Embracing Spiritual Freedom Through Love and Community

### Bible Reading

1. **Galatians 5:1, 13-15 (NIV)**
> "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery... You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."

2. **Joshua 24:15 (NIV)**
> "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

3. **John 12:46-48 (NIV)**
> "I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day."

### Observation Questions

1. What does Paul emphasize about the purpose of our freedom in Christ according to Galatians 5:13? How should we use this freedom? [31:08]
2. In Joshua 24:15, what choice does Joshua present to the Israelites, and what decision does he declare for his own household? [39:55]
3. According to John 12:46-48, what is Jesus' primary mission in coming into the world, and how does He describe the future judgment? [42:47]
4. What societal challenges did the pastor mention that parallel the early church's struggles? [33:02]

### Interpretation Questions

1. How does Paul's instruction in Galatians 5:1 and 13-15 about freedom and love challenge the way we interact within our church community? [31:08]
2. What does Joshua's declaration in Joshua 24:15 teach us about the importance of making intentional choices in our spiritual lives? [39:55]
3. How does Jesus' approach to judgment in John 12:46-48 influence our understanding of forgiveness and grace within the church? [42:47]
4. Reflecting on the pastor's discussion of societal challenges, how can we as a church create a spiritually safe space amidst these challenges? [33:02]

### Application Questions

1. How can you prioritize relationships over rules in your daily interactions within the church community? Can you think of a specific instance where focusing on the person rather than the rule made a difference? [38:07]
2. In what ways can you offer choices rather than exert control in your relationships, both within the church and in your personal life? How does this reflect God's approach as seen in Joshua 24:15? [41:04]
3. Think of a time when you chose forgiveness over judgment. How did this decision impact your relationship with the person involved? How can you foster a community of grace and healing in your church? [42:47]
4. How can you actively participate in creating a supportive community that helps identify and address sin in a loving manner? What steps can you take to ensure that feedback is given and received in love? [45:37]
5. Reflect on your openness to learning and adapting both personally and as part of the church. What specific actions can you take to be more open to new ideas and feedback from your community? [46:47]
6. How can you help create a spiritually safe space in your church where people feel free to grow and share their struggles? What role can you play in fostering this environment? [36:55]
7. Identify one area in your life where you feel spiritually constrained. What steps can you take to embrace the freedom that Christ offers and serve others in love? [31:08]

Day 1: Love Transcends Legalism
In a world where rules often dictate interactions, it's essential to remember that the heart of faith is love. Legalism can ensnare, leading to judgment and exclusion, but prioritizing relationships invites a spirit of acceptance and unity. The essence of the law, to love one's neighbor, should be the guiding force in the church community. This approach fosters a nurturing environment where individuals feel valued and supported, allowing them to grow in their faith and as people. It's about seeing beyond the letter of the law to the spirit that gives it life, which is love. [38:07]

"Do not owe anyone anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law." (Romans 13:8 ESV)

Reflection: How can you demonstrate love over legalism in a recent disagreement or conflict within your community?

Day 2: Freedom to Choose
The gift of choice is a divine principle, reflecting God's respect for human agency. Just as God allowed the Israelites to choose to serve Him, individuals should be granted the autonomy to make their own spiritual decisions. This respect for personal choice encourages growth and responsibility. It's about creating a space where people are free to explore, question, and ultimately commit to their path, without coercion. This environment of freedom is where true spiritual formation can occur. [41:04]

"If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing well." (James 2:8 ESV)

Reflection: In what ways can you offer others the freedom to choose their own spiritual path, and how can you support them in their journey?

Day 3: The Grace of Forgiveness
Christ's mission was to save, not to condemn, and this mission is the cornerstone of a community built on grace. Forgiveness over judgment creates a safe space for confession, repentance, and growth. When individuals are met with grace rather than condemnation, they are more likely to open up about their struggles, allowing the healing process to begin. This approach not only mirrors Christ's love but also builds a community where people are empowered to overcome their shortcomings. [42:47]

"Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." (Colossians 3:13 ESV)

Reflection: Who do you need to forgive in your life, and what steps can you take today to move towards forgiveness?

Day 4: Community as a Mirror
Sin often reveals itself within the context of relationships, making community an essential element for spiritual growth. A supportive community provides the mirror needed to recognize and address personal failings. Constructive feedback, given and received in love, is a powerful tool for transformation. This requires a commitment to honesty, vulnerability, and a willingness to change. In such a community, growth is not just an individual endeavor but a collective journey. [45:37]

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." (James 5:16 ESV)

Reflection: How can you contribute to creating a community that lovingly helps each other recognize and overcome sin?

Day 5: The Virtue of Openness
Openness is the soil in which personal and communal growth thrives. Being open to learning, listening, and adapting is crucial for a vibrant faith community. This openness should extend beyond the church walls, embracing wisdom from various sources. It's about being receptive to new ideas, willing to question the status quo, and eager to implement changes that lead to better reflection of Christ's love. A church that embodies openness is one that continually evolves and effectively serves its members and the wider community. [46:47]

"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance." (Proverbs 1:5 ESV)

Reflection: What is one area where you can practice being more open, and how can you encourage openness within your church community?

Well, I want to thank you all for joining me for our new Easter series. As we journey into the season of Easter, which starts today, I do say "season of Easter" because in the life of the church, we don't just celebrate one day. We actually have a whole season where we reflect on the resurrection of our Lord, which starts with Easter Sunday.

This is our series where we're talking about holy boundaries. If you want to follow along with notes, you can do that either by going to our website and clicking the e-mag, which is the tab at the top, and there is a button there under the live stream for sermon notes, or you can do that inside the app by clicking "Worship." That's not necessary, but some people find that helpful.

So, I just want to start by saying I am very thankful for things in life that keep me safe—things like guardrails on the road. Yeah, we lived in Kentucky for almost 10 years. There are mountainous roads that go along the river, and we had a mountain cliff on one side and a drop on the other. I was very thankful for the guardrail around the curves, especially in the icy winter, to ensure that I stayed on the road at all times.

I’m also very thankful for things like handrails and railings, especially when I go on very high porches in the condominiums. I'm afraid of heights, and I would not go to the edge to look at the beautiful creation if there was not that railing there to ensure that I did not have any oopses and fall over.

I don’t know about you, but I'm also thankful for things like traffic lights. Is anybody thankful for traffic lights? Yeah! Could you imagine our entire world if we only had four-way stops? I don't know about you, but I don't like four-way stops. I don't like roundabouts either. I spent a lot of time going, "It's your turn to go; you have the right of way," and it would be a disaster if that was all of our world. We’d all be yelling all the time. Maybe we'd be better at it, but I'm not convinced that we would be. I like the traffic lights; they keep us safe and make sure everybody knows where they're supposed to go.

See, these things—even the walls of this building—are boundaries that help protect us. Oftentimes, boundaries help keep us safe. Even laws are boundaries. I had to explain to Abigail, my daughter, as soon as she learned to read, that the traffic sign that says, "I drive 45 miles an hour" is a law, but a suggestion. I can drive around 45 miles an hour; I can drive a little under or a little over. If I drive too far under the speed limit, I get in trouble. If I drive too far over the speed limit, I get in trouble. I do not have to drive exactly 45. I'm sure you've all had that conversation with your children at some point in life as well—until they turn 16, and then they're told they have to drive exactly the speed limit, right?

So, it is just one of those things that the laws and all these things keep us safe, and the boundaries that we have are intentional.

Well, today on Easter is the day we think about the unending power of God—that God is here so that we can think about all the stuff that Jesus did in his life. He cast out demons from people; he healed people; he prophesied; he raised people from the dead. But Jesus is the only one in creation that we know of who raised himself back to life. We have no record of any other great prophet or great teacher or anyone else who raised their own life back. God's power is unending and unmeasurable. It's an amazing thing—so much that Rome tried to snuff out all record of Jesus. They killed everyone they could who witnessed the life of Jesus, witnessed his miracles. They tried to silence all of the church because it was so impactful to them. They were threatened by the power that Jesus represented.

So, to think about that on this Easter day, we are going to look at the book of Galatians, which is a letter of Paul who was writing to one of his churches in the city of Galatia, which is in modern Turkey. We're going to look at chapter 5, starting in verse 1:

"So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law."

Jumping to verse 13:

"For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters, but don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another."

I've wondered at times why God decided that I needed to be a pastor in times like these. He could have placed me in creation as a person a hundred years ago when life was easy in the church, or maybe a hundred years from now when a brand new revolution of Christianity has started. But no, he had to do it in a time like this, and I wonder why that is.

You see, it's an interesting time to be trying to do Christian work. We've had a lot of rises that make it hard. For example, there's this movement, especially on social media, called the "Trad Wife." You see, that's trying to put pressure on women to not work and go back to the traditional way of being only a homemaker and only doing things like cooking and cleaning and not trying to have any profession at all. They make people feel guilty for not doing that. That's part of the society right now. The news is filled with only bad stuff about the church. It seems like you never see them making articles about all the good stuff we do; you only see the bad stuff. You know, like such and such pastor embezzled millions of dollars, or this church has done that, or that church has done that, or they're arguing again. Everywhere we turn, there seems to be more bad stuff.

And then you look at the political divide, which is no longer a rift; it is as wide as the Grand Canyon. And let's just even think about the fact that America is no longer Christian, so we're doing nothing but an uphill battle, and post-COVID churches are struggling so much, and they don't know who to blame. This is the society and the world in the modern time that God says, "Congratulations, Faith, you're going to go try and be a pastor." And I'm like, "Really, God? We couldn't have done this at a different time?"

So when I think about all these things, I think about this letter of Paul because Paul and I, we get along really well because his situation in modern Turkey looks not that much different sometimes than our situation now. You see, it's only been a handful of years since Jesus has resurrected and ascended to heaven, and the early church, they're fighting. They've got a rift in their early church too, and they're arguing over if the Gentile Christians should be like the Jewish Christians and get circumcised because the Jewish Christians say, "Well, everybody's supposed to be circumcised; it's in the law. God put it there; we've all had to do it, so all the Gentile Christians should do it too." By the way, that's not a membership requirement in the church today. I don't ask for proof. Glad they settled that, right?

To us, this argument is not a big deal; we don't think about it. But to them, this was huge. This was probably bigger than anything we argue about today because this was the Covenant of Abraham. This is what connected them to their history and to everything that they had been fighting for and holding on to—their entire connection. And they can't figure out how to make sense of a whole part of the Christian church not being in the Covenant with them that they were raised to believe was the essence of everything.

And Paul's been sent to try to evangelize and convert the Gentile Christians, and the Jewish Christians are trying to bring them back under this Covenant of the law. What's interesting about that is if we jump over to the Book of Matthew, Matthew records a sermon of Jesus, which we call the Sermon on the Mount. And he says this in Matthew chapter 5:

"But I warn you, unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. You have heard that our ancestors were told, 'You must not murder.' If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment. But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment. If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell."

So this is the law that the Jewish Christians are trying to bring the Gentiles into, and Jesus is saying you can't live into it. That's why Jesus died and raised himself back to life—to set us free. Free from the law, free from the oppression, free from all of it.

So it's my hope that we, as a church, can help create a safe space for spiritual growth that is free and not holding us captive. I'm curious if you have ever heard people talk about how they don't like coming to church because people in church are always hypocritical. You've heard that one, right? It's one of those reasons people say they don't go to church. Have you heard anyone say they don't go to church because they've been hurt by church people?

Do we want to create space where spirituality can happen without hurt? It takes all of us. I say "we." I hope you're in that with me, with my desire for our congregation. But it takes us all to create a safe spiritual space. We do lots of things within the congregation to create safe physical space, but we also need to create safe spiritual space.

So, it has some things—lessons learned from scripture—to create building blocks for that. I want to just go through some of these with you today.

The first thing is that we need to create relationships and put them over the rules. Because when we have rules instead of relationships, what we do is make actions more important than the people, and we don't want that. We want the people to be the most important thing.

That scripture I read just a moment ago, going back to it in verse 14, Paul said, "The whole law can be summed up with love your neighbor as yourself." But remember, if you're always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. Love your neighbor as yourself, and don't fight. Meaning don't focus on just what each other are doing; focus on the person. The law will hold us trapped. The law is going to always be more than we can handle. When we put the people over the rule, then we focus on the person.

It's easy when we focus on the rules to start looking at who did what. You can say, "Oh, this person has served this much," or "gave this much," or "they have met these requirements." But the relationship means that we are always looking at what's in the heart, not on the outside.

The next piece of that is choices over control. This is probably one of the hardest ones for many of us. As a parent, as our children grow, we have to give up control little by little and hope they make good decisions. The hardest thing is when they make bad decisions, and we have to let them make the bad decision and fail. But it's what God does.

If we go into the Book of Joshua, the Book of Joshua happens right after Israel has made it into the promised land, and they're getting set up all in their new life. Moses had them in the wilderness, and everybody who messed up in the wilderness is gone. Now Joshua leads them into the land that God has promised them, and he's getting them set up for their new life. Many people know this verse, which says, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." But the whole verse says this:

"If you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods of your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or will it be the god of the Amorites whose land you now live?" Meaning you have lived among the people who have different gods for a long time. You need to make a choice.

And now this is Joshua speaking when he says, "As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."

So, God's giving his people a choice. He's just rescued them. He's taken them through the desert; he's gotten rid of the disobedient people, and now he's put them in the promised land, and he's helped them defeat all their enemies. And he's saying, "You need to make a choice right now and say, 'Are you going to serve me or are you going to serve others?'" But you've got to decide.

I can't imagine what that had to be like for God after doing all that he did. But when we give people choices, we're not forcing anything on them. We're not forcing the gospel on them. It's not about sharing the Good News by beating people upside the head. We're supposed to just give options to people. That's what it means to give choice over control.

Even if you think about Jesus on the cross, when he sat there with the two thieves, he had one that mocked him and made fun of him and the other who saw who he was and made a choice.

The next building block is that we need to put forgiveness over judgment. Now, there's this idea in the church that when we say we don't want to judge people, it tends to always be a caveat, right? You've heard it. Y'all have never done this? No, nobody's ever done this. I'm going to say it, though: "I'm not trying to be judgey, but have you heard..." It's usually how we start to say what's going on in someone's life, right?

"I don't want to cause any judgments, but did you hear that so-and-so has been doing such and such?" Or, "I don't want to judge, but it seems like they got a lot of stuff going on crazy in their life." But I'm not trying to judge. We tend to put these caveats on, but it's not really what we're doing. We are judging; we're just not getting ourselves involved in it.

But Jesus speaks in John about the intention of what we're supposed to do when it comes to judging and not judging. Because you see, this is what he says in John:

"I have come as a light to shine in the dark world so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don't obey me, for I have come to save the world and not judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken."

What he's saying here is that eventually, when we get to the end, we are going to be judged, but we have time to keep sharing the good news.

Now, this is the part that is hard. In the world today, we struggle using the sin word. We don't like to say to people or about people that people have sinned. It has become taboo. But the word just means simply that a person has missed the mark. It's actually from archery that the arrow has missed the mark. So when we say a person sinned, it means they've missed the expectation of God.

And if we're trying to grow in community, then we need people around us that are willing, sometimes when we can't see that we have missed the mark. Now, it's easy—y'all think for a moment with me—it's easy to not sin when we don't talk to other people. Think about that for a second. If you talked to no one, if you kind of sat in solitude all the time for the rest of your life and you never interacted with people ever, it would be very easy in your life to not sin. Almost all the times that I have had issues with anger, frustration, harsh words, impatience, breaking relationships, it's all because of other people. It's not because of me and myself.

If I never left my house and didn't talk to a single person and never got out of bed and never got dressed, I wouldn't have had any problems that day. When the person on 17 across from me decides that they're going to run the yellow light and the four cars behind them decide they're going to follow, and now I'm sitting at a green light and I can't go because all these people are running the yellow light, my frustration is not because I myself am frustrated; I'm frustrated at all the other people that don't let me go. I can't be the only one that feels that one, right?

I point this out by saying that if we get frustrated because of the actions that happen in community, we need community sometimes to point out when we have done things that miss the mark. But we have gotten sometimes to a place that we don't allow ourselves to be in relationships that give us permission to speak that when we need it. Sometimes God points it out; sometimes we don't hear it, and we need someone else to speak. Having safe space to do that is necessary if we're going to grow to the people we want us to be.

The last piece is this: we need to be open versus closed. This is in regards to the church as a whole, but it can be to us as people too. Because you see, I want to be better tomorrow than I am today. I hope you are with me on that. Some days I get better; some days I go backwards. I hope I have more days where I get better than days I go backwards.

As a church, we want to learn from our community and from other churches and from other organizations on how to continue to be a better church. As people, that's the process too. But often, as I mentioned in the beginning, the times that we're in, churches become defensive, and they stop listening to what's going on around. The result is that we close ourselves off, and we can become spiritually closed just as we can become closed to other things. We can be closed to the voices within our church too, which is not the intention.

If we look in the book of Ephesians chapter 4, Paul again reminds us that God made the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own work, it helps the other parts grow so the whole body is healthy and growing to full love. Meaning if we don't look beyond ourselves and our own institution, we can't grow to be who we are supposed to be. We've got to be open.

So my question to you today is, I want you to think for those who are part of our congregation and those who aren't: Do you feel that you have spiritually safe spaces to become the person God wants you to be? For those who actively participate in our congregation, if we aren't that spiritually safe place, which of these things are we weak in so we can get better? If you don't have a community, who can you gather with to be your community?

The rest of this sermon series is going to focus more on our personal relationships and making them make us better, developing them so that we can be the people God wants us to be. Because the intention is that the more we live into our lives, God makes us into more of who he created us to be, and he also helps us make other people better. That's why we gather with others, and it's also the intention of us all being different.

I hope you'll pray about it. If I can help you in that, please let me know, and I hope you'll join me for the rest of the series as we go deeper in that.

Would you pray with me now?

Almighty God, I'm thankful that you make us different intentionally, that we are as we should be—people that are in community working together. Lord, as we come to your table and we gather with each other, I pray that you speak to us of things, Lord, maybe that we need to confess today where we've missed the mark. Lord, if we have people that we need to reach out to today to join in community, that you'll speak to us about that. But Lord, most importantly, help us as a church to be a safe space for people to grow and to be open and to share what they need so we can help others move forward and be more who they're supposed to be.

We pray this now, Father, in your heavenly name. Amen.

As we come before the Lord's table today, this table is open to all people. If you're joining online, I hope you'll take communion with us. You can take whatever you have before we extend our table to you, and there's no requirement of being a part of our church or having been a part of church to receive these elements today.

As Christ sat with his disciples right before his arrest and before his crucifixion, they sat eating together, and he took bread and he said, "This is my body, which has been broken for you. Eat in remembrance of me." He also took a cup and he said, "This is the blood of the New Covenant. Drink just as you eat in remembrance of me."

Friends, we're going to share a word of confession together. This is the only requirement God has before we come before him. So if you would read these words on the screen with me:

"God of Heaven and Earth, thank you for sending us Jesus Christ in your name. Even though we profess to follow him, we confess that we too often deny him in times of trial. Forgive us and heal us, we pray. Help us to put our faith not in the princes of this world, but only in the Prince of Peace. In Jesus' name we pray."

I encourage you to lift anything in your heart in this moment you want to confess to God.

Almighty God, we ask that you send your spirit down upon this bread and juice that I have before me. Fill it with your grace and love; transform it to be your body and your blood so we may be redeemed by your spirit. And we thank you for receiving our confessions, hearing the spaces that we have not hit the mark all the way, and helping us to be the people you want us to be.

We pray this in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Friends, hear this word of forgiveness: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Would you join me?

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Amen.

I'm going to invite those who are going to help me with communion to come forward. As they come, just a word of instruction: We'll have a station here to be able to serve you the bread and the juice. You'll receive a small piece to dip into the cup. If you'd like your communion to not be touched or to be gluten-free, I will have both gluten-free and prepackaged here at the center station. I'll invite everyone forward as soon as I serve mine.

1) "I point this out by saying that if we get frustrated because of the actions that happen in community, we need Community sometimes to point out when we have done things that miss the mark. But we have gotten sometimes to a place that we don't allow ourselves to be in relationships that give us permission to speak that when we need it. Sometimes God points it out, sometimes we don't hear it, and we need someone else to speak, and having safe space to do that is necessary if we're going to grow to the people we want us to be." [45:37 <0n9LinsFxGY>](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



2) "As a church, we want to learn from our community and from other churches and from other organizations on how to continue to be a better church. As people, that's the process too. But often, as I mentioned in the beginning, the times that we're in, churches become defensive and they stop listening to what's going on around, and the result is that we close ourselves off and we can become spiritually closed just as we can become closed to other things." [46:47 <0n9LinsFxGY>](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



3) "When we put the people over the rule, then we focus on the person. It's easy when we focus on the rules to start looking at who did what. You can say, oh this person has served this much or gave this much or they have met these requirements. But the relationship means that we are always looking what's in the heart, not on the outside." [38:46 <0n9LinsFxGY>](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



4) "God's giving his people a choice. He's just rescued them, he's taken them through the desert, he's gotten rid of the disobedient people, and now he's put them in the promised land and he's helped them defeat all their enemies, and he's saying you need to make a choice right now. Are you going to serve me or are you going to serve others? But you got to decide." [40:36 <0n9LinsFxGY>](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



5) "Jesus speaks in John about the intention of what we're supposed to do when it comes to judging and not judging. He says, 'I have come as a light to shine in the dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don't obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it.'" [42:47 <0n9LinsFxGY>](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



6) "If we don't look beyond ourselves and our own institution, we can't grow to be who we are supposed to be. We've got to be open. So my question to you today is, do you feel that you have spiritually safe spaces to become the person God wants you to be? For those who actively participate in our congregation, if we aren't that spiritually safe place, which of these things are we weak in so we can get better?" [47:28 <0n9LinsFxGY>](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



7) "The news is filled with only bad stuff about the church. It seems like you never see them making articles about all the good stuff we do. You only see the bad stuff, like such and such pastor embezzled millions of dollars or this church has done that or that church has done that or they're arguing again. Everywhere we turn, there seems to be more bad stuff." [33:02 <0n9LinsFxGY>](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



8) "Paul and I, we get along really well because his situation in modern Turkey looks not that much different sometimes in our situation now. It's only been a handful of years since Jesus has resurrected and ascended to heaven, and the early church, they're fighting. They've got a rift in their early church too, and they're arguing over if the Gentile Christians should be like the Jewish Christians." [34:06 <0n9LinsFxGY>](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)



9) "It's my hope that we as a church can help create safe space for spiritual growth that is free and not holding us captive. I'm curious if you have ever heard people talk about that they don't like coming to church because people in church are always hypocritical. We want to create space where spirituality can happen without hurt, and it takes all of us to create safe spiritual space." [36:55 <0n9LinsFxGY>](Make clip | Crop for social media | Crop + Caption)