Embracing Our Stories: God's Narrative in Our Lives

1. "We are one church in multiple locations with the same belief that hope is for everyone, and our stories are the way that we see and show that to one another and to the world. Met's story of finding Jesus at Menlo and becoming a vital part of our church is a beautiful example of that. Her joy is contagious, and we are better, not just because God wrote part of her story here, but because she was willing to share it." [01:00] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "Some of us, maybe for you, if your life was a story, you came today, and you're in the middle of a chapter that makes you want to give up on the story of your life. And I hope that you won't. I hope that what you'll discover in the coming moments and weeks together is that even when you want to give up, your story is still being written." [04:30] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Our stories have different genres. Like, we can go chapter to chapter, and the story feels different. Some of the chapters are romance. Some of the chapters are personal development. Maybe for some of you, you feel like you're in the middle of a chapter that's, like, the genre is horror, right? Like, we all have different genres and different chapters of our life. Encouragement is that you not give up on the story that God is writing in your life." [04:50] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "The power of story, it isn't just the power to live out the truth, it's the power to live out what we believe. And sometimes, the challenges that are in our lives make us live a story that we believe, even if it isn't true. And so, as we make sure we're living out God's story for us over the next few minutes together, here's my encouragement to you. Don't give up on the power of your story for the problems of your situation." [06:21] (22 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "We all have things in our life that would lead us to believe that our story has already had its conclusion predetermined, but it actually hasn't. You know, from your perspective, you have every day in front of you, and God has this long arc of history that he is working on your story in connection with other people's to deliver." [07:36] (20 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "Some of you, you can't imagine that the addiction you're hung up on right now could be overcome, that the diagnosis you're in right now could be healed, that the headwinds at work that you face will ever subside. And story, it might seem like a sweet idea for someone with free time, but that's not you. And I would tell you that you are living a powerful story, truth, lie, or the combination. It's just maybe not helping you, and I think that it can." [07:55] (26 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "What's tricky is when we try to live on our own, we're not going to be able to live on our own. And we live a story that's a mixture of truth and error, because oftentimes we will live into the thing we believe, whether it's true or not. The late, great Dallas Willard puts it this way. He says, what we call reality is, in fact, nothing more than a story we tell ourselves until we discover the reality of God's kingdom. Then we begin to see the world, and I would argue our story as it truly is." [05:08] (27 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "Now, before we get started, I do kind of just want to ask, have you ever read a book and realized, like, just a few pages into the book that the book is terrible? Now, there are a few books that I have picked up over the years, and I feel like autocorrect of the program that the book was written in could have written a better book than the one that I'm reading. Anybody ever been there before? It just feels like an absolute waste of time." [03:51] (28 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "Now, our youngest, Wells, has a new habit as an exuberant five-year-old, where he will ask you something, usually for a treat, and before you can even respond, he just says, thank you, and runs off. So, be like, hey, Daddy, can I have a Popsicle? And I'm like, well, buddy, it's 6 a.m., and you haven't eaten anything. And he's like, thank you, Daddy, you're the best, and just runs away. Now, he knows exactly what he's doing, and unfortunately, I think some of us have some of the same kind of conversation relationship with God." [06:21] (28 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "All summer, we spent time digging into a chapter in the letter to the church at Rome in the first century, written by the Apostle Paul. Paul, someone who had a radical experience in the church, and he said, I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. 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