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262: Pastor Mo joins Pastor Plek and Catie Sas on the podcast this week to recap his sermon on Luke 1.
Faith, Culture, and Everything in Between.
Scripture References:
Luke 1
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Speaker 1:
And welcome back to pastor flex podcast. I'm so glad all of you are here. To record live from Austin, texas, and with me in studio today is none other than Muhammad Ali.
Speaker 2:
Hello.
Speaker 1:
How you doing Good, how are you feeling good? Yeah, and he just preached an incredible sermon on this past Sunday which I'm super excited about sharing with all of you. And then also in studio today is none other than Mrs Kitty sass, aka Ava's mom. And how's parenting going?
Speaker 3:
Oh, it was a worse morning.
Speaker 1:
What happened?
Speaker 3:
Oh, just a battle of wills for about two and a half hours. Wow, two and a half, two and a half.
Speaker 1:
Did you win?
Speaker 3:
Eventually.
Speaker 1:
Hey, where'd it go?
Speaker 3:
Got her to school an hour and a half late, but I, I, we made it. What was she doing? She just was like resistant to do any simple, normal everyday thing. So that is the will is strong with that one, so it takes a while to win.
Speaker 1:
It does, it does. I think you got well. I mean, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, so it's kind of like battling yourself in a way, wouldn't you say?
Speaker 3:
I'm aware that I can.
Speaker 1:
I wasn't saying that, I was just saying, you know, in general, sure?
Speaker 3:
No, I'm sure that's not what you were saying. I'm sure you weren't saying that I can be strong willed sometimes.
Speaker 1:
All right. So um yeah, so anyway. Well, let's get into what we're going to talk about this morning, which is what Mo preached on this past Sunday. He took us through Luke, chapter one, uh, really looking at Zachariah and Mary, who both said the same thing to the angel Gabriel, however with a different heart, which is sort of wild. So I want to just sort of jump in with that little bit of an intro. Uh, mo, and then one of the things that you do have to tell us about is the car accident that happened outside your house and how that effect, how that somehow made it into the sermon.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, Uh. So the angel Gabriel shows up to Zachariah and he said hey, your wife, who's old and hasn't had kids because she's been barren, she's going to have a kid. It's going to be John the Baptist. And he goes how is this going to be? And then Gabriel says the same thing to Mary of, hey, you're going to have a kid, has a virgin. And she says the same thing how is this going to be Right?
Speaker 1:
Yep, and. But the funny thing is and this is where I guess Gabriel had some, you know, special discernment from God. Right, and he goes because you didn't believe you're going to be mute until the kid's born. Right, and with Mary he's like it's going to be great.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, and not only mute, but because it says that, um, he had signs made to him. He was probably deaf too, which the angel doesn't say, but you have to assume that while so they're making signs to him, oh interesting. So he can speak and he couldn't hear oh that I didn't even like that. I didn't elaborate on that at all.
Speaker 1:
That is wild. I didn't even think about that, yeah. So here you've got a deaf mute. Now he can't hear what anybody's saying. He can't enjoy, you know. Imagine how fun it would be to be a proud father at an old age and say, look what God has done. And you can't even enjoy it Cause you can't hear what's going on. Now, maybe he already couldn't hear cause he was old. I mean, has anybody ever been to Thanksgiving table and it's like, yeah, grandpa there, and you start talking and midway through he just tunes out and he just says in his own world and you're like I just said a lot of words to the air, anyway. So I think that might have been happening, but he clearly he couldn't hear, he couldn't talk, and that was because he did not believe. Now, katie, has there ever been a moment where you did not believe and you got direct punishment like that?
Speaker 3:
Like what kind of punishment?
Speaker 1:
I don't know, do you tell me? This is the part where I feel like if one thing is great about you when I ask you a question, somehow answers come. So it's amazing. So like there's been things where you've believed stuff and you haven't believed stuff, and have you seen reward or consequence because of that?
Speaker 3:
This is one of those questions that, like I, would have loved like 10 minutes.
Speaker 2:
Yes.
Speaker 3:
To process. Listen, you do think a really tough application one. Yeah, because this is like a direct like I'm having to just reflect on, like the last 31 years of my life, like well, when you didn't, wasn't there a moment?
Speaker 1:
you didn't believe your parents on selling, or didn't believe your, and then there's a consequence for that. Like I don't really think that's hot.
Speaker 2:
This is so to make this the question more specific what promises of God have you not believed and have gotten punishment for that don't have to do with your salvation. Like there, this isn't like God being like. You're not mine anymore, or?
Speaker 1:
whatever, but like consequences, because it's like.
Speaker 2:
God said something to you and you didn't believe him, and there was a consequence.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I mean, because here I think I love about Zachariah is it's like, not that God doesn't love him, not that God doesn't. I mean the consequence that he gets for not believing is like, oh, you just saw an angel, you literally just freaked out, yeah, and now you're not going to believe what the angel says. And that wild to me, that's wild To me. That's like like even you know, for the little that I do believe about stuff, like I believe that a parachute will hold me, but I didn't really believe it until I went out the airplane. And I think that's for me where I feel like Zachariah. I mean, he believed in God. I don't think he didn't believe in God, he clearly believed in God. He given his whole life to following God. What else would you do? But then, the moment where he's met with an angel, his thought isn't like well, whatever this guy's bringing, I'm getting his responses. How can this be? I'm old. And then that's where we go Nothing is impossible with God, which is what the angel actually tells Mary, which I love. That reality. He doesn't tell that to Zachariah. He'll learn that the hard way. But how will this be? Well, nothing's impossible with God. Mary's like all right, so let it be done to your servant. I think that's the beauty that I really I'm really experiencing there with that of just that trusting God in a real, tangible way. And I think that's hard for us as people, and maybe that in general, his promises or his goodness, his grace and you've probably seen this with your kids, as we're all parents at this point when you tell your kids something and they don't really believe you. Have you experienced that with Eva? What would be one thing that she doesn't believe you on yet?
Speaker 3:
Like if I tell her I'm gonna give you a spanking if you do this, yeah, she's like no, you won't.
Speaker 1:
Oh, all right, let's do the dance. Yeah, I think that would be. That's one way to look at it. I think for me it's like when I tell my children to do something and then they don't wanna do it and I go. You know that I love you, right, and they have to really think about it and they go, yes, so everything I'm telling you to do is because I love you, not because I don't love you, and they have to think about it and they're like they're really weighing it in their head and their heart. Does my daddy love me? Because he's asking me or telling me this? I don't know if I believe it. I think that's where a lot of us are with God and I think that's where Zachariah was Like. Again, it's like if you were to write it down yes, god loves me, but then, when God asks me to do something, you're like I don't know.
Speaker 2:
This is a weird one, because this is like his desire. It's like, if you have I don't know for your kids, if your kid's asking like, daddy, you have me, like the new PlayStation, and he's been asking for forever, then you're like, hey, I'm gonna get you the new PlayStation, and for your kid to be like, oh, you're not gonna do it.
Speaker 1:
It's like that's so weird. Oh, that would be so hurtful, yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be hurtful If I were to give okay. So my third son, titus all he wants is a switch. He's been asking for a switch since January. Okay, holy. And I'm like, no, you're too young for a switch. No, you're too. And then you're like, okay, overtime, all right maybe and then, and I'm like all right, I'm fully decided, I'm gonna get him a switch. And then I go on Christmas present this, and I'll say, like you know, because we don't really do Santa Claus, I'll be like hey, we're getting you the switch, but you have to wait till Christmas to get it. And then he goes no, you won't. Man, that's hurtful.
Speaker 2:
That is hurtful yeah.
Speaker 1:
Because what you're saying is like my words, not good. What you're saying is like I don't really love you and I don't want good things for you.
Speaker 3:
I finally acquiesced to good things. See, I don't know that that would bother me.
Speaker 1:
Really.
Speaker 3:
Cause what, like I think I would just be like well, okay, and then you're not getting it. You're not getting it Fine.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is yeah.
Speaker 3:
Okay all right, but maybe that's just because that's how I was raised.
Speaker 1:
So there's trauma there.
Speaker 3:
I don't know that I would call that trauma. Let's talk about Thanksgiving?
Speaker 1:
I don't know that I would call that trauma.
Speaker 3:
I think that sometimes God allows us to experience punishment that we brought on ourselves not necessarily that he was like, because I can't think of a time where I felt like God deliberately punished me for something.
Speaker 1:
Punishment might not be the right word, but discipline would that be okay, Discipline is way better because, I can think of many times where I have experienced a version of punishment that, what? Could we use discipline?
Speaker 2:
As a consequence to your action.
Speaker 3:
A consequence to, yes, my disobedience and just my selfishness. I guess an example. And I'm trying so hard to answer your question because I think it's a good question, but I think my brain is just so fried already that I'm just trying hard.
Speaker 1:
Have another swig of Malone's coffee.
Speaker 3:
This last year I've been trying to work on not dwelling on things I did wrong or parenting mistakes. If a morning like this morning happened a year ago then it would have gone way differently. I would have lost my crap and probably a lot of rage slapping would have happened a lot of screaming, a lot of just. It would have been awful I had to learn that I'm punishing myself when I sit and I dwell in this shame. I could have done that better. Or I'm not doing something beneficial to my heart.
Speaker 1:
As you're talking, I'm thinking Romans 8-1,. There's no condonation for those who are in Christ. That's the promise that has been given to you and you're going like no, no, I'm going to keep my shame.
Speaker 3:
I'm literally sitting there like no. I need to punish myself, I need to feel guilty about this because I'm terrible and I need to remember this and I need to know that I need to feel bad about this.
Speaker 1:
There's a part of that I can appreciate, because whenever Austin loses a game and he's brought up like remember this feeling, remember this pain, we will never lose again. You know I can go there.
Speaker 2:
We're going to go train harder?
Speaker 1:
I don't think that's where you're going.
Speaker 3:
No, that's not no. Where I was at was I need to remember how crappy of a mom I am?
Speaker 2:
Oh gosh.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, so that in the future, when this happens again, it's expected because I, because I suck, okay, so this is where I want to take you, to Zachariah.
Speaker 1:
It could have been like I'm sure God does promises, I'm sure he answers prayer for other people, but for me, clearly, because what it said about Elizabeth is that God removed her reproach from among the people. So she was a disgrace and you brought this up that I thought she wouldn't have felt disgrace if she was like an honored member of the community. It was like oh yeah, Elizabeth, clearly she's done something wrong because you know, look at her, no kids. And I think that that was a big deal that she carried and that shame that she carried. And so I think Zachariah, I've sort of weighed on him as well. Clearly God's promises are for somebody else. Is that kind of, because I think you believe in God's grace for other people? I've seen you share Jesus. Now obviously you're very vocal about sharing your faith, so clearly you believe it for other people.
Speaker 3:
Oh, I didn't believe that I deserved grace for a second, Like I didn't. I just thought there was a time a year ago, like within the last year, year and a half, there was a time where I genuinely believed that God was punishing me by giving me Ava.
Speaker 2:
Wow.
Speaker 3:
Like I was so low and I was like this is punishment. I did something. I did something. God is disciplining me because he is angry with me.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that part is the not true part, right, because the way he looks at you is the same way he looks at Jesus, and I'm so glad you brought that up, because I think somebody there is saying the same thing. They're going through circumstances that are really hard and you've assumed a motive behind God's allowing this to happen is because you deserve pain, hurt and wrath. But what we do know is that God loves you, katie, as much as he loves Jesus because of John 17. I pray Jesus, jesus is praying. I pray, father, that you would love them even as equal to the way you love me. So you have that promise, which is so wild, and then, on top of that, jesus saves you from your sin, and then he saves you from the circumstances that we find ourselves in, because our hope and our heart is in heaven. But he's allowing, just like Moses still had a ministry after he met God, like he meets God on the mountain and God gives him a ministry, he does it alongside him, and so now you get to parent Ava alongside the Lord. And so this is what I think you know. I think there might be somebody who doesn't know this. Is that what Katie is doing? She's parenting Ava with God, emanuel, god with us in the throes of tantrums, screaming pain, to force Katie to rely on him and not on her own understanding, to which I think this goes back to why this is so true. You're gonna have a Mary heart or a Zachariah heart. A Mary heart you know, it's beautiful at Mary hearts. They're young and they haven't been screwed over yet, okay, and Zachariah has got a heart that's been beat down over time and there's a lot of scarring there. That you've learned the ways of the world and that it might make you wise, but it doesn't make you godly and what? Well, that's why I think God's always taken us to a childlike faith, and what I want Katie to hear and what I want, if you're like Katie, what I want you to hear is, like there's moments where you're gonna have to be reminded that he didn't save you to punish you. He saved you to grow you, and sometimes growing is painful and so, man, thanks for. That's wild, I think that's an incredible story, and I knew that you always, like I said, just kick it over to Cated, she'll make something awesome. Well, so the thing that kind of struck me about this is there's this great alarm, and I do want to go back to the story that you shared in the survey, because it was so random.
Speaker 3:
Oh, the car thing, yeah, okay, I was listening to that and the whole time I'm thinking I think I would have told this story way differently, like with a different kind of like Emphasis Manor.
Speaker 2:
No.
Speaker 1:
Oh, manor, I think I would have felt a little. Here's your sermon critique Go ahead.
Speaker 3:
You were telling it like such a dude, like such a dude. Like this is what happened. And then I was like what?
Speaker 2:
But you see how I got to the story. Like the purpose of the story was you don't remember what it was.
Speaker 3:
It's like I think I saw what you were.
Speaker 2:
I thought it was like a very funny story to use, but I understood that you were trying to say, like it was a shock, there we go, okay, good, we got there, we got there, it's fine. No, I understood the point you were trying to make.
Speaker 3:
It was a funny story to use, but I understood that you were like we've seen. It's not like a car crash is like so bizarre. It's not like. It's like crazy. It was a crazy moment and you were still shocked but it wasn't something so like. It's not like. We saw an angel.
Speaker 2:
Right, right right.
Speaker 3:
And so I understood that connection.
Speaker 1:
But the way that you were telling the story. How would a woman who really knows how to tell stories there was?
Speaker 3:
like no concern for the guy which I get or like maybe he was fine. Or like the daughter, like you were like yeah, it happened outside the little girl's window or something, and I would have been like and I said the dad was probably like, so that is so sad. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
You need to dwell there a little longer.
Speaker 3:
You just were, she was fine.
Speaker 1:
She has to go to therapy now every Wednesday.
Speaker 3:
Well, I'm like poor girl, Like this wreck happens right outside her window and like it just Apparently.
Speaker 2:
That's the second one it's happened before and the last guy he killed himself on the tree outside their house. I should have said that, so this one isn't as bad. That probably would have made the story better. I honestly so. I never think of, I almost never think of these stories.
Speaker 1:
Can I just get some credit for empathy? Right there? Yeah, thank you, because he has zero.
Speaker 2:
That's coming from you. Oh gosh, where have we gotten to my God. So it's the girl that you had the problem with.
Speaker 3:
Well, no, I feel like I would have told the story with like a little more emotion. You know, like there was there's kind of like a depth of emotion that like you would have if you tell a story about this wreck For those who didn't hear the story, can you? Tell it was a bad guy.
Speaker 1:
It was a bad guy why? Would.
Speaker 2:
I have so much concern for him.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, he was a bad guy he was a criminal, he was a cop, but I didn't know what. You didn't explain that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 3:
I said he left.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, and he got caught. Yeah, good news. He's going through the back yard of the neighbor, the coppers Got him, the guy who was hiding in the doghouse oh he's like you'll get him.
Speaker 1:
Okay, look, please tell the story one more time, because I think no. Let's tell the dude style, because I feel like this would be good for his. See her reaction.
Speaker 3:
Go ahead, yes, just.
Speaker 2:
Recap it, will you Wait? Who's? The guy deserves no empathy. The only empathy he deserves is from the beginning, when you don't know what happened to him.
Speaker 1:
Yeah that's what I was thinking and Lauren has. Who is the girl in the story? Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:
So we hear they're like okay, something happened. And Lauren gets up and she starts to go out and I'm like, lauren, please go back. I don't know who this is, and I praise God for Texas and be able to get my gun. Yeah, and I go outside and this dude like climbs out of his window. He's fine. He just like sprouts up and he's like are you good, bro? I was like I'm good and like are you good? He's acting really funny.
Speaker 3:
So at this point I have no empathy. Well, no, it wasn't a concern about the dude. Yeah, it just.
Speaker 1:
Was he armed.
Speaker 3:
Whatever you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:
He just looked funny, bro. He was just like jumping all over the place. He's like I'm good, I was like you were acting weird, bro, so I backed up and then he just like I'm gonna go give somebody a call and he just takes off and I was like oh frick, did you like check on your neighbors? Yeah, we did we offered to go? Why didn't you say that Dude Lauren went to go? Offer the guys like, hey, I can give her a ride tomorrow in the morning because all four of their cars are totaled? I should have said that about the girl on the ride. What made it seem like I didn't care for this?
Speaker 1:
You just don't care about those people man.
Speaker 3:
No, that's not what I was saying. It was such a casual story for such an intense.
Speaker 1:
Oh, that was about I guess that's the point it's like because not that Zachariah going into the Holy of Holies to offer incense yeah, it's a big deal, but he was not expecting Gabriel. That was like shocker, yeah.
Speaker 3:
Um and Gabriel, it was the same angel, yeah.
Speaker 1:
So the Gabriel had a mission to talk to two people. One responds in non faith, one's response in faith, but they both say the same thing.
Speaker 3:
What was the time difference in this? Like how many years?
Speaker 1:
Well, remember, um six months. So Gabriel goes to Zachariah and she's pregnant at some point after that, I'm sure, because they have to do the thing. And then, uh, he goes and visits um Mary and then she heads over and she's six months pregnant. So maybe it took even if it took her like a it's between the fifth and sixth month. I don't think it took her a full month to get over where she was, but you know she has to walk. It wasn't like she could take the bus or get her scooter, moped drive.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it was like a hundred miles almost, yeah.
Speaker 1:
So it's like yeah, she had, she had to get, so it may have taken them, you know, at least a couple of weeks for her to get over there, about six months roughly. So, yeah, all right. Okay, all right, hold up. So the other part of your server that I really enjoyed, uh, was the chicken shawarma, and I found out that some people don't know what shawarma is and I got asked can you explain? And I kind of gave it a chicken but, uh, can you explain shawarma?
Speaker 2:
Cause it's not always like an Arabic burrito.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, an Arabic burrito Like tacos.
Speaker 2:
Like the way that.
Speaker 1:
Austin.
Speaker 3:
I think about tacos Arabs, think about you know like what's the word Arabs.
Speaker 1:
Think about uh shawarma right the it might wait what. So the way that Austin I think about tacos is the way that Arabs think about shawarma Shawarma.
Speaker 2:
Uh, austinites and tacos are different cultures. Shawamas come from like, like Greek, ain't like um.
Speaker 1:
Mediterranean yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean I like tacos, yeah, but the taco truck and that every everywhere you go in Austin everything's tacos. Everything's tacos.
Speaker 3:
Austinites love tacos.
Speaker 2:
I guess Arabs and shawamas are like like it's like Mexicans and tacos.
Speaker 1:
Okay, they're Mexican tacos. There you go. All right, yeah, fair enough, that's way better. What was the shawarma thing? Again, we're the Senegal girl here in Austin. Okay, can you explain. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Tell us, tell us what shawarma is. I was just like my. I just remember my dad being real happy when he found out that my mom was pregnant and he owned a shawarma shop for his graduates, Like when he was in grad school and he was like all right everybody I'm having a son or I'm having a kid and everybody gets a shawarma. Absolutely like passed out.
Speaker 1:
Hold on. The thing that's kind of odd about this story is your dad owned a shawarma shop in grad school, which means but isn't he rich now?
Speaker 2:
Well, he was rich, then he was rich then yeah, it's one of those things you can't own something and go to grad school.
Speaker 3:
Yeah Well you can't really own something really and be that rich.
Speaker 2:
What do you mean?
Speaker 3:
Like if he owns a shop.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah. He wanted to. He wanted to prove it. He was like dad, I don't want you to is one of those things he's like so is he rich now because of the shawarma shop?
Speaker 3:
No he was.
Speaker 2:
They were filthy rich way before. But it's one of those things Like I don't want to take daddy's money, I want to like prove yeah, it was one of those things and he did.
Speaker 1:
Wow, that's wild. All right, well, I do, and I love the part where you talked about your praying for your dad. Talked cause, I don't think. I think several people came up to me and were like, well, I didn't realize, and it's like I think you've mentioned this almost every time you preach. I'm not sure how they were not paying attention then, but talk to me about how your dad isn't saved and he is in Jordan. He is a Muslim yeah, nominally Muslim.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, nominally yeah. He's not a real Muslim. If he was, then he'd be like Jihad. Like Jihad yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so so he's. He's a good dude, but he doesn't know Jesus and that puts a little you know in your relationship. How is that for you?
Speaker 2:
Honestly, that wasn't that bad. It was basically it was very like cordial, like hey, we just can't do this and and I dipped out and then I was like cool and but ever since then it's just like we. He would send me like videos of Muslim stuff. I'd send him videos of Christian stuff and send like Bible verse and all the stuff, and it wasn't bad, like it was just cool. The thing where we stopped talking recently, over the past year, is he he. He purposefully put his name on my grandma's property in Ukraine.
Speaker 1:
Who's my mom? Who's?
Speaker 2:
my mom's mom, because he was just like hey, like she, my mom took, like, took away my son and I'm going to like and now that his name is on her property, my grandma can't receive her pension. So he's just like hey, I'm just going to make it hurt and I was like let's sex, can you not do that? He's like Nope. And I was like all right, well, that sucks. So now I'm not going to talk to you.
Speaker 1:
Wow. Christian Muslim stuff, because I mean he's not he doesn't, he's not, he doesn't believe me he doesn't, he doesn't have that, he doesn't care about it enough.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, emotionally it's not his life.
Speaker 1:
Right.
Speaker 2:
It's just where he grew up, and does he have other wives? Like, does he have? Like he has, no, no, so he has one wife now, but a bunch of congobinds Pretty much.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, okay, wow, what a, what a interesting life. And and so you guys haven't really communicated since that apartment issue, I guess, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:
Wow, that's wild.
Speaker 1:
Okay. So what I'm going to talk about is like the amount of faith that it takes for you to engage. God about your dad? Yeah, and still, and this is why, and I've always said this every pastor's daddy issues, including me, and I think that what happens is that what allows people like us to engage is is the God of the ages, is our dad, which makes it working for him way easier, because all of the having to prove yourself in a sense is at least for me is gone, because I'm so approved. I was reading this this morning in Daniel 9.23, and I know this is like a random aside, but it says God gives them this visions and he says Daniel, you are greatly loved. And I was like what a weird place to put that. And it's the angel Gabriel coming to Daniel and he says you are greatly loved. And I was so moved by that, primarily because If I know that God loved Daniel and he loved Jesus way more than you consume Daniel, then I get more love than Daniel got. And Daniel was like pretty much perfect. Like you don't ever find Daniel sinning, like I'm sure he did somewhere, and he's in fact in Daniel 9, he's praying for goodness for his own sins, but in the sins of the people. But I appreciate that is that here God greatly loves. And because that takes away this, he's just an energy source, he's just a. You have a motion, you have a care, you have a desire for someone. And that to your point, katie, earlier, as God isn't like he is fire, but he's fire with feeling, in a sense, where he has compassion towards you and deep love for you. And the only way he can wrap his arms around you is because Jesus came, died on the cross, put his spirit, rose from dead, put his spirit inside you and so you can feel that warmth of his love that just sort of wraps you up. And that's what's so powerful about this kind of faith and what's so wild that Gabriel, who did talk to Daniel, gabriel who did talk to Zachariah, gabriel who did talk to Mary, communicates this great love for all the world, specific to a person, but then even greater, to save the world from its own sin. So wrap that in and put it on a bow for me, because you know we we did start Advent a day early, because we can but talk to me about, like what it means, the Advent that we're waiting for now.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think I kind of just like when I use my dad as the example for being happy to share the good news of. I'm going to have a kid with Zachariah and I said this during second service. I don't think I said it during first Um I. It was a punishment for him to not be able to share the good news the Evangelion. And I think I said that um for the average.
Speaker 1:
You said, this first service not second, I said the second service. Yeah, cause I missed that one. This is great.
Speaker 2:
And, uh, and I said, and I said that for the average evangelical Christian, if, if they were told, hey, your punishment is you won't be able to share the good news, I don't actually think they'd see this punishment Right. Um, so I feel like there's, I feel like that's the like in the Advent is like Zachariah. He got to lose out on sharing um when he wanted to and it's like, do we even want to? So I feel like that's the challenge.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, well, that's wild yeah.
Speaker 2:
That's a great challenge. Yeah, to be in Zachariah's place, where you're upset, you first have to have a desire to where you want to share.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and I think you know again, this goes back to probably the if there's a primary issue of the American, the American evangelical church, it's like the consumeristic mindset of I come, I consume my religious goods and services and I go home and do my next thing. I go to consume my workout goods and services. I go to my uh uh sports thing and I go consume that, and then I go to Starbucks and I consume that, and so there's church becomes another feel good positivity moment as opposed to. This is life and I have the answer. I literally have the answers to eternal life. I literally have the answers to all that is good in the world and I can share it with you and give you hope. But something is preventing me and I'm so grateful that I'm mute right now. You know, I think that's you would say that, and what I want you to say is like you're not mute. In fact, the good news is, if you've received that, it should be. It's time to give everybody a shawarma, I think. I think that's how excited you should be, and I think that's how excited we are, and and I think that's the good news, katie any thoughts on the excitement of sharing about Jesus? No, that's just something that just comes intrinsic to you. How's it going with sharing with your neighbor?
Speaker 3:
Um good, I heard some playing and friends over at their house a few days ago, and so I just walked on over and I love it.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, this, so wait. You just walked over and said like hey, can I my daughter come and play?
Speaker 3:
No, they were having like a gathering it was like a Saturday morning and they were having.
Speaker 1:
It was like um, so I mean, I don't mean, did you text first or did you just show up?
Speaker 3:
No, I just showed up. They're Israeli.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, that's just what you do, okay.
Speaker 3:
Um, like they loved it.
Speaker 1:
Okay, awesome.
Speaker 3:
So sadly, um, all of the family members that they have been searching for, they were all murdered, and so they were having, they were having all of their like Israeli friends over to have like a, a kind of like a memorial. And so I didn't realize it was a memorial, but I knew that her, I knew that they had just found out two days before that that their last, the last family member that they were like waiting to see if, if, she was either kidnapped or murdered, um, they just found out that she was found murdered in Gaza and um, and so I I was like, well, I hear a lot of people over there, and so I had Ava and we didn't have any plans. So we just walked over and um walked into the backyard and they were all hanging out and they were having like a traditional um meal together, like a traditional breakfast, and um, yeah, that's like wild. And they, I mean, of course, like I walked in and I immediately realized, oh they were, this is like a memorial service that they were having. Like, not like a memorial service.
Speaker 1:
Right, but a memorial gathering, like were they telling stories about their relatives.
Speaker 3:
And so, um, I was like I'm so sorry. I just heard everyone here and I've met all of her friends like, and they all know who I am, oh, that's sweet, so I walked in and they're like, oh, hi and um, she's like I love that. You know that you're just invited over whenever and that you just came over, and I was like, yeah, I'm, I hope it's okay that it was this morning. And she's like, yeah, no, I'm so glad you, you'd like just walked into their house, Our house.
Speaker 1:
That's really special. Wow, and so that's really being a blessing Way to go.
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Wow, that's powerful.
Speaker 3:
All right, Well, hey.
Speaker 1:
I don't know how we roll from there, but, uh, thanks for watching it. Man, we'd love for you to like, share and subscribe and, if you don't know, if you, if you have any questions, text us 737-231-0635 or go to pastorplechcom. We'd love to hear from you. Uh, wherever you're at in your spiritual journey, just let us give us a little ring, let us know and tell a friend. And so grateful for you joining us from our house to yours.
