because now they're hearing Jesus and experiencing Jesus. And when Jesus is lifted up, he draws people to himself. because he's that good. So we celebrate together, not just what God's doing in this building, but across the world as we're intentional, like Jesus, to bring the love of God to kids. It leads to the third area, and this is blessing those who are treated like second-class people. Now, have you ever taken a flight and they ask you the question, are you traveling What? First class, first class, front row got it. Front row is just always just on their game. But they ask you, are you traveling first class? I've never said yes. And by implication, what does that mean? If you're not first class, you're second class. So I just say, yeah, I'm second class. I'll take the snacks, not the food. And I like the price, but I guess I'm second class. It's kind of playful in that setting, but it isn't so much in life when you're treated like second class. And as you think through different people that have been treated like second class, I wrote down, so often singles are treated like second class compared to people who are married, divorced, people from different nations, people in prison or who have been in prison, people who are homeless, minorities, people who don't have much money, who struggle with mental health, who have physical illness and ailments, women. I was thinking about people in our church family who are Asian and have just shared the hatred that they've been on the receiving end, things said and done, simply because they're Asian. And it's wrong. It's terrible. Second class, a lot of people on the receiving end of that. And I think Jesus steps in to a situation where the kids are treated as second class and Jesus declares there is no second class. There is no second class. And the love of Jesus with his compassion and his warmth. And I want to encourage us, again, point out two areas or two options that are traps to stay out of. And in terms of following Jesus, you say, well, how do we interact with a world that believes so many different things, has so many different lifestyles? How do we interact in the two traps to avoid? One is cocooned. and the other is just copied. The cocoon part is that so many followers of Jesus, and they've been loving God for a long time, end up in this cocoon of Christians, this kind of fake holy huddle that looks nothing like Jesus, nothing like spiritual maturity, and unintentionally, they've just ended up in a cocoon, and there's no influence. They're not shining the light and love of Jesus anywhere. They're in the cocoon. That's not biblical. And the other one is just copied. Oh, well the world's doing that? Then I'll do that. The world's morality is that? Then I'll do that. The world's standard is that? Then I'll copy that. And the church looks no different than the world. There's no difference. We don't want to be, we're not called to be cocooned. We're not called just to copy. There's a calling on our lives. You say, well, what about when there's just something sinful? It's like it's spicy, it's hot, it's sinful, and it's right there. Well, that's where Jesus was when he talked to the woman who was caught in adultery. And what did he do? He brought warmth and he brought conviction. He brought the warmth to say, this doesn't define you. I'm still here. There's a new start. But he also brought the conviction to tell her, go and sin no more. See, Jesus is full of grace and truth. Never water down truth, never water down the word at all. But do it with warmth, warmth and conviction. I see a lot of conviction and cold. but conviction and warmth full of grace and truth, that's what Jesus brings to these difficult, controversial situations with tension. And Jesus will be criticized often. He's gonna be criticized for the way he welcomes kids. He's going to be criticized for the way he cares for women and says they're not second rate. He's going to be criticized because he cares and connects with lepers, demoniacs, people who don't have much money, sinners, a friend of sinners. He'll be slammed by religious people. You will be slammed when you do outreach. You just will. Mark chapter 2, Jesus is with the tax collector. He'll get slammed for that. Mark chapter 3 is with fishermen. You think they're the spiritual ones? Jesus sees their potential. Mark chapter 5, he's in there demoniac, casting out demons right in the middle of that. Mark chapter 7, a Syrophoenician woman. You say, you mean the Samaritan woman? No, that's John chapter 4, but that's another woman who's a Gentile. The disciples say, stay back. And Jesus is talking about living water to the Samaritan woman. And I look at how he lives, and I look at the times we're living in right now, and my encouragement is, watch what Jesus says, watch what Jesus does. Imitate Jesus. We are in a time right now where there's so much that isn't clear. And I'll just give you one example. I've been going into different stores. Maybe you've had the same experience. Some stores will say, I need to see a picture of your vaccination record if you want to eat here. Then I'll go to another store, and they'll say, I don't need to see any pictures. Just tell me if you've done it or not. And then I'll go to another store, and they won't say anything. They're just like, just come in, eat the food, eat the food. range. If you're in King County, okay, that's different than you're in Pierce County. And it's like, well, where am I? Which county am I in right now? I didn't see a clear sign. If you're in Enumclaw, they're just like, forget everything. Just, you know, here we go. It's Enumclaw. It's the clocks. So, So we're just living in these times where it just feels kind of eerie. Like, what's your policy? What do you think? What do you, are you judging me? Are you not? Are you saying this? What's going on? And it's kind of eerie. I kind of think, should I just preach on end times for the next three months? We just go right to revelation and just dive into that. You know, all this, and it's like, well, this isn't clear. This isn't clear. Well, how this person thinks about me isn't clear. And I'm like, how am I going to have sanity? What am I going to do during all of this pandemic stuff and problems? And where I found peace is two things. I'm going to find my hope in Jesus, not the world. Not how people view me. It's time for us to find our hope in Jesus and go deep there. And the other thing is to spread the hope of Jesus wherever and whenever I can. And that's any person, any context, any platform, I'm just gonna go there. God convicted me about a year ago that any opportunity, lean in. And there's been about 50 of them. And God, unless you hold me back and tell me not to, I'm just going to lean in with the hope of Jesus. And I'm just going to say it and share it. And I'm going to focus on that and not the sideways energy. And how are you going to have peace in the middle of a pandemic? Listen, you don't have to wait till the pandemic's over. Today, you can find hope in Jesus that's greater than the challenge, and you can spread the hope that the world is starving for. And today, you can have godly thinking instead of worldly thinking. God wants to renew our minds. God wants to give us courage and boldness to stand up to the interference because it's coming. This direction, this direction, that direction. You thought that person was safe, now they're throwing it. Like it's coming from every direction. So we're gonna find our hope in Jesus. We're gonna spread the hope of Jesus. We're gonna imitate Jesus and we're gonna bless people like Jesus is blessing people in this passage. No one's second class. And the final take home question, are you aiming to be loyal and faithful to Jesus or to the cultural patterns where you live? I want to encourage you, if one of these next steps has your name on it, the reason we're doing this is because online and on campus, it's just so clear, these steps right here. Follow Jesus for the first time. Be baptized. Have a church family. Don't go isolation, on your own, just hop from church to church. Get in a group of people, friends, authentic, where you get into God's word, you pray, you care for each other, or serve and use your gifts. If one of those has your name on it, you just text that word to the church phone number right now, our team's gonna walk with you. This is what's happening every week, and this is why we're doing it, people taking the next step in their relationship with God. Let's pray. Father God, we pray that you would help us to see the thoughts that we have, the ways we view people, the decisions we're making that just are purely worldly thinking, and they're based in fear, they're based in pride, they're based in guilt, God, you deliver us from those things, those patterns that are destructive and misleading, even if they're well-intentioned. God, show us the truth. Jesus, you are the truth. You are the way. You are the life. We want to walk in truth, Jesus. We want to trust you in your way. We want to be full of your life, the life that is truly life, life that we can't manufacture on our own. So we pause today, God, to ask you, as we repent and turn to you, to renew our minds, change the way we view people, break us out of the cocoon, break us out of the patterns of just trying to copy this world. God, break us out of traditions that are dead. Break us out of trends that are empty. Break us out of that, God. We need your living water, Jesus, in a dry and weary land. We lift up the next generation to you, God, at Grace Community Church. We lift up orphans to you, God. We lift up our families and our kids to you. God, we pray that they would be spiritually flourishing like an olive tree, God. deep roots. God, we pray for oaks of righteousness in this generation, God, that would rise up and bring their friends into your love, into your grace, into that relationship, into your truth. They would have a house on the rock and not the sand. God, change our habits, change our priorities. Today, we commit ourselves to you in worship. We say, here we are, God. Send us. Here we are. Have your way. Jesus, we want to be like you. Our North Star is faithfulness to you, Jesus. We've got our eyes on you, Jesus. Discernment, courage. We pray today, compassion. We've got our eyes on you, Jesus. A life that is a foundation. God, make our foundation solid in your word, in your love. We're praying for that foundation. Foundational work today, God. Foundational work in our lives. Deepen our souls as we seek you together. We pray in your name, Lord. Amen. Yo, subscribe to YouTube channel. Subscribe to this channel.