Podcasts about raleigh durham chapel hill

Corruption. Class wars. Technological splendor. The dawn of a new age of business and government. Rockefeller and Carnegie. The Gilded Age in America—roughly the 1870s through the early 1900s—was one of the most fascinating and misunderstood eras in our history. It seems like every week, news organizations claim that the U.S. is in a new Gilded Age. But what does that mean? What was the Gilded Age? Today's guest is Richard White, award-winning historian and author of ‘The Republic for Which It Stands,' a mammoth history of America between the end of the Civil War and the end of the 19th century. We talk about how corruption and monopoly and power worked during that period. We talk about Rockefeller and Carnegie and Morgan, and how these giants typified the era with their business genius and their thin sense of morality. We talk about how the monopolies of this era used the government, and the government used these monopolies. And we talk about how the movements that emerged from the Gilded Age invented the modern world. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Richard White Producer: Devon Baroldi P.S. If you live in Seattle, Atlanta, or the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, Derek is coming your way in March! See him live at book events in your city. Tickets here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donald Trump is serving up a scarcity agenda to America. He and the White House say we don't have an economy that works, so we might just need to accept a period of economic hardship. They say America cannot afford its debt, and therefore we cannot afford health care for the poor. They say America doesn't have enough manufacturing, so we have to accept less trade. They say America doesn't have enough housing, and so we need fewer immigrants. America needs the opposite of this scarcity mindset to grow and thrive. We need an abundance agenda. But what does that mean? The answer to that question is in my new book, which I cowrote with the New York Times columnist and podcaster Ezra Klein. He is also today's guest. We talk about ‘Abundance' the book, and why it exists. And we talk about abundance the idea, and why it matters. (You can buy the book here!) If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Ezra Klein Producer: Devon Baroldi P.S. If you live in Seattle, Atlanta, or the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, Derek is coming your way in March! See him live at book events in your city. Tickets here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cancer is not a singular disease but a category of hundreds, even thousands, of rare diseases with different molecular signatures and genetic roots. Cancer scientists are looking for a thousand perfect keys to pick a thousand stubborn locks. Today's episode is about the hardest lock of them all: pancreatic cancer. Cancer's power lives in its camouflage. The immune system is often compared to a military search and destroy operation, with our T cells serving as the expert snipers, hunting down antigens and taking them out. But cancer kills so many of us because it looks so much like us. Pancreatic cancer is so deadly in part because it's expert at hiding itself from the immune system. Now, here's the good news. This might be the brightest moment for progress in  pancreatic cancer research in decades—and possibly ever. In the past few years, scientists have developed new drugs that target the key gene mutation responsible for out of control cell growth. Recently, a team of scientists at Oregon Health and Science University claimed to have developed a blood test that is 85 percent accurate at early-stage detection of pancreatic cancer, which is absolutely critical given how advanced the cancer is by the time it's typically caught. And last month, a research center at Memorial Sloan Kettering published a truly extraordinary paper. Using mRNA technology similar to the COVID vaccines, a team of scientists designed a personalized therapy to buff up the immune systems of people with pancreatic cancer. Patients who responded to the treatment saw results that boggle the mind: 75 percent were cancer-free three years after their initial treatment. Not just alive, which would be its own minor miracle. But cancer-free. The mRNA vaccine, administered within a regimen of standard drugs, stood up to the deadliest cancer of them all and won. Today's guest is the head of that research center, the surgical oncologist Vinod Balachandran. The concept of a personalized cancer vaccine is still unproven at scale. But if it works, the potential is enormous. But again: Cancer does not exist, as a singular disease. Cancer is a category of rare diseases, many of which are exquisitely specific to the molecular mosaic of the patient. Cancers are personal. Perhaps in a few years, our cures for cancers will be equally personalized. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Vinod Balachandran Producer: Devon Baroldi Links:  Cancer Vaccine paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08508-4 P.S. Derek wrote a new book! It's called 'Abundance,' and it's about an optimistic vision for politics, science, and technology that gets America building again. Buy it here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Abundance/Ezra-Klein/9781668023488 Plus: If you live in Seattle, Atlanta, or the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, Derek is coming your way in March! See him live at book events in your city. Tickets here: The Abundance Book Tour Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Artificial intelligence tools for musicians are getting eerily good, very fast. Their work can be maddening, funny, ethically dubious, and downright fascinating all at the same time. TV and podcast composer Mark Henry Phillips joins to describe his experience working with them. We talk about the job of modern music composition; why he's worried AI might eventually do much of his current job; the morass of AI copyright law; and the ethics of creative ownership. But above all, Mark gets my brain whirring about the nature of creativity—how great new ideas, like songs, come to be in the first place. The line between stealing and inspiration in artistic history has always been blurry. Picasso famously said: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” And that is not just a memorable quote. Many of my favorite musicians were famous borrowers, to put it lightly. Some of Led Zeppelin's most famous songs—such as "Whole Lotta Love"—were such obvious lifts that, after years of court cases, the band agreed to add the plaintiff to the song credits. But analogies to music and art history also fall short to capture the weirdness of this moment. Neither Picasso nor Jimmy Page had access to an external technology whose deliberate function was to slurp up musical elements from millions of songs, store their essence in silicon memory, and serve them up in a kind of synthetic stir fry on an order-by-order basis. Musicians have been writing music with partners for decades, even centuries. What happens to music when that partner is a machine: Will it open up new horizons in songwriting and composition? Or in a sad way, will super-intelligence make the future of music more average than ever? Links: WNYC: "How AI and Algorithms Are Transforming Music"  "In February's Cruel Light (Goodbye Luka)" Full AI song "L.A. Luka (I Wanna Puke-uh)" Full AI song  P.S. Derek wrote a new book! It's called 'Abundance,' and it's about an optimistic vision for politics, science, and technology that gets America building again. Buy it here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Abundance/Ezra-Klein/9781668023488 Plus: If you live in Seattle, Atlanta, or the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, Derek is coming your way in March! See him live at book events in your city. Tickets here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/p/abundance-tour Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

E147: David opens with the weekly venture update then Paul interviews John Cambier, Fund Administrator for the RTP Angel Fund.RTP AF is based in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. It is a committed capital fund launched in the Summer 2023 with an aim to invest in and work with companies to help them grow and achieve scale. It's a member-managed fund with a diverse investor base of over 50 North Carolinians who may also invest additional funds alongside the Fund on any given investment. The fund is generally sector agnostic and typically invests at the early stages of funding for a company in an amount ranging from $50k to $250k, with an average investment amount of $150k. Focused on early-stage investment opportunities located in the Research Triangle Park region of North Carolina, they also consider deals originating throughout North Carolina and the southeastern United States. (recorded 8/26/24)Follow David on LinkedIn or reach out to David on Twitter/X @DGRollingSouth for comments. Follow Paul on LinkedIn or reach out to Paul on Twitter/X @PalmettoAngel We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. Learn more about RollingSouth at rollingsouth.vc or email david@rollingsouth.vc.

Meagan has a new co-host today! Rebecca, a pelvic floor physical therapist and a VBAC Link doula located in Georgia joins Meagan while our friend Hannah from North Carolina shares her birth stories. This episode stresses again the true importance of not just a supportive provider, but of a supportive practice including hospital policies, the team of rotating providers, and the nurses. Hannah shows how her borderline preeclamptic symptoms were treated very differently between her first and second births. Her first practice had many red flags she didn't notice until her second practice showed green flag after green flag throughout her entire journey. Rebecca also shares her expertise surrounding pelvic floor PT– who needs it and how it can impact birth outcomes. She also debunks myths about small pelvises and talks in depth about scar tissue. Both women share such valuable tips that we know you will love!Real Food for Pregnancy by Lily NicholsNeeded WebsiteHow to VBAC: The Ultimate Prep Course for ParentsFull Transcript under Episode Details 03:11 Review of the Week05:13 Hannah's stories08:17 Higher blood pressure readings and induction10:26 Induction due to high blood pressure readings11:52 Interventions and not being able to move during labor16:50 Hannah's C-section19:36 Rebecca's thoughts about pelvic bone structure22:42 Second pregnancy29:01 A medically necessary induction33:27 Ending the first full day of induction38:03 Pushing for 20 minutes39:59 Hannah's advice to listeners - provider support and nutrition44:17 Small pelvises and scar tissue50:13 Other scar tissue that can affect positioningMeagan: Hey, hey Women of Strength. It is Meagan and guess what? We have a cohost today, a new cohost who has never been with us and we are so excited that she is joining us. We have Rebecca Goldberg on our podcast today. Hello, Rebecca. Rebecca: Hello. Meagan: Thank you for taking the time and being with us. Rebecca: Yeah. I really love the resources and the community and I'm just thrilled to be here. Meagan: Well, we are excited and for anyone wondering who Rebecca is, she is an amazing human being. She actually does a lot in pelvic PT and is one of our VBAC-certified doulas. She's in Georgia. Rebecca: Yep. I'm in Atlanta, the Decatur area. Meagan: Decatur area. Is that where you serve mainly? Rebecca: Yeah. I have people who come to me from all over. Some people are traveling up to an hour or an hour and a half, but I actually can go to people's homes who are directly in my area. So, people who are post-C-section, I can come to you as early as the day you are discharged. I can work with you deal with pain, make sure you know what needs to happen, and help you do all of the things. That's where my passion really lies. Meagan: I love that. I love that and for VBAC, how early for pelvic floor and stuff? How early can you start working with them? Rebecca: As soon as they have gotten home. If they are planning on getting pregnant again, we can start building that into what our plans are so that we are starting that process earlier rather than later and you're more likely to have results that when you are ready to get pregnant, you can just get pregnant. Meagan: Love it. Awesome. Well, thank you, thank you for being here. 03:11 Review of the WeekMeagan: You guys, as usual, we have a Review of the Week. You don't have to listen to me stumble upon the review. Rebecca will read it. I'm sure she will do a lot better than I normally do. Rebecca: Well, this review is from Apple Podcasts and it's from semicrunchyyogi. I love that name. The review says, “My personal VBAC journey was actually directly influenced by Meagan Heaton, one of the hosts on this podcast. She was my doula with my second baby, my 10-pound VBAC baby.” Whoa. Meagan: Woo, yeah. Rebecca: “When she started this podcast, I knew it would be something special. I will always be passionate about VBAC and making sure women are given options, respect, and support through their birth journeys. This podcast does just that. This podcast is so needed and addresses important myths about VBAC and birth. Thank you so much, Julie and Meagan, for using your passion to support other women. You two are amazing examples of Women of Strength.” And then there's a heart. Meagan: Aww, I love that. Thank you semicrunchyyogi. Rebecca: Yogi, yeah. Meagan: That is awesome. Thank you so much. 05:13 Hannah's storiesMeagan: Okay, you guys. We have our friend, Hannah, from North Carolina so if you are from North Carolina, listen up. I feel like it's so important for us to start talking about where all of these Women of Strength are coming from because there are so many of us out there in the world who want to know where these people are because finding a supportive provider we know can be challenging. We have our friend, Hannah, from North Carolina sharing her amazing VBAC story. For anyone wondering a little bit more in relation to her story, she had preeclampsia I think actually with her both. Is that correct? Hannah: Yeah. With my first, they qualified it as gestational hypertension and then my second was preeclampsia. Meagan: So your VBAC was actually preeclamptic. Hannah: Yes.  Meagan: Awesome. Okay. That is something that we see a lot in our community. People are wondering if VBAC is possible with preeclampsia. We don't actually have a lot of stories on the podcast. In fact, you may be one of the first actually sharing in almost 300 episodes which is kind of sad. Hannah: Wow. Meagan: So we are really excited to talk about this, and you did have that CPD diagnosis like so many of us. Yeah. I'm going to welcome you on to share your stories. Hannah: Yeah, well thank you so much for having me. I've been listening for a while and I'm so excited to be here. I do live in the Triangle region of North Carolina. I'm just south of Raleigh in a town called Fuquay-Varina. A lot of people probably won't recognize that name, but if you are in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area, I do have a great recommendation for a supportive provider there. Meagan: Is that more of a rural area? Hannah: It used to be pretty rural and just in the last 10-15 years, it's exploded. We're getting a Target and that's a big deal for us. Meagan: Yay! Every place is better with a Target. Hannah: Yes. Yes. Agreed. Meagan: Awesome. Okay, yeah. Let's hear about your 6-year-old, the one that you just started listening to the podcast after. Hannah: Yeah. Yeah, just to jump in, I had my first son in July of 2017 and I was a first-time mom. I went to a midwife practice, but they were midwives who delivered at the hospital that was closest to where I lived. I had been seeing them for a few years just for my general well-woman check-up. I liked them. I felt like I had a good rapport with them, so I stuck with that. My pregnancy was good. I was working full-time. I was a traveling salesperson at the time. That got to be a little tricky towards the end. In my third trimester, I started swelling. They were like, “Oh, we just need to keep an eye on this. It could be normal. If it gets coupled with high blood pressure, then it might be concerning.” 08:17 Higher blood pressure readings and inductionHannah: Around 35 weeks, I did have high blood pressure readings. Just on the side, I have a history of white coat syndrome even as a teenager. My blood pressure would shoot up in the office so that's always been an issue for me and I was concerned about that for pregnancy because I knew high blood pressure, pregnancy, high risk, and I was hoping for an intervention-free birth in the hospital. Meagan: Yeah. Hannah: I did all of the things, I thought. I had a doula. I had read Ina May Gaskin. Meagan: Guide to Childbirth. Hannah: Yes. I did HypnoBabies. Meagan: You were very prepared. Hannah: Yes. I felt very prepared but I think I didn't have the understanding. I just heard midwife and I just thought, “Oh, natural birth.” I didn't research the hospital too much so I just didn't know what I didn't know. At 35 weeks, they diagnosed me with gestational hypertension. They were pretty aggressive in their management of it. They told me, “You are done working. You are not going back to work. You are on bedrest.” Basically, they said, “You can shower, use the bathroom, and make yourself food, but other than that, you should be lying down and we will definitely induce you by your due date at the latest.” Meagan: Do you remember what your readings were reflecting at that time? Hannah: Yes. I think in the office, it would be maybe 140/85 or 90 but then at home, I had my own cuff and they were reading normal like 118/70 and stuff like that. Meagan: Interesting. So definitely some white coat syndrome maybe and then they were pushing the induction when overall, your pressures were probably pretty regular. Hannah: Yes. That was just, I don't know. It was hard to know what was the right thing to do in that situation because I was a first-time mom. I don't want to put my baby at risk. Eventually, they agreed to induce me. I went in the night before my due date. I had been going in for extra monitoring. I had NSTs and biophysical profiles, so everything was good. They just, because I had that gestational hypertension label, they wanted me to deliver by my due date. I did go into the hospital the night before my due date. I think I was maybe a centimeter dilated, 50% effaced. I did the whole Foley bulb overnight. They thought, “Oh, that's going to stay in for 12 hours.” They put it in and then within an hour and a half, it comes out and I'm 4 centimeters dilated. Meagan: That's awesome.Hannah: Yeah. It got off to a good note. They were like, “Oh, this is going to go great. You're going to do great tomorrow.” I'm like, “Oh, okay.” I tried to get sleep. Everyone knows in the hospital even with an ambian, you don't sleep. My doula came the next morning. I believe they started Pitocin around 7:00 AM. I really was hoping not to get the epidural. I just had this fear of that cascade of interventions. I did know about that and I just felt like, “Okay. I'm going to try to do everything I can to keep that from happening,” because a C-section was something I was very fearful of. I'm an only child. My mom delivered me via C-section. It was a hard delivery and I just had always had a fear of that being my story. 11:52 Interventions and not being able to move during laborHannah: Things were going fine on the Pitocin. I was working through the contractions. They were just very odd. They didn't want me out of the bed. Thankfully, I did have my doula there. She was like, “Just stand next to the bed. Sit on the birth ball,” but they were just treating me like someone with severe preeclampsia would be treated and that just was not my case. Even they didn't really want me getting up to go to the bathroom a lot. They were telling me I couldn't walk the halls. I couldn't use the shower. It was very odd. So around noon, the midwife says, “Hey, I want to break your water.” I said, “I'm really not comfortable with that. I think I'm making a whole lot of progress. I've only been on Pitocin for a few hours. I'd really not have my water broken.” She says, “Well, you're here to be induced for a reason. We need to speed this up, so I would really like to break your water.”  Meagan: Oh dear. Hannah: Yeah. That's really where things started going downhill for me. I didn't really understand at the time, a doula can't say, “Hey, she said she doesn't want that done. She doesn't want that.” But I also didn't really get the support I needed I guess in that moment when I was vulnerable. I didn't really have anyone to say, “Hey, do you want to talk for a minute and come back to this?” So I did agree. I mean, I guess verbally I agreed. I didn't feel like I was agreeing, but she broke my water and after that, I just remember things intensified so much. I remember by around 3:00 PM being in excruciating pain and that's when I asked for the epidural. It took two hours for them to bring it. I finally got the epidural and I just immediately fell asleep because we had been there for probably 20 hours at this point.Meagan: Were you feeling any specific discomfort in the back? Were there any signs that maybe baby would have been in a poor position after the floodgates opened? Hannah: It's interesting. That actually will come up once the C-section is performed. We were told at my– I think I had a biophysical profile at 39 weeks and the tech was like, “Oh, your baby is posterior,” but I didn't really understand what that meant. But when he was delivered, they did say he was in the anterior position, so I just remember contractions being unbearable and I think it was because of the level of Pitocin I was on. They just ramped it up. I even remember at one point, the midwife saying to me– so once I had the epidural, I'm laying down resting, I had asked for a peanut ball, but no one really helped me with it. My doula tried to but I don't know. The nurse I got that day was not very helpful. Then my poor husband is usually my rock. He is so strong, but he just was like a deer in the headlights because it was his first time going through this and it was just rough. Hannah: So finally, that night at 8:00 PM, the midwife comes and checks. She's like, “Yeah, you're still only 4 centimeters dilated. I think the baby is developing a caput.” How do you say it?  Meagan: A caput. Which is interesting. At 4 centimeters, do you remember how low your baby was? Because at 4 centimeters, baby getting caput, baby must have been coming low.Hannah: And that's the thing, he wasn't. He was still at a -2 station. Meagan: Huh. So not even engaged. Hannah: Yeah. So I don't know. She was like, “You know, I really think you need a C-section. I think your pelvis is too small.” I was like, “Okay. Wow. That was not something I'd ever been told in all of these years of going to this practice.” She was like, “So that would be my recommendation. I could give you one more hour.” I said, “Okay.” I'm crying at this point. I'm like, “In your professional opinion, do you think an hour would make a difference?” She said, “No.” Again, I did ultimately agree to that C-section. I signed off on it, but I was very upset. This isn't what I want. I was honestly so out of it at this point. It's hard to remember some of it. Yeah. As soon as I agreed, they came in there. They give you the form. They are wheeling you down the hall. There was never really an issue of my baby being in distress. It just was kind of like, “Oh, you've been here for a while. You're not progressing. Let's just go ahead and do a C-section,” and then her commenting that my pelvis was too small. 16:50 Hannah's C-sectionHannah: I go to the operating room. Everything goes pretty standard, but my husband does go to stand up when they are delivering the baby. He was like, “Great. I wanted to see it.” As the doctor goes to pull the baby out, she says, “Oh. I've never seen this before.” She's been in practice for 25 years. It turned out my son had the umbilical cord wrapped around both hands and both feet and then that was together. Meagan: Oh. Hannah: She said, “Oh, your baby is tied.” Meagan: Wow. Hannah: Yeah, so it's like, “Okay. It does make sense why he wasn't descending.”Meagan: Yeah. Hannah: He's good. I'm good. I did have a hard recovery. They tried to show him to me. I start vomiting on the operating table and then it just gets blurry from there. It was just really hard. I don't remember holding him for the first time in the recovery room. All of it is very blurry until the next morning. Yeah, but overall, recovery went well. I had a very hard time breastfeeding him. He was a very, very tense baby– tongue tie, lip tie, and all of that, so that was stressful. Meagan: Man, you had a lot. That was a lot. Hannah: Yeah. It was hard. Meagan: Yeah. It's kind of interesting because knowing that, “Oh, yeah your baby was really wound up in here,” that would make more sense than just diagnosing you with CPD. Hannah: Yes. That's what I thought. I was like, “Okay.” The midwife was saying that during labor. Maybe she just thought that because I wasn't progressing, baby wasn't descending. So then at my six-week checkup, I asked to see the doctor who delivered my son in the surgery. I saw her and I was just debriefing with her. I said, “Do you think that was the reason he couldn't come out?” She was like, “Yeah, probably.” But then she didn't even really examine me. I had to ask. I was like, “Are you going to check my C-section scar? Are you going to do an internal? What am I here for?” She was like, “Yeah, fine. I can do that.” She goes, “Oh, no. You have a flat pubic bone. You shouldn't even try to have a VBAC,” then basically walks out of the room as I'm crying. Meagan: Oh my gosh. I have a question for Rebecca in here and pelvic floor and stuff. Do you see flat pubic bones and is that truly something that causes an issue?19:36 Rebecca's thoughts about pelvic bone structureRebecca: I can't imagine so. I mean, if you think about the way that the baby comes down, the pubic bones are not super involved. You have the pubic symphysis which is the little cartilage between the pubic bones. That gets soft just like all of our other joints due to relaxin and that makes everything moveable. There are people who even have that separate. The shape of the pubic bones– it just seems a little bit odd to me. Meagan: Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. I mean, I'm thinking that I can put my fingers exactly where I felt when mine did start to separate and I have a wonky pelvis too. My pelvis goes all funky. It's just so interesting to me to always hear that providers jump right to, “Your bones are not good enough.”Hannah: Yeah. Yeah. That was so hard to hear because it was like, “Oh, something is wrong with me. It's my fault.” Then a midwife who I was closer with there, when I saw her when my baby was about 6 months old for just my annual exam, I asked her about that comment. She said, “Oh, I think what she was saying is you have a narrow pelvic arch.” Okay. Meagan: Okay, all right. 22:42 Second pregnancyMeagan: Did you go into this next pregnancy feeling doubtful of your pelvis?Hannah: Oh absolutely. Yes. Yeah. I definitely was very nervous. I mean, I remember searching through groups on Facebook or the Babysitter App “Flat pubic bone, narrow pelvic arch” to see if anyone else had been diagnosed with that and gone on to successfully have a VBAC. Meagan: Right, yeah. So baby #2. Hannah: Yep. I ended up actually getting pregnant when my first son was about 3 years old. I literally had just been dreaming about having a VBAC since my first son was born. I feel so thankful that I found your podcast, the Facebook community of The VBAC Link and I also found my local ICAN group who just was so helpful in finding my new provider. I switched to that new provider before I even got pregnant just because I knew I was not going back to that first practice ever for anything. Meagan: Yeah. That's actually something I suggest highly. A lot of the time, we don't think about finding that provider until we are pregnant, but finding a provider when we're not pregnant is kind of weird. There is this vulnerability that we don't have. We have this– it sounds silly– tougher skin when we're not pregnant. Hannah: No, I totally get that. Meagan: You're in a different headspace. You're like, “No, I already know I'm not going back to this person. I'm going to find this new person and go now.” Hannah: Yeah. So thankfully, I did find them. The hospital was a 45-minute drive so it was a big difference from my first where the hospital was only 20 minutes away, but that was so worth it to me. I was pregnant during COVID. I got pregnant in September 2020, so things were weird anyway. Appointments were more spaced out. Some of them were virtual. I feel bad saying this because I know so many people had a hard time with not having their husbands or partners come with them to appointments, but it actually was kind of nice that I didn't have to go in as much just because of my anxiety with the doctor's office. But I really did like the midwives that I was seeing at this new practice and the issue about my blood pressure did get brought up. I had a couple of high readings early on in the pregnancy. I think I went to my first appointment around 13 weeks in person and definitely had a high reading. It sounded like they actually believed me this time though. When I told them about the white coat syndrome and my past, they took my word and were like, “We get it. We see it all the time. Have a blood pressure monitor at home and if you could at your next appointment, bring it in. We'll test your blood pressure on that and on the machine just to make sure it's accurate.” Just with that, I felt so validated. Rebecca: I was just going to say that's really wonderful that your providers did that and they just accepted you at your word. That's really beautiful. Hannah: Yeah. I felt like that was such a difference. People talk about red flags all the time, but I felt like that was a green flag like, “Okay. This is someone who is actually listening to me as a patient.” Things went great. I actually got to a point where my readings in the office were normal. I think just from feeling more relaxed and more supported. I brought up the whole small pelvis thing. I had several midwives say, “I don't believe that. We hear that all the time. We're not going to worry about that.” So everything went great up until about 37 weeks when I got COVID. Thank God I did not have a hard time with it at all. It was a sinus infection, but I missed my 37-week appointment then when I went in for my 38-week appointment, my blood pressure was elevated so that was concerning for them given my history. Meagan: That's interesting. I'm curious if it was correlated at all, or if it was just your history because sometimes we know if we've got preeclampsia in the past, we may be more likely to have it in the future, but I'm curious if that's related at all. Hannah: I know. I know. I've wondered that and it's so hard because I don't think I'll ever definitively know, but it seems like, “Oh, you were fine at 36 weeks. You get COVID at 37 weeks and then high blood pressure the next week.” But I was also going through some other stressful things. I had a family member pass away. I had a situation with my dog where he almost passed away and that's like my first baby. Oh, and then I broke my foot at 36 weeks pregnant. Meagan: Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Hannah: Yeah. I know. Meagan: Holy cow. Hannah: It sounds insane. It sounds insane, but anyway. Meagan: That's a lot to endure right before your birth. Hannah: Yeah, so I'm like, it probably wasn't the COVID, it probably was the stress. Sorry, I'm laughing but that's just my way of dealing with stress. So I go to that appointment and they go, “Ooh, your blood pressure is high.” They did do an NST on the baby and unfortunately, I feel like this happens to me and other people a lot. This midwife that particular day I had not met yet and she was definitely one of the more strict ones. She was like, “You know, I really think you need to go to the hospital to be monitored.” I was like, “Well, let's do the NST. Let's see how that goes.” They had taken my bloodwork. I was like, “Can we just wait and see what the bloodwork comes back as?” She kind of gave me a hard time about that. She was like, “You don't want to leave here not knowing if your baby is okay.” I'm like, “I feel like my baby is fine.” I remember calling my doula on the way home just hysterical about her saying that and thankfully, my doula was amazing and just like, “Don't worry about it. They are checking your blood. Everything will be fine.” I did go home. I rested. Thankfully, my older son was with my mother-in-law, but then that evening, I got a call and they were like, “Hannah, you are showing some signs in your labs on the actual bloodwork of borderline preeclampsia,” is what they were saying. 29:01 A medically necessary inductionHannah: This was a different midwife than I was seeing earlier in the day. She said, “I do think you need to come to the hospital and have a baby tonight.” That was really scary for me in that moment. Meagan: Yeah, it's hard because you are like, “This is not what I wanted.” It's hard to mentally go back to the same beginning in a way. Hannah: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I just remember calling my husband. He was still at work and I was just hysterical. I was like, “This is going to end in a C-section again. This is exactly what I was worried about.” He thankfully was so calming and was like, “You can't think like that. Let's just go and see what happens.” He comes home. We pack our stuff up and we drive the 45 minutes to the hospital. We get there and I'm just very distressed by having the sweetest midwife who just sat on the bed with me and was holding my hand and was like, “Look, it's going to be okay. Everything is going to be fine. We're going to do everything in our power to get you this VBAC. Do not let this make you feel like that's not happening now.” So that was so comforting and being 38 weeks, I was not dilated at all. I think I was maybe 50% effaced and the baby was at -2 station so we definitely had to do the whole Foley bulb again which for anyone who has had that done–Meagan: So you have a Foley placed with a closed cervix. Hannah: Yeah. Meagan: You're a champ. That is definitely something that is not super comfortable for the listeners to know, but it is possible even though a lot of providers say it's not. Hannah: Yeah, and I hear that a lot. I guess I just got very fortunate with the midwife who was on call. They definitely did give me some medication to help me relax. Meagan: Fentanyl or something? Hannah: Actually Adavan.Meagan: Oh Adavan?Hannah: I have very bad anxiety anyway and they gave me that to help me relax which it did. They got that inserted and it was so weird because the time I was expecting the same thing with my first, “Oh, it comes out in an hour and a half.” It didn't. It was there for the whole 12 hours. The next morning, they started Pitocin. Eventually, I think they just took the Foley bulb out and I think at that point I was maybe 3 centimeters dilated. I was on Pitocin for 5 or 6 hours but it was just so crazy to me because even with it being COVID times, I was allowed to walk around the halls. I had wireless monitoring. They even let me get in the bathtub in the room. It was just so different from the experience that I had at the hospital with my first. I just really loved their process. They, of course, were kind of concerned with the preeclampsia diagnosis, but since my labs were staying stable, my blood pressures weren't rising, I think they were probably in the 140s/high 80s-low 90s range, they really did let me take it slow since there wasn't a major concern for me or the baby's health in regards to the blood pressure. I remember they even turned my Pitocin off for a little bit this afternoon and one of the midwives was like, “Hey, this is something that may not work, but would you be willing to take some Tums? There is research showing that it could possibly reset your oxytocin receptors in your uterus.” I remember her being like, “It sounds kind of woo, but it's worth a try.” Meagan: I have never heard of this. I am fascinated. Tums resetting our oxytocin. Hannah: Yeah. It's crazy. The research is there if you just Google “Tums, Pitocin”Meagan: Oxytocin receptors. Okay, you keep sharing. I'm going to dive into this for a bit because I've been a doula for 10 years and I've never heard of this and I love it. This is cool. All right, keep going. Hannah: Yeah. I took the Tums. We turned the Pitocin off for a little bit. They were like, “Try to rest. Eat a snack.” That was the other thing. They were so encouraging of me eating and drinking whereas my first birth, they were like, “You can't have anything but ice chips.” We did turn the Pitocin back on for about 6 hours that evening. 33:27 Ending the first full day of inductionHannah: I think at the end of that day– so this was the first full day of induction, I was still around 4 centimeters. I had a new nurse come on and a new midwife comes on. They were just so awesome. I definitely had an emotional breakdown at that point. My awesome doula had been with me and my husband all day. She went home for the evening to get some rest. They were like, “What do you want to do? You are looking good. Baby is looking good.” My water was still intact at that point. I was like, “I just want to sleep tonight. I know if I do not sleep tonight, I'm not going to have the energy to finish this birth.” It was amazing because the charge nurse did not want me to stop the Pitocin and my midwife and my nurse basically went to bat for me. They were like, “No. She's fine. We're going to give her Benadryl. We're going to let her sleep. We're turning the Pitocin off. And that's what we did. I slept. I actually got to rest that night. They came back at 5:00 AM and rehung the Pit. I did agree to my water being broken at 8:00 AM because at this point, we had been in the hospital for almost 36 hours and baby needed to come out. That just in and of itself, I felt like that was my choice. No one ever pressured me. It was all my choice. I did agree to my water being broken. That was around probably 9:00 AM and I just continued laboring. It was great. I remember I had my bathroom. There are no windows in there and I had my fairy lights and my music playing and my doula had essential oils diffusing and that was my cave. I felt like I could go in there and just shut out being at the hospital and really focus on labor, sitting on the toilet, and eventually, I did get to a point around 1:00 where I started to have a hard time coping. I was like, “You know, I don't know if I want to do this anymore.” I gave it another hour and I was like, “Okay. I need the epidural.” I did get the epidural around 2:00 that day. It was just amazing because even getting the epidural, the nurses were like, “Hey, let's put you in throne position. Let's pull out the stirrups and get one leg up. In 30 minutes, let's switch to the other leg. Let's get the peanut ball.” I felt like they were doing all of these things to help me that I had never experienced in my first birth. I felt like they wanted me to have the birth that I was desiring so badly almost as much as I did. Meagan: I love them already. I don't even know that. Hannah: I know. I know. Can I say who it is? The hospital I was at was actually the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and it was the UNC midwives who was my practice that I delivered with but even the nurses at that hospital are just amazing. They were all literal angels. I love them. Meagan: We will make sure that they are on our provider list. Hannah: Yes. Yes. They are wonderful. So that went on. I think around maybe 6:00 I was checked and I was hanging around 5 centimeters. I got really discouraged at that point. I was like, “You know, maybe I just can't do it. Maybe my body is just not going to dilate.” But they weren't worried. They just kept helping me move and then I do remember shift change happened. A new nurse comes on and a new midwife. This was probably the 5th shift change by the time we had been in there and the midwife came in and checked me. She was like, “Oh, you're 6 centimeters.” I remember so many stories of women being like, “The first 5 are the hardest.” Meagan: Mhmm. Hannah: I was like, “Okay. Maybe that's true.” Then literally, at 9:40, the midwife came back, checked me, and she was like, “How far dilated do you hope you are?” I'm thinking, “Well, gosh. I hope at least a 7 or 8.” She had a tear and she was like, “You are 10 centimeters.”  Meagan: Oh yay! Hannah: Yes. I started bawling and it was so crazy because my first son was born at 9:42 PM and that was right about when I was 10 centimeters. For some reason, I knew if I could make it to 10 centimeters, I knew I could push my baby out. The pushing him out was not the part that I was scared of. It was like, “Oh, is my body going to be able to get to that point?” But yeah. I remember my husband and doula being so excited because they brought in the cart and they brought in a mirror and I started pushing. It's just so crazy thinking back to that seeing that happening. 38:03 Pushing for 20 minutesHannah: I pushed for 20 minutes and both of my boys were a surprise. We didn't know what gender they would be. 20 minutes later, my second beautiful baby boy was born healthy, screaming, put directly on my chest and it was one of the best moments of my entire life. Meagan: Oh my gosh. I love this story. I love all of the support and all of the love and all of the amp that was just completely surrounded around you and then you had the confidence in your body at that end where you were like, “Okay. I've got this.” 20 minutes? Hannah: Yeah. I was like, “Oh, here's my small pelvis with my flat pubic bone.” Meagan: Yeah. I love that so much. Do you know what? I just was looking at our provider list and guess what? It says that UNC midwives are on our list and it says specifically that they are also VBA2C supportive. Hannah: Yeah. I think that's the only hospital in our area that generally will support after two Cesareans. Meagan: So awesome. I'm glad that they are on the list. I wanted to make sure because they sound phenomenal. I would love to connect with one of them and just have them on the podcast honestly and say, “Talk to me about your unit and your guys' way of thinking. This is the way so many people want to birth when they are birthing in the hospital, but we don't have these options and we don't have these systems and we don't have these policies or these beliefs or whatever” because they sound amazing.Hannah: They are. I know they are on Instagram just @uncmidwives so they are easy to find. Meagan: Okay. I might be messaging them. Hannah: If anyone is a Tar Heels fan out there, that was a big portion there too. My husband was like, “Our baby was born at Chapel Hill.” That's a big thing for North Carolina people. Meagan: That is so awesome. Oh my gosh. 39:59 Hannah's advice to listeners - provider support and nutritionMeagan: Any advice that you would give to someone who especially is preeclamptic with induction and all of these things? Do you have any advice that you would give to our listeners?Hannah: Yeah. I mean, number one, and I feel like you guys really help express this, but a supportive provider. Evidence shows that induction for VBAC can be safe. Of course, do we want an unnecessary induction? No, not ever, but in a situation like mine where preeclampsia is a concern, that shouldn't exclude you from being able to have a VBAC. Meagan: Mhmm. Hannah: I think asking a provider those questions maybe before you even get pregnant, “Would you induce for VBAC? Under what circumstances? What is your VBAC rate?” That's what I would tell women who are looking for that. Meagan: I love that and I agree. I would echo that asking those questions and not being scared to ask them because you deserve to know and you deserve to find the provider who is going to connect with you personally and your desires because we know through talking to Dr. Fox and all of these other providers, not every provider is the same and that's okay. That doesn't make them a bad provider. They just may not be supportive of your desires. Hannah: Mhmm. Meagan: With your first one, I feel like you had more of that med-wife mentality. Hannah: Yes. I found that word after I had him and I was like, “Oh, that makes sense.” Meagan: Yes. What else were you going to say?Hannah: Just going back to preeclampsia, the other thing I would say that I didn't know a whole lot about with my second or first pregnancy was how much nutrition affects preeclampsia. I believe you've had someone on your podcast who has discussed that before just how there are so many things you are told like, “You shouldn't be eating salt,” and actually, that's not true. You shouldn't be eating processed food, but women in pregnancy need salt so I did find there's the Brewer diet. I think that can be– I've heard amazing stories about that from women who have had preeclampsia in the past. There is a nutritionist I follow on Instagram. She is Aloha Nutrition and she is pregnant with twins right now. I think she is almost 40 weeks old. Her blood pressure has been awesome and she attributes it to beetroot. Meagan: Uh-huh. Okay, yes. I've had a client who had preeclampsia with her first really, really early, and beets and liver, and these types of things really impact. I mean, that's why I personally and I'm throwing in a shameless plug here, but that is why I personally love Needed so much because they have really dove in to find out what nutrients you need and help you get it because there are so many of these nutrients that are lacking in our day-to-day foods and it's overwhelming to learn about them and find them and then find the good resource of where to get them. It really can be impactful just like Aloha Nutrition is showing. It's very common with twins to get that high blood pressure. Hannah: Yeah, so I think nutrition is huge and I think that's just one of the really big problems is that we are not being looked at as a whole person when we are pregnant. It's just that we are being looked at, “Oh, you have preeclampsia. This is what the research shows,” but so much of that research is outdated and they are not focusing on those foundations like nutrition that are so important during pregnancy. Meagan: Absolutely. Yeah. It was Lily Nichols who I had on, but she has more about gestational diabetes. She also has her book for pregnancy in general and I would highly suggest checking that book out. Rebecca: I recommend it to all pregnant moms. It's on my bookshelf. I love it. Meagan: Same. She really is so incredible. I could talk to her for hours and hours and hours on nutrition and pregnancy and how impactful it is. I mean, yeah. It's just so hard. We have so much processed stuff going on in our worlds and it's easy and it's fast, but yeah. We are lacking a lot so I love that you put that note in. 44:17 Small pelvises and scar tissueMeagan: And then Rebecca, at the end of this, I wanted to talk a little bit about the pelvic floor and how C-sections can actually impact the pelvic floor health, and then ways to address it, what we can do, and how we can plan for VBAC moving forward. Rebecca: Yeah. I just wanted to back up and touch on this idea of having a small pelvis, that your pelvis, the outlet can grow by 30% which is huge, as you are giving birth as long as your sacrum which is your tailbone and your lower pelvis is able to move which is why being off the bed is the place to be because then everything can move and your body can actually grow and expand. Your bones do. That's one of the reasons we have relaxin.So many people are just like, “Yeah. I was told I have a small pelvis.” I'm like, “Were you on your back?” They are like, “Oh, yes I was.” Then I'm like, “Well, your pelvis was likely closed. It can open. We can make it open.” Meagan: It was actually physically smaller. Rebecca: Yes and the bones could not move to make more space for the baby. It's just really interesting. A lot of people actually surprisingly believe that a C-section is a way to save your pelvic floor from any sort of injury or trauma when having children and that is not the case. I don't know if either of you has heard that before. Meagan: Yeah. Okay, so I had a really petite Asian client. She had a C-section. She really wanted a VBAC. I have so many feelings about this birth, but they literally told her that if she wanted to poop herself for the rest of her life, she could have a VBAC and if not, then they would highly suggest a C-section because that would be the only way to avoid her having severe incontinence with her bowels. Rebecca: That is awful. Meagan: It terrified her. Rebecca: That is fearmongering at its worst. Meagan: Yeah. As a doula, sitting there watching it– and I had already watched them preparing the C-section in the hall previously. I had seen the Cesarean coming and I warned them, “They are preparing this. Nothing is showing that we need to do this,” but that was one of the reasons and she was terrified. I just said, “That's not necessarily true,” but it stuck with her. It impacted her so badly that she said, “Okay. Let's do it.” Rebecca: I'm really sorry that she had that experience. Meagan: Me too. Rebecca: Yeah. People think again this idea that your pelvic floor is spared, but you can still have pelvic floor dysfunction even if you have a C-section. You can still have leaking. You can still have pain with sex. You can still have constipation issues because people forget you spent the last 10 months growing this baby and your pelvic floor was working to support it. It is affected regardless of how you birth which is why every person who births should be getting some sort of assessment by a pelvic PT. I don't know if you are aware of that, but then if you have scar tissue because you birthed via C-section, the scar tissue can actually impede all sorts of things. The three most common side effects are hip and back pain, pain with sex, and urgency and frequency with urination which doesn't sound great and nobody really talks about it. Meagan: They normalize it. Rebecca: Yeah, agreed. It's just, “You had a baby so that's what you should expect.” We should expect better. We should always expect better. So by addressing that scar tissue, you can actually manage a lot of those things and hit them off long before they become a problem. Meagan: Yeah, it's interesting. I didn't know about scar massage or pelvic PT a ton until after my second C-section but then I started doing all of the things and I have a lot of adhesions. She could feel them internally and then we would work on my scar. My back pain would reduce. I did notice a difference during sex and things like that. She was like, “No, let's work this out for your vaginal birth because you also have trauma in general” which can sometimes be held in the pelvic floor. We have physical trauma and adhesions being created then I had emotional trauma and a lot of that, I carried in my pelvic floor. Rebecca: It's very common for people to carry that in their pelvic floor because our society says that peeing and pooping and sex is all taboo so maybe you didn't learn about it. Maybe yes, you are having sex but it's a shameful thing for you because of your upbringing. There are a lot of reasons that can contribute to this pelvic floor dysfunction. Constipation is actually one of the biggest indications that you may have a long stage one labor just because you may have a tight pelvic floor which means you may have difficulty relaxing it. Let's be real. You don't need a strong pelvic floor to birth a baby. You need a relaxed pelvic floor. You need to let the muscles get out of the way so that baby can come out because the pelvic floor is not pushing the baby out. Your uterus is.  Meagan: Uterus, yeah. Yeah. 50:13 Other scar tissue that can affect positioningMeagan: All fascinating. I highly suggest checking out a pelvic floor specialist no matter if you've had a vaginal birth but especially if you've had a C-section because like she said, it doesn't mean that we don't have things to work through and even if we've had a C-section too, I want to point out that we can also have scar tissue on the cervix from things like IUPCs being placed or if we have ever had a forceps birth or just in general. Things can happen where we've got cervical scarring that needs to be worked through so that for our VBAC, we can progress. I love hearing that Hannah was able to go in and get a Foley with a closed cervix and have this beautiful VBAC, but sometimes, that is definitely hard to get a provider to even do those interventions, and then if we have scar tissue on top of that, that can also cause things to be a little harder. Rebecca: One more point about scar tissue, even if you've had your appendix out or you have had a laparoscopic surgery, those sorts of things can actually affect the position of the baby. It can cause breech positioning or can cause you discomfort because the scar tissue is not allowing your body to expand as it needs to. So even those things are some really wonderful things that pelvic PT can help you with even if you didn't have a C-section. Meagan: Love it. Awesome. Well, if you are in the Georgia area, definitely check out Dr. Rebecca and if you are in the North Carolina area, definitely go check out UNC midwives. Is that right?Hannah: Right. That's them. Meagan: UNC midwives and keep listening here because these stories just like this and information like this are what we want to do. It's what we want to provide for you. If you have a certain topic or something like that that you are looking forward to, please email us at info@thevbaclink.com because we want to try to make sure we get that on the show. Thank you guys so much for being with us today.Rebecca: Thank you. Hannah: Thank you.ClosingWould you like to be a guest on the podcast? Tell us about your experience at thevbaclink.com/share. For more information on all things VBAC including online and in-person VBAC classes, The VBAC Link blog, and Meagan's bio, head over to thevbaclink.com. Congratulations on starting your journey of learning and discovery with The VBAC Link.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-vbac-link/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

In this episode, Iajhi and Brevan talk about: Their parent's musical legacy Growing up in the Triangle area in North Carolina, and the music scene there Attending North Carolina Central University, an HBCU and the only college in the state that offered a jazz degree at the time The ill-fated gig that brought Iajhi to LA Brevan's experience with being diagnosed as neurodivergent, and how that has changed how he approaches life and music Creating structure for yourself to avoid getting "emotionally disregulated" Iajhi's long-standing jam session at The Federal in North Hollywood, and the art and science of curating a good jam.

The entire mission of Jesus follows this pattern: nothing visibly spectacular at first but growing to a level of majesty we can scarcely imagine. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 49. Christmas probably is the biggest event of the calendar. Every year, I would say it's the biggest holiday there is. A Gallup poll in 2019 says that 93% of Americans, in some way, recognize or celebrate Christmas, and it's not just here in America, it's something that is a worldwide phenomenon. Over 2 billion people observe Christmas in some way worldwide, if not more. Christy and I were very surprised when we were missionaries in Japan to see Christmas decorations going up in the malls there in Tokushima. There's the green and red, and there's all the Christmas, jolly old St. Nicholas, and all that. Santa was everywhere. There it was, Christmas in Japan, where about 1% are evangelical, but there they were celebrating Christmas. I have a friend who lives in the Persian Gulf. We communicate via Zoom from time to time, and he told me that there are Christmas trees all over that Muslim nation. 99% of the people there are Muslim and they still have Christmas trees. If you look a little closer though, we realize Christmas isn't as big as it should be. 71% of Americans say they don't look on Christmas as a religious holiday at all. That's a huge percentage of people that see it in a secular sort of way, and we think that must be true of the billions around the world that stop working, gather to eat and to drink, and to celebrate in some way. We're aware of the fact that Christmas, however big it is, needs to be a lot bigger. That brings me to the text that we're studying today, Isaiah 49, in which it is said by God to Christ, "It is too small a thing..." I want to zero in on that concept and link it to Christmas. Christmas is too small, it's smaller than it should be, however big it is, it still too small. In the text, it is said, "It is too small a thing for you to save the Jews alone." Too small a thing. Now what an amazing achievement that would be, the salvation of the Jewish nation. When Jesus Christ finally achieves it, what a great achievement that would be at the end of human history, as I believe the mystery that Paul talks about in Romans 11, where he says, "All Israel will be saved." I believe that that will come, that will be a climax to the long, and torturous, and painful journey that Almighty God has been on with his chosen people, the Jewish nation, the descendants of Abraham. But however great that will be, God says in this text, "It is too small a thing." God intended a glory far greater than that, a multitude from every tribe, and language, and people in nation standing around the throne celebrating the salvation of God. The idea of my sermon today is captured in another place in Scripture. "O magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together." To magnify means to make great or make greater. We cannot make an infinite God any greater than he is, but He does need to be greater in our own estimation. That's where He is too small. That's why Christmas is too small, in our own minds, in our own estimation, and the Word of God is the remedy. Look at the text again. Isaiah 49: 1-6, “Listen to me, you islands. Hear this, you distant nations. Before I was born, the Lord called me from my birth, He has made mention of my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of His hand, He hid me. He made me into a polished arrow, and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, ‘You are my servant, Israel, in whom I'll display my splendor.’ But I said, ‘I have labored to no purpose. I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing, yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God.’ And now the Lord says, ‘He who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, where I'm honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength.’” He says, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the Earth." I believe that it is Christ speaking in this passage. He's summoning all nations to listen, look at verse 1, "Listen to me, you islands. Hear this, you distant nations." I've already made the assertion, but we need to ask, "Who is speaking in these words?" This person is speaking of himself and for himself, but He relates something He says that God says to him, the Lord says to him, "The Lord spoke to me." So who is the speaker in this ancient oracle? There are three possibilities. It is Isaiah the prophet himself speaking, or it is the nation of Israel collectively having a certain role to play, and that's home base of verse 3, where the speaker says the Lord calls him, "My servant Israel.” Or it could be the Messiah, the Christ, speaking through the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ, through the prophet Isaiah in the first person. If we look at verse 6, this is a key. He says, "It is too small or too light a thing for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I'll also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the Earth." The servant who's speaking here is someone who both restores the tribes of Israel and is also the light for the Gentiles. There's no way that can be the sinful nation of Israel. Israel can't bring Israel back, so that's eliminated. It's certainly not Isaiah the prophet, the man of unclean lips, he would never have arrogated to himself the statements made here. The New Testament solves this question for us directly by quoting this passage and ascribing it directly to Jesus. Shortly after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary took the baby Jesus to Jerusalem to be circumcised in fulfillment of the law of Moses. A prophet named Simeon was waiting for him. Moved by the Holy Spirit, he took the baby Jesus into his arms and said these amazing words in Luke 2, "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and for glory for your people Israel." So he calls him the light for the Gentiles or for the nations. So also Paul and Barnabas, when they're preaching in a synagogue in Pisidian, Antioch, quoted this and directly connected it to Jesus in Acts 13:47, "This is what the Lord has commanded us, I have made you," [singular,] "a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the Earth." Paul and Barnabas, didn't think that they were the light to the Gentiles, but they were there at Pisidian, Antioch on his behalf. The statement that had been made to Jesus, "I will make you a light for the Gentiles," they took as their marching orders, but it was Jesus that was the light for the Gentiles. Therefore, the speaker in Isaiah 49 is none other than Jesus speaking, long before He was incarnate by the Virgin Mary, speaking prophetically by the power of the Holy Spirit in the first person. This shouldn't surprise us because He does the same thing in His most famous quotation of Isaiah. At the beginning of His public ministry in Nazareth, He went to his hometown, Nazareth. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, and He took the scroll of Isaiah, and He unrolled it to Isaiah 61. He read these words, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me," [first person] "because He has anointed me," [Messiah Christ means anointed one] "to preach good news to the poor." He went on and quoted more of Isaiah 61, then He rolled up the scroll and sat down, and He said, "Today in your hearing, this scripture is fulfilled." So “I am the Messiah, I am the anointed one, the spirit of the Lord is upon me.” But if you just read Isaiah 61, it's the same thing. It's an ancient oracle written in the first person. It's Jesus speaking prophetically long before He was born by the spirit of God. We have that same kind of pattern here, and this is one of a series of what's known as “servant songs,” the servant of the Lord. There are four of them, the four servant songs. Sometimes the text speaks about the servant of the Lord, and sometimes in the servant song, the servant speaks himself directly. These four servant songs give us a sense of the purpose of God in sending Jesus. This is the thing that's so amazing, Isaiah was written more than seven centuries before Jesus was born. Uzziah died in the year 733BC, a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah. This is a long time before Jesus was born and it gives us great confidence, doesn't it? To know that the whole plan had been written out in detail in prophecy long before Jesus was born. We have these four servant songs. The first is in Isaiah 42, which depicts Jesus as a gentle Savior. Isaiah 42: 1-4, "Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight." The speaker there is God, He's speaking about the servant of the Lord, Jesus. "I will put my spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout, or cry out, or raise His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness, He will bring forth justice. He will not falter or be discouraged till He establishes justice on the Earth, and in His law, the islands will put their hope." That's the first of the four servant songs, directly ascribed to Jesus in Matthew chapter 12. When it says, "The bruised reed He will not break, and the smoldering wick He will not snuff out,” it is speaking of Jesus's wonderful tenderness and skill in binding together broken-hearted sinners and saving them. He's a gentle and a loving Savior, and that's the first servant song. This servant song, Isaiah 49, is the second of the four, and we're going to walk through it this morning. The third is in Isaiah 50, again, it speaks in the first person. It speaks of the sufferings of the servant. And then the fourth, Isaiah 52 and 53, is the most famous of the four servant songs. Both of those last two, Isaiah 50 and Isaiah 52/53 speak of the suffering servant of the Lord, the intense sufferings of the servant of the Lord, culminating in the substitutionary, atoning death of Jesus. I. Christ Summons All Nations to Listen This servant song, Isaiah 49, will depict Jesus as a messenger for the glory of the Lord to the ends of the Earth. To take the greatness of God from small beginnings to a worldwide eternal kingdom, the glory of the Lord shining to the Gentiles, but it begins so powerfully as Jesus speaks in the text to the distant islands and nations to listen to His voice calling on all peoples, all over the world, across all time to listen to Him. Look at verse 1, "Listen to me, you islands. Hear this, you distant nations.” This verse shows the scope of God saving plans. Christ is calling to the ends of the Earth. Christ is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. All nations on Earth are His, for the Father has given them to Him. And He summons the islands, He summons the distant nations, the farthest places, the remotest locations. For example, the Inuit people of the Canadian Arctic, the semi-nomadic tribes, the cave dwellers of Papua New Guinea belong to Him. The blonde haired Norsemen, descendants of the Vikings, who now live in civilized and technologically advanced cities in Norway. The tall Dinka in South Sudan, perhaps the tallest tribe on Earth. All of these distant lands and all the others are summoned by Jesus Christ, the king of all the Earth, to listen to His voice, "Listen to me." II. God Called Jesus Before and After Birth He wants them to know the origin of His saving mission, it was by the call of the Father before He was born. God called Jesus before and after His birth. Look again in verse 1, "Before I was born, the Lord called me.” Jesus is unique in all of human history. He existed before He took on a human body. He's the only human being that chose to enter the world. He was called by His father, and Christ's mission was determined in the mind of God before the foundation of the worlds. Before God said, "Let there be light,” before God created the heavens and the Earth, this plan was established and determined in the mind of God. 1 Peter 1: 19-20 says, "We were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake." This is no new plan thrown together hastily at the end, but it was planned in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8 also speaks of the lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. "Jesus is unique in all of human history. He existed before He took on a human body. He's the only human being that chose to enter the world. He was called by His father, and Christ's mission was determined in the mind of God before the foundation of the world." III. God Formed, Sharpened, Polished and Concealed Jesus It says in the text that God formed, sharpened, polished, and concealed Jesus. Look at verse 2, "He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me. He made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver." God prepared His son, the Lord Jesus, and He prepared the world for the coming of Christ. He orchestrated all of these things. Before the foundation of the world, God the Father, shaped his plan for the world through the Son. Everything in the universe, visible and invisible, was created through the Son. John 1:3, "Through him all things were made. And without him, nothing was made that has been made." Colossians uses the same concept, the Word through Colossians 1:16, "For through him or by him, all things were created. Things in heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or powers, or rulers, or authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him.” So through Him, by Him, for Him. If that's true of the physical universe, how much more are the plans for the salvation of sinners, from every tribe, language, people and nation made through the Son, by the Father through the Son. God, the Father, agreed to save the Elect through the blood of his incarnate Son before God made anything at all. Ephesians 1 says, "For he chose us in him," that is in Christ, "before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace." His people were chosen in Christ, before the world began, to end up holy and blameless in heaven. That's all this preparation that was made before there even was a world, before Jesus was conceived and born, the preparation language was ascribed to the unfolding plan of God, and then history unfolded. The calling of Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, the birth of Isaac by a miracle, by the miracle power of God, and then of Jacob, and then of the 12 tribes, and then the bondage, the slavery in Egypt, all of that. The exodus through Moses, then all that subsequent history of the Jewish nation, and also the detailed history of the Gentile nations as well. God orchestrated all of these things according to His plan and His purpose. You look at the history of Israel recorded for us in the Old Testament, the history of Israel under the laws of Moses, and their tragic, consistent rebellion against God, and their consistent idolatry, and their consistent resistance of the Holy Spirit, and the messengers, the prophets, that came and they would not listen. Their subsequent exiles by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, and God's graciousness and allowing a small remnant of them to return to the Promised Land under Gentile domination and rebuild their lives, rebuild the temple and the city. Then the subsequent history of that small dominated nation in the times of the Gentiles, dominated by Gentile powers, until the time of Christ. Then in the fullness of time we're told, Galatians 3, "At the right time, God sent his son Jesus Christ." At just the right time, everything had been prepared, everything had been shaped and prepared for that moment in time for Jesus to come, and so we see that preparation language. Then God prepared a body for Jesus. He prepared a body for him in the womb of the Virgin Mary, Jesus was a holy embryo. This is an infinite mystery, something we will never fully comprehend, but His body was prepared step by step. It was miraculously conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, when the Holy Spirit came over the body of Mary. But then it unfolded, it seems, in the natural way like any other baby is knit together in his or her mother's womb. The Virgin Mary was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit, as the angel said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you, and so the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." Mary said, "I'm a virgin, how can it be that I would have a baby?" That's how it happened, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the ordinary 23 chromosomes that would've come from a father, came from the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. Other than that, it seems his body was formed step-by-step as the child develops in the mother's womb. The text in Isaiah says that God made his mouth like a sharpened sword. Before his mouth could be a sharpened sword, He had to have a mouth at all. His physical mouth, and then the lungs that gave him breath so He could speak. Indeed, every bodily system needed for physical life, God willed to give him. By the power of the Holy Spirit, knitting his body together, but in the ordinary way it seems of human gestation. Psalm 139, "You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the Earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." That's David the psalmist talking about his own physical creation by God inside his mother's womb. But how much more is that true of Jesus? Again, Job spoke the same way of his own body being knit together. Job said to God, "Your hand shaped me and made me. Remember that you molded me like clay. Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? Did you not clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness." How amazing is that process anyway for every baby, but how much more significant is it for the incarnate son of God? All the days ordained for Jesus were written in God's book before one of them came to be. He was concealed, but this concealed son of God was revealed at the right time. "Hidden in the womb of the Virgin Mary like a polished arrow," it says, "concealed in the quiver, just as God's plan for the salvation of the world was hidden in the mind of God but then suddenly revealed when Jesus broke on the scene." Romans 16 speaks of the proclamation of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages pass but now revealed and made known. Ephesians 3:9 also, this mystery which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things. Colossians 1:26, "The mystery that had been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints." This mystery is Christ, the incarnate son of God, the Savior of the world, our hope for glory. Isaiah tells us that God concealed him in the shadow of his hand until the right time. The language here in Isaiah 49 is military. Jesus' mouth is likened to a sharpened sword, He is likened to a polished arrow. Jesus was unleashed by God the Father as a weapon to destroy Satan's dark kingdom, to smash it to bits, to destroy it, to bind the strong man, and to plunder his house, and to destroy him eternally in the lake of fire. By his own death, by Jesus' own death, to destroy him who held the power of death. In order to do this, God had to give Him a human soul, infinite mystery, and house it in a human body for that is what death is, the separation of the soul from the body. God gave Him blood, blood cells to course through His body, blood vessels to carry that blood, so that at the right time, He could shed His blood as an atonement for our sins. God gave Him bones as the frame of His body, but He ordained that not one of them would be broken when He died on the cross. God gave Him eyes to see the suffering of His afflicted sheep, He gave Him ears to hear their cries of pain, and all of this God prepared for His Son in the nine months that He was knitting Him together in His mother's womb. Then He hid Him once He was born, He hid Him from Herod's satanic attacks. Herod sent soldiers to hunt Him down and slaughter Him in Bethlehem, but God concealed Him and protected Him so that He would not die. The demons would've killed Him in the 30 years while He was growing up. He was getting ready to be revealed publicly to Israel, but they were held at bay. They would not be permitted to come after Him. They knew who He was, but He was protected and concealed, and He was concealed from public view until the right time came for Him to be manifested publicly to Israel. John the Baptist came as the forerunner, and he saw in the days of his baptism and the days of his preaching, John saw Jesus come. The only perfect man that has ever lived and he declared, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." John said, "I have seen and I testify that he is the son of God." John the Baptist said his central mission was the unveiling of the hidden son of God. In John 1:31, "The reason I came baptizing with water is that he might be unveiled or revealed Israel." The time of concealing was over, it was time for Him to be revealed. Think about the sharpened sword that was Jesus' mouth. How was Jesus' mouth like a sharpened sword with the awesome power of the words that He spoke? By His words, demons were driven out instantly. They were terrified of His word, they fled from Him, and no human weapon could ever bring terror to demons or to Satan. Satan has no fear of any weapon that we form, no weapon system. Remember when we were going through the book of Job and we talked about Leviathan, and I thought that he pictured Satan? For Leviathan in Job 41, it says, "The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart of the javelin. Iron he treats like straw, bronze like rotten wood. Arrows do not make him flee, slingstones are like chaff to him. A club seems to him but a piece of straw, he laughs at the rattling of the lance." There's no weapon that human beings could make, no sword that we could fashion that Satan would tremble at. But the demons were terrified of Jesus and they fled at His word. When the demoniac from the Gadarenes with 5,000 demons inside was confronted with Jesus, they ran to Him and fell on the ground before Him, begged Him that He would send them into the herd of pigs and not send them into the pit before they appointed time. He said one word in the Gospel of Matthew's account, "Go," and they fled. It was the power of the word of Jesus over the demonic forces. Jesus' sword is terrible, and swift, and unbreakable against all his enemies. At His second coming, He is depicted as having a sharp, double-edged sword coming out of his mouth. Revelation 19, "Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter, He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. And with His breath, He will slay the Antichrist, the most powerful and most wicked human being that will have ever lived in all of history." It says in 2 Thessalonians 2, "The lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and the splendor of His coming." All He'll have to do with the Antichrist is say, "Be dead, go to hell,” and it'll be done. That's the power of the sword coming out of the mouth of Jesus. How much more terrifying when He speaks to His enemies on judgment day, when all the nations are gathered before Him and He sits on a glorious throne, and He separates the people, all of them, one from another, into two categories, and only two, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He's going to say to the goats, to the lost, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." That "depart from me" is His sharp sword cutting them off from Himself, and from life, and from everything good that there has ever been or ever will be. That's the terror of the sharp sword coming from the mouth of Jesus. Yet in an amazing way, his polished sharp sword heals us from our sins. Much like a surgeon's scalpel is able to cut out the tumor, it's able to take out the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any double-edged sword. It's able to penetrate, even to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marriage, judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. At the day of Pentecost, the people heard the gospel and they were cut to the heart, they were pierced by it and saved, because of that sharp sword coming out of Jesus' mouth. IV. The Apparent Failure of Jesus’ Mission Now we come to a mystery and that is the apparent failure of Jesus's mission. If Isaiah 49:1-6 is indeed the pre-incarnate Christ speaking of his mission in the world, if it is, what do we make of this one statement in verse 4? "I said, 'I have labored to no purpose, I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.’" That sounds really discouraged, doesn't it? I put in all this time, I did all this labor, and nothing has come of it. If this is still Jesus speaking, and it must be because the text continues in the same pattern, how could it be? At what point would Jesus say something like this? The mystery of the incarnation, the entire mission of Jesus follows the same pattern. Nothing visibly spectacular at first, small, insignificant, not very glorious, and just getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Growing to a level we can scarcely imagine. Isaiah 53 speaks of this very thing in verse 2, "He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.” He's not impressive. When the King of Kings and Lord of Lords entered the world, it was in abject poverty and humility, born in a stable, wrapped in swaddling clothes, laid in a manger. When the shepherds went and saw them, they saw a baby wrapped up in cloths, that was it. When the Magi came, having been led by the star, they just saw a normal human baby. He had no majesty, no glory. He was just simple, and so throughout His ministry. He had no outward majesty, no radiant glory shining around Him. He looked like an ordinary man, and a very poor one at that. He had no place to lay His head. He had to be supported by a group of women who supported Him out of their means. This culminated in His arrest, in weakness. He didn't fight, He just went like a sheep to the slaughter. His disciples all deserted Him and fled the moment that He was arrested. Jesus said they would do it, "This very night you will all fall away in account of me, for it is written. I'll strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered." They're all gone. His closest, most trusted allies, disciples that he had poured into for three years, they're gone. And the time of His death, as He was dying on the cross and his blood was flowing out of His body, all He had to show at that moment, for a worldwide awesome movement in the kingdom that would last for all eternity, was His mother, some other women who were friends of the family, and one of the 12 apostles, John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, who was an eyewitness to His death. That was it. The only perfect ministry there's ever been, the only perfect teaching and perfect miracles, all of that perfect example, and that's it. But I said, "I have labored to no purpose. I've spent my strength in vain and for nothing." The seemingly gloomy statement shows how small the kingdom of Christ would've appeared at that moment. If any of us who are followers of Christ could be there at that moment, we would see what it looked like, and it didn't look like much. It certainly didn't look glorious, it certainly didn't look like it would conquer the world and last for all eternity. It started small, like Jesus' own body in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Microscopically small, so also the kingdom, which would one day conquer the whole Earth and last for all the eternity. But at that moment, all of those beautiful outcomes were in the hands of God. As He died, He said, "Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit." I think we could go beyond and say, "Into Your hands, I commend my kingdom. Do something with this.” That's why in Isaiah 49:4, it doesn't last long, this seemingly gloomy statement. "But I said, ‘I have labored to no purpose. I've spent my strength and a vain for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God.’" And God says, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Ask of me, and I'm going to give you the nations as your inheritance.” You cannot measure the zeal that God the Father had to make much of what Christ did by dying on the cross, but at the moment of death it seemed like a failure. Therefore, like Jesus' body itself grew, Jesus' kingdom starts small also and moves out to its appropriate scope, and then we see the eternal glory of Jesus' kingdom. The text speaks of a glory too small for Christ. Look at verses 5-6, "Now the Lord says, ‘He who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I'm honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength.’ He says, ‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I'll also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the Earth.’" This is Jesus speaking by the Spirit through the words of Isaiah that Isaiah wrote down. He talks of his formation in the womb, the incarnation, Jesus would say, "The same God who formed me, formed my body in the womb of the virgin has glorious plans for Me." Yes, the original mission was to the nation of Israel. Paul says plainly to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "Salvation is from the Jews." He said to the Syrophoenician woman, "I was sent only to the lost tribes of Israel." Now this text says Jesus' first mission was to bring Jacob back to God and gather Israel to himself, to restore Jacob and bring back the remnant, those of Israel that I have kept, that remnant. But that mission is too small. The Hebrew literally says it's too light, it's too trifling a thing. "I've got bigger plans than that for you, Jesus." Bigger plans than that, however great that is. That Jesus, the eternal son of God, would be the tribal savior of only one ethnic group on Earth, that is too small a thing. Why? Romans 3: 29-30 says, "Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too?" Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised through faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. One God for the entire world, one savior. So therefore it is too light a thing for Jesus to only be a Jewish savior. He has a worldwide plan, God does. "I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the Earth." A light for the Gentiles, and that light directly equated with salvation. As Isaiah said earlier, in Isaiah 9:2, “The people walking in darkness have seen what a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.” It says in the next verse, Isaiah 9:3, "You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy." So we're going to have a bigger nation. He says in Isaiah 54, "Lengthen the tent ropes and the stakes, and get a bigger tent, you're going to need a bigger tent, O Zion." So it's too small a thing for just the Jews, there are going to be some honorary members of the family of Abraham. By repentance and faith in Christ, they're going to be grafted into this incredible work. "One God for the entire world, one savior. So therefore it is too light a thing for Jesus to only be a Jewish savior. He has a worldwide plan, God does." It is too small a thing for it just to stay Jews only. They rejoice before you as those who rejoice at the harvest, as those who rejoice when dividing the plunder. It's a time of joy. Jesus is the light for the Gentiles, giving the light of truth, shining the light on yourself, the light of the truth about yourself, that you're a sinner who has violated the laws of God as I am, that you deserve hell. Death is coming. You see the light of yourself, and you come into the light because you're not afraid, because you know what you're going to find there is a savior who is gentle and humble, and you're going to find rest for your souls, and salvation for your souls. That light is shining on you, and you can see yourself clearly for the first time, but you can also see the light of the glory of God in Christ, and He's beautiful and attractive, and you want him. That's the light, as it says in “Amazing Grace.” "Amazing grace, how sweet this sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found was blind, but now I see." Jesus is the light for the Gentiles who would bring God's salvation to the ends of the Earth. And what is that but missions, friends. You may be wondering, "Why did you do Isaiah?" It's like, I want to get to missions. I want to talk about missions. "Well, Pastor, you did that last week." That's true, I want to do it this week too. It is important that we understand God's worldwide plan for the greatness of Jesus. Jesus is still too small, and His kingdom is still too small. It's bigger than it was yesterday, praise God, but it's still too small and it's going to get bigger and bigger. More and more people, and more and more conception of the greatness of Christ, and that process is going to go on for all eternity. Romans 15, "I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews, on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy, as it is written. ‘Therefore, I'll praise you among the Gentiles, I'll sing hymns to your name.’" Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." And again, "Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and sing praises to Him all you peoples." And again, Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations, and the Gentiles will hope in Him." V. Application This time of year, we collect money for missions through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. We have a greater focus on missions, our minds drift away throughout the year. We should be thinking about it daily throughout the year, but this is a good time for us to recommit and reconnect. Think about sacrificial financial giving. It is by offerings like this that missionaries are cared for, paid for, and able to stay on the field. Let's be sacrificial in our giving. We do this so that we may finally realize, God the Father's, determination in Isaiah 49:6, that Jesus would have the full glory of the salvation of the elect from every nation. As Revelation 7 says, "After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne, and in front of the lamb. And they were wearing white robes, and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb.’" Isaiah 9 says, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he'll be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his kingdom and of peace, there will be no end." This kingdom is going to get bigger for all eternity, not more people, procreation will be done. But in your estimation of the greatness of Jesus, you're going to spend eternity learning just how infinitely glorious and great Jesus is. I'm looking forward to that, aren't you? Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank You for the time we've had to study. Lord, we thank You for the gospel and pray, oh Lord, that You would just be speaking very plainly. Like even now, oh Lord, be speaking. Speaking to people who have yet to cross over from death of life. Let them hear the truth, and let them know... They've heard the gospel multiple times this morning. Let them know that it is for them, that they would see in the light of the truth of the Word of God, that they need a savior, and that Jesus is that savior. And repenting and trusting in Him, find life in His name. And for all of us, oh Lord, help us to be committed to shining that light in many dark places in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Christ died to fulfill the Second Great Commandment — love your neighbor as yourself, and to enable us at last to fulfill it ourselves for all eternity! - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - I want to begin this sermon by speaking directly to all of you, who are my brothers and sisters in Christ. I feel a privilege this morning as a messenger of God to tell you that you are infinitely rich, and not only are you infinitely rich, you're getting richer by the day, and someday you're going to come into an infinite inheritance, the scope and magnitude of which I guarantee you underestimate. My task this morning as I begin this sermon is to give you a sense of that richness, the sense of that wealth, that inheritance. Imagine that I were a lawyer entrusted with the opening up of a sealed will, and you've been invited to come and hear as an heir what you're going to get. Imagine a fabulously wealthy business magnate has died, and you're part of the family, and I am going to read the will. I read your name, and I tell you that you stand to inherit millions of shares of blue-chip stock in a Fortune 500 company, thousands of bonds, shares in some oil fields in the Persian Gulf. The list goes on, and on and your mind starts to spin with the realization that all your financial problems are solved forever. That's not what's happening today. I'm not doing any of that, but I am telling you that if you're a Christian, you are an heir to a vast fortune of immeasurably, even infinitely, greater value than any of those things I just listed. Ephesians chapter 1 mentions the word “inheritance” three times. I was pondering that this morning. Ephesians 1:11 says, "In Christ, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of His glory." The first mention of the word “inheritance" in Ephesians 1:11and then Ephesians 1:13, "In Him also, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having believed you are sealed in Him with the promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing your full inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” That's the second mention of inheritance and the gift of the Holy Spirit as a down payment, a payment or a foretaste of that full inheritance. But the one that really captivated me this morning, the reason I'm mentioning it to you now, is the third mention of the word “inheritance” in Ephesians chapter 1. Paul prays for the Ephesian Christians and, through Him, for all of us, that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened in order that we would know the hope to which He has called us, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That phrase captivates me this morning. That's why I'm even mentioning this whole concept to you today, the vast inheritance you have in the saints. Sometimes, when we're listing the various forms of wealth held by fabulously wealthy people, we talk about how they made their wealth and what their wealth was in. We use that kind of language, like we would say that Rockefeller made his money in oil. Carnegie made all his money in steel. Vanderbilt made his money in railroads, that kind of thing. Warren Buffett made his money in stocks. So what's our inheritance? According to Ephesians 1:18, our wealth is in saints. Your wealth is in the saints. I'm not going to have you do it, but look around, look left and right. That's your wealth, right there. Your brothers and sisters in Christ are part of your inheritance. You might say that's a little bit of a letdown. I was hoping for something better in heaven. You know that again and again, from this pulpit, I've preached that your genuine wealth is God. What you get when you go to heaven is, you get God. There are so many statements of this, so many pictures of this— the Levites didn't get an inheritance, but God was their inheritance. They represent all of us, I think. A beautiful statement in Genesis 15:1, "Fear not Abram, I am your shield. I am your very great reward." God is your reward. God is what you get. Heaven is all about God. Heaven is all about the glory of God. That's what you get. However, there are other verses that expand our sense of the inheritance. A simple one in the Sermon in the Mount is “blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” We don't just say, "God, we get the earth. We inherit the earth." There are many other such statements and Ephesians 1:18 is one of those. If you look at the earth, we, the redeemed, are going to get the earth. We're going to get not this cursed earth, but we get this earth, I believe, resurrected in a new form called the new heaven and new earth. You're going to get it. You're going to be an heir with Abraham of the earth, and that new heaven, new earth is going to shine with the glory of God. They're not separate. You get God in the form of the new heaven, the new earth, as He has made it beautiful, and His radiance and His glory will shine, for the earth is full of His glory, and it'll be even more evident in the new heaven, the new earth. So with that idea, go back to Ephesians 1:18, our inheritance is in the saints. We are rich in the saints. Our wealth will be in some part each other, and that is in a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe, language, people, and nation. That's why I say you are immeasurably wealthy, and you get wealthier every day because every day more people cross over from death to life, and they become part of your inheritance, and you get them just like they get you. I understand why you would feel a little bit disappointed in this because you know you're no great shakes. I'm not trying to insult you, but it's only recently that these words would be overtly true of you. Romans chapter 3, "There was no one righteous, not even one. No one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away. They've together become worthless." Think about that word. Imagine a worthless inheritance, but that's what we were, but it is not what we are. We were at one time worthless, "There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Ruin in misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes." That's what you were. That's what I was, but it is not what I am, and it is not what I will be for all eternity. However, because of how terrible we are in our sin, it's not surprising, a little bit shocking, that one of the foremost philosophers of the 20th century in 1944, John-Paul Sartre, said famously, "Hell is other people." Hell is other people. Imagine being his friend and reading that. “Tell me, Jean-Paul, how you really feel about our friendship?” Hell is other people. What I'm saying today, based on Ephesians 1:18, is, heaven is other people. Think about that. Heaven is other people, in part, not in any way minimizing that God is our reward. Actually, it's because the glory of God is going to be shining in unique and beautiful ways through each of the redeemed that each one of them is part of your inheritance because each one of them will shine with the glory of God and of the Father in ways that will be special, unique, and beautiful, and I argue because I believe in a dynamic heaven in which you'll never be omniscient. You'll have a lot to learn. You haven't met most of your inheritance yet. You don't know them yet. You won't know them when you die. You'll meet them in heaven, and it's going to take a long, long, long, long time to meet them, as God in some sense says, "Have you considered My servant Job? Have you considered My servant so-and-so?" You will have the opportunity to consider each of your brothers and sisters and the glories of each one. At that time, the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father, and you are going to see how beautiful they are, how radiant they are, and how glorious they are. As it says in John chapter 3, "Everyone who lives by the lie does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But everyone who lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." So each of their good works, which will have been perfected by the fire of Judgment Day and come through shining, each one of them will be a display of the glory of God in their lives. Their glories will be your glories, their honors will be your honors, their privileges will be your privileges because we're all part of one body, and when one part of the body is honored, the whole body is honored with it. You have a glorious inheritance in the saints, and it's getting richer every day, not just in the redemption of people crossing over from death to life but in the good works they're doing. They're enriching the kingdom of God every day, and so are you, by your good works. I believe that it's relevant to today's text because it is the perfect fulfillment of the second great commandment when we get to heaven. Our sin has made us constricted. We pull into ourselves. All we really care about is us. We pull in, and we become like a medieval castle with a moat and a drawbridge. The drawbridge is pulled up, and we're all about me, intensely committed to selfish me. That's what sin does to us. Redemption does the opposite. It makes us open and expansive to include others more and more and more so that others’ delights are our delights, others' blessedness becomes ours, and we get to live that out now by the power of the Spirit. The more we do, the more the glorious gospel of Jesus will be put on display. The more our church is characterized by that kind of heavenly openness and love in which we really genuinely delight in the blessedness of others, we're willing to sacrifice to make somebody else blessed, and we find delight, personal delight in somebody else's happiness, the more the gospel's going to shine in this church. I tell you, this region, this country needs it. This is a dark place, and we are put like a light up on a pedestal to shine in this dark place. We're a city on a hill. We're called to do this. “Behold how they love one another,” one of the ancient observers of Christians said. Or as Jesus said, "By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." It's this open expansiveness that gets up out of self and includes another in our own happiness so that their blessedness is ours, their delight is ours. Years ago, I saw a movie that pictured this for me, and it depicted a love scene in the movie. It wasn't actually romantic at all, but it was between a man and a woman. It comes from the movie Driving Miss Daisy. Morgan Freeman plays an African-American man hired to drive around an older Jewish woman in the South a number of decades ago, and it depicts their budding relationship. It moves from employer-employee, eventually, at the end of the movie, to friends, just genuinely friends. Morgan Freeman is very elderly at this point, as is the woman Jessica Tandy plays. The woman is very old, she's in a nursing home, and maybe some mild dementia, et cetera. He goes to visit her at the nursing home, and she's sitting there. It's Thanksgiving time, and they have a conversation. They haven't seen each other in a number of years, they get reconnected, and she's not all there, but she definitely knows that he's with her, and she has a piece of pie in front of her that she hasn't started yet, and at some point he says, "Now you haven't eaten your pie." He starts to feed it to her, and as he feeds her each piece, the acting is just really excellent in this. As he feeds her each piece, it's like you can see him enjoying it as though he's enjoying it through her. The enjoyment of that pie is his. It's a beautiful scene, and I think it captures a little bit of what I think it means to love your neighbor as yourself, that you are expanded, your heart is expanded into the joy of someone else's joy. Or we could say negatively, "If someone else is suffering, you're suffering with them, and then to alleviate that suffering brings you delight." You're free now from that pain because you are so joined in your heart. That's what I think it means to love your neighbors yourself. Let's talk about the context. It's the last week of Jesus' life. He's already made the triumphal entry to the cries of “Hosanna.” He's cleared the Temple of its filthy money changers, and He continues his ministry of teaching and of healing there in the temple area. He's in the final stage of His life because His enemies are overtly, clearly plotting His death. They want to kill Him. The chief priest, the Scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, they want to kill Him. They set up one trap after another. First, the Pharisees and Herodians, with their question on taxation, designed to get him in trouble with the Romans and get Him killed. Then the Sadducees, with their ridiculous question about resurrection, that case study with the man that had seven brothers and married to the one woman. Remember that? Then, along in Mark's Gospel, comes this expert in the law who seems different than them. He's a different spirit. I think he really genuinely wanted to know the answer that of all the commandments, which is the greatest, and Jesus's commendation of him is unusual. Jesus answers, "The most important one is this, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.' The second is this, 'Love your neighbors yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." In the last few sermons, we've looked at the first and Greatest Commandment, the vertical one, love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Now we're going to look at the second one. This commandment is an old commandment that's made new. It's an ancient commandment. Jesus is quoting the law of Moses, as He did with the first and greatest commandment. He's quoting again with the second commandment. It's Leviticus 19:18, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." Love your neighbor as yourself. What does that mean? It's not, you have to first love yourself, and then you'll be able to love your neighbor. It's not that. In the sense of this verse, you already fanatically do love yourself. From infancy, you have been fanatically committed to yourself. The infant howling at 3:00 AM is loving him or herself. They can't articulate it, but that is what is going on. They have a need, they want it met. They're increasingly aware of a particular person who keeps meeting the need, and they want that person. They can't even say mama yet, but they are, from infancy, committed to self. This is innate. The command tells us to do for others what we've been doing all our lives for ourselves. One of the articulations of this is in marriage, and I think it makes it a little clearer exactly what this commandment entails in marriage. It says, "Husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife, loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it." That's a very practical explication of the Second Great Commandment in the context of marriage. It's very easy to see a very clear connection between the Second Great Commandment and the one Paul gives in marriage, but he specifically is very physical with it. The way the husband feeds and cares for his own body is the way he should look after his wife. I think we could say the same thing in general for our neighbor. Look how you care for yourself. When your stomach is growling and empty, you feed it. When your tongue is dry, you drink. When you have an itch, you scratch it, even if it's right between your shoulder blades and very difficult to reach. You do what you need to do to alleviate the pain. If you are in pain in any way, you alleviate it, you shift how you're sitting in your pew. If one part of your body is falling asleep or whatever, you're going to adjust to alleviate the pain. If your body is cold, you're going to put on a sweater. If it's hot, you're going to get into some AC and alleviate it. If it's raining, you seek shelter. You do this constantly. You've been doing this every day of your life, pretty much every moment of your life, from infancy. The way you've been doing that for yourself, do it for your neighbor, do it for everyone else. I. An Old Commandment Made New This is an ancient command—love your neighbor as you already do love yourself. But . . . we’re told a new commandment, a new command. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, after the foot washing, He said, "A new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this will everyone know that you're My disciples if you love one another." It is effectively an old commandment made new, as John writes in 1 John 2:7-8, "Dear friends, I'm not writing you a new command but an old one which you've had from the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command. Its truth is seen in Him and in you because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining." How is this old command, or ancient command, made new? Jesus is the answer. It's because of Jesus that this old command is now incarnated and it is made new. How is that? First, by Jesus's example; Jesus showed us how to love our neighbor as ourselves. He gave us a role model that we should imitate. He's the only one in history that has ever perfectly fulfilled this horizontal commandment. As we read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we see all of His encounters with men and women and children and with everyone. We just have much information education now in what it looks like to love our neighbor as own self. Then we see it definitely in the atoning work of Jesus and the atonement of Jesus. Jesus said in general universal principle, John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that he laid down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you." The principle is laying down your life. Jesus's teaching tells us what it means to love our neighbor. Jesus's death on the cross is the perfect pinnacle of a human being loving his neighbors. It is a perfect pinnacle example of the Second Great Commandment being fulfilled. As it says in Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this. While we're still sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus loved His enemies. He gave the infinite gift of Himself under the wrath of God so that we would not suffer eternity in hell. He cared about where we were heading. He cared about alleviating eternal suffering, and He was willing to take it into Himself so that we would be set free, and by gazing therefore at the example of Jesus and at the cross of Jesus. This is a new command. It's an ancient command made new now, and it's made new because the Spirit of Christ is in us working it. If you're a Christian, the Spirit of Jesus is in you, working this horizontal command so that you'll love your neighbor as yourself, and by the Spirit alone can we do it. We've seen this again and again in Ezekiel 36:26-27, "I'll give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I'll remove from you your heart of stone, and I'll give you a heart of flesh and I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep my laws." Consummated in the two Great Commandments., the Spirit of Christ is in us, moving us to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. That's what the Spirit is moving you to do if you're a Christian. Therefore, in Galatians 5:22, the first thing it says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love." That's what the Spirit does in you. When He's working in you, He makes you love. Only by the spirit of the indwelling Spirit of Christ can we truly love our neighbors. God is the source of that love, and He gives us that love that flows out vertically through us, then horizontally out by Christ's mediatorial work and by the linking, connecting work of the Holy Spirit of God. That's how it happens. 1 John 4:7-8, "Dear friends, let us love one another. For love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” There is a beautiful picture in Revelation 22 of the throne of God in the center of the new Jerusalem and the river of the water of life flowing eternally and endlessly generated from the throne, and out it flows. This river of the water of life is crystal clear. I don't think it's very difficult to say, it's also a river of love. So love just flows from God, for from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. He is the source of love, and you cannot love, not like this, apart from Christ. "Love just flows from God, for from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. He is the source of love, and you cannot love, not like this, apart from Christ." Let me stop and say to all of you, are you in Christ or are you apart from Christ? Have you received from Jesus Christ the forgiveness of your sins? Have you realized that you are that sinner described in Romans 3, that you are worthless and a viper, and on your way to hell? Jesus came to intervene, to save you, and to die into the wrath of God for your violation of God's laws. Have you come to that place and asked Him? Have you called in the name of the Lord for the forgiveness of your sins? If so, that the moment that happened, you received the gift of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. You began a career of love vertically, and horizontally. II. Love Defined Let's try to understand it. What is love? How will we understand love? We're going to go again to Jonathan Edwards, and Edwards taught us that the soul has two faculties. First, the ability to comprehend or understand things in the universe, including our neighbor, that we're able to understand. It has that capacity to study and know. Then secondly, to be inclined or disinclined to that thing that it studies and knows to a greater less degree, such as liking or loving or disliking and hating. The soul does this. This is what is designed to do by God. I pictured it in terms of a magnetic attraction like a bar magnet north-south attracted, and then, to a greater less degree is, that number line of affection, positive being liking on up to loving and the negative numbers being disliking onto hating. Therefore, I give this definition of love. Love is a heart attraction that results in cheerful, sacrificial action. Love is a heart attraction that results in cheerful, sacrificial action. First, it's heart attraction. Your heart is attracted to your neighbor. Your heart goes out to your neighbor and includes your neighbor within yourself. Therefore, it is not enough just to act. Many people say love is an action, and they're quoting a verse I'm about to quote. It's important that love is action, I get that, but first there has to be the heart attraction. If there's no heart in it, there's no love. You can give the utmost gift, the costliest gift, but if your heart isn't attracted, if it doesn't go out to your neighbor and yearn to bless that, and you don't find personal delight in it, it's nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:3, maybe, in some sense, one of the harshest verses in the Bible, "If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing." Wow. I can't imagine a more amazing gift. The individual gave all of their worldly possessions to the poor and died, and they get nothing. Why? Because they didn't do it in love. It's incredible. What that means is, behind that is, there must be a heart attraction. There has to be a yearning to bless the person. My heart is linked to yours. Jonathan Edwards put it this way, "In some sense, the most benevolent, generous person in the world seeks his own happiness in doing good to others because he places his happiness in their good. His mind is so enlarged as to take them as it were into himself. Thus, when they're happy, he feels it. He partakes with them and is happy in their happiness." Isn't that beautiful? That's Morgan Freeman enjoying the pie through Jessica Tandy. That's what it is. My heart is going out. It's expanded and includes you. If you personally get no delight out of your service to your neighbor, you get nothing on Judgment Day. You have to enjoy doing it, delight in doing it. But there has to be an action. Now we get to that other verse I was mentioning. You can't just have really sweet feelings for everybody, and it never amounts to anything. 1 John 3:16-18, "This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth." So you've got to have both sides of that equation. You got to put it together. You can't just have the sweet feelings and do nothing. You can't just do things and not have the feelings. It's together. But it has to be sacrificial actions, it’s got to cost you something. Isn't that what sacrifice is? David said, "I will not offer the Lord a sacrifice that costs me nothing." It's got to cost you. You can measure love by sacrifice. “Greater love has no one than this, that he laid down his life for his friends.” You see, it's a measurement, greater love. So the more the sacrifice, the more love has been revealed. Obviously, literally, to die for someone else is the greatest sacrifice anyone... It's the greatest thing you could ever do. But lesser gifts are sacrifices as well. You're giving of your time, of your energy, of your money. You're giving something that costs you something. You are in some way depleted because you gave to your neighbor, you made a sacrifice for them. But it has to be cheerful. So it's like, "Pastor, you put too much in the definition." But there are Bible verses behind each of these. What kind of giver does God love? God doesn't just love a giver, God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7, "Each of you should give..." He's talking about finances, "Each of you should give what he has determined in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion because God loves a cheerful giver." Therefore, Jesus was a cheerful giver on the cross. This is infinitely mysterious, but it's true. In Hebrews 12:2 it says, "We should fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross scorning in shame and sat down at the right hand of God." He looked beyond the misery and the horror of the cross to the good thing that would come from it, the joy. What is that joy? His joy in saving a multitude from every tribe, language, people, and nation, so that they would be with Him and see His glory and spend eternity in heaven. This is my composite definition of love. Love is a heart attraction to another person that results in cheerful, sacrificial action on behalf of that person. "Love is a heart attraction to another person that results in cheerful, sacrificial action on behalf of that person." IV. What Love Is and Is Not Let's describe it a little more— what love is and what love is not. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 describes negatively and positively what it is and is not, "Love is patient. Love is kind. It doesn't envy. It doesn't boast. It's not easily angered. It's not proud, it's not rude. It's not self-seeking. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." So love is patient, it puts up with a lot. It's long-suffering. It's kind. It freely does good things for people. There's a kindness to love. There's a gladness, a gentleness, a giving nature to love that is wrapped up in the word “kind”. There's a kindness to it. It doesn't envy. It's not jealous over the benefits given to others. There's no envy or jealousy. It is glad to see other people blessed and benefit. You're not in competition with them in that regard. It doesn't boast. It's not proud. This love that we're talking about here is actually a very humble thing. It's humble. It's not rude. Let's put it this way, it's well-mannered. There's just good manners to love. I think all that system of manners that parents teach their children, it's basically Second Commandment stuff. When you're at the table, you don't talk with your mouthful. All of those rules are preciousness of others, you’re caring about others. So it's not rude. It's not self-seeking. It doesn't constantly say, "What's in it for me?" We shouldn't misunderstand that. There should be heart desire. So there is something in it for me. I should desire it. But it's not that selfish, independent, "I want to get something whether you get anything or not." That's what self-seeking means. It's not easily angered. It has a short fuse, it doesn't fly off the handle quickly, and it keeps no record of wrongs. How difficult is that? I'm not remembering what you did to me last week. I'm ready to forgive because I've been forgiven much. It doesn't delight in evil. There's no schadenfreude. It seems like so much of the internet, so much of the digital media is delighting in other people's misfortune, finding humor in some bad thing that happens to another person. Love doesn't do that. That’s not loving. If we see somebody dragged down, we don't delight in it. We rejoice in the truth. What does that mean? Jesus is the truth. I rejoice to see Jesus come into somebody's life. I rejoice to see the Bible's truth flourishing. It delights in Christ and the Bible succeeding in the world and people living according to it. We love that. Then it always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres. It never fails. It just stands with individuals, and it's there permanently. If you ask, what is love like and what is it not like? I would commend 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. How does it act? I can tell you how it does not act. It doesn't do any harm to the neighbor. Romans 13:9-10, "The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet.' And whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one command, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Remember, I talked a few weeks ago about there have to be negatives after prohibition? You can't just tell our corrupt generation, love is love. Just love how you feel. No, there's a bunch of prohibitions in the Bible, but what Paul says in Romans 13 is that all of those prohibitions are summed up in the positive command to love. Because love doesn't do any harm to the neighbor. So you shall not commit adultery. It is not loving to break up someone's marriage to be a homewrecker. That's not love. Paul talks about that in another place. Don't take advantage of your brother by winning over his wife. That's not love. That's damaging to him, stealing, damaging, taking his things. Those prohibitions are summed up in the statement “love”, because love doesn't do any harm. So that's what love does not do. We don't damage each other, hurt each other. That's where gossip and slander comes in. If I'm gossiping and slandering, I'm destroying somebody's reputation. What does love do? It acts in such a way that the individual is, in some way, blessed. You could do it negatively by alleviating suffering, positively by helping them grow and grace in the knowledge of Christ, bringing blessings into their lives materially, physically. A great statement is Jesus' depiction of Judgment Day in Matthew 25, "All the nations will be gathered before Him and He's going to separate the people one from another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He'll say to the sheep, the righteous on His right. He'll say, 'I was hungry, you gave Me something to eat. I was thirsty. You gave Me something to drink. I was a stranger, you invited Me in. I needed clothes, and you clothed Me. I was sick, and you looked after Me. I was in prison, and you came to visit Me.'" That's a whole list of actions that you can do out of love. Those are all Second Great Commandment actions, especially on the issue of alleviation of suffering. We Christians should care about suffering. We should care about all suffering, and we should desire to alleviate it. Next week, I'm going to preach on mercy ministry, on the Good Samaritan, and the alleviation of temporal suffering. I heard a long time ago, and I like this, we Christians care about the alleviation of all suffering, but especially eternal suffering. What is eternal suffering? It is the torment of hell. How could that torment be alleviated? There's only one way, by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. How should we care about that? We should care whether people are going to hell or not. It should matter to us, and this is what I taught this past week, Romans 9:1-3. The apostle Paul said this, "I speak the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, the nation of Israel." What is he saying? Saying, "I would be willing to give up my own salvation if they could be saved. I could wish that, but I can't because I'm not their mediator. I'm not their savior. That was already done by Jesus. But I'm telling you that's the level of my concern for them.” I believe that we don't witness, we don't share our faith like we should, because we don't grieve over lostness and over its ultimate destination like we should. We should ask God to give us a heart of grief and brokenness over lost people, the alleviation of eternal suffering. That's what it is. V. Heaven: Love Perfected As I close today, I just want to expand your mind and bring you into that heavenly realm that we're going to go to, that new heaven, new earth, that eternal state. When both of these commandments, the First and Second Commandment, will be consummated in each of us, how much are you looking forward to that? How beautiful is that world of love going to be when, at last, you'll finally love God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength, and you'll at last love all of your neighbors as yourself? And you're going to have a lot of neighbors. Revelation 7:9-10, "After this I looked, and there before me, it was a great multitude that no one could count, from every tribe and language and people in nation standing before the throne and the front of the lamb. They were wearing white robes and they were holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'" Let's imagine that the thesis of my Heaven book is true. That you'll have a perfect mind and a perfect heart, but you'll never be omniscient. What that means is, you'll be able to learn things in heaven, and the central topic of heaven is the glory of God. The central and the greatest display ever there has ever been of the glory of God is in the redemption of His people by the blood of Jesus Christ. It's the greatest display of glory there ever has been, ever will be. How much of it did you know here on earth? A very, very tiny percent, 0.0001%. How much will you learn in heaven? Much. All of it. How long will it take? Forever. Imagine meeting a new brother or sister, one that lived 263 years before you. They'll be in heaven. He's not the God of the dead but of the living, and you'll meet them. How could you know them? You couldn't. But you'll meet them in heaven and imagine two things. You want to know two things. How were they saved, and how were they used? Imagine being so expansive in your love that you'll actually care about the answers. “Tell me your testimony. How long do we have? Okay, I'll give you two minutes.” It's not going to take two minutes to find out how God sovereignly saved each of your brothers and sisters in Christ, what He orchestrated providentially to bring messengers and evangelists into their lives, either through their family, through missionaries, or through an evangelists, and you're going to be enthralled because it is to the glory of God how they got saved. As the elder asked a couple verses later in Revelation, these in the white robes, "Who are they and where did they come from? You've got forever to answer that question. How awesome will that be? "So please tell me, how did God save you?" Imagine Jesus himself saying, "Let me tell you what I did in his life or her life." Then the second question, "How did God use them? What are their good works? What are their rewards?" Again, you're not in competition because if one part of the body is honored, the whole body will be honored with it. You're going to be delighting in their honors, performance, and privileges as though they were your own because we're part of one body. How awesome will that be? That is where we're heading, brothers and sisters. The more we can live it now, the better for the gospel here in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. Close with me in prayer. Father, thank You for the time we've had to just immerse ourselves in the Second Commandment. We know that it's for the failure of the Second Commandment that all the wars, dissensions, factions, divorces, fighting, and crimes have ever been committed. We thank You that You, Lord Jesus, by Your blood and by Your spirit, are the only remedy, and You are a perfect remedy. We thank You that You have made us rich now in each other, and You're making us richer by the day. Enable us, oh Lord, to love one another by the power of the Spirit to live out the gospel and put the gospel on display here in this region. In Jesus' name, amen.

It is important to ask for great things from God, seeking by faith to perceive what God wills to do and by prayers to be involved in his work. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Turn in your Bibles to Mark 11. We resume a series now in the Gospel of Mark, and the focus, as you heard in my prayer today, is Mountain-Moving Prayer. On Wednesday, May 30th, 1792, at Friar Lane Baptist Chapel in Nottingham, England, a simple cobbler named William Carey preached one of the greatest sermons in church history. It was later called the Deathless Sermon. It was a call for Christians to make every effort to take the gospel to unreached peoples to the ends of the earth and to the end of time. Up to that point in history, missionaries had usually been Roman Catholic, often Jesuits who are taking Roman power to distant lands, but not the pure gospel. Christians who had rediscovered the gospel through the reformation led by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others had, up to that point, not really gotten that involved in foreign missions. William Carey would be a pivotal leader in the history of Protestant missions and would himself be part of the solution when he boarded a ship and went to Kolkata, India. William Carey's deathless sermon was broken into two main headings. Number one, expect great things from God, and number two, attempt great things for God. Since that time, at the close of the 18th century, the true gospel has spread to every political nation on earth and the number of genuine Christians all over the world has exploded beyond all boundaries. We don't know how can we know how many are truly born again, but the number may be 500 million, 700 million, a billion, 1.5 billion. We don't know, but it's astonishing. Compared to that, the moving of a physical mountain into the depths of the sea is as nothing. I'm going to take liberties with our brother, William Carey. I don't think he'll mind me adding a third heading to the sermon. I'm not trying to improve on a deathless sermon. How could I? Certainly, we should expect great things from God, but before we can attempt great things for God, I think, based on the text I'm going to preach today, we should ask great things of God. That links the two. Expecting great things, asking great things, attempting great things. I don't think William Carey would mine. Mountain-moving prayer links our expectations, great expectations with great actions. Look at the text, “'Have faith in God.’ Jesus answered. ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he has said will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’” The passage is stunning. Jesus uses lavish language to charge his people to ask God to do mighty things and answer to prayer. So let's set the context. I. From a Withered Fig Tree to a Fruitful Church We're moving from a withered fig tree to a fruitful church. It is the last week of Jesus's life. Lots of dramatic moments are happening, beginning with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. “Hosanna! Hallelujah to the son of David. Blessed it is the coming kingdom of our father, David,” all of that. He goes to the temple, scouts it out. But because it's so late, He goes out of the city to Bethany. The next morning, He goes back in to cleanse the temple, to purify the temple of all that wickedness. En route, He sees this fig tree. Look at verses 12 -14. "The next day, as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry, seeing in the distance of fig tree and leaf. He went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again,’ and his disciples heard him say it.” Now, Jesus' hunger was both physical and prophetical. Jesus represented his father, and this fig tree symbolized Israel. God wanted fruit from Israel from centuries of him pouring out blessings on that nation. But the tree had only leaves, just as Israel had only an appearance of spiritual vitality, but without any genuine fruit in the sight of God. It represented essentially a spiritually dead Israel. So Jesus cursed the tree in a massively significant prophetical action. Prophets did this kind of thing, these kind of symbolic actions. The cursed fig tree died instantly, but not apparently so, not in appearance. Moments after Jesus cursed it, it looked the same. Just like the nation of Israel had leaves and would continue seemingly apparently alive for decades before God finally brought the hammer blow down through the Romans in A.D. 70, destroying the temple. So, immediately after the cursing, it looks fine, but the next morning radically different. The moment Jesus cursed it, it died. But the next morning, it became apparent that that's what had happened. The following morning, Peter noticed and remembered, look at verse 20-21, "In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look the fig tree, you cursed is withered.’" There's nothing miraculous about a fig tree withering, but there is something miraculous about that happening after powerful words spoken by the son of God, and hours later it looks like it's been dead for years. Now that's a miracle, and the disciples wanted to understand it. In Matthew's Gospel, they asked the question, how did the fig tree wither so quickly? That's the issue. So Jesus at that moment pivots to teach about faith-filled prayer. On the surface, this may seem a bit strange. How did the fig tree wither so quickly? Have faith in God and ask great things in prayer. What's the connection? How do we understand why that lesson at that moment? I think the connection, the link, is fruit. The reason that the fig tree was cursed was fruitlessness. The reason that God would judge Israel was the same fruitlessness. He's about to tell a parable of a vineyard that He's going to give this same lesson on the issue of fruit. In that parable, Jesus speaks of a vineyard planted by an owner. The owner works the soil thoroughly, plants the vines, puts a wall around it, digs out a wine press, and builds a watchtower. Then he rents out the vineyard to some tenant farmers and leaves. But when he sends messengers to collect his share of the fruit, they beat one, kill another, stone a third. Last of all, he sends a son, and they kill him too. In Matthew's telling of that parable, Jesus sums it all up. Matthew 21:43, "Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you." He says to his enemies, "And given to a people who will produce its fruit." Friends, that's us. That's our job. It's given to the church, both Jews and Gentiles, believers in Christ. It's given to us to produce the fruit of the kingdom, and that fruit will only come about by the power of Almighty God, and that expressed in prayer as we pray. I want you to take a minute, put your finger here in Mark, and go over to John 15, and we're going to look at verses 5-8. This is a phenomenal cross-reference. Usually, cross-references are okay, give them a B+ for connection. But this is a top to bottom cross-reference connection here. The lesson of the withered fig tree and the issue of fruitfulness is overtly and clearly taught in John 15:5-8. Look what it says. Jesus said, "I am the vine. You are the branches. If anyone remains in me, and I in him, he'll bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he's like a branch that is thrown away and what withers. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire, and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. This is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." Surely you must see the points of connection here. It's an agricultural image, that's true, not a fig tree in this case, but a vine with branches. But this goal is the same. It's fruit. A fruitless branch is severed from the vine, thrown to the ground. It withers, and it's thrown to the fire and burned, judgment. Branches that remain in Jesus, people like you and me that stay close to Jesus are intimately connected with him through repentance and faith and are alive in him and stay connected with him. We abide in him. We can pray. If we have God's word saturating our minds, we will know what to pray for. We're not guessing here. God will tell us in his word, what we should pray for, and as we are saturating God's Word, if we remain in him and his words dwell, or abide, or remain in us, then we will ask according to his will, we'll ask whatever we wish, and it will be done for us. In this way, we'll bear the fruit of the kingdom that He talked about. Go back to Mark now, and you see those same lessons. This is a new lesson for his apostles, they were not prayer warriors up to this point. They were not men of prayer. He says in John 16:24, "Until now, you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you'll receive, and your joy will be complete." You've not learned this lesson to pray. They're about to be commissioned to go into all the world and be fishers of men, and build the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth. They've got to be men of prayer. So He says in John 14:12-14, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father, and I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the son may bring glory to the Father." You may ask me for anything in my name, and I'll do it. It's prayer. It's prayer. Again and again, it's prayer. There are lots of mountains to be moved from Jerusalem through Judea, and Samaria to the ends of the earth. Lots of mountains had to be moved. People's hearts would have to be changed. The heart of stone removed, the heart of flesh given. People would have to cross over from death to life, and there'd be practical aspects of the spread of the gospel, obstacles that would have to be overcome or moved out of the way. Lots of mountains would have to be moved, and only the Holy Spirit could move them, and He would do it in answer to faith-filled prayer, Mountain-Moving Prayer. That's why Jesus went from the dead fig tree to a lesson on prayer. II. Walking Through Jesus’ Words So let's walk through it now. Let's look at the words. Let's just go step by step through what He says. I'll read them again, beginning at verse 22. "Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he has said will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Just walk through it, it begins with the statement, “have faith in God.” Jesus points his disciples to Almighty God as the focus of their lives and especially the focus of their prayer. Focus on God. Faith is the eyesight of the soul, by which you see the invisible God on his throne. Focus on that. Have faith in him. Everything comes from God. For him and through him and to him are all things in his hand is every blessing you want. He opens his hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing. Have faith in the God who can give you what you want, what you need. Have faith in God. Then He says, "Truly, I say to you." Jesus says this from time to time. Everything Jesus said was true, but when he says, “truly, I say to you” or something like that, He's saying, pay attention. Take notice. This is a very important thing I'm about to say to you. Unusually significant, a solemn assertion. Then Jesus says, "If anyone says..." The doctrine He's about to give about prayer is universal; it's for all his followers, not just for the apostles, or for the super spiritual ones, or for the real super leaders, the great William Carey. It's for anyone and everyone. “If anyone says,” basically, in these words, He's going to give three universals. “If anyone says”... so it's any person and then, anything. Whatever you ask in prayer, you'll receive it. Amazing. And then, any unforgiven sin. If you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, these are universals. Sweeping statements “If anyone says.. .” Jesus is expanding our conception of prayer. God is able to immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. "God is able to immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. " Then He says, "If anyone says to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea." Now this should not be taken literally. Some of you have literalistic minds, right? It's like, well, that's it. We believe in errancy, pastor. I do believe in errancy, but I also believe in figures of speech. This is a figure of speech. Jesus did this. He said to the Pharisees, “you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.” I'm going to stop you right there, you literalist. That never happened. It's a metaphor. You're focused on tiny details, and you're missing the big picture. The mountain represents some massive obstacle to the plan of God. That's what the mountain represents. This mountain, was almost certainly the Mount of Olives, and just so you know from Zechariah 14, God has plans for the Mount of Olives, He doesn't want it moved and thrown into the sea. It's going to be the very place where Jesus will return at the second coming, so let's just leave that mountain right there. In any case, it's a metaphor, and it represents massive obstacles to the plan of God. Then He says, "and does not doubt." Now we get to the issue of doubt. The enemy of faith is doubt. The essence of doubt is questioning God, questioning his existence. Is God even with us? Questioning his nature, questioning his word, did God really say this or that? Questioning his truthfulness to his promises, questioning his faithfulness, questioning his power, his goodness, his love, quavering, wavering on it, going back and forth. It's an essential instability, a rootless instability. James gives us this picture in James chapter 1:5, “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind, that man should not think he'll receive anything from the Lord. He's a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." That's the picture of doubt, isn't it? It's instability. It's like, I don't know, Will he? Won't he? Will it happen? I don't know. That's doubt. Paul, the apostle, cites Abraham, our father in faith, as a powerful example of faith despite all obstacles. Romans 4:19-21, talking about how he was going to have a son in his old age and his wife, his barren wife, would have a son in her old age, and he's dealing with that promise, the promise from God. Paul writes this about Abraham, "Without weakening in his faith, Abraham faced the fact that his body was as good as dead. Since he was about a hundred years old and that Sarah's womb was also dead." That's scoping the mountain. Well, it's a big mountain. He's looking at it. He's facing the fact that's going to be, it's impossible actually if God doesn't work. "Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God." That's Romans 4:20. That's a clear description of doubt, wavering through unbelief like a flickering light bulb, "But was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." That's the essence of faith-filled prayer. God has power to do what He has promised He will do. So Jesus says, If anyone has faith and does not doubt but believes that what he has said will happen, that he has said in prayer, you going to speak prayer, and it's going to happen. Instead of doubting, this prayer warrior really believes a mountain's going to be lifted up and thrown into the sea. God has the power to do anything. And he reasons, which is harder for God to make the mountain out of nothing or to move it from one place to the other? You think about that, if God can make a mountain out of nothing, He can move it from one place to the other, and every mountain that exists on planet Earth, God made out of nothing. The prayer warrior believes that God has told him to pray for this. This mountain must move, and God has laid this burden on my heart. It is essential for this mountain to move for the kingdom of God to advance in this specific way that mountain's going to move. That's what faith and prayer is, is being a human channel of God's awesome power to do amazing things. The nature of faith therefore is perceiving and then receiving, perceiving then receiving. Perceiving the will of God as He has revealed it in scripture and in providence, and then receiving the will of God as He delivers it by his power and Jesus says, "It will be done for him." Prayer accomplishes amazing things, mighty things, but it doesn't in and of itself accomplish anything. It's always God that does things through prayer. It's God that moves the mountain. Your prayer didn't move anything. John Piper speaks of prayer in this way. "Prayer is the splicing of our limp wire to the lightning bolt of heaven." Isn't that a great image? Splicing your limp wires. Is your wire limp? Mine feels limp a lot. Splice that thing to the lightning of heaven and see what God will do. There's nothing mighty in prayer in and of itself. It's that God is mighty, and He answers prayer. Then Jesus gives a universal application in verse 24, "Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." It's awesome. Then He goes to another topic, it seems, look at verse 25, "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” When I was memorizing the Gospel of Mark, this one verse stuck out to me more than any other of the 876 verses, or 676 verses, in this Gospel, this one verse. Let me be honest, just like any sinner, I can easily hold things against people. It's easy to be bitter. It's easy to remember the hurts that people have done in your life. Any of you like that? Any of you specifically know right now that this person, that person or the other person has hurt you and you're holding something against them? It's really very remarkable here. Jesus is here, giving you effectively emancipation proclamation of your own slavery to bitterness. He's telling you, let it go. Just like the parable of the 10,000 talents, you've been forgiven much. You must forgive. And look at how sweeping it is, "Whenever you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him." In other words, every time you pray, it's an opportunity to do that. “Search me, oh, God, and know my heart. Show me if I'm bitter against somebody. Show me if I'm upset at my mom or dad or my son or daughter or my brother, my sister, a fellow church member, a pastor, a spouse, a husband, a wife, a neighbor, a roommate, a person from my past.” You know the person. You know the group of people. Maybe you have a lot of them. Anytime you pray, it's an opportunity to obey this verse and be set free. Set free. Stop drinking the poison. You're just set free from bitterness. Now you may wonder, what does it have to do with mountain moving, faith-filled prayer? It seems like an odd thing to go from verse 24 to 25, but not so much. Just keep in mind what is happening. The faith-filled, mountain-moving prayer is all about the building of the kingdom of God. How important would you say the forgiveness of sins will be in the kingdom of God? And is not that forgiveness going to be both vertical and horizontal? Are we not going to spend eternity in heaven with other sinners, some of whom we knew in life, and we'll be free, and there'll be no bitterness, there'll be nothing but sweet fellowship? So that's the kingdom Jesus is building, and He wants us to be set free and not harbor sin. An image on this came to me, I love Hebrews 4:16, it’s a great verse. It says, "Let us draw near to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Isn't that a great verse? The curtain and the temple, torn in two from top to bottom, is open. We have access to the throne of God. We're invited in this text to draw near to the throne of God, but before you enter the throne room of God, you got to give up your weapons. I watch the “Lord of the Rings” movies, some of you have as well. And in movie number two, a bunch of warriors are trying to get into the Hall of the King, Théoden, but they can't go in with their weapons. They have to leave their weapons at the door. That's the image I have here. You can't bring bitterness and unforgiveness to the throne of grace and expect to get anything from God. You got to let your weapons go. Now let me extend the image. I find it may be one of the hardest things there is to do in life. It's easy to hold onto bitterness. Have you ever heard of the expression nursing a grudge? What a weird thing to do to a grudge. I would kill the grudge, but instead we nurse it. Why? Because it puts us in a position of power. We can hold it over that person and be bitter toward them, and they can maybe walk on eggshells toward us and all that. Let it go. What's so beautiful is the one seated on the throne of grace, if we're having a problem, will come out to the doorway where we're having trouble giving up our weapons and say, “what's the problem here?" “Well, I want to come in, but they won't let me. I can see why they won’t.” “Can I help you with that? Can I help you get rid of that bitterness? Can I remind you that I forgave you all of that sin because you begged me to? Let it go. Let it go.” So that's walking through. III. Elements of Mountain-Moving Prayer Now, let's draw out elements of mountain-moving prayer. First of all, faith in God. Have faith in God. That has to do with history and theology. First of all, remember what God has done. Remember how Peter looked back and remembered that Jesus had cursed the fig tree? That's an issue of remembrance. Remember what God has done. Psalm 77:11-12, "I'll remember the deeds of the Lord. Yes, I'll remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.” Think of God, the God of the Bible. Is there anything He cannot do? Think of the Red Sea crossing. Before that, think of creation. "In the beginning, God created heaven and earth." God can do anything. Look at his track record again and again and not just in the Bible, but look at his track record with you. How many of your prayers has He answered? George Mueller kept a record, a record book, 50,000 answers to prayer in connection with his care for 10,000 orphans over his life, 50,000 answers to prayer. He wrote them down, and that built and built and built his confidence in prayer, the specificity of it. So have faith in God, remember his mighty deeds, and think who God is. What should you consider when you have faith in God? I would say these elements, first of all, God's glory. Pray in reference to God's glory. God does everything for his glory. Whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. What is that? The manifestation of the perfections of God. Pray that in this moving of this mountain that God may be displayed as a great, loving, kind, powerful God. That God may be put on display, the glory of God. Secondly, God's omniscience. Keep in mind, God has already thoroughly studied the problem. He has all wisdom and knows exactly what to do. “Your father knows what you need before you ask him." [Matthew 6:8], or this Romans 11:33-34, "Oh, the depths of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" I'm going to say something in a minute about this, but let me tell you something. In prayer, you're not God's counselor. You do know that, don't you? It's not like, “God, let me tell you what I think you should do here.” We'll get to all that. Next, God's sovereignty. God is sovereign and has meticulously crafted a plan that goes down to the tiniest detail of every day of redemptive history. He's already sovereignly, decreed his will. Ephesians 1:11 says, "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." That's everything. God is sovereign. God's omnipotence. There is nothing that God cannot do. Is anything too hard for God? Isaiah 40:26:"Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." The power of God. And then think of the goodness of God. God wants to do good things for his people. He wants that more than you do. Matthew 7:9-11 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" God wants to give good gifts to us, and again, Romans 8:28, "We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose." I've struggled my whole Christian life to understand the effectiveness of prayer. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective, I'm told in James. I'm an engineer. I know what power and effect is. It means that I am a change agent. I'm a catalyst. I'm an earth mover, I guess, if I'm effective. That's not what effective prayer is. Prayer is not us, number one, teaching God a solution He hadn't thought of, or number two, persuading him to do something He didn't want to do before He talked to you. I know that that logically seems like effective prayer. It's like, it made a difference because I told God something He didn't know or I persuaded him to do something He wasn't going to do. That is not what powerful, effective prayer is all about. Rather, effective prayer is discerning what God has already determined to do and asking him to do it for His glory by his power. That's what effective prayer is. So putting it all together, whatever we pray, we do so mindful of God's glory and that is our top priority. God's omniscience in that God's already figured out what's best to do. God's plan, He's already decreed based on his wise plan. God's power, there's nothing He cannot do and God's goodness is in his desire to bless his people. We pray like that. He will give us anything we ask for. "Effective prayer is discerning what God has already determined to do and asking him to do it for His glory by his power." Now, what is the mountain that needs to be moved? Seeing the mountain that needs to be moved. “If you say to this mountain, go throw yourself in the sea, it will be done for you.” I said it's a specific obstacle to the spread of the gospel, a specific obstacle to the growth of the kingdom of God. That's what it is. So you could see that there's a specific government official somewhere withholding a visa, and he won't let some critical workers into a country because he is withholding a visa. It's a mountain that needs to be moved. Some prayer warrior praises until that individual, for some strange reason, changes his mind. That kind of stuff's happened again and again and again. Or a pastor being held at a restrictive nation, and the people of God pray, and he's released. That happened in the Bible with Peter. They prayed, the people of God, were praying even after James had been executed. They kept praying for Peter, and he was released, an answer to prayer. Or with George Muller's specific physical needs for hundreds and hundreds of orphans. They need to eat today, give them this day their daily bread, and then stuff happens. Amazing. You don't want to be driving a bread truck by the orphanage when there's a need. Your truck's going to break down, and you'll have nowhere else to go with that bread except the orphanage, and God answers those prayers. Now, what does it mean for us? What is our field? We are in the Raleigh/ Durham/ Chapel Hill area. We are positioned here by the wise plan of God. We're positioned here for the kingdom of God. We're positioned right here in Durham, this triangle area with the RTP and all that is attractive to people. People are moving in here in large numbers. Last night I went walking around all the restaurant areas. I walked all the way down to the Insomnia coffee or cookie place, I walked in there. There was no one there. I said, what time do you close? "3:00 AM.” Anyway, but there was no one working. That was interesting. Then I walked back, and as I was walking, I was thinking and praying. I was like, I wonder how many of these people are lost? They're pouring in here. They're living in all those condos and houses and all that that are being built, and the overwhelming majority of them are unchurched. They're lost. Our mountain to be moved is within their hearts, their hatred for Christ, their opposition to God. They're thinking they don't need any of this. That's our field, that's our mountain. That we would see baptisms in numbers like we have never seen before, that people would be brought from death to life because we boldly attempted great things for God after the first two things happen, expected great things, and ask great things. That's our mountain to be moved. We ask God to do it. We keep on asking and it will be given to us. We keep on seeking, and we'll find. We keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. As Jesus said, He told the parable of the persistent widow that they should always pray and never give up. I'm not a big fan of church sign ministry. Some of them are just cheesy. You know what I'm talking about. I mean, really bad, but I saw one that stuck with me. I really like it, “Pray until something happens." I love that. Doesn't it line up with this text? Pray until something happens. Keep praying until you see that mountain move. We expect God to answer. Mark 11:24, "I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Charles Spurgeon was talking to a young preacher about his lack of fruit and street evangelism. He preached again and again without seeing any converts at all. Spurgeon asked him, "Do you expect people to be converted every time you preach?" "No, sir." He said, "Well, that's the reason you don't succeed because you do not expect to do so. According to your faith, it will be done to you." Wow, Spurgeon's tough. Imagine him as your mentor. But what's our level of expectation? Do we expect to see people converted because of the witness of us? Expect it, and then be humble about sin. The next time you go to pray, ask the Lord to show you. Are you holding anything against anyone? Are you bitter toward anyone? Ask the Lord to help you forgive and to release. IV. Warnings Against Misunderstandings I have a section of my sermon here on warnings against misunderstandings about the “name it and claim it” thing and all that. I'm not going to say any of it. You want to know, come and ask, and I'll tell you about Creflo Dollar and all those guys, but I just don't think that's our problem. I don't think we're “name it and claim it” people. We're under-utilizers of the promises in this text. That's the problem. We're erring on the side of not asking enough. So let's ask and see what God can do. V. Lessons Applied to Us So applications, first of all, to any that are here that are lost, you're on the outside looking in. You don't know this, not like you should, but your sins are like a mountain that has to be moved. Your sins are like a mountain between you and friendship with God, adoption into God's family. That mountain has to be moved, and if it's not moved, you cannot come into sweet fellowship with God. In Micah chapter 7, He has promised that He will take our sins and throw them into the depths of the sea, and you'll see them no more. All you have to do is call in the name of the Lord Jesus, know that He shed his blood to provide that ocean of grace, and trust in him. Call on the name of the Lord, and He'll move that mountain of your sins and throw it in the depths of the sea, and you'll see it no more. For us as Christians, there's two applications: pray that we would pray. Let's start there. Pray that we'll become a praying church. That the obstacles to us praying like this would be removed, and that we pray as we have never prayed before, and that we would pray to fulfill the mission for which we have been positioned here in the Raleigh/ Durham/ Chapel Hill area, and that is the winning of lost people. Pray for that, and pray that we would be a sweet, gracious, and forgiving church. That whatever grievances we may have against each other, against anyone that we would readily, quickly forgive. We're going to go now to a time of the Lord's Supper, so I'm going to close the sermon in prayer. Father, thank you for the things we've learned in Mark's Gospel about mountain-moving, faith-filled prayer. We thank you for that, and we pray now that as we experience the Lord's Supper, that you would be mighty in this place, giving us an encounter with God, the living God, through the Ordinance of the Lord's Supper. In Jesus' name, Amen.

The single most important question you will ever face came from Jesus Christ, "Who do you say that I am?”. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Turn in your Bibles this morning to Mark 8: 27 -33. I'd also like to ask you also to look at the parallel passage in Matthew 16: 13-23. I don't do this every week, but this week in particular, I want to be walking in a parallel way through both of these passages, but of course giving priority to the gospel of Mark. I. A World Full of Questions As we look at this text, we come to the most significant question any of us could ever face in our lives. We face questions every day of our lives. Some of them are completely mundane and trivial like, "What should I have for breakfast?" Some of you say, "No, pastor, that's a significant question right there." Or, "What should I wear to church today? Should I wear the blue sweater or the green one? I know I'm going to be wearing a sweater today so I don't have to iron the shirt underneath the sweater so I know that decision has been made, but which sweater? How shall I drive to church on a Sunday or to work tomorrow morning? What does the traffic report say? What's the forecast? Is it going to be hot or cold? Is it going to be rainy or not?" Et cetera. Trivial questions. Some questions are more significant, we understand that. Like some of the questions you young driver candidates are facing that you're going to face at the DMV so that you can get your license. You need to be ready to answer those questions or questions that you face on the SAT or the GRE or other things, the questions law students face on the bar exam. Or what young families will do with their budget, how they will spend their money, aspects like that. Some questions really do shape our entire lives or are weightier than any of these. A high school senior that has to decide which college she'll go to. She’s been accepted to three or four colleges, which ones should I choose? I need wisdom for that. More significantly, you married women can think back to a time when there was a man on his knee in front of you asking you the significant question, "Will you marry me?" and that has shaped your life because you said, yes. Your whole future life, in some ways, hung in the balance there. Or the question that your moms would ask the ultrasound technician, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Or the question a father should ask, "Should I get a different job? I’m not making enough money, What should I do about my financial income?" Or the anxious question a senior may ask a doctor, "Is it cancer?" There are some worldview questions that stand over all of us. I shared these this past Wednesday: creation, fall, redemption. Creation: Where does everything come from? The Fall: Why is everything so messed up? Why is there such corruption and wickedness in the world? Redemption: Where can we go to see those problems solved? More personally, is there purpose in my life? Is there any reason for my existence? What will happen when I die? All these are very significant worldview questions. II. The Most Important Question in the History of the World In the text, as I said, I believe the most significant question any individual can ever face stands before us here. In this text, Jesus Christ stands before individual people, all of us in the text and asks you, "What about you? Who do you say that I am? What about you? Who do you say that I am?" I believe your eternal destiny hangs on the answer to that question. Whether you'll spend eternity in heaven or hell, depends on your answer to that question. Eternity in heaven, a place that can barely be even imagined for its beauty, a world free from death, mourning, crying and pain, a perfect world. Will you spend eternity in that beautiful and perfect world? Or conversely, will you spend eternity, wailing and gnashing your teeth in anguish, and agony, as Jesus taught, about eternal conscious torment in hell? Those are the two destinies, one destiny or the other for each one of you that listens to me, and I believe your answer to this question, "What about you? Who do you say that I am?", determines whether it's going to be heaven or hell for you. The Gospel of Mark, I believe, was written to give you everything you need to make the right confession of Jesus. And not just Mark, but Matthew and Luke and John. All four of those Gospels give you everything you need to make, from your heart, by faith, this confession, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." The context of this question is a retreat Jesus went on with his apostles. The location is given, Caesarea of Philippi, about 25 miles northeast of the sea of Galilee, 40 miles southwest of Damascus on a beautiful plateau near the headwaters of the Jordan River. Nearby a few miles to the north was Mount Herman, generally snow covered, over 9,000 feet tall. Caesarea Philippi was originally named Paneas after the Greek nature god, Pan, who according to Greek mythology, was born in a cave nearby that region. Caesar Augustus gave the region to Herod the Great, Herod's son. Philip the Tetrach named the city, Caesarea, after Caesar, and Phillipi after himself. So that's where they were. It was a few miles from the ancient Jewish region of Dan, the northernmost tribe of Israel. Surrounded by Gentiles, therefore more of a cosmopolitan area, a crossroads where Jewish and pagan culture met. For Jesus, it was a retreat from the urgent demands of the crowd and from the plots and schemes of his hateful and murderous enemies. The crowds, relentless demands for healing and for feeding, constantly. Some of them, in John 6, zealously wanted to take Jesus by force and make him king. King Herod probably wanted to kill him as he did John the Baptist. The Pharisees, Scribes and priests definitely are plotting to kill him by this point, so Jesus withdrew to Tyre and Sidon first and now to this Gentile region next. It's a retreat, but it's also an opportunity for Jesus to focus on the twelve, the training of the twelve. A.B. Bruce wrote a classic on the training of the twelve. You get that picture of Jesus, touching the lives of his apostles and shaping them as a potter shapes the clay. He's got time with the twelve apostles. They were, humanly speaking, the centerpiece of his strategic plan to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, including to Gentile nations. His methodology includes asking probing questions and beginning some kind of dialogue based on those probing questions. Look at verse 27, “Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea of Philippi. On the way he asked them, ‘Who do people say I am?’” He starts this question, this topic. The topic is, “Who am I?” and He starts it by getting current opinions, popular opinions. We have to be aware of the focus of Jesus's questioning, “Who am I?” Is this a vital topic? In one sense, Jesus was the most self-centered teacher in history. Everything ultimately revolved around Jesus. This was not pride or ego on his part, not at all. It has to do with who He is and how our understanding of who He is fits into God's salvation plan. He said self-centered things all the time, such as, "I am the bread of life" or, "I am the bread that came down from heaven. If you feed on me, you'll live forever.” "I am the spring of living water. Come to me and drink if you're thirsty.” “ I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” “ I am the good shepherd and I lay down my life for the sheep.” “ I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” “ I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain to me, you'll bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.” “ I am sending you many prophets and righteous men and teachers, some of them you'll kill and crucify." Who would ever say that, "I'm sending you prophets?" Who does that, but God? "I am the Lord of the Sabbath." Jesus was the most self-centered teacher in history. But again, not through ego or pride, Jesus knew who He was and He knew that salvation consisted in knowing him, as He prayed to his own father in John 17: 3, "Now this is eternal life; that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." That is eternal life, that they may know Jesus Christ. He especially said this plainly to his enemies and He warned them concerning this, they must know and believe his true identity or be eternally lost. In John 8:24, Jesus said, "I told you", to his enemies, "I told you that you would die in your sins." That means go to hell. To die in your sin means to be condemned to hell. "I told you that you would die in your sins for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins." What does that mean? "If you do not believe that I Am, you will die in your sins.” "I Am", the Jews knew, that's God's name. He is the I Am out of the burning bush when Moses says, "What shall I say is your name?" "Tell them, I Am who I Am. I Am has sent me to you.” In that same chapter, John 8, He said, "You must believe that I Am or you'll die in your sin”. At the end of that whole exchange, He said, "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I Am." It's an open claim to deity. He says in John 8:24, "You have to believe that or you're going to die in your sins." So with his disciples at Caesarea of Philippi, He's going to zero it on that topic, the most important topic, who am I? He gets current opinions on this. What are people saying about me? He wanted the disciples aware of the current opinions about Jesus. Who do people say that I am? Essential to their mission would be to proclaim the truth and to correct false understandings of Jesus. So also our mission today, there are many false opinions about Jesus. “Who do people say that I am?” They give their answers. In verse 28, they replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah and still others, one of the prophets." That's an interesting list of opinions. There's obviously no way that Jesus could be John the Baptist. I mean, the two of them had a conversation. I would think that would settle it. Jesus showed up where John was baptizing and John baptized him, so that settles that. But king Herod thought that John was raised from the dead, and Jesus' miracles are proof of that, but that’s not possible. Others brought in that prophecy about Elijah. You remember Elijah, the mysterious and powerful prophet of God who ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire. Malachi gives a clear prediction or prophecy that Elijah would come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord in Malachi 4:5. So maybe Jesus is Elijah. Others thought it's just one of the prophets. In Matthew's account, they say Jeremiah. There's no promise that Jeremiah would come back, but God can do that. Maybe He's brought Jeremiah or one of the other prophets back. But as I said, no prophet ever said the kinds of things Jesus said. No prophet would ever make this statement, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” No prophet would claim to be Lord of the Sabbath. No prophet would claim, "I'm sending you prophets." So then we get to the most important question in the history of the world, Mark 8:29, “ What about you? Who do you say that I am?" Jesus zeroes in on them, the twelves, they've been with him for several years now. They've seen him do literally thousands of miracles, huge populations of people have come and been healed. They've seen it. They've watched at every move, they've heard as every word. They don't need any more information. The time has come for them to face this question, "Who am I?” John 3:36 says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life for God's wrath remains on him." So it's life or wrath, based on whether you believe in and accept the Son. "So it's life or wrath, based on whether you believe in and accept the Son. " III. Peter’s Greatest Moment: The Mouthpiece of God At this moment, Peter steps up, and this is one of, if not Peter's greatest, moment as the mouthpiece of God. Peter speaks for all believers of all time, he speaks for the twelve, he often did that. They'd all be thinking something, but Peter would say it. Peter was a natural born leader, a leader of men. He would venture forward, that's who he was, and he would speak. Now, moved by the spirit of the Father, Peter spoke for all believers throughout all ages, but what did he say? In Mark's gospel, Mark 8:29, this is what it says, “Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ.’” That's a significant statement. “You are the fulfillment of all that our nation has been waiting for. The fulfillment of all the prophecies that a son of David would come and sit on David's throne and reign on David's throne over his kingdom.” It's a very significant statement, but it obviously falls far short of fullness of understanding. Many Jews of that day would be ready to say that Jesus was the Christ but not understand his deity. They would think He was just a human descendant of David in the genealogy ready to come like David reigning on a human throne. But the fullness of his identity as God in the flesh, is not obvious in this truncated confession ascribed to Peter in the Gospel of Mark. So now we have to do the hard work of New Testament theology and exegesis. We are innerrantists at this church. We believe that every word of scripture is perfect, everything scripture asserts is true. We also believe that none of the four Gospels is exhaustive. John says, “Jesus did lots of things not recorded in this book.” So there are lots of things that happened that didn't get written. All of them are truncated to some degree. We have to harmonize Matthew's account and Mark's account. Whenever any of the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John gives us additional perceptual historical information, we accept it and harmonize it. It's true, it happened. The fuller confession comes in Matthew's Gospel. If you're there on the page, you can see it, Matthew 16:16, "Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’" The Son of the Living God, Peter said that at that moment. This is fascinating for me as a student of the Gospel of Mark, because I believe this is the purpose statement of the entire Gospel of Mark. Mark 1:1, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the son of God.” We don't have to wonder what the Gospel of Mark is written to do to bring us to that place where we can say He is the son of God. Then to some degree, the climax of the entire gospel, as Jesus has just died, the centurion who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry, saw how He died, and said, "Surely this man was the son of God." That's like the Alpha and the Omega, really pretty much. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus, the Son of God. Then as He dies, "Truly this man was the son of God." Now in the middle, right in the center, we have this opportunity for Peter, who parenthetically, New Testament scholars surmise, that the Gospel of Mark is to some degree Peter's gospel. That Mark was Peter's secretary. We don't know that for sure, but it's quite possible. Why would he truncate, led again perfectly by the Holy Spirit? Why just say, "You are the Christ"? Here's my official answer, I don't know. I don't know. There's a perfect reason why, I can guess like all of you at the reason, but I don't know for sure. I just know he did. But let me speculate, for what it's worth. The real issue here is the full revelation of the person of Jesus by the spirit of the Father to individual sinners, understanding who Jesus is. We get that from Matthew’s Gospel. We'll talk about that in a minute. But it's pretty clear that whatever Peter said at that moment, he didn't fully understand it. He didn't fully understand that Jesus was the son of the living God. Why do I say that? Because moments later, he's rebuking him. Can I just say it is a bad idea to rebuke the Son of the living God? But both of those happened. I would guess, perhaps, the Holy Spirit led Mark to truncate because even though it is the theme of the whole Gospel, and even though Peter's a centerpiece of it, he didn't fully understand it at that moment. In humility, he held back from the full revelation, knowing the spirit knew that the full confession would be in Matthew's Gospel. What it says to me is, and I'm going to make this application at the end of the sermon, we all similarly have to go beyond a slogan, beyond words only, to reality. What it really means for us is that Jesus is the son of living God. We'll get to that at the end of the sermon. The center issue here is the revelation of the identity of Jesus to your soul. Jesus said this when Peter made that confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For this was not revealed to you by man, but by my father in heaven." It is by revelation, direct revelation by God the Father to the sinner. By that means alone can we make that confession from our hearts. This is the most blessed state a sinner can ever reach here on earth, is to have God the Father, reveal Jesus to you so you understand who He really is, and He does this by the Holy Spirit. You can't do this to yourself. Naturally, all of us are spiritually blind, especially to Jesus. We don't see his glory. But when God chooses to, He can take away your blindness, the blindness of your soul and show you the glory of God in Christ. Jesus said in John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father sent me." He draws him, I would say, based on what He said to Peter in Matthew 16:17, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me reveals me to him." God the Father has the power to give, as Jonathan Edwards put it, "A divine and supernatural light directly imparted to your soul." And what is that? 2nd Corinthians 4:6 tells us what it is, “ For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, that God is glorious in Jesus.” That's a light that shines in the heart of every truly born again person. When God shines that light, similar to the original physical light at creation, when God said, "Let there be light", when He shines that spiritual light inside you, He also says, "Let there be sight." The sight of the heart of the soul is faith. You can see the invisible glory of God in Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You see it and you're justified by faith. You're forgiven of your sins. That's salvation. My question is, has that happened to you? Has God revealed his own glory in Christ to you? Is that light shining in your soul and do you see it? So that's what happened. Then Jesus, continuing the account in verse 30, warns them not to tell anyone about him. This is one of a regular pattern of these warnings. “Don't tell anyone. Don't tell anyone, don't tell anyone.” As I've said again and again, I pick up the Bible and say, here it is on the page. That was just temporary, He wants everyone to know about this. But at that time, He wanted it held back. Again, we can guess at the reasons, but it's just He had his purpose for that restriction. IV. Jesus’ Shocking Warning At that point, then Jesus gives a shocking warning. At this moment in history, He begins to explain to his apostles, what's going to happen. Look at verses 31, 32, “ He then began to teach them that the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priest and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed. And after three days rise again.” He spoke plainly about this. Matthew makes it clear that it was at this point and repeatedly from then on [Matthew 16:21] from that time on, Jesus began to explain these things to his disciples. Why did He do this? Many reasons, but primarily because those apostles, none of them were expecting this, at all. None of them were. It didn't compute in their understanding of the kingdom. Jesus wants to tell them ahead of time so that when it happens, they won't lose their faith. It's going to be the greatest trial of their faith, of their entire lives. When Jesus gets arrested, beaten, and killed, He wants them to know that this is all part of his plan. He says in John 14:29, "I've told you now, before it happens. So when it does happen, you will believe." He wants to give them warnings. There's many other reasons why He says his arrest and death is going to try them, deeply. He wants to get out ahead of it and predict it and say, "Look, this is not an accident. I'm not a victim. I'm not trapped. I'm not surrounded by a net that I didn't see coming. No one takes my life from me. I lay it down freely of myself." [John 10]. I'm not going to get trapped. I'm dying on purpose.” V. Peter’s Worst Moment: The Mouthpiece of Satan A moment ago I said, this was Peter's greatest moment as the mouthpiece of God. Now we have Peter's worst moment, or among them, there's a number of candidates. But among them, this, his worst moment, a mouthpiece of Satan. How can he, in such a short time, in mere moments, go from being a mouthpiece of God to being a mouthpiece of Satan? Verse 32, “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” Matthew tells us what he said, "Never Lord. He said, this shall never happen to you." Here we see Peter's arrogance exposed. Can I ask you a question? Why do you think Peter took Jesus aside to do it? Perhaps you've never thought about that before. What an awkward and weird moment in redemptive history. "Jesus, do you have a moment? Just you and me in private? I have something I want to say to you. Just come here, just you and me." Why does he do that? You want to know why? He wants to spare Jesus' reputation. He wants to spare him the embarrassment because he's clearly wrong about this death thing. “Let's see if we can get this fixed, just the two of us and we'll go back and you know, you can take that back, kind of walk that whole thing back.” So he takes him aside and rebukes the son of the living God. How can this be? How can he actually say, "Son of the living God", and then in moments later be rebuking him or correcting him? Sadly, rebuking God is something all of us sinners do. Sadly, regularly, we rebuke God and we correct God when we think He's wrong, when we think He's done something in our lives or in the world that's wrong and we question him and challenge Him as in the Book of Job. It's very common. But consider these words in the beautiful doxology in Romans 11, "Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgments and his path beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor?" What do those words mean to you? God doesn't need your advice. He doesn't need your counsel. He didn't need Peter's counsel at that moment. It's arrogant for us to think we can give God any kind of council or advice. It's like Job, when God answered Job out of a whirlwind, remember in Job 38, "Who is this that darkens council by speaking words without knowledge?" …brace yourself like a man. I will question you and you will answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you understand.” You can see the same thing here with Peter arrogantly thinking to rebuke Jesus. "Sadly, regularly, we rebuke God and we correct God when we think He's wrong." In so doing, you must understand Peter is speaking out against his own salvation, isn't he? He's speaking out against his own salvation. If Jesus doesn't go to Jerusalem and be arrested by the chief priest, teachers in the law, and be condemned to death by them and then by the Gentiles mocked, flogged and crucified and dead, and his blood shed on the cross, we all will spend eternity in hell. There is no other hope. There is no other salvation than Jesus being the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. We sang earlier this morning, "Lover of my soul”. “I want to live for you, lover of my soul.” That's Jesus. He is the lover of Peter's soul and to love his soul to the uttermost, He has to die for him, and He knows that. Peter doesn't understand that. Later, Jesus will get ready to wash Peter's feet. Peter stopped him and said, "You'll never wash my feet." And Jesus said, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." We would say the same thing about the cross, only even more so, it's actually the same thing. "Unless I bleed for you, you cannot have any part with me. You cannot be with me in heaven." Later, after Jesus's resurrection, ascension, coming of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost, Peter's continued development and the time came for him to write his epistle, First Peter, he clearly understands substitutionary atonement by then. First Peter 3:18, “For Christ died for sins, once for all the righteous, for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.” He understood it. “I get it now. Jesus has to die.” So then, Jesus turns and rebukes Peter and He does it in front of everybody. Peter took Jesus aside privately. Jesus doesn't do this rebuke privately, He rebukes Peter publicly in front of everybody. Look at verse 33, "But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan. You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men.’" He wanted all the disciples to hear this rebuke of Peter because undoubtedly Peter was speaking for all of them when he vigorously rejected the concept of Jesus dying in Jerusalem. He said in verse 33, "You do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men." All of them did. They all had human conceptions of the kingdom they are going up to Jerusalem to establish. They’re all going to be sitting on fine seats. “Jesus gets the best seat, but some of us are going to sit at your right and your left and the rest are sitting around you, and we're going to rule the world. We're going to be on comfortable thrones, and we're going to be sitting in silk and we're going to be eating whatever we want at the banquet table every night, and we are going to rule the world.” Your thoughts of the kingdom, Jesus would say, are far too human. “My kingdom is not of this world. You don't understand what you're thinking about.” They're thinking of a human glory, a human power, a human wisdom, human sensual delights. That's what Peter was thinking about and they're all thinking about that. But to begin the rebuke, what does Jesus say? “Get behind me, Satan.” Wow, that's a shock. “Get behind me, Satan.” He said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan." It's reasonable for us to ask, based on this text, what is the connection between Satan and Peter at that moment? It's pretty clear biblically and also practically experientially. Satan has the power to insinuate thoughts into the human mind. He does not have the power to make you pull the trigger on them, act on them, speak them. But he does have the power to put them in your mind. This is the essence of the flaming arrows that he shoots. He has that power. Now, we are always responsible for what we say and do, but at that moment, Peter was speaking Satan's words for him.It reminds me of Job's wife. Remember in Job chapter 1 and Job chapter 2, Satan's program was to get Job to curse God to his face. After the assault on Job's body, the second assault, when Job is sick, his wife comes to him and says, "Are you still holding onto your integrity? Curse God and die.” Whoa, whoa, where'd that come from? Curse God? She was speaking Satan's words for him at that moment. Satan can do that. In Second Timothy 2:26, Paul talks to Timothy about disputes within the church, and tells him that he’s going to have people that are going to disagree with him. People are going to oppose him, sometimes very vigorously. Paul told Timothy to deal with them gently and patiently [2nd Timothy 2,] in the hopes that they'll come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, listen, who has taken them captive to do his will. Satan can take people captive temporarily to do his will, including speaking his words. Let me just say to all of you and to myself, be very careful what you say in moments of stress, because Satan, through demons will be insinuating thoughts in your mind and you might say something you don't believe is true or something that just has popped in your mind and then you say it and you can't unsay it. So be very, very careful at moments like that as Psalm 141: 3-4, "Set a guard over the door of my mouth, oh Lord. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Let my not my heart be drawn to what is evil." Okay? But let's go even deeper. What was Satan thinking at this moment? This is really amazing. Satan was tempting Jesus to not go to the cross. This makes sense because he's going to oppose whatever Jesus wants to do. But later, Satan is going to inhabit Judas to betray Jesus to the cross. Which is it Satan? Are we trying to get Jesus to not go to the cross, as in Matthew 16 and Mark 8 or are we trying to trap Jesus so that He would go to the cross, as in Judas Iscariot? In John 13, Jesus said very plainly, “'I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me." They were all troubled. And then John laying on Jesus's breasts at the last supper said, ‘Which one?’ And he said in John 13, ‘It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I've dipped it into the dish", then dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot son of Simon. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said, ‘What you're about to do, do quickly.’" And he goes out and it's night. What does he go out to do? Betray Jesus to his death. I meditated on this years ago. What does Satan want? Does he want Jesus to go to the cross or not? It's what I call satanic confusion. He's playing checkers and God is playing chess or some game infinitely higher. Satan's smart, God is omniscient. Here's the incarnate son of God in a human body, physically on earth and he can die. It's possible for him to die. The question is for Satan, should I kill him or not? Should I kill him or not? Should I kill him or not? Should I kill him or not? In Caesarea of Philippi he's like, "Let's tempt him not to die”. But then in the end, I would say it this way, he can't help himself. Why? Because he is a murderer and he's going to do his basic nature. He's going to kill the Son of God, and in so doing, hallelujah, destroy his own dark kingdom. 1st John 3:8, “The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.” Hebrews 2:14 -15, “so that by his death[ Jesus] death, he might destroy him, who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” So when Satan orchestrated Jesus' death, he destroyed himself. But in the wisdom of God, God ordained a long, slow, very long, very slow death for Satan in his kingdom. Praise God. But that's what's going on, satanic confusion. VI. Lessons Let's go back to how I began. Focus on the most important question, and it is your most important question. Every single one of you listening to me today has an eternal soul. Every single one of you will spend eternity either in heaven or hell. It is not hard for me to prove biblically, I'm not making an overstatement, your eternal destiny depends on your heart conviction about Jesus Christ. If you can confess from your heart, with Peter, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God", then you are blessed by the Father, and you'll spend eternity blessed by my Father. Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world, blessed by God if you can make that confession. If you have not yet made that confession, I am pleading with you and the eternal weight of your soul. Come to Christ. You have all the evidence you need in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, read it. Spend this afternoon. If you're not yet convinced, read one of the gospels straight through. There is nothing more important, as Jesus will say later in this chapter, "What would it profit someone to gain the whole world and lose his soul?" I'm begging you, come to Christ. For us, all of us, we need to be aware of current opinions on Jesus. What are people saying about Jesus? Lots of weird stuff. I've got all kinds of quotes here, but I put a big X across it so I'm not going to read it. They're like, "Oh, pastor, what were they?" Someone can come up and swipe it at the end, it will be right here. But I tell you what, people have all kinds of lighthearted things to say about Jesus. Jesus has generally a good reputation in the world. We could sum it all up under one heading, good moral teacher. But Jesus, as CS Lewis proved, is not merely a good moral teacher if he claimed to be God. He either is God or he's a liar or insane. He's not merely a good moral teacher. We need to understand that. We need to be instruments in the hands of God the Father through the spirit to bring lost people to the point of confession, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." How do we do that? Tell them about Jesus. Tell them miracle stories. Seriously this week, choose a miracle story, a healing, walking on the water, stilling the storm, something, and tell it to a lost person this week and see what happens. See what kind of conversations you can get into. You can start talking to people about worldview. Start that way. Don't say worldview, they'll be all upset. But say, "I have a couple questions for you. Where do you think everything came from? And why do you think everything's so messed up?Where do you think we're going with all that? How do you determine ultimate purpose and meaning for your life? What do you think happens when you die?"If you ask those questions, you're going to get to the gospel. Then tell them the greatness of Christ so that they can make that confession. "We need to be instruments in the hands of God the Father through the spirit to bring lost people to the point of confession, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'" One last thing I want to say is we are a knowledgeable church doctrinally instructed. I think it's a warning to us that we can make a verbal confession and not really truly understand what it means. So I'm urging you go beyond the slogans of "You are the Christ, the son of the living God" to the reality of Christ alive within you. The hope of God. Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the time we've had to walk through this complex multifaceted passage, and it's vital, oh Lord, for us. Help us, oh Lord, to understand what you're teaching us, to understand the truth of the confession that Peter made and how it only happens when God directly reveals and imparts a divine and supernatural light to our souls. Help us as evangelists to be willing boldly here in the Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill area to speak the gospel so that people can make that confession in front of all of us in water baptism. Oh God, make us evangelists, make us bold, Lord, for all of us who have already been saved, help us just to be deeply thankful, knowing that it's only because of your sovereign grace that we ever made that confession. In Jesus' name, amen.

Welcome to the Pursuit of Relentless podcast episode 127! Join Alaina and her guest, Dr. Dea Irby, as they discuss the importance of creating a culture of encouragement, praise, and recognition to be successful. In addition, they explore the need to invest in relationships, show people that you care through your actions, have a mission and values, and recruit people who are aligned with your culture. They also offer tips for remembering people's names. Tune in today to learn about creating a positive and productive culture that can help you achieve success! Here's what to look out for in this episode: • Elena's story of entrepreneurship. • People want to be connected and claimed. • Understanding can help us build stronger relationships and create a more productive and positive environment. • Use people's name • The green light is the culture of growth and life. The yellow is cautious. • And so much more! About Dea Irby: Dea Irby is a published author, speaker, connector, and Realtor in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, area. She helps people create communities by assisting them to go from disconnecting to belonging. She also advocates for transforming our relationship with food. She is the founder of the Magic of the Meal, a movement promoting the importance of gathering around the table for family meals. She is also the author of "The Magic of the Meal: Recipes for Connection." Connect with Dea Irby on . . . Website: https://www.deairby.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deairby Twitter: https://twitter.com/deairby LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deairby/ Connect with the Pursuit of Relentless Podcast! Website: https://alainanadig.ca Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alainanadig/ https://www.instagram.com/pursuitofrelentless/

Get your vitamin cocktail and motivational shot in the arm from this conversation between Lormarev Jones and the incredible Yolanda Rabun! We consider her a Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill celebrity, so we are start struck!! As a wife, mother, corporate executive, lawyer, singer-songwriter and publisher, motivational speaker, political scientist, community activist for youth, touring performance artist, and music entrepreneur, Yolanda lives at the speed of passion and challenges everyone to hold on to your dreams!   You can also hear Yolanda's voice acting in Episode 1 of the Declaration of Love anthology, written by Michael J. Ivory, and titled https://artistsoapbox.org/asbx-episodes/the-gifts-we-leave-declaration-of-love-episode-1/ (The Gifts We Leave). BIO A North Carolina resident for over 25 years, Yolanda Rabun is a recording artist, actor, and storyteller. She has headlined national jazz festivals, toured jazz clubs, and most recently opened for Stephanie Mills at the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC) and Sheila E at the Red Hat Amphitheater. Yolanda has won accolades for Best Lead Actress (Archy and Mehitabel, Member of the Wedding, Nina) and Best Ensemble (Twelfth Night, Crowns, Chaunesti Webb's I Love My Hair When It's Good: & Then Again When It Looks Defiant and Impressive). Recent appearances with North Carolina Theatre, Theatre Raleigh, and Playmakers Repertory Company include Beehive: the 60s Musical, Newsies, Smokey Joe's Café, Mary Poppins, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Howard L. Craft's one-woman play, No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone. http://www.yolandarabun.com/ (www.yolandarabun.com) LISTEN TO ASBX AUDIO DRAMAS:https://artistsoapbox.org/masterbuilder/ (Master Builder) https://www.thenewcolossuspodcast.com/ (The New Colossus) https://artistsoapbox.org/declaration-of-love/ (Declaration of Love audio anthology) https://artistsoapbox.org/audio-dramas/asbx-shorts/ (ASBX Shorts) CONNECT AND FOLLOW: Artist Soapbox on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/artist_soapbox (@artist_soapbox) Instagram: @https://www.instagram.com/artistsoapbox/ (artistsoapbox) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artistsoapboxpodcast/ (https://www.facebook.com/artistsoapboxpodcast/) CONTRIBUTE: Soapboxers are the official patrons of the Artist Soapbox podcast. http://www.patreon.com/artistsoapbox (Get on the Soapbox with us at Patreon )or make a one-time donation via Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/artistsoapbox (https://ko-fi.com/artistsoapbox) or via PayPal at https://www.paypal.me/artistsoapbox?ppid=PPC000628&cnac=US&rsta=en_US(en_US)&cust=A55YE26SQPDL8&unptid=bcec7a46-337d-11e8-9bbe-9c8e992da578&t=&cal=cb540804e2cda&calc=cb540804e2cda&calf=cb540804e2cda&unp_tpcid=ppme-social-user-profile-created&page=main:email&pgrp=main:email&e=op&mchn=em&s=ci&mail=sys (PayPal.Me/artistsoapbox.) If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation, please consider our non-profit https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/soapbox-audio-collective (Soapbox Audio Collective).

Mark 1:17 is a message from the Holy Spirit to us to move us, provoke us, challenge us, equip us to become fishers of men - evangelizing the lost. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Well, take your Bible and turn to Mark chapter 1. And, today we're going to zero in on just one verse. It's not common for me to do this, to preach an entire sermon on one verse, but we're going to zero in on verse 17. Last week, we walked through the whole section that you just heard Dave read, but we're going to zero in on verse 17, in which Jesus says, "Come follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." And as I do, I want to give you my sense of the context. I've been here since October of 1998. So in my 22nd year, there is no church I would rather pastor than this church. It's a delight to be in this church. I love this church. This is a healthy church. There is such a joy that we all have of benefiting from one another's spiritual gifts, benefiting from the grace that's at work in each other's lives, to have that rich fellowship that we have, and to enjoy the excellent worship music that we just had. So good. And then the friendships that we make in our home fellowships, all of these things are a delight. But, friends, we are surrounded every day, in this community, in this part of the world, by people who are perishing in their sins. And I believe that this church should do more about that than we're doing. I yearn to see more baptisms in this church, in which the people stand in this baptistery and they testify along this basic pattern. "I was lost. I met a member of this church, and now I'm here today, to testify to my faith in Christ." That basic pattern. I yearn to see lots of those. Don't you? I mean, aren't those times when we get those baptisms, aren't they incredible? The joy that's involved in being part of this eternal work that God is doing, that we actually are co-laborers with Almighty God in building an eternal kingdom, there is nothing like that. The joy is incredible. And I want to be part of that. I want to be part of that joy, that the Father says he shows in the presence of angels over one sinner, whoever repents, he just throws a heavenly feast of joy. "Come celebrate with me because what was lost is now found." And he's actually committed to us the ministry and the message of reconciliation. We have an eternally consequential work to do. And I don't want us, at First Baptist Durham, I don't want us to be complacent. I don't want us to stay within that comfort zone, of being in a healthy church, surrounded by good Christian people and just being happy with that. And so there's a delight there, but there's also a fear for me, as a pastor, that we're going to have to give Christ an account for failure as well as for success. And I just don't want our church to fail. I don't want our church to have to give him an account for numerous gospel opportunities that he went ahead of us and prepared, and we missed it because we were self-focused. So I want to zero in on this one text, "To follow me, come follow me, and I'll make you to become fishers of men." I consider this providential, that we're here now, in this time, in the history of our church, that we get to talk about this now. Now first, I want to give a clear caveat to all of you. Some of you just know the truth about me, but I know almost nothing about fishing. I mean, really, I think in my entire life, I've caught one fish. It was a sun fish in a little pond across the street in Massachusetts. It was not impressive. And no one took a picture of it. So I've never enjoyed, when it comes to fishing, either the process of fishing or the product of fishing. I mean, what do you get after all that work? You get a fish. It's just not impressive to me. I don't like seafood. I'm not going to eat it. Now some of you, however, are hugely into fishing. So I'm a little intimidated by you. I'm going into uncharted waters, so to speak. Sorry about that. Some of you have been out in the open sea. You've done big game fishing—tuna, marlin, swordfish, something like that. Others of you do more of that freshwater fishing where you go out in those shiny sleek boats. And, you fish for freshwater bass or something like that. Others of you, now this is an art form, is that trout fishing with fly fishing, where you tie, you spend like six hours tying a knot that looks like a fly. And apparently, trout are incredibly intelligent. They can tell the difference, so you got to do a good job tying that fly. And then you just get this rhythm going with your wrists. And you kind of just lay the line down just on the surface of the water and the trout strikes and you land a trout. I know nothing about any of that, right? That's just not my area of expertise. But the men that Jesus was calling, in the text that Dave just read, they were professional fishermen. It's what they did, all the time. Now their manner of fishing was using nets, and, apparently, they were kind of circular nets with weights that they would throw out into the Sea of Galilee. And the weights would sink down and someone would dive down and tie them off at the bottom, and then they'd pull up the nets. And this is how they were fishing. And so, he's using a language that they would've understood. he's using basically a daily life parable, perhaps. And he's inviting them into his training school to teach them how to do a different kind of fishing, a fishing with a far greater eternal consequence. "Come follow me and I'll make you to become fishers of men." Now, just before Jesus left the surface of the Earth and went up to heaven, where he will stay until the second coming of Christ, just before he left, he gave in each of the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—and then also in the book of Acts, a version of what's generally known as the Great Commission, commanding the church that he left behind to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Spirit, and to teach them to obey everything that Christ has commanded, and that he would be with them, empowering them and enabling them to be witnesses. All four Gospels and the book of Acts. So the questions in front of us, as we look at verse 17, for us to stand under this verse as though he's talking to us and we would hear him say, "Come follow me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." So how do we do that? I. First, Follow Christ And the first step is to follow Christ. "Come follow me," and Jesus said, "and I'll make you to become fishers of men." Jesus is walking beside the Sea of Galilee, as we've said. Peter as Simon and his brother, Andrew, were casting their nets into the lake. Further on, you've got James and John. They're brothers there. All four of them professional fishermen. And Jesus wanted them to become fishers of men. Now essential to their training, as fishers of men, was first be with him. To "Come follow me, be with me." Everything that we're going to see in the Gospel of Mark, if God gives us time to continue through this whole incredible Gospel, 16 chapters, will help us and prepare us to be also what Jesus was, a fisher of men. All of Jesus' healings show his overwhelming compassion for the miseries of our sinful human race. All of Jesus' teachings were, in some sense, ultimately focused on the salvation of souls from sin. All of Jesus' encounters give us some pattern that we can follow. He is our role model in saving souls. He is our mentor in saving souls. He's our teacher and our coach and our trainer and our commanding officer in saving souls. He is the general who leads from the front in saving souls. He is the shepherd who sends out his sheep as among ravenous wolves to save souls. And he's not the hireling that runs away at the sight of the wolf. But he goes out in front and he's willing to lay down his life for the sheep, that they would be so saved. "All of Jesus' healings show his overwhelming compassion for the miseries of our sinful human race. All of Jesus' teachings were, in some sense, ultimately focused on the salvation of souls from sin." And so he's saying, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." And he says, "I will make you to become fishers of men." Not all the translations keep the word become, but it's in there. It's in the Greek. It's in the ESV. And that is, it's a strong statement. "I will make you to become what you are not." So they have to first realize, first and foremost, their own deficiency. This is a key spiritual principle in the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are the spiritual beggars, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." For us, just to be honest and say, "God, I'm not a fisher of men. I really am not. I'm not an evangelist. I don't really lead people to Christ. It's not something I'm doing, God. I'm just not winning lost people." He knows. So zero in on that word become, "I will make you become something you are not." He has that power to do that. And that was true of these four. Simon and Andrew, James and John were not fishers of men at that point. And as the story unfolds, as the Gospels unfold, you see this more and more. They're really not on the same page with him. A clear example of this is in John chapter 4. Take a minute and go over to John 4, if you would. Put your finger here in Mark 1:17 and we'll come back to it. But, if you look at John chapter 4, Jesus is going up, after his Judean ministry, at the beginning of his ministry there, and it says he had to go through Samaria. Well, Jews did everything they could to not go through Samaria. Why did Jesus have to go through Samaria? Well, he had an evangelistic encounter there that had been set up by Almighty God with a Samaritan woman. The disciples separate from Jesus and go into the Samaritan village to buy food, buy provisions. Meanwhile, Jesus has this incredible conversation with a Samaritan woman at the well. It's a paradigm example of evangelism. It's one of the greatest in the Bible. So, if you want to know how to become a fisher of men, look at Jesus' technique with the Samaritan woman. He begins, first, he strikes up a conversation, and he starts talking to her. And she's shocked. She didn't expect him to say anything. It's kind of awkward. Jewish man, she's a Samaritan woman who didn't expect anything. And he spoke to her and asked her for a drink, and she's surprised. And then, Jesus says, in John 4:10, if you look at it, I've called this before, when it comes to being fisher of men, this is a lure with four hooks on it. All right? A lure with four hooks. It's one statement he makes. And it's very provocative, and it's very fascinating. So one basic lesson on evangelism is be interesting. Draw people in to conversation. And so he says to her this, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is who speaks to you, you would've asked him and he would've given you living water." She's never heard anything like that in all her life. What in the world? So she deconstructs it. And she ends up going through each of the four points in different ways in their ensuing conversation. First of all, "What is the gift of God? What does that mean? And who are you? What's so special about you? You don't look special. So why should I be so impressed with who it is that's speaking to me? And thirdly, why should I ask you for anything? You have nothing. You don't have a rope. You don't have a bucket. You don't have anything. So how could you give me anything? And finally, what in the world is living water?" And so she's drawn into this conversation. And by the time they get done, she is 100% convinced that he is the Messiah, the Promised One sent from God. And she leaves her water jar there and runs into the Samaritan village. And by a few things she says, the entire village comes out to meet Jesus. Now meanwhile, the disciples. Oh, here we go. What were they doing? Well, they were buying food. Mission accomplished. Good job. They come back with food. And they say, "Alright, we're here. Let's eat." I wonder what those food buying opportunities were like for them. Like, "What are we doing here? We're in Samaria. We're buying food from Samaritans. Can we just get this done and get out of here?" But they come back and they say to Jesus, "Rabbi, eat something." And he says, "I have food to eat you know nothing about." And in my exegesis and understanding that statement, I stick in an extra word in there—"apparently." So it sounds like this to me, "I have food to eat that you apparently know nothing about." Oh, could someone have brought him food? Oh, no. "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and finish his work. That's my food." Then he said this, "Do you not say four months more and then comes the harvest? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields. They're ripe for harvest. Even now the harvest is going on." And that woman brought that whole Samaritan village in, and they ended up believing in Christ. Now, I've been convicted by that passage for a long time. I've thought, "How many such empty trips have I made to the supermarket, or my workplace setting or all kinds of things, where God had set up some evangelistic opportunities and I just missed it?" So when it says, "Follow me, and I'll make you become fishers of men," so go back to Mark 1:17, that word become, just be honest, be honest, and say, "Lord, would you make me be something I'm not? I am like the disciples. I don't care about souls. I want to be a fisher of men, but that's what I'm not." Now, before we go on in this whole topic, I think, in order to be a fisher of men, you need to be certain first that Christ has landed you, that you have been caught by Christ's gospel, that you're a Christian, that your sins are forgiven, that you have trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You can't be a fisher of men unless you yourself have been caught by Christ's Gospel. So be certain that you are born again. And then if you are, then you can come to him and say, "Would you make me like you are? Would you make me like yourself? Make me passionate for souls. Give me, Lord, the same passion for souls you have. Make me single-minded in this matter." Jesus was single-minded. He had to go through Samaria because there's a woman there, and through her, there's a whole village of Samaritans that he wants to save. That's the way Jesus was. Remember that occasion with Zacchaeus, where he is going along and Zacchaeus was the chief tax collector. And he's a short man, remember? And so he climbs up in the sycamore fig tree to get a better view of Jesus. And Jesus stops below the tree and looks up and says, "Come down, Zacchaeus, for I must eat at your house today." There's a must. There's an obligation. "We're going to have a meal together, Zacchaeus." And He ends up leading him to faith in Christ. He ends up saving him. And Jesus said, in Luke 19:9-10, he said, "Today, salvation has come to this house, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Is that why you have come to every place you come to, to seek and to save? You should. Every encounter, to seek and to save, to seek and to save. That's what Jesus came to do. Luke 19:10, purpose statement. What about us? Do we have anything like the same passion for the lost? I truly believe the central lack in my heart, and it may be yours as well, is a lack of genuine love for and compassion for lost people in their lostness, a sense of brokenness over what is going on in their lives because of their sins, a sense of weeping over it and grieving over it. I naturally don't have that feeling. I would say that's true of all of us. Naturally, apart from Christ, we don't really care that sin is shredding the lives of the people around us. It's ruining them from the inside out. It's corrupting them. It's destroying their marriages. It's destroying their family life. It's destroying them through addictions, hidden addictions, or even open addictions. We don't care like we should. So, only as we follow Christ will we be fishers of men. II. Fish Who Delight to be Caught Now, this parable, this analogy, what is simile, metaphor, whatever, "fisher of men," has its limitations. All parables have limitations. And this one does too. Ordinarily, it is disastrous for the fish to be caught. I mean, what happens to the fish? I mean, when the fishermen lands it, in some cases, they get a club and beat its brains in, and then they gut it and eat it. So, Jesus, is that what's going to happen to the fish we catch? No, actually, quite the opposite. They're already getting their brains bashed in, and they're getting gutted and eaten by sin. Jesus is coming to free them. He's coming to give them life and give it abundantly. These are fish who, in the end, will be delighted that they were caught. They're going to spend eternity celebrating that they were caught by the fisher of men. So it's just good for the fish to be caught. III. Basic Fishing Technique Now let's talk of about some basic fishing technique. Fundamentally, we need to understand what evangelism is. Evangelism is tied to the Greek word for the good news, euangelion, the good message, the good news. As Jesus said in Mark 1:15, "the good news of the kingdom." So what is the good news? Well, we, years ago, kind of outlined the gospel message in four main headings: God, Man, Christ, Response. If you're going to evangelize, you need to know the gospel. And these four headings are key. You got to say some things about God. You got to say some things about the human condition. You got to say some things about Christ. And you got to call the people to respond. That's what evangelism is. So what are you going to say about God? Say that he's the Creator of all things, heaven and earth. He made all things. And as the Creator, he is a king. He rules over all things. This is his stuff because he made it. And as the king, he is able to be the law giver. He gives laws and rules by which his empire, his kingdom, should be run. And as the law giver, he is the judge. He evaluates his subjects to see whether they obey his laws or not. And the laws are the Ten Commandments, which we know. Or even easier, the two great commandments which, he has said, summarize all the law and the prophets. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." So that's the God section. The man or humanity section is, we are created in the image of God to have a relationship with him, a love relationship with him, and be subjects of his kingdom. But we have violated the king's laws. We have broken the laws. And if you're going to evangelize, you need to know the law and do law work on the people and show them, so that they understand that they have sinned. For example, Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not murder.' But if you're even angry in your heart, you're in danger of the fire of hell. And you've heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But if you even lusted at a person, you've committed adultery in your heart and you're in danger of the fire of hell." So you do law work. Talk about the two commandments saying, "Do you love God with every fiber of your being? Do you love your neighbor the way you love yourself?" And, in the end, I've had people say this again and again, "Well, you're expecting people to be perfect." No, I'm not. God is. "You must be perfect as your Heavenly Father's perfect." And wherein you're not, you have sinned and broken God's commandments. And that's our condition, we are under the judgment of God the King, and we couldn't save ourselves. So thirdly, God sent his son, Jesus Christ. He was born of the Virgin. He was fully human, but he was also the Son of God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, so he’s fully God, fully man. He lived a sinless life. He did amazing miracles. He taught amazing teachings. But most of all, he came to die on the cross in our place. He took the wrath of God and the judgment of God that we deserve on himself. On the cross, he died in our place, the death we deserve to die, so that he could give us a perfect righteousness in which we could stand on judgment day and survive. So you got three points, God, man, Christ. Now you got to call them to respond. And there is no better call than right there on the same page you're looking at, look at Mark 1:15. "The time is at hand. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel." That's what you're calling them to do. They got to turn from their sins, acknowledge that they're sinners, turn from it, and believe the good news, this gospel message. Alright. So that's what this fishing is, that you are sharing that message in the power of the Holy Spirit, and calling on people to repent and believe. Now what fishing isn't, is you don't need to land the fish. You don't have that power. To use another analogy, as he said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." The landing of the fish into the boat or on the shore is that they're born again. They're made a new creature through the power of the Holy Spirit. You do not have that power. It's not your task. But our task is to proclaim this message, God, man, Christ, response, in the power of the Spirit and leave the results to God. IV. Fishing Equipment Now let's talk a little about our fishing equipment, fishing tackle. And common to all fishing tackle, that fishing equipment, is force. There's a force that the tackle puts on the fish, to take it out of its watery surroundings, and land it, put it on the boat, put it on the shore. There's a force to all fishing tackle. Now the central text for me, on this concept of force on the fish, is in John 6:44. Don't turn there, just listen. Jesus said, in John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day." Now that word, "draws," is a forceful word. It's used for a drag net, that fishermen draw through the water. They're pulling it strong through the water. It's also used for drawing a sword out of a scabbard. There's a force being put. Jesus said in John 6:44, "No one can come to me if the Father doesn't draw them, put a force on their souls." No one up and comes to Christ unaided. That never happens, ever. They have to be drawn by the invisible force of the Holy Spirit, of God through the Holy Spirit. He puts a force on their souls and he draws them. And we use the expression that they are coming to Christ. They're coming. It's not a geographical physical movement from point A to point Z. But they are coming spiritually to Christ. Jesus says that cannot happen unless the Father puts a force on you, draws you. "No one up and comes to Christ unaided. That never happens, ever. They have to be drawn by the invisible force of the Holy Spirit, of God through the Holy Spirit. He puts a force on their souls and he draws them." Now, that doctrine is commonly, by some theologians, called the doctrine of irresistible grace. Because again, in John 6:44, it says, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day," meaning you'll be saved. So when the Father puts his force on you, you're going to get saved. No one can say no. Do you not see the good news of that? We are going to fish, and we're going to land fish. It's going to work. Satan is such a liar in this. He's saying, "Ah, it's not going to work. Nobody's going to come," and so many do not come. But we're going to land some fish. Because when the Father puts his force on somebody, Jesus is going to raise him up from the dead on the last day. They're going to get saved. And so, I don't like the term irresistible grace. It gives the picture of people being dragged kicking and screaming into the kingdom. Now I know C. S. Lewis was the most reluctant convert in all England. That was his problem. But he was a convert and he was delighted to come to Christ in the end. No one gets dragged kicking and screaming to Christ. They all want to come. And so I prefer, instead, the term effectual calling. It's more, it's better, effectual calling. So when God puts his force on a soul, it is effective. It's effective. It's like when he says, "Let there be light," there's light. God is powerful. Now, we have some fishing tackle, though, by which we can put force on people's souls and bring them to Christ. So I want to zero in on four in particular. I could have called them the line, like a fishing line, but I'm going with net. So either way, net or line is okay. But there are four: the net of truth, the net of love, the net of fear, and the net of delight, these four. These four are powerful on people. First of all, the net of truth. By this I mean biblical truth, Scripture. First and foremost, the scriptures of the gospel. When Paul says in Romans 1:16, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." The gospel truths, in the Scripture, put a force on people. They can't shake the truths they've heard. It weighs on them, and they think about it. Think about Stephen, who was a tremendous evangelist, in Acts chapter 6, and he's reasoning and debating with some opponents. And it says in Acts 6:9-10, "These men began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke." So there's a powerful logic and reasoning and truth to the Scriptures, and it's irresistible. It's powerful. Same thing with the Apostle Paul. In Acts 17, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that Christ had to rise from the dead. And it was immediately effective. Some Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women. So this is a powerful Word. The Scripture has converting power. When Peter, on the day of Pentecost, under the power of the Holy Spirit, preached a whole bunch of Old Testament prophecies predicting the resurrection of Christ and all that, and making the gospel plain, by these scriptural truths. It says in Acts 2:37, "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart," cut to the heart, "and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'" The Scriptures can stick in someone's mind and they can't shake them. I heard a story, from the 18th century, of a man who was a hundred years old. He was a healthy hundred year old farmer, in Colonial New England, around the time of George Whitfield, around the time of the Great Awakening, maybe around the year 1770. But he, at age a hundred, had not trusted Christ, but he's still healthy. He was sitting out in a field, under a tree, and he was thinking about his childhood, long life in his childhood. He went back to his boyhood years in Dartmouth, England, before he sailed for the New World, before he sailed for America. And at the age of 15, he had heard a sermon preached by an English Puritan pastor named John Flavel. And the text was 1 Corinthians 16:22, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Come, Lord Jesus." One text. 85 years ago, and he's thinking about it and the sermon and the exposition. And Flavel, in that sermon, focused on the horror of dying apart from Christ, and facing the curse and the wrath of God. And sitting under that tree, 85 years later, this man, Luke Short, came to faith in Christ. Now, I think it's best that they not wait 85 years. 85 years of not being a Christian is a long time to waste your life. But at least he came. I've been on the airplane, sharing the gospel. And I get done, and we're preparing to land. We're in that landing pattern. And we've had a good conversation, but the guy hasn't come to Christ yet. And I said to this man, I said, "I'm going to pray tonight, that you will not be able to sleep, and you'll be thinking about the scriptures we've talked about." Now I never find out. They never call that, "Oh, by the way, I wasn't able to sleep. And I came to Christ." Until heaven, I won't know. But I've prayed for that, "Keep them up, Lord. Keep them awake. Make them think about the scriptures that we've talked about." So that's the first, the force or the net of truth. Secondly, the net of love, the net of love. Christian love is a powerful apologetic for the gospel. This world of sin is vicious in its wickedness, vicious. Titus 3:3-5 talks about this kind of viciousness. It says there, "At one time, we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy," listen to this phrase, "being hated and hating one another," being hated and hating one another. "But, when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us." So, into this mass, this pit of viper world that Jesus came into, we were hating and hating each other, being hated and hating one another, and where we lived in malice and envy. And then the kindness and love of God appeared in Christ. Says in Hosea 11:4, "I led them with cords of human kindness." Think about that. Isn't that good for my fishing analogy? Cords of human kindness. So, wrap them up with cords of kindness and love, with ties of love. No one did this better than Jesus. No one ever loved the way this man loved. And his followers did the same. You remember Stephen at the end, when he's being stoned to death, and he's dying under their wrath and malice? Do you remember what he said? He said, "Lord, please do not hold this sin against them." Now, if you're Saul of Tarsus in an unconverted state, and you watch that man die like that, that puts us, the Lord later said, goads into Saul's soul, pushing him to Christ. And so the church should be a community of love, first within ourselves, that we would be a loving community. You walk in here and you feel the love. You walk into a home fellowship and you feel that the people really actually love each other. Jesus said, "By this will all men know that you're my disciples, if you love one another." So that FBC would be a community of love, just because we love each other. But also, it has converting power. Because the people out there, they don't see love like this. They don't know what it's like to be loved like that. Tertullian, a Christian apologist, around the year AD 200, was talking about the effect of that love on lost people. And he said, "These unconverted Romans are watching us, and they're saying, 'Behold, how they love one another. Behold, how they love one another.'" But then, secondly, the love we show to them in particular. Christians have led the way in felt needs ministries, in establishing hospitals and clinics and benevolent ministries all over the world, in the pattern of Jesus, meeting temporal needs, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for orphans and widows. It's just something that Christians have done all along. In the early Roman era, they would go and find babies that had been exposed. They used to just leave them under bridges. And they would pick them up and raise them as their own. All the way to the orphanages established by George Müller and Charles Spurgeon in Victorian England, 19th century England. Or even in that same era, William and Catherine Booth, who ministered to the poorest of London in the early days of the Salvation Army, Christians have displayed sacrificial love. What is God? What needs is God leading our church to meet here in Durham that we're presently not meeting? There are some that we are, but what are some new ministries that God might be laying on your heart, or your heart, or your heart, someone's heart, that could meet a felt need for the purpose of leading lost people to Christ? The nets of love. Thirdly, the net of fear. The net of fear. "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved." Fear of judgment, fear of wrath, leads people to Christ. They flee the wrath to come. They should be afraid. They should be more afraid of hell than they are. I think that we evangelists, we can fear death and hell on their behalf, because they're not afraid of it. Jesus talked more about hell than anyone that had ever lived before him. In Matthew 10:28, he said, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Yes, I tell you, fear him. I was watching the movie Free Solo, about Alex Honnold. Have you seen this movie, where he's climbing the Yosemite rock face with no equipment, just his hands? And he's hanging by fingertips on the side of that rock, thousands of feet up in the air. And I know, from what I've read, that he's an atheist. I know that he's lost, while he's hanging by his fingers by the side on the Yosemite wall. So, I was watching that differently than just a watcher of the movie. It's like, "Do you understand what you're hanging over?" This image was first put in my mind by reading the historical circumstances of Jonathan Edward's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," that he preached in Enfield, Connecticut, 1741. On the text, "In due time, their foot will slip." And he basically used the fact that the revival had passed Enfield by, and up to that point, most people hadn't been changed by it at all, to say, in a very kind of straight way, "It could be the gospels passing all of you by. And you're under the wrath of God, and you don't understand that you're basically walking on a rotten plank across the open pit of hell." And by the time he got done, the people were crying out, "What must I do to be saved?" They were in terror. Now I know that it's not an easy ministry, that we would stimulate people to be afraid to die, stimulate people to be afraid of hell, but that's part of the job. That's part of the task. And it is one of the reasons it makes evangelism difficult to do. But you think about Pilgrim's Progress, and what was it that caused Christian to begin his pilgrimage? He realized, by reading in the book that he was reading, that he lived in a place called the City of Destruction and he didn't know it. And he knew that he has to get out of town. He's got to get out of the City of Destruction. So the net of fear. And then, finally, the net of delight. Where did Christian flee to? Well, he fled to a place called the Celestial City. The Celestial City, heaven, is a beautiful place. You don't want to miss it. You don't want to miss it. And so the delights of heaven. One of his neighbors, Pliable, runs with him for a little while. I don't know if you remember this. And he says, "Well, tell me the beautiful place you're going. I've heard good things." He's like, "Well," Christian said, "there's an endless kingdom to be enjoyed and everlasting life to be given us, and that we may live in that kingdom forever. And there are crowns of glory to be given us, and garments that will make us shine like the sun in the sky. And there'll be no more crying nor sorrow, for he that is the owner of the place shall wipe all tears from our eyes." And Pliable says, "I'm in. I want to be part of that." It's the ultimate fear of missing out, friends. You don't want to miss this one. But best of all, is the delight in being with Christ, being with Christ, just being with him. I remember, I was sharing the gospel with one individual, and we had been meeting multiple times, going carefully through the book of Romans. There was nothing more to say. We'd gotten through the whole thing. And I was talking to him about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And it ends, remember, they're sitting with Jesus and they're sharing a meal. And he's talking to them about the kingdom and all that. And then he breaks bread and disappears from their eyes. And they said, "Were not our hearts burning within us when he opened the scriptures to us?" And this man that I'd been meeting with multiple times said to me, "I wish I had been there." I was like, "All right, stop. You can actually be there forever. What do you say?" "What do I do?" I said, "Ask Jesus to be your Savior." "Like how?" I said, "Ask him, now. Ask him, and he'll save you." And he did. Delight. I want Christ. I want to be with Christ. And I want to be with him forever. And I want to be in that beautiful world. The net of delight. These are the four, these four powerful nets. John Bunyan himself, this is one of the great stories from church history, Bunyan himself was converted, in part, when he overheard the conversation of a couple of unnamed women. He was a tinker, which means he went from place to place, sharpening knives and repairing pots and pans. And he overheard some women. And this is what he said, "I thought they spoke as if joy did make them speak. And they spoke with such pleasantness of scripture language and with such appearance of grace in all they said, that they were to me as if they had found a new world." They didn't even know he was listening. They were just so filled with joy at what their life was going to be like in heaven. He's like, "I'm on the outside looking in. I want in." So do you see these four nets? The net of truth, Scripture truth. The net of love, of cords of human kindness, showing people hospitality, meeting felt needs, doing ministries, the net of love. And the net of fear, that they would understand what will happen if they do not trust Christ, that they're under the wrath of God, and judgment is coming soon and they don't know when. And then the net of delight, the delights of heaven, but especially the delight of being with Jesus. Use that fishing tackle. V. Finding the Fish Now you may say, "Where are the fish? How am I going to find the fish?" Veteran fishermen among you will tell you, "Look, you can have the best equipment and you can be out there. You can go to the same place you’ve been before. You can have the expensive sonar thing that tells you definitely where the fish are, and you can still catch no fish." That happened twice to Peter. You know that? Peter went out and fished all night long and caught nothing. Twice. In Luke 5:5, "We’ve worked hard all night and haven't caught a thing." And then again in John 21:3, they went out, got into the boat, but that night, they caught nothing. Let me tell you something. Jesus knows where the fish are. And better than that, not only does he know where the fish are, he actually has secret power over their little fish brains, to make them make a strong left hand turn and swim into Peter's net. What in the world's going on with that? You remember what happened. He caught so many fish that the boat began to sink. So they're swimming in the Sea of Galilee, just swimming, just living their fish lives. And then, suddenly, they turned and went right into the net. Jesus has the power to make the fish swim into these nets. He has that kind of power. Throughout church history, again and again, God, through the Holy Spirit has led his messengers to go to specific places and do specific ministries, because there are some unconverted people ready to come to Christ. In the Muslim world, you see this with dreams, where people have dreams, and they're told to go to a certain city and a man who will be wearing a red coat and have a certain hat. These kinds of things happen. And God sets up that occasion and they come to Christ. But think about Philip. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him in Acts 8, and the angel told him where to go, "Go south to the road, the desert road, that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he goes down there, and what does he find? An Ethiopian eunuch who's reading the book of Isaiah the prophet, but doesn't understand. "Can you explain it to me?" Oh my goodness. Oh, God, give me an opportunity like that. If I can't land that fish, something's wrong with me. "I'm reading Isaiah 53, is the prophet talking about himself or someone else?" "Oh, God," pray that, say, "God, would you give me this week somebody who wants me to explain Isaiah 53 to them?" But that was orchestrated by God. He set it up. He brought Philip to where of the fish were. And along with this, dear friends, we need a single-minded devotion to fishing. Single-minded devotion. Paul said in Acts 20:24, "I consider my life worth nothing to me, my only aim is to the finish race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me, the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace." Single-minded. My life is for this purpose. We're distracted by so many things. We're into so many things that have no eternal consequence. Ask God to make you a fisher of men. George Whitfield, who's one of the greatest evangelists in history, speaking before thousands of people, he also was into individual personal evangelism too. And he said, "God forbid that I should travel in a carriage or anywhere else, with anyone for a quarter of an hour and not speak to them about Christ." God forbid. If he gives me 15 minutes with somebody, I'm going to talk to him. D. L. Moody, another traveling evangelist, spoke to thousands of people, made a personal commitment to not go to bed every day if he had not spoken, individually and personally, to somebody about Christ. Many times, he was just about to go to bed and forgot. And he got up and went out in the street and found somebody to talk to. D. L. Moody. VI. A Direct and Urgent Appeal So I'm going to finish by making to you a direct and urgent appeal. I'm going to ask you to hear, in this text today, Mark 1:17, Christ calling on all of us to make us become what we have not been up to this point, fishers of men. That you would realize we have a tremendous opportunity here. Estimates show us that the Triangle region of North Carolina will double in population over the next 25 years. It's already just growing. You can see it. You can see the condominiums that are going up, the houses that are being built. These are commercial developers that think that people are going to pour into this area. Many of them, most of them, will be lost, will be unchurched. It's opportunity for us. It's an opportunity. And for us, I think it begins with the power of the Holy Spirit that comes on us, in answer to prayer. "You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you'll be my witnesses." So I am calling on all of you, the elders are calling on all of you, to join us in prayer for four consecutive Wednesday evenings, from 6:30 to 7:30, or longer if the Holy Spirit wants us to stay longer. You'll know at the time. If you're there, you'll know we're supposed to stay. But for four weeks, to pray for evangelistic fruitfulness. It's going to start on February 23rd, and it's going to go through March 16th, from 6:30 to 7:30. We'll have childcare as we always do. That's a slot I usually teach the Bible in. We'll be right here in this sanctuary and we'll pray for an hour, for four weeks, for evangelistic fruit and power. Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for the time that we've had to study your word today. I pray that you would just do a supernatural work in us, to make us fishers of others, fishers of human beings, of people, that we can see the gospel work mightily in this Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. God, give us grace, give us fruit, give us power, give us a heart for the lost. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

We as podcasters, on the whole, underutilize LinkedIn as a marketing and connection tool. A majority of our time is spent on the other big three - Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. So what are we missing? Why are we NOT living on LinkedIn like we do these other social media platforms? Could it be we just don't know about some best practices and new features? So what better way to learn how to use this business professional media platform than to talk to one of the preeminent LinkedIn experts. https://www.linkedin.com/in/debramathias/ (Debra Mathias) is the owner of https://www.connect-to-clients.com/ (Connect To Clients), based in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina area. Since 2011 she's been assisting entrepreneurs, small business and Fortune 500 companies to use her proven method of Networking with LinkedIn She is a LinkedIn Business Coach. Career Transition Expert. LinkedIn Sales Strategist, Relationship Builder, LinkedInLocal Host, and a Connection Specialist using Networking with LinkedIn and Career Transitioning with LinkedIn. So what are some best LinkedIn practices we need to know about? Deb's top 3 include: 1. Check your dashboard daily for leads. 2. Post creative content 1 or 2 times per week. We can expound on creative content and what it takes to get people to "view your content", tagging, hashtags etc. 3. Like, comment, and share your network's content. It gets you in front of their audience and vice versa. How about new LinkedIn features? Deb's top 3 include: 1. Cover Story. Create a video to replace your photo on LinkedIn. 2. Provided Services on your profile: Add up to 5 services that your business does. 3. Creator Mode. This is for influencers or anyone wanting to get their name and content out there. It will flip your activity, Featured and About Sections so that people see your content first. It will also show how many followers you have instead of connections. Keep up with what's new on LinkedIn by following Deb. And connect with her as well. When you connect, tell her you heard her on the Note To Future Me podcast, and mention your favorite ice cream flavor (she'll understand!). Let's talk about what podcasting can do for your business in the next 12-months. Whether you're B2C or B2B, we can create a content marketing strategy that will work for you. Connect with me if you would like to talk more about this. My calendar is available on my Circle270Media Podcast Consultants http://www.circle270media.com/ (business website) at circle270media.com Subscribe to my free daily https://note-to-future-me.captivate.fm/openthemic (Open The Mic Newsletter). It's chock full of podcast news you may have missed, as well as social media, sales, and audio production tips, and insights on how to grow your business podcast. Recorded in conjunction with http://www.channel511.com/ (Channel 511), in the Brewery District, downtown Columbus, OH. Brett Johnson is the owner and lead consultant at Circle270Media Podcast Consultants. With over 35+ years of experience in Marketing, Content Creation, Audio Production/Recording and Broadcasting, the podcast consultants at Circle270Media strategically bring these strengths together for their business Podcast clients. Email us at podcasts@circle270media.com to set up time to talk more about your new or established business podcast.

Season 1: Race and the News Media Episode 6: Addressing the Past In the Season One finale of "Roundtables on Race," the Rev. Kathy Walker discusses news outlets that are examining their past and future, especially around race-related news coverage. She is joined by two guests who are leaders in organizations that are proving to be leaders themselves in addressing past actions: Dave DeWitt, feature news editor for WUNC, North Carolina Public Radio and NPR affiliate in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area, co-host of the podcast "Tested," and member of WUNC's Inclusion Diversity Equity Accountability (I.D.E.A.) committee; and Sewell Chan, editorial board chair and editorial page editor for the Los Angeles Times, and soon-to-be editor in chief for the Texas Tribune.

Guest Sara Paisner, Dartmouth '96, had a teacher who brought the sciences alive for her early in life. She was drawn to chemistry in particular, with its explosions and crystals and what seemed like magic. It seemed a logical path to study chemistry in college and go directly into a PhD program. But along the way, she learned that academic research wasn't what she thought it would be. She chose her postdoc someplace that would put her close to industry—specifically the Research Triangle of North Carolina. She began her industry work creating the materials that would go into microhips. And every job seemed to get her closer and closer to the customer, which she loved. But she discovered the irony of educational attainment: Nobody thinks a PhD is well suited for the business world.Despite having three small children at the time, she decided to pursue an MBA. She found that marketing and product strategy—particularly for scientific companies—let her meld her skills perfectly and a number of companies thought so, too. But at some point, as much as she enjoyed being part of another company's team, an offer to buy a business that she had long declined resurfaced one more time and she seized the opportunity to run her own thing.In this episode, find out from Sara how changing other people's minds about you can be is as important as changing your own mind about where opportunity lives.…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley. About This Episode's GuestDr. Sara Paisner is owner and president of Synoptic Products, a medical products distribution company based in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. She is also an avid sailor, martial arts enthusiast, and mother.  Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings RowleyMusic: Brian Burrows Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.comEmail the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com

Sandra Stowe is the founder and owner of White Owl Financial Advisors LLC, an independent financial organization based in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. Over the last 15 years, Sandra has built financial technology solutions for investment banks, wealth management, and asset management institutions, and she is passionate about ensuring that women are financially empowered. On today's episode, we uncover her why.Diversity Beyond the Checkbox is presented by The Diversity Movement and hosted by Jackie Ferguson. For more information including the latest webinars and other DEI content, head over to TheDiversityMovement.com. Podcast production by Earfluence.

Sandra Stowe is the founder and owner of White Owl Financial Advisors LLC, an independent financial organization based in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. Over the last 15 years, Sandra has built financial technology solutions for investment banks, wealth management, and asset management institutions, and she is passionate about ensuring that women are financially empowered. On today's episode, we uncover her why.

In Podcast Episode #6, I interview Bill Clausen, the owner of Triangle Chess, which runs tournaments, school programs and private lessons for over 2000 kids in the Raleigh—Durham- Chapel Hill area. We chatted about chess teaching, business development, our 3rd Annual Make a Difference Teaching Chess in Africa trip, next week's upcoming state championship and much more!

I learned how an emotion physically can move my body.Just like a baby moves her body when someone she recognizes walks in the room and she gets excited, the baby starts kicking her feet, wiggling her butt, flapping her hands and rocking back and forth.. can you picture this? Anyway, the baby FEELS the emotion of excitement and it’s so intense her body moves. She can't talk but is showing her excitement with her body.Well, as adults we lose this connection with our emotions and our body. We might notice it if we get really angry and feel like throwing something or yelling at our kids or if someone surprises us and we are so happy to see them we might jump up and down with excitement. But these events are so few and far between and we don’t even think about why we are moving we just do.You can learn how an emotion moves your body and when you do this it can catapult you into massive action.Request 30-minute consult by clicking HERE.Email me if you want to attend the LIVE event in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill at angela@angelamascenik.com.

Growing up in a small MS town taught Dea Irby about belonging. She and her husband of 45 years have lived in 15 homes in 5 Southern states, raising 8 children and pastoring churches. The one consistent thread throughout all her adventures has been building real community - in the home, in business, in churches, and on teams. Dea is a published author, speaker, connector, and Realtor in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC area. Dea has discovered that real community is not just being connected but about being claimed.

"Data Science can help companies optimise how they're carrying out their business... to give the company a much clearer picture of what's valuable and what's problematic". GBD59. Elaine McVey directs the decision science function at TransLoc, a rapidly growing mobility technology company based in the Eastern USA. She tells Jennifer Gardner (AICPA & CIMA, Durham, USA) how business and finance leaders can collaborate with data scientists to tackle real-world business issues. They explore some best practices any large business can adopt when using data science to reveal actionable insights that transform their decision-making.   TALKING POINTS: *  how finance and business leaders can transform their operations by making data and analytics readily available, * the differences - and overlaps - between data science and decision science (human behaviour), * how Elaine's management experience makes her such a powerful advocate for the application of Agile principles to data science work, * about the best practices any large business can adopt when using data science to reveal actionable insights that transform their decision-making, * just what IS Data Science? * as a business leader, do you NEED to understand it before your business can benefit from it? * ways that business and finance leaders can partner with data scientists, * the differences between 'data science' and 'decision science', * what's holding companies back from making full use of their data? * and, how to make effective use of the data resources a business already has.   OUR GUEST: Elaine McVey is Director of Data Science at TransLoc, a fast-growing mobility technology company based in Chapel Hill, USA. She leads the team that creates quantitative tools for mobility decision making. A recurring theme throughout Elaine’s career has been improving the processes by which statistics and data science work is done.  A data scientist and author of several patents, Elaine has improved the lives of thousands by helping create an innovative type of transportation technology that gives citizens more accessibility to public transport. In early 2019 she was selected for a “Women in Business Award” from the Triangle Business Journal, a leading provider of business news for Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Elaine received the “Leader in STEM Award”, honouring women who have improved the lives of others by helping start a business, product or service in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. Connect with her at www.linkedin.com/in/eamcvey and on Twitter at @eamcvey   LINKS: * Using the CGMA Store? Explore these data-related learning materials and resources. * If you're an AICPA Store-user, see its list of Data Analytics courses here.   MORE ABOUT OUR PODCAST. These conversations with expert guests are recorded by different members of the AICPA & CIMA team from our offices around the world. While the sound quality may vary, the insights will always be consistently useful. Hear more. Get our shows every week automatically and free. Share them easily with colleagues and friends by using the icons on your app or media player.  Skill Up. Find related CPD/CPE resources at the AICPA Store and the CGMA Store. Connect. #GoBeyondDisruption  @AICPANews @CIMA_News ©2019 Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA & CIMA). All rights reserved.

"Talking Dating to Me once again welcomes in Raleigh socialite Barbie Hutton to discuss the challenges of dating in the Triangle, dating divorcees and the hot topic of sex on the first date." The post Talk Dating to Me: Dating in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and a Big Game of ‘Yay’ or ‘Nay’ appeared first on Chapelboro.com.

In this episode of the Travel Quips Podcast, Reyna Simone discusses three alternatives to staying in traditional hotels—especially for short trips, budget conscious trips, or layovers:  hostels, airport nap pods, and overnight trains and busses. EPISODE LINKS AND RESOURCES: Travel Quips Blog Post:  Should I Hostel? Travel Quips Blog Post:  Hosteling Expectations Izzzleep Mexico City Airport Sleep Pods:  http://www.izzzleep.com/ Reyna's Pictures from her night at Izzzleep!      If you live in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area (or have friends who do), please nominate Travel Quips for the Best Local Podcast!  Here’s how to do it: 1).  Go to: https://indyweek.com/indy-weeks-best-of-the-triangle/2019-best-of-the-triangle-ballot/#// 2).  Click on the “Out and About” section. 3).  Find the category “Best Local Podcast.”  If you are on a laptop, you should be able to see a list of categories on the left side of your screen.  4). Click the word “Nominate” beside Travel Quips.  The top nominees will go on to the final round in April!  5).  Please spread the word!    CONNECT WITH REYNA SIMONE! Instagram & Twitter:  @travelquips Blog:  www.travelquips.com Facebook:  www.facebook.com/TravelQuips ******************************************************   Do you have a travel related question that you would like Reyna Simone to answer?  You can leave a voicemail here—Reyna Simone may play it on the podcast!  Just make sure the message is 90 seconds or less and don’t forget to say your first name and where you are from.  Or you can email your travel questions to askreynasimone@gmail.com. ****************************************************** Podcast Music & Sound Effects French Disco by Felipe Adorno Vassao available at www.shockwave-sound.com. Screams of Frustration by jorickhoffd.  Attribution License:  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ .  Available at https://freesound.org/people/jorickhoofd/sounds/178410/#. Cool Pop by Brion Kennedy available at SoundExpress/Getty Images      

This has been an insanely busy travel news week with all of the drama surrounding the Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes.  In this week of the Travel Quips Podcast, we recap what the issues were all about and the aftermath.  The news on this is changing almost daily—but here’s the latest! EPISODE LINKS AND RESOURCES: Websites you can use to determine what type of airplane you are flying on:  https://seatguru.com & https://www.flightstats.com/v2/ If you live in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area (or have friends who do), please nominate Travel Quips for the Best Local Podcast!  Here’s how to do it: 1).  Go to: https://indyweek.com/indy-weeks-best-of-the-triangle/2019-best-of-the-triangle-ballot/#// 2).  Click on the “Out and About” section. 3).  Find the category “Best Local Podcast.”  If you are on a laptop, you should be able to see a list of categories on the left side of your screen.  4). Click the word “Nominate” beside Travel Quips.  The top nominees will go on to the final round in April!  5).  Please spread the word!    CONNECT WITH REYNA SIMONE! Instagram & Twitter:  @travelquips Blog:  www.travelquips.com Facebook:  www.facebook.com/TravelQuips ****************************************************** Do you have a travel related question that you would like Reyna Simone to answer?  You can leave a voicemail here—Reyna Simone may play it on the podcast!  Just make sure the message is 90 seconds or less and don’t forget to say your first name and where you are from.  Or you can email your travel questions to askreynasimone@gmail.com. ****************************************************** Podcast Music & Sound Effects French Disco by Felipe Adorno Vassao available at www.shockwave-sound.com. Screams of Frustration by jorickhoffd.  Attribution License:  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ .  Available at https://freesound.org/people/jorickhoofd/sounds/178410/#. Cool Pop by Brion Kennedy available at SoundExpress/Getty Images

  This week, we celebrate pioneers in Black Travel History.  Our celebration discusses The Green Book (the Oscar winning movie vs. the documentary of a similar name vs. the ACTUAL Green Book that both the movie and documentary reference); the inventor of the yellow light; and the explorer that inspires Reyna the most!   EPISODE LINKS AND RESOURCES: The story behind the ACTUAL Green Book:  How the Green Book Helped African-American Tourists Navigate a Segregated Nation Reyna’s Travel Inspiration:  Barbara Hillary If you live in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area (or have friends who do), please nominate Travel Quips for the Best Local Podcast!  Here’s how to do it: 1).  Go to: https://indyweek.com/indy-weeks-best-of-the-triangle/2019-best-of-the-triangle-ballot/#// 2).  Click on the “Out and About” section. 3).  Find the category “Best Local Podcast.”  If you are on a laptop, you should be able to see a list of categories on the left side of your screen.  4). Click the word “Nominate” beside Travel Quips.  The top nominees will go on to the final round in April!  5).  Please spread the word!    CONNECT WITH REYNA SIMONE! Instagram & Twitter:  @travelquips Blog:  www.travelquips.com Facebook:  www.facebook.com/TravelQuips ****************************************************** Do you have a travel related question that you would like Reyna Simone to answer?  You can leave a voicemail here—Reyna Simone may play it on the podcast!  Just make sure the message is 90 seconds or less and don’t forget to say your first name and where you are from.  Or you can email your travel questions to askreynasimone@gmail.com. ****************************************************** Podcast Music & Sound Effects French Disco by Felipe Adorno Vassao available at www.shockwave-sound.com. Screams of Frustration by jorickhoffd.  Attribution License:  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ .  Available at https://freesound.org/people/jorickhoofd/sounds/178410/#. Cool Pop by Brion Kennedy available at SoundExpress/Getty Images  

Reyna gives a recap of NBA All-Star weekend and discusses the “operational emergency” Southwest Airlines experienced this week.   During the Reminiscing with Reyna segment, she discusses some of her experiences traveling in China by herself as a black woman.  EPISODE LINKS AND RESOURCES: The article that frustrated me this week:  The untold truth of being Black and studying abroad   If you live in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area, please nominate Travel Quips for Indy Week's Best Local Podcast!  Here’s how to do it: 1).  Go to: https://indyweek.com/indy-weeks-best-of-the-triangle/2019-best-of-the-triangle-ballot/#// 2).  Click on the “Out and About” section. 3).  Find the category “Best Local Podcast.”  If you are on a laptop, you should be able to see a list of categories on the left side of your screen.  4). Click the word “Nominate” beside Travel Quips.  The top nominees will go on to the final round in April!  5).  Please spread the word!    CONNECT WITH REYNA SIMONE! Instagram & Twitter:  @travelquips Blog:  www.travelquips.com Facebook:  www.facebook.com/TravelQuips *******************************************************  Do you have a travel related question that you would like Reyna Simone to answer?  You can leave a voicemail here—Reyna Simone may play it on the podcast!  Just make sure the message is 90 seconds or less and don’t forget to say your first name and where you are from.  Or you can email your travel questions to askreynasimone@gmail.com. ********************************************************Podcast Music & Sound Effects French Disco by Felipe Adorno Vassao available at www.shockwave-sound.com. Screams of Frustration by jorickhoffd.  Attribution License:  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ .  Available at https://freesound.org/people/jorickhoofd/sounds/178410/#. Cool Pop by Brion Kennedy available at SoundExpress/Getty Images  

Patrick Cowden, Executive Chef at The Pharmacy Cafe and Green Planet Catering in Raleigh, North Carolina discusses partnering with local farms, the importance of community, cooking with food in season, creativity in the kitchen, how he uses resourceful methods to reduce food waste, and why transparency is needed for a quality food system. BIO: In November 2015 Chef Patrick Cowden partnered up with Daniel Whittaker to take ownership of The Pharmacy Café in Raleigh North Carolina. Their vision was to create a friendly neighborhood modern take of an old school pharmacy lunch counter. Located in an actual working pharmacy that has been serving the public for over a hundred years they serve hand crafted soda jerk style offerings (sodas/egg creams/fizzes), gargantuan biscuits, and creative upscale sandwiches that are all driven by what is seasonal and available locally. Whittaker and Cowden also operate Green Planet Catering, an award winning sustainable catering company that serves Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill. Chef Cowden, who attended New England Culinary Institute, had done long stints as Executive Chef of Tobacco Road Sports Café’s three locations and The Weathervane Restaurant at A Southern Season in Chapel Hill before starting this new adventure. As a long time resident of the Triangle he has steered the course at such places as Michael Jordan's 23 Sport Cafe, The Grill at Glen Lennox, Michael Dean's, Jean Claude’s Café, and his own restaurant Patrick's Seasonal Cuisine which was located in North Durham. All of which have garnered numerous accolades and have appeared on many best of lists in the triangle. As a Chef who is committed to North Carolina products and local producers he showcases these products and farmers on his menus. He has also taken part in numerous Farm-to-Fork picnics and has been a finalist in the Best Dish of North Carolina sponsored by the Dept. of Agriculture. Another driving factor behind Chef Cowden’s philosophy is his commitment to sustainability. He strives to reduce the ecological impact of his operations to the barest minimum. This commitment coupled with a passion for exciting Southern inspired cuisine makes Chef Cowden a natural fit for Green Planet Catering and Person Street Pharmacy Cafe.

This is a great show for those who want to be chefs! We hear what it's like to learn from and cook with Chef's and . Plus, we get the details on how to rock a cook test (an interview for a chef where he or she prepares food for those hiring) for an aspiring job, so all you aspiring EC's listen up! Chef Thomas Card has worked his way up the ranks through some of the best dining establishment in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area and now he's running his own kitchen at the . Thomas likes the challenge of creating food for multiple menu's and revenue centers. We also get into how you elevate a "hotel restaurant" into something that is a beacon of the Durham culinary community.  To top it off we get top tips on French Fries technique, how to make the ultimate bread pudding, and find out what's the deal with the pink penguin!   Plus, we speak with Chefs Bud Taylor & Regan Stachler about the aftermath of Hurricane Florence and the multiple popup dinners planned by ChickenWire to support the relief. Click  for more information. 

This week finds Circus Boy trying to stay warm by drinking some tasty coffee in the flying dutchman while he reflects on RVs, frozen water hoses, and the new member to his coffee family. All of this, and the coffee scenes in chilly Pikeville, KY and Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, NC and I talk about my visit to Counter Culture Coffee . So sip some brew and give it a chew (or a listen)