Scripture Reading Mark 7:9-30

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Hello, my name is Pia. I'm a ninth grader, and I go to Ruth Osawa's School of the Arts in San Francisco. I will be reading Mark 7:9 through 30. And he continued, You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions. For Moses said, Your honor, honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help your father or mother is Corbin, that is devoted to God, then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your traditions that have handed that that you have handed down, and you do many things like that. Again, Jesus called the crowd to him and said, Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into the by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them. After he had left the crowd and entered the house of his disciples and him about this pair and asked him about this parable, are you so dull? They asked. Don't you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn't go into their hearts but into their stomachs, and then out of the body. And saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean. He went on, What comes out of a person is what defiles them, for it is from within out of a person's heart that is evil thoughts come sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, and arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person. Jesus left that place and went to a vicinity in Trey. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know that know it. Yet he could not keep his presence a secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. This woman was a Greek Syro, was a Greek-born Syrophoen. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. First, let the children eat all they want, he told her, for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs. Lord, she replied, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. Then he told her, For such a reply, you may go, you may go. The demon has left your daughter. She went home and found her child lying on the bed and the demon gone. This is the word of the Lord.

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Thanks be to God.

Expository Setup And The Heart Question

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Great job, Peter. Okay, we're cooking with gas. As you heard, we got a lot. And I'm going to go over every verse. This is what we do around here. If you're newer with us, um uh we spent 12 weeks going through the 12 steps of recovery and learned about that. And then we're hopping back into the gospel of Mark. Uh, we've been on this journey, we do it verse by verse. Uh, it's called expository teaching. And so that's what we're gonna do today. And like we got a ton to get through. So you kind of hopped in in the middle of a scene. So if you're interested in going back, you can catch it on YouTube or you can listen to it if you want to get in the beginning of chapter seven. But this is just kind of where we're picking up. So if you're new here or uh you're checking out Christianity, or you're unsure of what you believe, if you're Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, spiritual, but not religious, D-church, anti-church, church hurt, church tired, church curious, or you followed Jesus for years. I actually think that today's passage matters because Jesus is answering a question that I think every human being eventually asked, which is what's actually wrong with us? Not just wrong with the world or politics or religion or your parents or the next generation or the last generation, but what's wrong with like the human heart? Because if we're honest, something feels broken. Like the world is literally more connected than it ever has been before, and it's lonelier than ever before. We have more information than any generation in history, and somehow we don't seem wiser. Like we have more technology, more convenience, more options, more entertainment, more comfort, and anxiety continues to rise. We know more about mental health than previous generations, and yet people still feel trapped. We know that smoking is bad for you and people still smoke. We know debt creates problems and people still overspend. We know relationships they require honesty and people still lie. We know anger destroys things and we still lash out. We know comparison steals joy and we keep scrolling. We know what we should do, and yet we often we don't do it, and we know what we shouldn't do, and yet we do it anyway. Why?

Tradition Loopholes And The Corban Vow

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Well, I think that that's kind of the question underneath Mark chapter seven here. Jesus is about to diagnose the deepest problem facing humanity. And what's fascinating is that he begins by talking to religious people, which should encourage some of you immediately, because Jesus isn't just interested in helping religious irreligious people, he's interested in helping religious people too, because both groups can literally miss God hopping in. And he said to them, You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. So that phrase, fine way, is not just Jesus handing out a gold star. This is like holy sarcasm. Jesus saying, You have become experts at becoming spiritually sounding ways to uh avoid actual obedience. It's essentially what he's saying. And before we make this uh the Pharisees and the story, the villains, we should um let them become mirrors for us because we all rationalize, right? Here are some examples, right? The religious person says, God understands. A spiritual person would say, I'm following my truth. A driven person might say, I'm doing what it takes. And an intellectual person might say this way, it's more complicated than that. And then our anxious friends would say, I just need to control this one thing. And then I have laid back friends that would say, It's not that big of a deal, right? So here's here's the thing same heart, different language. So Jesus, what he does is he takes them back to scripture. He says, For Moses said, honor your mother, your father, and your mother, and whoever reviles father or mother, this is crazy, must surely die. Jesus doesn't start with an opinion here or preference. What he does is he doesn't use cultural pressure. He starts with God's word, which is really important. He says, Honor your father and your mother. And this wasn't like a sentimental command to post something nice on Mother's Day and then go back to ignoring her calls afterwards, right? In the first century world, this included like practical care. There were, there was no social security, there wasn't a retirement plan, no assisted living, uh, no uh, you know, group down the road playing bingo on Thursdays. Families cared for families, right? Adult children were expected to help aging parents with food and housing and money and protection. And so to honor your parents meant more than just saying the right words, it meant showing up when love had become inconvenient. So then Jesus exposes this loophole that they had created. But you say if a man tells his father or his mother, whatever you would have gained from me is Corbin, right? That is given to God. So Corbin, real quick, is this vow that's dedicating something to God. So on the surface, it can sound like deeply spiritual. A man would say, like, these resources I have now are devoted to the Lord. And everyone would nod and be like, Oh, it's very holy, very impressive, very like I brought my leather Bible to church and highlighted Leviticus, right? But in practice, some people used Corbin to avoid helping parents, as this example he's using. So mom and dad are struggling, and the son says, You know, I would help, but that money is actually dedicated to God. The resources might still benefit him later, but his parents couldn't touch him now. So Jesus sees right through this immediately. Now, here's the deal: God never intended devotion to him to become an excuse for neglecting people made in his image. See, Jesus then continues, he goes, Then you'll no longer permit him to do anything for his mother or the father. So this is serious. This religious system was now no longer helping people obey God. Literally, it was preventing them from obeying God. And so this should sober everyone because any good thing can become dangerous when it becomes important, more important than obedience, right? So traditions, rhythms, and systems, they can be really good. But when tradition lets me avoid love, it's no longer serving God. It's actually shielding me from God. So if you're a de churched or an anti-church person here, this may be part of why you've struggled with religion. You've seen people defend systems while hurting people. You've seen people quote scripture while lacking compassion. And so here's the deal: Jesus is not defending that, he's actually confronting it. And then he lands this accusation, he goes, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and many such things that you do, many such things. This wasn't just an isolated problem, right? This was a pattern that he's talking about. And Jesus is exposing the whole way of life where people look spiritual, but they avoid surrender. And this is where Mark starts, I think, pressing in on us just a little bit. So the question is not just, did the Pharisees do this? The question is really, where do I do this? Where do I use good language to avoid hard obedience? Where do I want the appearance of faith without the cost of love? Where do I want spiritual credit without actual transformation? Then Jesus literally widens the room.

Purity Is Inside Out Not Outside

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I love that. Jesus doesn't just keep this conversation among religious experts. He literally calls the crowd and everyone gets invited into the diagnosis. The insiders, the outsiders, the skeptical, the curious, the wounded, the confident, the confused, they're all there. He says, Hear me, all of you. In other words, what Jesus is about to say is not just for the Pharisees, it's for humanity. Then comes a sentence that would have shocked them. There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defiles him. So for us, this like sounds normal. For them, this was revolutionary. See, first century Jewish uh identity included clean and unclean distinctions, especially around food, purity, and contact. Um these laws literally had shaped Israel for generations, and they were meant to remind God's people that they belonged to Him, like you were known and you're loved and you're cared for. But many had begun treating this external contamination as like the deepest spiritual problem. And Jesus says the deepest problem is not outside in, it's inside out. Not what touches your hand, but what rules your heart. Uh, some manuscripts include verse 16 here. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear, whether um that your Bible has that verse in it or not, in the main text or as a footnote, the meaning fits the pattern of Mark. Jesus is saying, don't just hear sounds right now, pay attention, right? Any parents who know exactly what that's like. Are you listening to me? Right? Because it's possible to listen to Jesus and still miss him. It's possible to be in a room, literally, and not receive truth. And so he's calling for more than just information. And so then Mark moves us into the house.

Disciples Stay Close And Ask Questions

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And when he went in, entered the house, and uh left the people, his disciples asked him about this parable. Now, this is very comforting, I think, because the disciples don't get it either, right? These are the people that are closest to Jesus and they still need clarification. And I think that the that really should just encourage, like every young adult who feels behind spiritually, like discipleship isn't just instant mastery, it's staying close enough to ask better questions. And so the crowd hears this teaching, the disciples stay for this understanding, and that's kind of been the theme throughout Mark, where this proximity to him matters and staying around matters and asking questions matter. And so Jesus responds to them and he said to them, Then are you also without understanding? Right? You can almost hear the pastoral frustration right here. Guys, we've been over this, but we keep he keeps teaching them. This is great. He explains, Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from the outside cannot defile him? And then he continues, since it enters not into his heart, but into his stomach and is expelled. Like Jesus is making a really simple but profound point right here that food enters the body, but it doesn't determine your soul, right? And I'm really thankful for that. External things can affect you, right? They can influence you, they can wound you, but they don't finally explain you. And then Mark adds this massive theological note. Thus he declared all foods clean. That little sentence right there is enormous. Jesus, right here, is literally preparing the way for the gospel to move beyond the Jewish boundaries in the nations, that the kingdom will not just stay fenced in by food laws or ethnicity or background or religious pedigree. The good news will actually move toward Romans and Greeks and Africans and Asians and Europeans and Americans and Muslims and Buddhists and atheists and agnostics and church kids, church skeptics, and people who never thought that they belonged at a table. And then Jesus, what he does is he repeats the main point and he said, What comes out of a person is actually what defiles them. The issue is not merely what has happened to you, the issue is also what comes from you. And I think that's uncomfortable because most of us prefer external explanations. And to be clear, your story matters, trauma matters, systems matter, families matter, culture matters, and justice matters. Jesus is not minimizing wounds here, but he is saying the deepest human problem cannot be solved only by changing circumstances, that something inside of us needs redemption.

Heart Sins And Self Help Limits

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And so then he names it from within, out of the heart of a man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery. So in scripture, the heart isn't just emotions. It's like literally the control center, like your desires or the things you love, your motives, your will, your imagination and direction. And Jesus says that the human heart produces things that breaks us and breaks others. That evil thoughts aren't just some random, you know, mental static that's taking place. They're inner patterns that eventually shape our behavior. You know, sexual immorality is desired detached from covenant lust. Theft is taking what's not ours. Murder is the destruction of another image bearer. And Jesus will later show us that contempt is murder in seed form. Adultery is betrayal of a covenant of faithfulness. And Jesus is not giving random this list randomly. He's actually showing the heart of how it actually, our heart actually like leaks out into life. And so he continues coveting and wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slandered, pride, foolishness. And then what happens there? The list catches everybody, right? Some of us are bold and driven, and our temptation is pride or control. Some of us are warm and relational, and our temptation is envy or people pleasing. Some of us are steady and loyal, and our temptation is quiet compromise because we don't want conflict. And some of us are analytical and thoughtful, and our temptation is hidden arrogance because we confuse being right with being surrendered. Some sins are out loud, some sins wear a smile, some sins look successful, some sins look spiritual, but Jesus says that they come from the same place. And so he concludes all these evil things come from within and they defile a person. So that's the diagnosis. The problem is deeper than dirty hands, it's deeper than uh behavior management, it's deeper than religion or image or intelligence or success or self-improvement. The problem is the heart. And if that were the end of the message, I think it would be crushing. But the one diagnosing the heart is also the one who came to heal it. And I really believe that Jesus does not expose us to shame us, he exposes us to actually save us. He doesn't tell truth just because he's against us. He tells truth because pretending is actually what's killing us. And I think that after a summer of walking through the 12 steps, we should actually understand this that healing begins with honesty. You can't surrender what you keep defending. You can't be healed from what you keep hiding. And Mark, what he's about to do right here is to show us in this next scene that the heart of Jesus, the heart that receives Jesus is not this polished heart. It's not like a religious heart, it's not an insider heart, it's the honest heart that comes to him and need. And if we're honest, I think that raises a huge question. Like if the heart is the problem, then who can be saved? Because if you're new to this, that's probably what you're wondering. Like if you spent years away from church, that's probably what you're wondering. Or again, if you're here and you're checking things out, you're a Muslim or you're Buddhist or you're atheist, agnostic, spiritually, but not religious, or someone who just simply isn't convinced yet, that's probably what you're wondering. So if the problem is inside me, what exactly am I supposed to do about that? I can't perform surgery on my own soul. I can't self-help my way into a new heart. I can't podcast my way into transformation, I can't meditate my way out of every selfish impulse that I have. And I can't educate my way into perfect goodness. I can't achieve my way into some kind of special purity. So now what? And that's exactly where Mark takes us next. Because see, immediately after Jesus explains the problem of the human heart, he gives us a living example of what faith actually

Jesus Crosses Borders Toward Outsiders

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looks like. And the person he chooses would have shocked everyone listening. And from there, he arose and went away to the region of Tyree and Sedan. So stop there for just a second. If you've been with us through Mark, you know that geography matters. So Tyree is not Jewish territory. It's this port city, it's very north there in modern-day Israel, pagan territory, different culture, different values, different religion, like a different worldview. This is literally the other side. And again, Jesus keeps crossing boundaries. He keeps moving towards people that religious insiders, they assumed that they were too far, they were far from God. And can we just acknowledge something really quickly? Jesus is constantly disappointing religious gatekeepers. Like every time that they think they figured out who belongs, Jesus then walks towards someone else. Every time that they think they found the edge of God's grace, Jesus then just keeps going past that. And so Mark tells us that he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden, right? I love that sentence. He actually wants a little peace and quiet, like a little privacy, maybe a little bit of rest. And Mark says essentially, like, good luck with that, right? Because by this point in Mark's gospel, Jesus is impossible to ignore. People keep finding him, people keep coming, the needs keep showing up, brokenness keeps showing up. And here's why I love that. Because some of you walked in today. Wondering if God notices you. Wondering if God even cares. Wondering if you've drifted too far. Wondering if your questions disqualify you, or your doubts, or your past disqualifies you. This story says something different that broken people keep finding Jesus and Jesus keeps making room for them. So now Mark introduces us to one of my favorite people in the gospel. But immediately, a woman whose little daughter had become unclean, uh, had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. So Mark, notice first how Mark describes her, not her accomplishments or education, social standing, or religious achievements. She's a mom. She's a desperate mom. And every parent in the room understands this immediately. There is something powerful about parental disparagement, right? Like you, you will do things for your kids that you would never do for yourself. You will sacrifice things for your kids you would never sacrifice for yourself. You'll fight battles for your kids, you would never fight for yourself. And so her daughter, like I feel like we need to feel the weight of this, is suffering. And so Mark says that she has an unclean spirit. So her little girl is trapped, like bound with this oppression, and the mother is desperate. And so then Mark adds to the details that would have immediately raised eyebrows among Jewish readers and listeners. It says, now the woman was a Gentile and a Syrophoenician at birth. So what he's doing right here is he's stacking barriers. She's a woman, she's a gentile, and she's from Syrophoenica. Right? This is a region uh that's on the coast of what we now know is uh modern-day Lebanon, uh, known in the ancient world, like literally for its really strong Greek influence, its wealth, its deep roots in pagan worship rather than Jewish faith. And so, from a Jewish perspective, she's an outsider in like every category. If there was ever some people uh that they would assume would be excluded, she would fit that. It's her. And yet she continues, which already tells us something important that faith often starts with need, not certainty. Need. Sometimes we imagine faith begins with like all of your questions that are just answered. It doesn't. Sometimes, though, faith begins when your need becomes bigger than your pride. And that's exactly what's happening here. Mark says that she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. So here she just keeps asking, right? Keeps pleading, keeps pursuing, won't take no. And Jesus says something that feels shocking and honestly, it feels a little uncomfortable.

Dogs And Crumbs The Surprising Reply

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He says to her, let the children be fed first, for it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Whoa. Let's slow down a little bit, right? This doesn't feel like lammy Jesus right now. Like it's not sweet, right? Because if you read that quickly, it sounds really harsh, like almost, I think, offensive. And people have struggled with this passage for centuries. So let's understand what's happening here. So first, Jesus is using language, the language of priority, not rejection. Notice the word first. That's important. First, not only first. The children are referred to referred to Israel, like the people of God, the people whom uh through whom God promised to bring salvation into the world. See, in the Old Testament, God chose Israel not because he only loved Israel, he chose Israel so he could eventually bless all nations through Israel. This promise was to Abraham, and it was bigger than just one people group. And so, second, Jesus uses a word for household pets, not wild scavenge dogs. That's really important to understand that. So it's still surprising, still challenging, but different from the insult that many modern readers imagine. And so here's what's really happening: Jesus is drawing her into a conversation and he's exposing something, not her weakness, but her faith, because watch what she does next. But she answered him and said, Yes, Lord, yet the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs. Like this is one of the greatest, I think, responses in the gospel. Like she doesn't argue, she doesn't get offended, she doesn't storm away, she doesn't demand something or claim some sort of entitlement. She simply says, Yes, but I know who you are, and I know what you can do, and I believe there's enough grace in you for someone like me. Do you see it? This woman understands something I think many religious people miss. She doesn't have any leverage here, no status, no resume, no claim to make here, only need and faith. And somehow she understands that Jesus is enough. So I just want to pause for just one second. Because I was doing Sermon Club. So sermon club is what I do to get ready for the message and I give it to a group of people. And Sam, who you met earlier, who's up here as your turn, was like, I still don't understand what you're saying. So, so I'm gonna just pause. Is anyone still confused about this little like what this means? Good. I'll take your yeah, okay, I'll take your bravery. So think of it this way, right? How many of you guys have a dog? Like a pet dog, right? How many of you guys have a dog and children? Right? Who eats first? The children. I hope the children, right? I don't know, the dog's pretty legit. Okay, so the children eat first, right? It doesn't mean the dogs like bad, right? So what's happening here is the children are are the is Israel, God's people. They're the first. He's he's there for them first. And this literally is a hinge. And what she's saying is, like, hey, we the dogs, but we get crumbs. And he's saying, ah, well done. Which literally then is going to be this hinge where it's now pointing to this is opening up and getting wider, right? Does that does that help a little bit, make a little bit more sense? So, not like she a dog, right? But like you're still in the family. You still, I have Bingey. I still love Bingy. He still gets the snuggles and stuff. Just they get more, more stuff first and better, usually. So, this is why I think that this woman speaks uh so powerfully to literally our cultural moment, because we live in an age that's obsessed with identity construction, right? Everybody's trying to establish worth and we're trying to prove worth and protect worth and defend worth and build it. And this woman walks into the story with none of that. She comes in literally empty-handed and discovers that empty hands are exactly what Jesus can fill. Some of you have spent years trying to prove yourself to your parents or to your friends or to your coworkers, to social media, maybe even to God. And this woman shows us another way. She simply comes honest, desperate, and trusting. And so then Jesus responds.

Faith That Receives Healing At Distance

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He said to her, For this statement, you may go away. The demon has left your daughter. It was kind of like a that was good. Well done, right? I liked that. Think about it. There's no dramatic ceremony here, right? There's not even visible comfort, like uh something happened, like where he's like laying hands on her and no travel required. He doesn't have to go there, he just simply speaks and it happens. Why? I think it's because distance doesn't mean anything to the king. The demon isn't a challenge, the distance isn't a challenge, the circumstances aren't a challenge. The only thing Jesus highlights is her faith. And then Mark concludes, and she went home and she found the child lying in bed, and the demon was gone. I mean, can you imagine the walk home? Like every step just wondering, every step hoping, every step praying, and then opening the door and finding peace where there had been torment, freedom, where there had been this bondage, hope where it just been full of fear. Her daughter's restored, and Mark intentionally places this story immediately after Jesus' teaching about the heart. This is not accidental. In verses 9 through 23, Jesus exposed the problem of the human heart. In verses 24 through 30, he shows us the kind of heart he receives, not the proud heart, the self-sufficient or the entitled, not the performative religious heart, but the humble heart, the honest heart, the dependent heart, the heart that says, I know I need help. And here's why I think this matters so much for us. Because again, I think some of you walked in today convinced that you were too far away, too skeptical, too broken, too sinful, too wounded, too intellectual, too damaged by religion, too different, maybe even too much of an outsider. And Mark says, look again. The hero of this story isn't a Pharisee. It isn't a disciple, it isn't a pastor, it isn't a Bible scholar, it's a Gentile woman from the wrong place with the wrong background, who simply believed Jesus was enough. That, my friends, is the scandal of grace. The kingdom of God is not built around who deserves a seat at the table. It's built around a king who keeps making room for people nobody expected to be there. And that's really the part, the point of these verses in Mark 7. The problem isn't outside of us, it's inside of us. And the answer isn't found inside us. It's found in Jesus. The one who can do what religion cannot do, the one who can do what success cannot do, or what self-improvement cannot do, what education can't do, what effort can't do. He can give a new heart. And the invitation, friends, is not to just try harder. The invitation is simply just come honestly, come humbly, come with your questions and your doubts and your wounds and your failures, come with your need. Because the same Jesus who welcomed a desperate outsider in Tyree is still welcoming people today. And maybe that's the best news of the entire gospel.

Isolation Breaks Us Community Heals Us

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Because if Mark 7 teaches us something, it's that transformation rarely happens in isolation. So just think about that for a second. The Pharisees have isolated themselves behind traditions. The disciples keep putting, pulling Jesus aside to ask questions and learn in relationship. A woman stepped into a conversation that she couldn't have alone. And again and again in scripture, God moves in relationship in a community. And that's maybe where some of us need to take a next step today. Not a huge step, not a forever step, not assign your life away, but just a next step. Because some of us have been trying to figure out life by ourselves, trying to battle anxiety by ourselves, trying to work through grief by ourselves, trying to navigate marriage by ourselves, to raise kids by ourselves, to follow Jesus by ourselves or heal from church hurt by ourselves. Maybe even to overcome habits by ourselves, trying to answer life's biggest questions by ourselves. And there's one thing, one thing that we've learned over the years is that isolation almost never makes us healthier. What happens is the heart tends to drift in isolation, the heart tends to hide in isolation, and the heart tends to believe lies in isolation. But healing often begins when we allow ourselves to be known. So this fall, I really think that one of the best things that you could do for yourself and for the people around you is take a small step into community. And you guys heard about it, you saw it out in the lobby today. You're gonna find all kinds of opportunities. There's groups, there's classes, there's Bible studies, there's rooted, there's men's groups that are gonna meet on Thursday night, there's women's groups that are gonna meet up here on uh Tuesday nights, there's young adult groups that are gonna meet up here on Wednesday nights, there's senior stuff, there's recovery ministries, there's marriage ministries, there's short-term studies, long-term study, places to learn, places to ask questions, places to grow. And here's what I love about our faith community is that there is a seat at all of those tables. So for the lifelong Christian, for the person just checking things out, for the skeptic or the doubter, the recovering addict, the successful executive, a single parent, a college student, a retiree, the person who's been here for 20 years, and for the person who just walked in today for the very first time, guess what? There's a seat for you. And before you panic and think that we're asking for some lifetime commitment, we're not. We're talking about weeks. Like what would happen if you just gave a couple weeks, small investment, think of it as a simple experiment, a chance to say, what if I stopped trying to do life alone? What if I showed up? What if I got connected? What if I allowed myself to be known? What if I took just one step? Because nobody's asking you to commit to anything forever. We're just simply inviting you to invest a few weeks and let's see together what God might do. Let's actually just see what happens when questions meet community. Let's see what happens when faith meets friendship. Let's see what happens when isolation gives way to connection. And let's see what happens when people stop sitting on the edges and start pulling up a chair. Because I'm telling you, I'm telling you, the same Jesus who made room for a desperate outsider at his table is still making room for people

Find Your Seat Take One Step

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today. And maybe your next step is just simply finding your seat.