Our conviction is that the number one need that this world has is Jesus. And there's so many great things that we do in the community, there's so many great causes that we support, there's so many needs that we meet, and it's exciting to celebrate those. But without without a relationship with Jesus, there's just not hope. And we believe that He is not some good thing for our world, but He is He is everything, that He is the hope. He is our only hope. And there's nothing that we should celebrate more than seeing people give their life to Jesus. To see people like go all in with Jesus. And I love, I especially love, you were here last week, you got to witness some of it, but you don't get to see who gets baptized in the service you're not at. I love it when we have young kids go all in with Jesus here. Because for us, it's not, it's not cute when a young child gives their life to Jesus, it's powerful. Because they've got their entire life ahead of them. And I know many of us in the room would say, man, if I could have gotten a hold of Jesus when I was 10, when I was eight, man, that would have changed so much. And we get to do that, we get to be part of that. I say all that to say that if you're ever ready to make that step, if you're ever ready to give it all to Jesus, we're ready to help you in whatever way that that looks like. If you're ready to get baptized, if you're ready to take that step and go all in publicly, um, sign up today at the infodesk and we'll give you the information that you need. But we want to celebrate that moment with you. We we love celebrating those moments. So let us know if you're ready. Um, can we pray one more time? Is that okay? Can't have too much prayer, I don't think. Um, Jesus, speak to us over the next few minutes. Just speak to us, Lord. And teach us what it is that you have to teach us. Help us grow. I pray that we leave today with a new perspective. I pray that we leave today with your perspective, and I pray all that in your name Jesus. Amen. That word perspective is a word that we're gonna talk about a good bit today. Um it's kind of a cliche thing to say that perspective is everything, but it really is true. I mean, how many times in your life is there something going on circumstantially, and what you're praying for and what you're hoping for, and there's nothing wrong with this, is for the circumstance to change. And God can change circumstances, and he does all the time. But you find out that maybe not only do you need the circumstance to change, you need your perspective about the circumstance to change. Maybe you need both to change. And sometimes it's our perspective shifts in life that impact us every bit as much as when our circumstances become better. We need God to give us his perspective. As a parent, one of my jobs is to help my children develop healthy perspectives. And I'm learning that that is a challenging job. And anyone with kids knows this because it's it's funny. Every child is different. You know, we're starting to see that. We're about to have our fourth child, our fourth is due in six weeks or something like that. Um, and that's, you know, pray for us. But uh, but so far, I'm amazed at the fact that you take Megan and I's genes and you combine them together multiple times, and each one is like totally different. And they have they have different tendencies, they have they have very different ways that they see the world, and we have to sort of solve each little puzzle as it comes and figure out how does this child see life and how can we help them see life the way God would have them see life. And it's it's funny to me how many things that that I would never anticipate being a perspective challenge for our children end up being. A few weeks ago, we took uh we took our kids to Krispy Kreme. Uh, there's a new Krispy Kreme that opened up. Just so you know, when I talk about food, it's not because I'm being paid by these local restaurants, right? It's because I have a problem. So that's why. Um, but if you're not familiar, the new Krispy Kreme is it's one of those evil genius ideas where there's a giant billboard above the Krispy Kreme, and a neon red light lights up whenever the the hot and ready Krispy Kreme donuts are coming out. And so we were leaving, we were leaving something on a Wednesday night, the whole family, Megan and I and our kids, and we're we're leaving to get on to 575, we go north. So we're staring at that light at the billboard, and it's light up like it's red, you know, like like devil red, like evil red. It's like hot and ready donuts. And so we're like, let's just get over a few lanes and uh we'll go there first and then we'll go home. And so we we do that, and our kids, you probably have this experience if you've had young kids who maybe aren't even driving age, but they they question what you're doing as you drive all the time. We pull over and our kids in the backseat are like, what are you guys doing? This isn't the way home. Like we forgot, you know? Like, oh, thank you, three-year-old, for your directional help. And we say, Oh no, we're we're going someplace, and they're all obviously like, where are we going? Where are we going? And we're like, we're gonna go get some donuts, and they're like, Yeah, donuts. And we tell them now we're gonna go to a new place, because they they're thinking Dunkin' donuts, that's what they know. Like they get the same thing every time a chocolate frosted donut with sprinkles for my oldest son, and the two youngest get strawberry frosted donuts also with sprinkles. We tell them, hey, we're going to a new place. These donuts are a little different, but they're the best. Like a hot and ready Krispy Kreme donut is amazing. It's like, it's like a miracle. And so we uh so we explain to them we're going to a place called Krispy Kreme. And Liam in the back just like like makes a gag face, like goes like that. And I look back at him because I can see him in the mirror. I'm one of those dads that doesn't pay attention to the cars behind me, but I always have my mirror fixated on my children. And so, because I need to, and and I'm like, what was that? And he's like, just crispy cream? Like, oh, and I'm like, no, son, okay, I can see what you're thinking. I can see in your mind how the word crispy and the word cream, like he's picturing something that just in his mind is gross. He's like, I don't want cream, and I don't want my cream to be crispy, and I'm like, we're not, it's not, it's not cream, and it's actually not even gonna be crispy. It's gonna be soft and it's just a bad name. Don't worry about the name. It's gonna taste amazing, and he's freaking out, like literally freaking out in the back that we're gonna make him eat something that he's gonna hate. Because honestly, we do that sometimes as parents. Um, so it's there's a precedent. But but we're sitting there just trying to talk him up, and the drive-thru takes forever at this place. We were in the drive-thru for so long, and the whole time it's just building and building. And we finally get it, and Liam's holding his donut, and I'm watching him in the mirror, and he's holding it like, you know, like like his like he's about to take his own life in his hands, taking a bite. You know what I mean? It was that level, and he's sitting there like putting it to his mouth, shaking, and I'm I'm at this point kind of over it. So I'm just like, just eat the donut, just put it in your mouth, put it in your mouth. I don't care if you hate it, put it in your mouth. You can eat the donut. And and I see him take this bite with this nervous look, like, and then he's like, Oh, oh, this is this is really good. And I'm like, see, I told you, you gotta trust us. You gotta trust us. Would you, you know, would you think right? Would you have a perspective of trust when it comes to me and your mom that when we tell you something's gonna be good, we're not lying to you. And it was so funny because he ate his donut in the back. Judah, our youngest, had a donut as well. He had about half of it, the other half he like molded into a ball and threw it, because that's what he does. And then Liam said, Can I eat the piece Judah didn't eat? You know? I'm like, You want to eat this half chewed, like smushed clump of Krispy Kreme donut? And he just went, I do, you know. We say, Go for it, go for it. And he did. He did. But it's just amazing to me as a parent how saying something to my child, like, we're gonna go get a donut, can become a per a crisis of perspective. And here we are having to coach him. Like, I'm literally coaching him, like, you can do it, son. You can eat the donut, you can put the sh the literal like sugar, you can put it in your mouth. Like, this shouldn't be a thing. But we have a tendency as people to very easily get off track when it comes to our perspective. And it's not something that goes away as we get older, there's just more things for us to worry about. We need the perspective of Jesus. This month we're in a series called Bumping Into God, and we're looking at stories in the Bible where people literally bumped into Jesus. They woke up one morning having no idea that they were going to come face to face with God. And in these moments, we see so much about who Jesus is. We see his power, but we see his perspective, we see his personality. In these moments, we get to see what Jesus values, we get to see what he cares about, we get to see how Jesus sees the world and how Jesus sees us. And we need to see the world the way Jesus sees the world. And we need to see ourselves the way Jesus sees us. We need to see people the way Jesus sees people. So in these stories, we learn the perspective of Jesus, and we pray that our perspective becomes like his perspective. This particular story is really interesting because we get to learn a perspective Jesus has of people that is so much, so much higher than the perspective that most of us would ever have if we don't see them the way Jesus sees them. And so I want to read this story. It's in John chapter 9. We're gonna read the whole thing. It's 34 verses. It's a good bit of Bible, which is always a good thing. Um here's how it begins: As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. Rabbi his disciples asked him, Why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins? It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins, Jesus answered. This happens so that the power of God could be seen in him. We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned to us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work, but while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world. And then he spit on the ground, made mud with saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man's eyes. And this is one of those moments where you're probably happy that the man is blind, because he has no idea this is what's happening, right? He just thinks Jesus is touching him, and that's kind of gross. Um, he told him, Go wash yourself in the pool of Saloon. Saloon means sent, so the man went and washed and came back seeing. His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg? Some said he was, others said, No, no, he just looks like him. But the beggar kept saying, Yes, I am the same one. And they asked, Who healed you? What happened? And he told them, the man they called Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes, and told me, Go to the pool of Saloon and wash yourself. So I went and I washed, and now I can see. Where is he now? They asked. I don't know, he replied. Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees, because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. The Pharisees asked the man all about it, so he told them, He put mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see. Some of the Pharisees said, This man, Jesus, is not from God, for he's working on the Sabbath. Others said, But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs? So there was a deep division of opinion among them. Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, What's your opinion about this man who healed you? The man replied, I think he must be a prophet. The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and can now see, so they called in his parents, and they asked them, Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he see now? And his parents replied, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don't know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him, he's old enough to speak for himself. His parents said this because they were afraid of Jewish leaders, of the Jewish leaders who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. That's why they said he's old enough, ask him. So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, God should get the glory for this, because we know this man, Jesus, is a sinner. I don't know whether he is a sinner, the man replied, but I know this. I was blind, and now I can see. But what did he do? They asked. How did he heal you? Look, the man exclaimed, but I told you once, didn't you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too? And then they cursed him and said, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know God spoke to Moses, but we don't even know where this man comes from. Why, that's very strange, the man replied. He healed my eyes, and yet you don't know where he comes from? We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but he's ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn't have done it. You were born a total sinner, they answered. Are you trying to teach us? And they threw him out of the synagogue. I don't feel too bad for the guy, because after they throw him out of the synagogue, he just gets to hang out with Jesus. Um, sometimes people have to leave church to find God, which is a sad truth. And we gotta make sure that we're always a church where that's not the case. I love this story for a lot of different reasons. I I love the kind of adversarial nature of the conversation that this man has with the Pharisees. I love how this man who's been a blind beggar his whole life really puts the Pharisees in their place. Because they find themselves kind of stuck. You know, number one, they they ask him, like, what do you think of Jesus? Like, what's he gonna say? He's been blind his entire life, and Jesus has just healed him of blindness. Like, what do you think of Jesus? Yeah, I don't know. He's kind of overrated, if you ask me. Like, the man says, uh, I'm gonna just throw this out there. Maybe he's a prophet from God. Kind of makes sense, you know? And then the Pharisees keep going, they just can't rationalize this in their minds, and they find themselves really stuck because they say, Well, God should get glory for this. There's only one explanation for this happening, and it's God. So God should get glory, but we don't think Jesus is the Messiah. We we've gone on record saying that Jesus is a sinner. We've said that Jesus is wrong, so Jesus did this, and it has to be God, but it can't be Jesus, and they're stuck. And and this man really turns the tables on the Pharisees because he begins to teach them what they've taught him, because they're the ones who taught that God doesn't listen to sinners. They're the ones who taught that if you have sin in your life, God will not hear you. They've taught this man this, and he's like, hey, you call him a sinner. I don't know, but I I've heard you say that God never answers sinners. So if he's a sinner, how did God answer him with the blind thing? Like, what are you gonna do? And the Pharisees just say, leave. That's enough of that. But they they throw him out with this really interesting statement. They call him a total sinner. They say, You are a total sinner. And and that that idea total sinner, it's actually really connected to something that the disciples of Jesus asked the first moment that they bumped into this blind man. If you go back to verse 1 of John 9, as Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. Rabbi, his disciples asked him, Why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins? See, in the Jewish culture at the time, sin and suffering were directly linked. There was no concept of, like, hey, we live in a fallen world and sometimes bad things happen. You know, God doesn't want them to happen, but they do. There was no understanding of that. The idea was just anything bad that has happened, God has caused to happen as a direct punishment of sin. So if someone contracted leprosy in that culture, there wasn't really compassion for that person. There wasn't like a no, I I we're praying for you. It was like, well, what did you do to deserve this? Because you must have done something. We actually see that in the Old Testament in the story of Job. The book of Job is potentially the oldest written book in the entire Bible. It's a story that has been around for thousands and thousands of years, and it was in the Bible that the Pharisees used. And the story of Job is the story of a man who's very righteous. He's a good man, he's a godly man, he's faithful to God. But all these things happen to him. He loses his family, he loses his wealth, he loses his health. And some friends of Job show up and they basically try to get Job to admit all the wrong things he must have done to deserve this. And they're like, hey, Job, why don't you just confess? You know, out with it. What have you been doing to make God do this to you? And he's like, I swear, I've been faithful to God. I haven't done anything that would deserve this. And his friends call him a liar because in their minds, the only thing that makes sense is that you did something bad enough for God to do this to you. It's a thing called the theory of divine retribution, if you want a fancy term for it. And you'd think that the Pharisees would have learned the error of that thinking from the book of Job, because they read it. They probably had it memorized, but they didn't. And they still have the same mentality. God has done this to this man. He deserves this. This is not a man who people would have looked on with compassion, because everyone would have believed, everyone would have at least been taught that he deserved this, either for one of two reasons. Number one, he sinned. But he was blind from birth, so did he sin in the womb? Like, did he do something real bad? In gestation? And believe it or not, there was actually a theology at the time that yes, you could sin in the womb, and then that would cause the harm you had, because they had to figure out a way to rationalize someone being born with sickness. If they saw sickness and suffering as directly related to sin, well, maybe you did something in the womb. You had a bad day in the womb, and you're born this way. What would have been a more popular teaching was that other thing that the disciples said. Hey, did his parents do something? And now his sin is the result of that. And the reality is, if that's the truth, well, now it's not just him that has to deal with shame, but his entire family. Because clearly something in that family is really messed up because God is obviously punishing them for all their sin. And that's the way people saw this man his entire life. The opinions of this man in his community would have ranged from either, A, he is a total sinner, completely deserving of his blindness, or B, and this would be the best opinion of him, he's just kind of a worthless burden on society that is the result of some horrible thing his family's done. Like, you know, either way, it's a pretty bad view. Either way, this man does not measure up very highly in the eyes of people. At worst, he's a total sinner. At best, he's just worthless. He is the punishment for sin. That's what this man has been taught about himself his entire life. This is who you are. You are either someone who deserves your blindness, or your blindness is literally punishment from God. So you are, you who you are, is God's punishment to your parents. That's what he's been taught. And so the disciples ask this question, and Jesus responds, He says, It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins. This happens so the power of God could be seen in him. Now, this is Jesus raising the ceiling for the purpose of this man's life tremendously. This is Jesus saying, Oh no, no, you guys have it all wrong. This man, this man that everyone discounts, this man that everyone judges, this man that everyone looks at with this incredibly low opinion, this man has the capacity to display the power of God. This man has the capacity to display the power of God to everyone around him, and he's about to do that, and then he does. This man wakes up one day blind like he'd been every other day, and by the end of the day, he's made the religious leaders of his day so confused and so upset that they've kicked him out. And he has the entire world around him talking about this miracle that's been performed, and he actually gets to talk to God like the power of God is displayed in this man's life, and here we are, 2,000 years later, talking about this man together. The power of God was displayed in his life. And what we see here is we see Jesus' opinion of people. We did a series this last summer called People, where we spent the summer talking about how important it is to understand who people are from God's perspective, and it's something we gotta touch on a lot. We have to remember the tremendous and incredibly high opinion God has of people. Like we have to. Because when you actually look at what the Bible says about people, we should consider ourselves pretty blessed. To be as favored by God as we are. In Genesis chapter 1, when we're first created, it says God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them, male and female, he created them. So you are created in the image of God, which means you're actually meant to remind the world who God is. Ephesians 2.10 says, We are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. You're a masterpiece made new by Jesus and your faith in him. So Jesus would say to you that you are made in the image of God, that you're God's masterpiece, that you're made new in your relationship with him, and that you, like the blind man, have the ability to display the power of God in your life. That's a pretty high opinion. That's the kind of hope that Jesus had in people. When you watch the way that Jesus interacted with people, you realize that Jesus never saw people as the sum total of their sin. Jesus saw people for who they could be, for who they were made to be. That's why the people that Jesus picked for his team were the people that everyone else passed over. And so if you've ever felt like you've been passed over, you're in good company. But Jesus picks you. And it's so important, I think, for us to be reminded of how Jesus sees people because we have these things that happen in our world that if we will allow them to affect us in the way that our enemy intends them to affect us, we will lower and lower and lower our opinion of people. And people become our enemies, even though the Bible says that our enemy is not flesh and blood, but spiritual forces. But we'll see people as our enemy, we'll see people as something to hate or blame. You know, this last week we had a tragedy in Parkland, Florida, with a school shooting that claimed 17 lives. And it was, it was pretty surreal for me to watch the footage of that because it brought me back, like watching the footage of the students being evacuated from the school. It just reminded me of the footage from Columbine in 1999. I was a freshman in high school when Columbine happened. And there had never been anything like that in our country. There had never been anything like that. There had never been anything that had happened that it made people go, oh, you know, we should probably really be thinking about the safety of our children in school because children themselves could come and commit mass murder. It was like it literally changed the way that everyone thought. And I remember in ninth grade going, man, could that happen to me? And we've had so many incidents like that since way too many. But but now. Now I'm not the one thinking, man, that could happen to me. Now I'm a parent, and I'm thinking, oh man, Lord, please don't let that happen to one of my children. Because the very next day of this tragedy, I'm dropping my son off at school. And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking of the tragedy of this, and I'm thinking of the depth of human brokenness that could even lead someone to do something like that. And then I'm watching the response in our culture. Because I think it's right in situations like that. When we see darkness, it's right for us to think, man, what can be done about this? Because we're not powerless. And I'm watching what's what's happening in our culture, and I'm watching the way that our culture is dealing with it. And I'm watching, you know, I'm watching the solutions that are being given out. And I'm, by the way, not a legal expert. I'm not a political expert. This is not me making a statement about various laws. I'm not educated enough on that stuff to really add anything valuable to that conversation. But the only solutions that we see presented are laws. And, you know, a civilized nation has to have really healthy laws. I get that, but I'll tell you this, I can say this with confidence. No law can make a person love someone else. No law can change a person's heart. And if laws were just the answer, then Jesus would never have needed to come because God gave us plenty of laws in the Old Testament. Like we had a law for everything you could have a law for, and all we did when we were given the law was show our amazing ability as people to either find a loophole around the law, ignore the law, or just flat out break the law. And so we can create laws, and I'm all for laws that are needed. But laws do not change human hearts. And when we look at things that happen in our culture, it's the heart. It's heart issues that we see. And I'm not a pastor and never will be, that's like, oh, this, this, everything's going down the tube. Sometimes we see things happen, and because we can become so hyper-fixated on the problems, we we see none of the good and we become convinced that everything is falling apart, it's always getting worse, worse, worse, and worse. That's actually not what the Bible teaches. There's so much good happening in the world. And so we need to make sure that our perspective is that, but at the same time, we can't ignore the darkness that we see. And there's things in our culture that have to change. And it all boils down to the way our culture sees people. Do we see people the way Jesus sees people? Do we have the perspective of Jesus? Do we value people the way that Jesus valued this blind man that no one else valued? No one cared about him. No one saw him as anything but worthless. And Jesus looked at him and he said, No, I see someone made in the image of God. I see someone that's a masterpiece. I see someone that has the capacity to display the power of God. That's the way Jesus sees people. That's how much Jesus values life, but we live in a culture that doesn't value life like Jesus does. It just doesn't. And again, this isn't about being political. I just don't think life is really a political issue. I mean, right now in our culture, if a teenage girl gets pregnant and goes to her school counselor, that counselor will not get in trouble for telling her that she should get an abortion, but that counselor would get in trouble if she prayed with the girl and asked God to help her. So we've raised a few generations of children in a culture that fights for abortion and against prayer. Like there's gonna be fallout from that. But there's hope. There's hope. Because there's Jesus and because there's the church. Like the hope that our world has is it is Jesus and it is his church. Jesus said this in what we just read a few moments ago. We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned to us by the one who sent us. The night is coming and no one can work, but while I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. And then in Matthew chapter 5, he talks to us about who we are as the church, and he says that you are the light of the world. Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden, no one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house, in the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. If we want to see things change in our culture, if we want to see darkness go away, then we have to be the light that Jesus said that we're meant to be. Jesus literally says that he believes that we, his people, his church, are the light of the world, that we're meant to be the hope of the world. And so if we ever find ourselves looking at things going on in society, wondering what's gone wrong and what can be done, Jesus has already looked at us and said, You are what needs to be done. You are what needs to happen. You need to shine, you need to be light, you need to be me to this world. We always want to fix problems top down. We always believe that if we could just get a person elected in some office, then that would change everything. And you don't see that in scripture. You don't see Jesus running for office. You don't see the Apostle Paul writing, hey guys, make sure to get out there and campaign and campaign for me. Because if you can get me elected to the Roman Senate, we can really change some things. That's how we want to believe. We want to pass it on and put it on someone in a position somewhere. You do something about it, and we demand that. And so we blame. That's what you've seen in the last few days if you've paid attention to anything going on. It's everyone blaming. It's this person's fault, it's this political party's fault. Our society loves to point fingers so long as the finger doesn't have to point this way. But like Jesus didn't blame. He served and he loved. The simple truth is that things don't change because of some decision made in some high office somewhere. Things change because people at the grassroots level change. That's why Jesus said that his kingdom is like a mustard seed. It's one of his most famous illustrations, because at the time it was illegal to plant a mustard seed in a garden. It was actually illegal. They had a lot of laws, like I said. Mustard seeds are like weeds. And if you plant a mustard seed in a garden that you have, then it doesn't matter what you're growing in that garden. A year later, you're gonna have mustards. That's it. Because a mustard seed will take everything else over, but it's it starts at the bottom. Right? It's bottom up, not top down. And so what would happen in our world if our world began to have the perspective of Jesus, if our world valued people the way that Jesus values people, if our world saw people with the kind of dignity and respect that Jesus sees in people. Where instead of seeing people as ones to blame, we see people as ones to serve. Like that's what needs to happen, is our world needs the perspective of Jesus. Our world needs to see everyone in it the way that Jesus saw this blind man. It's time for us as the church to lead that forward because we can't see people through the eyes of race. And we can't see people through the eyes of politics, and we can't see people through the eyes of class or through any other eyes other than the eyes of Jesus. If we see people through the eyes of Jesus, then all we see is someone worth loving and someone worth serving. That's all we see. And that actually changes things. I just say that because Jesus said it. It starts with us. We're the church, we're the light. And sometimes, you know, I get on Facebook and then realize it was a mistake. That happens a lot. You ever do that? You know, if you're a Star Wars fan, you spend two minutes on Facebook and you hear good old Admiral Akbar in your mind go, it's a trap, you know, like get out. And and I think what breaks my heart the most is when I see the church jump into the fray when it comes to blame. When I see the church jump into the fray when it comes to whose fault this is, and and and it's these people or it's this thing, and it's like, where do you see Jesus do that? Where do you see Jesus jump in and go, yeah, yeah, yeah? Let's talk about who messed this up. Because let's be honest, if Jesus wanted to have that conversation, he could have. But we don't see him do that. And so in seasons and in times when everyone's angry and everyone's riled up, it's a chance for us to be the church and us to say, no, no, no. We believe in people and we see people as valuable, and we're gonna serve people, we're gonna show this next generation who they really are. And we're gonna show people the value that they have, we're gonna show people the importance that they have, we're gonna see people the way that Jesus sees people, and things are gonna change. And it starts with us and it starts in our lives. Like, practically speaking, if you wanna if you wanna be part of the light that Jesus calls us to be part of, start treating people in your life the way that Jesus treats people. It's really simple. But like, start where you're at. I mean, like, let's be really practical about it. Start where you're at. When Jesus ascended to heaven, he told the disciples to take his message globally. He said, Go global. Which at the time was like, what does that even mean? He said, I want you to take this message to the ends of the earth and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. And then several months later, the Holy Spirit shows up in power on the day of Pentecost and they haven't even left Jerusalem yet. Jesus said, I want you to go everywhere, and they haven't gone anywhere. I want you to think about that. And we can look on that and be like, obviously, they're they're failing, but that's not what happened. They just started where they were. You think about how the message of Jesus has changed the world, and it has. You look at any nation that has civil rights, it's a nation that has had the message of Jesus deeply rooted in its history. It's just the truth. The message of Jesus has changed everything, and it started where it started. It was a slow process, a grassroots process of the people in every community just beginning to behave like Jesus and treat each other like Jesus, and it spread and it spread and it spread. So if you want to see light brought to darkness, start where you are. Start in your home. You know, but before we ever feel tempted to criticize culture, how do we treat our spouses? Like, those of you who are married and aren't taking the marriage class, um, I get it. Like, I'm not saying you should feel bad not taking the marriage class. That came out really like wow. I was just thinking in my mind, like, that the wording, you're cool. We're good with it. We don't have room for all of you in the class anyway, so don't worry. Um, I'm not saying that. I guess I was saying that because tonight we're gonna talk about some of the stuff in the marriage class. And so, does that make sense? Can I rewind? Those of you who are married, um, do you ever feel like your spouse is your enemy? Come on. Look at that. I mean, I'm not saying this because Beg and I got in a fight on our way to church this morning or anything, because you know. We made up though. No, like how do I view my wife? Do I see my wife the way Jesus sees her? And what would happen if I did? What kind of example would that set for my children? Like, like, literally, men, men who are who are married. You want to change the next generation, love your wife the way Jesus loves the church. Because if you have a son, your son will watch you set an example that he will desire to live up to. If you have a daughter, your daughter will see what she could have and will settle for nothing less. You want to change the next generation, just love your wife the way that Jesus loves the church. Understand that when you complain about your wife to God, you are complaining about his own daughter to him, right? Like have that perspective. You ever you ever you ever walk down the hallways here at the church and look at Marlon's art? Marlon's paintings of trees? Um, it'd be really interesting if you ever asked Marlon what was on his mind when he painted one of those. And Marlon loves talking to lots of people, so you should just find him and ask him. He's a real social guy. Um, no, he actually does. Where are you at, Marlon? There you are. But if you ask Marlon, tell me the story behind that painting, I promise you that five minutes later you will love that painting more. Because it will go from just a thing that you look at to something you understand. If you want to love people, ask God why he made them. Ask the creator, ask the artist why he made this person the way that they are, and you'll love them more. You want to see change happen, it starts where you're at. Paul wrote this in 2 Corinthians 5, 16, therefore, from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh. Another translation says we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. We've stopped evaluating people from a human point of view. That means that we don't evaluate people based on anything other than the fact that they are masterpieces created in the image of God, capable of displaying the power of God. So I say all this to say, and I'm I'm gonna end. Worship team, come out, save us. Um help. I don't know, this week was just interesting for me. I actually didn't plan on talking about this. I had a message about Zacchaeus. If you know the story of Zacchaeus, he's a wee little dude, it's fun, and uh, we'll talk about Zacchaeus next week. But throughout the middle of the week, when everything was happening on the news, and and I'm not actually not my MO to make messages that are in reaction to things going on in the world, because if that was the case, like every week there would be something to change in the message. But sometimes things happen and they just impact me, and I pray about it, and I go, hey God, you want me to talk about this? And I'd I don't hear anything from God sometimes on that, and I go, I'm gonna talk about it, stop me. And uh, and and sometimes he does, but this time I really believe that I wanted just to talk about this. And it's it's not just because a tragedy happened in our culture, just tragedies happen and will continue to happen. It's because I see a world that's so angry. And it's because I see the church angry too sometimes. I see all this blame and all this vitriol, I see, I see more division in our country right now than I've ever seen. We're so quick to label people. And we label people based on race, and we label people as enemies if they don't agree with us because we've we've convinced ourselves that not agreeing with someone is the same as hating someone, and that's ridiculous. And it doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on. I mean, this might shock you, but not everyone in this room voted for the same president the last election. Right? Guaranteeing someone sin. Some of us didn't even vote because we just couldn't bring ourselves to it. Like we don't all agree, and we will never agree on every issue. And by the way, you don't have to agree with me on everything, but we have to love. And disagreement does not dictate love or hate. We love, we see the best in people because that's what our God did. That's what he does when he looks at us. And so all this anger that we see, all this blame, it's time for the church to be the church. It's time for the church to look at every single person and say, you are created in the image of God, you are a masterpiece capable of displaying the power of God, and I will treat you as such. And if we treat our families that way, if we treat the people we work with that way, if we treat our children that way, children, if you treat your parents that way, if we treat the people we interact with that way, then we are fulfilling what Jesus said when he called us the light of the world, and we will see change happen one life at a time. So it's time for us to love people the way Jesus loves people. All right, pray with me. Lord Jesus, we love you so much. Um God, I want to thank you for the reality check that you gave me this last week, that our mission to love people to you is not something that is without stakes. Sometimes it's easy for us to think about loving people as some nice little thing that we need to do, but not of utmost importance. But the events that we see happen in our world remind us sometimes that love is absolutely necessary. Because love does not commit murder, love does not tear down, love does not push blame. Love serves. Love sacrifices. And you are love. You serve us, you sacrificed yourself for us, you show so much value to us that we could never have given to ourselves. You tell us that we're worth your blood, that we're worth we're worth your life, that we're worth your love. And so, Lord, I just pray right now that you would take this group of people here today and number one, remind them, remind all of us of your love, that we're loved. Remind all of us that we are masterpieces, created in your image, capable of God, of displaying your power to the world around us, Lord, and let us be the light to this world. Give us the boldness to love like you do. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us start where we're at, that today, from this moment on, as we interact with our families and our friends, as we interact with the people that we we come alongside in the way that we live our lives, that we would treat them the way that you treat people, that we would see them the way that you see people, that you would give us your perspective for the people in this world. And we pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen.