Scripture referenced 7 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Romans 1:16 quoted to affirm not being ashamed of the gospel as the power of God for salvation
16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.
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Keep this verse
Romans 8:11
quoted to remind the congregation that the Spirit who raised Jesus lives in believers
11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
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Isaiah 43:19
quoted in the context of God doing a new thing, clearing the wilderness and making rivers in the desert
19 Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
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John 1:1-3, 14
quoted in two versions to explain incarnational ministry, the Word becoming human and dwelling among us
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.
14 The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
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1 Corinthians 11:13-16
quoted as an example of how imposed cultural standards were wrongly used as a message to Native American people
13 Judge for yourselves. Is it appropriate that a woman pray to God unveiled?
14 Doesn’t even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?
15 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering.
16 But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither do God’s assemblies.
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John 14:5-11
quoted to show Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, and that seeing him is seeing the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
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Colossians 2:20-23
quoted to warn against letting others impose worldly rules and self-imposed worship that have no power over corrupt nature
20 If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances,
21 “Don’t handle, nor taste, nor touch”
22 (all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men?
23 Which things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but aren’t of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Duane Bristow, director of the Brethren Navajo Mission, brought the message this Sunday. Drawing on decades of incarnational ministry among the Navajo people, he traced a line from John 1 to the practical question of whether our own witness looks more like Jesus entering a culture or like religion being imposed on one.
What was said
Duane opened by describing a conversation with his bishop about a conference themed around the word BIC, Brethren in Christ, where the three letters stood for biblical, incarnational, and countercultural. He was asked to speak to the incarnational piece and admitted he had to look it up. What he found, though, was that he already knew it. He had been living it for years without having a name for it.
The theological anchor was John 1:14. The Word became human and lived among us. Duane read it in two versions, the King James and what he called the God's Word Version, a translation he had come to favor because the Navajo people he served were not native English speakers, let alone readers of Elizabethan English. The plain rendering, "the Word became human and lived among us," was his definition of incarnational ministry. Jesus left his culture and entered ours, taking on the language, clothing, and even the musical instruments of the people he came to reach.
He then turned to a painful chapter in Native American mission history. He read from 1 Corinthians 11, the passage about hair length and head coverings, and noted that this kind of text had been used to tell Native people they had to cut their hair, stop speaking their language, put away their drums and their sage. The result, he said, was that only three to five percent of Native Americans in North America have come to faith. The message itself was not broken. The way it was delivered was.
The contrast Duane drew was between incarnational and what he called impositional. He defined imposing as forcing something unwelcome or unfamiliar on someone, or taking advantage of their attention. Jesus, he argued, did not show up and announce how things were done where he came from. He did not demand that the Jewish people dress like heaven or sing heaven's songs. He spoke their language and wore their clothes, and his message was "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Duane spent time in John 14, where Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father. He said he could almost picture Jesus's eyes at that moment, after all the time they had walked together, saying, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father." That is the incarnational claim. The living Word was revealing the written Word through his actual presence and way of life, not through a set of rules about outward appearance.
He closed in Colossians 2, which warns against letting other people dictate how you live through commands like "don't handle this, don't taste or touch that." He read that those things carry the appearance of wisdom but have no real power over the desires of our nature. Only allowing the incarnate Word of God control over our lives can do that. The final question he put to the room was a personal one: if someone asked to see the Father, could any of us say without hesitation, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father"? That, he said, is what it means for our message to truly be incarnational.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Duane described how missionaries sometimes brought their own culture along with the gospel, telling Native American people to change their clothes, their hair, their language and their music. When have you seen that kind of thing happen, and what did it cost the people on the receiving end?
- Duane talked about Isaiah 43:19, where God says He is doing a new thing, and connected it to the idea of leaving your comfort zone. What has it looked like in your own life when God called you out of a familiar, comfortable place?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,630 words
0:00
Alright, my friends. Good morning. How is everybody? Yeah? It's good to see you all.
0:05
I'm really glad to be here with you. I'm glad to be able to worship with you. When else really during the week do we have an opportunity like this. Right? Just to praise God together, lift our voices to him.
0:14
So what do you say we stand up and give him praise? Alright. Here in this worn and weary.
0:29
Here in this worn and weary land where many a dream has died. Like a tree, like a tree planted by the water
1:03
to know you and
1:09
to make you known. We lived your name all night, shine like the sun made darkness run hand high. We were made. We
3:09
Amen. Would you pray with me? God, we're glad to be here. We're thankful to be here. Thank you that we're together, and I thank you, God, for the opportunity really to lift our our voices to you in worship, really to give ourselves, offer ourselves to you in in worship here and so I pray that you'd be speaking through us today or sorry, speaking through the word to us today.
3:32
Motivate us, God. Would you challenge us as well? And most of all, God be glorified in in what we do here today and may we love each one another well as you command it. Amen.
3:46
So, I've got a few announcements this morning. If this thing will click, which it won't. There we go. Oh, first things first. Jackson Hole Playhouse ended.
4:02
Conway, would you come up here with me for just a second? Conway has been working at the Jackson Hole Playhouse for, like, over twenty one years, close to forty years. They did their last show on Saturday, and that's Conway, third one from the end up there. And he invited us to go the other night, and we love him. And and so there he is right there, preshow.
4:23
So, Awana is happening. It starts about 06:00 every Monday night right here in this room gathering because kids matter to God. We try our best to pour scripture into their minds and they memorize scripture, but I tell you what, it has a way of getting into their hearts. And so Awana happens at six and there it is. Clickers.
4:51
Middle school youth group is on Thursdays at 06:30 in the evening. It takes up the fellowship hall of the church but if you come in here on Thursday night, they may be in any room. They're all over the place on Thursday nights at 06:30. High school breakfast is usually contained just to the Fellowship Hall at 07:45 on Friday mornings. It's a blessing before the weekend which is great.
5:14
The studies as far as high school, middle school go today, there is no girl study happening today. The leaders are out of town And so but the guys study is happening, and I have been told it is a high school study. So eighth through twelfth grade or if that's high school and one other year. Eight through twelfth grade, guys study. That's happening at 09:30 in Rinsey's office downstairs.
5:38
Peak Children's Church is happening today. That'll happen right after the song set. And Monday nights at first b.
5:44
Real quick on Monday night. So, tomorrow, it's potluck. So, if you're coming to Monday night, bring a little something with you to share and also, we're in Luke five. Good good stuff. Jesus reaching out to us.
5:54
How we reach back to him.
5:55
Amen. Thank you, Carl. That's been fun and I'm gonna invite Nancy Baxter if you would come up to present an invitation, I guess, to the women's retreat and here's your mic. Good morning, everybody.
6:12
Do you ever wonder about heaven? Do you ever think about heaven? I think when, we think about heaven, do you get that vision of a cloud and a harp? And, you know, I think that that vision comes straight from Satan because that is not what it's gonna be like. Do you ever think about death?
6:39
Are you afraid of dying? A lot of times when we have these questions, we do the first thing in our mind and we go to the bookstore. We go to Amazon, Jackson's bookstore and we look for books on heaven and there are ton of them out there about all these eyewitnesses. But guess what we're gonna do? We have an eyewitness that's actually been there, lived there, came to earth and that is what we are going to study at the women's retreat.
7:17
We're gonna look at what the word, the truth about what God has to say about heaven. It's gonna be so much fun. It's gonna be a weekend to kinda leave the world behind and to spend time in fellowship with other women having fun and studying. And we will, as we study heaven, I think because I've been studying it for a while to get ready, that it will actually change your life here on earth as we understand the truths from God's word. Not only our life here on earth but our future life in heaven to understand that.
8:06
So, come and be blessed and let us worship our father together.
8:14
Thank you very much, Nancy. I have there's one other announcement that's not up there and it was to say, read this text. So, they got it in way way after the deadline for getting it into the bulletin but Karen Geek, next week, y'all know that we had a missionary last week. We have a couple of missionaries here with us today and we have another missionary coming in next week. Peter and Anna Lukaccio and so Karen and Steve Geek lived down in Alpine.
8:40
They're having any of y'all who want to come to their house and hang out and she says, so if anyone has any interest whatsoever in going on a mission trip to Romania or they might want to go on a trip or they might want to hear about it or if they just want to see if there's any dust under my couches, please bring a potluck dish and come down. She leaves the address. If you'll call the church office, we'll give you the address but they live down in Alpine, Friday night, this week before Peter and Anna speak next Sunday and so, she got that in just under the wire, I guess. But any other announcements, check your bulletin and there should be plenty of information in there. If you would, would you stand up and greet one another warmly?
9:22
And we will bring you back together with a song.
9:44
We'll sing in the firm foundation of our faith. How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to you he has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled. Fear not, fear not he's with us so be not dismayed for he is our God, our sustainer and strength. He'll be our defender and cause us to stand upheld by his mercy for almighty hand.
10:31
Amen. How firm our foundation, how sure our salvation, and we will not be shaken. Jesus' firm foundation, the soul that is trusting, the soul that is trusting in Jesus as Lord will press on enduring in darkest of storm. The
11:36
Jesus firm foundation. Be
11:42
Let's sing H to H and H to H. He stares, Sing you are, and you are the fullness of the beauty I see. You are. You are. You're the healer.
12:50
And you are the healer of the broken and weak. You are. You are. Amen. Even though few may slam and proclaim your great name.
13:11
It's a love I want you to live because I'm convinced there is good like you. I'm not ashamed of this good news of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I will stand here boldly say that this is my life.
13:37
I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I'm a standing boldly say. This is my life. You're the author of salvation and faithful singing.
14:01
You are the author of salvation and faith. You are you are the victory that conquered the great. And you are the victory that conquered the great. I'm not ashamed of the gospel, not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I'm standing for these sake.
14:58
This is my life. I'm not ashamed of the gospel, not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I will stand and mold these same. This is my life.
15:15
From Romans one sixteen, it says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God and salvation for everyone who believes. And really, this good news, I why why would we be ashamed of a church? I mean, it truly is good news. It means everlasting life right now, life abundant, and life to come, full life, eternity in heaven. And so, really, I mean, as we have opportunity, you know, sometimes it's with word and a lot of times it's just us living out our faith.
15:48
You know? Living out our faith and and just loving Jesus and serving people well and loving people into the kingdom. Would you agree with that? Know this too from Romans eight eleven, the spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. Do you know that?
16:13
And just as God raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to our mortal bodies by the same spirit living within us. So you're not alone really in this too. You go, man, I you know, sometimes I might feel ashamed. You know, I I just I don't know when to speak out. Guess who you have with you?
16:31
You have the Holy Spirit of God living in you. That power that raised Christ from the dead. That's huge, church. That's huge.
16:50
I can see waters raging at my feet, I can't feel. The breath of those surrounding me, I can't hear. The sound of nations rising up, we will not be overtaken, we will not be Every fear of the unknown I can give. All God's children singing out, we will not be overtaken, we will not be overcome. Here it is, the same power.
17:44
Believe it. The same power that rose Jesus from the grave. The same power that commands the dead to wake and we have hope that his promises are true, yet his strength is strength. There is nothing we can do. Yes.
18:38
We know There are greater things in store. We will not be overtaken. We will not be overcome. Lives in us, lives in us. Amen.
20:37
The same power that moves mountains when he speeds. The same power that can come to regency lives in us, lives in us, lives in us, lives in
21:14
Can I get the frontline team to come forward? And I'm going to explain again. We had missionary last week and we have another one next week but we do when when our missionaries and these are our, we call you ours. Missionaries, we've been supporting for a pretty good while now. And we will pass the plates twice today.
21:35
I said it last week. I'll say it again next week. It's not because you didn't put enough in there but when we pass it the second time, it's gonna be for the Bristos but I wanna give you a chance to get to know em up here before that. So, this is for our general fund, this offering. Would you pray with me?
21:50
God, thank you for all that you give for this beautiful morning, lord, for the rain, quenching rain. I thank you for all that you have done in the the lives of these people in this room. I thank you that you are in the business of saving. Lord, I thank you that you're in the business of redeeming. I thank you that you are our provider and our lord.
22:15
So, God, I I pray that you would take what we are giving back. A portion of what you've given us to see your kingdom's work done here in Jackson, in the surrounding areas, and Lord, to the uttermost parts, to the ends of the earth. Would you use us, Lord, as humble servants, to do what you would have done here in this community. God, I ask you to take these, multiply em, and put em to use so that the gospel would advance. The good news, Jesus Christ.
22:48
Has paid the price for sin. That others would believe and have life in his name. In Jesus name, lord, would you bless? Amen.
23:16
I don't know how to explain it, but I know the words will hardly do. Miracles and signs Greater love is not a man
26:00
Well, good morning. One and all, if my voice will hold out here for a moment. I'm up here to introduce to you Dwayne and Diane Bristow, very, very dear friends of ours that we've known since, I guess about 2001 when we went down to their mission for the first time, the Brethren Navajo mission. And it was about that time too that the mission was just on the verge of folding. And since Duane and Diane were appointed directors, it's become a real beacon of light on that corner of the Navajo Reservation.
26:45
They've just done a wonderful job. So I'm not gonna take any more time, but I'm gonna give it over to Duane, I guess first, and maybe Diane second. Who knows? Anyway, here you are Duane.
27:02
Thank you. It's good to be with you guys. We've been looking forward to this for quite a while. I've got a seven minute film that I wanna show you. It's gonna give you a brief overview of the things that go on there, and then I'm gonna come up here and take some more of your time.
27:15
If you've got it. I never get tired of looking at those pictures. Most of those, most every one of those pictures have people who take time out of their busy lives to come out and in some way provide some sort of service there at the mission through VBSs, day camps, work projects, or things like that. And we depend greatly on people who come out and help us. When Diane and I took the mission in 2003, we recognized pretty quickly we couldn't do it by ourselves.
33:54
And so I think we have probably, in the years we've been there, gave the opportunity to over 2,000 people to come out and share their lives and have the opportunity to be a witness for Christ. Few years back, four years, as a matter of fact, to be exact, Diane and I were here, and Diane was still walking with Cain. And today, come on up here. Today, no Cain. Some of you don't know the story, but she was paralyzed from the neck down for about seven months and spent that long in the hospital and has gone through quite a bit of recuperation, I guess you might say, and going from a wheelchair to a walker with braces on her legs to a cane to almost 100% now.
34:42
And so we appreciate so much the prayers that all of you shared with us during that time. I'm gonna ask Diane to catch you up right quick. Oh, it's getting really close to Christmas, and I think many of you know about our Christmas love gift program and so she's going to share just a few minutes of that with you. Oh, she's gotta have a mic.
35:06
I can probably be heard.
35:07
Is it even beyond?
35:09
It's not on.
35:09
Here. Come here. It's on now. Different.
35:13
They're all so different. I don't know which way to look. Hi, thank you again for all your prayer support over the years. You may not realize how much it helped but here I am and Diane threw me on the side of a mountain yesterday and got on the phone and I took off by myself with my little dog and got to the bottom and said, whew. I couldn't have done this last year.
35:34
So, every year, every year I get better and every year I accomplish more through through God, through his healing. But I wanna talk to you a little bit about Christmas love gifts. The little things that you give mean so much to the people. We go into a dormitory which is very near to where we live and these kids are about 65 to 70 of them. And these are, for the most part, are the only gifts that they get.
36:00
We use kind of a tall bag, a good solid bottom, and we make sure they all have hats and gloves and socks and scarves and toiletries and fun stuff. You can't just get school supplies and, you know, bath soap. That's no fun. So we make sure there's a lot of good stuff in there. We do that dorm.
36:20
We go to Arizona and do a home for adults who do not quite need the nursing home, but they can no longer live alone. So we go in there and we work with these seniors. We take people with us who speak the language and can sing and lead them in songs. We have dinner with them and you spend the afternoon sitting and talking with them. Even if they don't speak English, they still like it when you sit down and spend time with them.
36:47
So we give them things, the same type thing, but we try to meet some of their needs too because it's expensive to be in a home with caregiving. And a lot of these adults that are in there, their families leave them and they don't go back because there's been death in that building and they will not reenter that building until their loved one has moved on to another facility or perhaps until that person dies. We also do children in a program called FACE, which is family and adult education. And these are children ages zero to three. Usually their mom is a single mom and they can be in this program on center, center based or off center.
37:28
These families, they have some difficulties making ends meet. So we make sure that these little guys get clothing and formula where we need to and diapers and the things that are gonna help the parents out. Because of this program, these single or married moms and dads can come over to the school, at DZ. I'll let Duane pronounce the word because I will definitely mess it up. But they're at DZ and the parents can come at no charge, be on the computer and take the classes they need for their GED.
38:03
Once they've completed that and they've gotten their diploma, they can also come back as long as their children are in face and begin taking classes online at the local community college. So we want to help them out the best we can, so we include those adults who are really trying hard to get an education. We also do some senior centers in our area. They need hats and gloves and and toiletries and just some fun things in their bags also. This year we're going to try something a little bit different and we're going to go ahead and adopt a few families.
38:39
Not many, but just a few who do not have kids in the dorm. Since we give the kids in the dorm really, you know, large bags of gifts. We want to do some families who may not have Christmas because of this. Some of these are the only gifts that they get. So, we want to provide a food box for them and gifts for the family that will help them through the holidays.
39:03
And spend a little time with them, be able to follow-up with these families and just kinda befriend them, reach out and have a relationship with the families in our community. So the items that you donate to the Christmas Love Gifts, maybe you say I just brought a couple of bottles of shampoo. That's awesome. I mean, that is great. We have to buy bags for this project and and the cheapest I can find them is a dollar each.
39:27
We do between five and six hundred gifts if at all possible. Our donations have been a little down. So, there's another dorm that we no longer do and there's a head start program we no longer can help them. But we know that through your giving, it's not just with your head that you do it but you do it with your heart. And I know that as you pray over these items that you send out for us to share with our Navajo friends and neighbors, that it will be blessed and you are blessed.
39:54
And so in saying that, I want to invite you also at the end of the service, if you stop by our table, I've got information there about the love gifts, work projects, about the mission, things about our school. There's and we've got we brought a few items from our craft shop and a few t shirts. We'd love to visit with you. The money that comes in if you buy anything does not go to us. This goes back to the mission.
40:19
10% of this will be divided among the school and there's an overcomers program rehab that meets on our campus. We share with them also. So, I'd like to talk to you and hopefully we'll see you later. Thank you.
40:38
One quick It took us quite a while. We didn't get out the bucket in time. If you haven't had a time to get any. Okay. Yeah.
40:52
Here we go. If you can get your love gifts back to us by tomorrow night, that would be great. And then we'll Diane and Duane will be able to take it
41:05
back down to the reservation. Please, if you get a chance, stop by there and pick up one of the newsletters. It's got a lot of the information. We are restructuring a lot of things in the area of what we're doing. Diane mentioned the school, Nizhoni Academy, and we have been getting children who, for some reason or another, not all of them, but some of them, put on the special ed classes.
41:34
And people had just kind of given up on them. When we got them, we worked with them, got them up in grades, and they've all graduated. And every one of our graduates has gone on to college. That is just remarkable to us. I mean, we're a very small group, but nonetheless.
41:51
So we're making an impact on these young lives. Now, one of the things we've recognized is that they leave the school and then they get out into general population, into the real world, I guess you might say. And we don't see a whole lot of them. We get to see them sometimes here and there. But one of the unfortunate things is, all too often, we get to see them next in the overcomers program.
42:16
And that's a program that deals with addictions, men who have gotten caught up in alcohol and drugs. So we have wanted to reach them at the point when they leave the school and keep them before they wind up being in the overcomers program. So we're working on becoming an educational institution that touches the whole family. And we're really excited about seeing these changes come to pass. And I explained it a little bit more in the newsletter, so please pick that up and go with it there.
42:51
I want to share something with you pretty quickly. I've got till what? Eleven? Okay. I've gotta really hurry.
42:59
So, I'm going to talk fast so you guys listen real fast. A few years ago, my bishop came to me and he said, we're going to have the general, the Midwest Conference at the Mission. I said, that that's great. And I'm and so I'm telling Diane what else is going on. I said, Diane, I said, Bishop Perry has called me and he wants us to have the general conference at our Midwest conference at our mission.
43:24
And he's going to do it on the theme of BIC. We are BIC, Brethren in Christ, little small denomination, but we reach out to all different denominations in that sense. And he says, we're gonna do it on the theme of BIC. He said, the B is gonna stand for bickers. They call us bickers, BICers.
43:43
And he said the B is gonna be that bickers are biblical, and he said the I is for incarnational and the C is for countercultural and he said to you, he said to me, he said, you and Diane have been involved in being in incarnational ministry and I'm telling Diane this and and I said, bishop Perry wants me to do the part about incarnational ministry and so Diane says, well, that's great. What does that mean? I said, I don't know. I said, the biggest word I, biggest word I know is mayonnaise. So, anyway, as we begin to put this together, it was a very interesting study about incarnational ministry and and you know how sometimes we have this, we we know something but we don't really know it until somebody tells us we know it.
44:29
I hope you understand what I'm saying. We we know it down in our hearts and then all of a sudden, somebody says something about it and oh, I know that. I understand that and this is what it really kinda came down to me. If we talk about incarnational ministry, I'm pretty sure everybody here knows exactly what I'm talking about, right? So one day, it it's kinda like this.
44:49
All of us that are on the front lines of ministry. It it's possible, I believe. Now, I've I've seen it throughout ministry times. It's possible that those of us who own frontline ministry and been blessed to be in that apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, others who have been called into the front lines of ministry may at some time in their ministry hear the voice of God speaking to them and saying something like this, get out of the box. You ever heard that?
45:21
I'm pretty sure you guys here at First Baptist Jackson have heard that because I'm really I I just love coming here. We don't get to come here four every once every four years and that's kinda but every time I come here, we're encouraged by what we see. Boy, I can get off on so many things. We went down and I was down at the prayer meeting down there and to hear people praying about the missionaries, mission minded people, people who are praying for those who go out. That that was just so encouraging to hear that but God is saying to us quite often, leave your comfort zone zone.
45:56
I want to do something new. We we we kinda like our comfort zones, don't we? Isaiah forty three nineteen says this, I'm going to do something new. It's already happening. Don't you recognize it?
46:10
I will clear away in the wilderness and I will make rivers in the desert. That became a really big verse to me when Diana moved out into the wilderness and into the desert. It it has a lot of meaning to it. I wish I could spend more time on that but I don't have time for that but you can be certain that if God decides to do a new thing, he's going to speak to someone who is listening. It's on this side.
46:38
Try to keep it from popping here. Okay. So that doesn't bend so much. Good luck. That was fun.
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Where was I? Oh, yeah. You can be certain that if God is is going to do a new thing that he's going to speak to somebody who is listening. Isn't it sometimes a little discouraging that God may speak to us and we're not listening. Does that ever happen?
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No, it doesn't happen to to most of us here but I find that all too often, God does sometimes speak to people and they're not listening. They're too busy with this or that or or that other thing. I woke up this morning. Now, having moved out into the desert among native people, I have had to change some of my ways to say the least. And one of the things is I'm very time oriented.
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I want to be on time for everything, or at least I did. Now I've been out there seventeen, eighteen years, I've kind of grown into that. And so now when I come to a place where we've gotta be there at 08:15, I'm kinda feeling like, oh boy, I become a slave to time again. I'm gonna make a message on that because that just came to me this morning. How we become a slave to time.
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We can become a slave. Anyway, that that's that's a whole different thing but if God is going to do a new thing, he's going to speak to somebody who's listening and he's going to say to them, it's time for you to get out of out of the box. Now, we like our boxes, don't we? Our boxes are warm. Our boxes are cozy.
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Our boxes are safe. Our we we we just really feel comfortable there. Those boxes are familiar. What do you mean get out of the box? None of us really wanna get out of the box because it brings us out of that place where we've been so comfortable into a place where we kind of wind up being somewhat uncomfortable.
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Now, was a point in time when God the Father said to Jesus the Son, do you remember the plan that we made from the very beginning? And I can kind of envision this this scenario going on in in heaven, which this lady was talking about just a few minutes ago, which always interests me. The glories of heaven where Jesus was. I I can't imagine. He talked about streets of gold and gates of pearl.
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And I really think that God just had to use things that we were familiar with because he really can't express the magnificence of it. We just have to understand it in the worldly terms we have right now but when we get there, we're going to be so surprised. I I don't know exactly what's going to happen but the time came that God the father turned to Jesus the son. He said, you remember the plan that we made back in the beginning. You know the plan I'm talking about.
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And he turns to Jesus and he says, it's time. It's time to leave your safe, comfortable zone. It's time to get out of the box. That's kind of what I see this scenario going going on. So, now, we come to that incarnational part I was talking about in John chapter one.
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In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. Him, the word and without him, the word was not anything made that was made and verse skip down to verse 14 and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. Let me read you that from another version.
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The It's called God's Word Version, which I become rather fond of out there. When we came out there, I pretty much King James. That's what I grew up on. I enjoyed reading that. When I study, I study that.
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But I got out there among the people whose first language was not English, and it certainly wasn't Elizabethan English. And so when you started putting those kind of things in there, they just kind of blinked at you and looked at you and didn't understand what you were saying. So, began to look at a lot of different versions. So, I I use a lot of different things. In in in this one, it's it says, in the beginning, the word already existed.
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The word was with God and the word was God. He, the word, was already with God in the beginning. Everything came to existence through him, the word. Not one thing that exist was made without him, the word and then he says this, in verse 14, the word became human and lived among us. That is incarnational.
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I think we all understand that. We saw his glory. It was the glory of the father that the father shares with his only son, a glory full of kindness and truth. The word became human and lived among us. We know him as Jesus, don't we?
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We are familiar with that. We see in verse 14 that Jesus, the word, left his comfort zone or his culture. I want you I want you to kinda get this mental image because missionaries go to another culture. They leave their culture and go to another culture. Jesus left his culture and like I said, we can't even imagine the magnificence of heaven or the reality of heaven.
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We just have this streets of gold, gates of pearl, which is something we can kinda understand is beyond our understanding. But he came to this Earth to reveal himself as creator of all creation and creator of mankind. He he also came, we know this, to reveal the father to us, didn't he? Now, I'm emphasizing this word word because until Jesus came, we only had the word in written form or in spoken form. When Jesus came, he brought us the word in human form and that's almost beyond our understanding.
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It it probably, it's something like some supernatural act beyond our comprehension that the word, the creator, God himself would take on the form of a man and enter his this sin stained environment to commune with his creation. The word became human and lived among us. Why? To bring us the good news. Let me share you some things about the good news that I think probably we may have missed.
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Now, we all know what the good news is. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the portions of the good news that we've taken to the Native American people was this. It's found in first Corinthians 11, and it begins in verse 13. Judge your own situation.
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Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Doesn't nature itself teach you that it's disgraceful for a man to have long hair? Doesn't it teach you that it's a woman's pride to wear her hair long? Her hair is given to her in place of a covering. Now, that really was a portion of our message to the native people, wasn't it?
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You've got to change your clothes. You can't wear those clothes. You can't beat those drums. You can't wave those feathers around. You can't burn that sage.
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Your hair off. Quit speaking your language. That kind of thing. It was more of a don't do this, don't do that sort of thing, wasn't it? And that's an unfortunate thing.
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There was a lot of good there. Don't misunderstand me. I'm focusing in kind of on the negative because we've only won 3% to 5% of the Native American people in North America. And that's not a very good percentage, is it? It's not a good percentage at all, not with the message we have.
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And so we know that there really wrong with the message. There's even nothing wrong with this if we take it in its fullest context. And unfortunately, we didn't do that. Doesn't even nature itself teach you that it's a shame for a man to have long hair? I see a few around here who have long hair.
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Don't you know it's a shame? It's disgraceful. It's something like that but Paul goes on to say to the Corinthians in verse 16, if anyone wants to argue about this, they can't because we don't have any custom like this nor do any of the churches of God but yet, we made it a custom, didn't we? We made it a part of our religion and we became religious people. I'm kinda can be kinda hard on religion sometime.
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Has this, though, or something similar been our message? You can't do this. You have to do that sort of thing. So what was Jesus's message when he came? Did he come and did he say, I've come from a land far far away.
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I've come from a land where we dress in white robes and we stand around God's throne and we sing holy, holy, holy throughout eternity. Our musical instruments are harps and our language is holy. Our songs are psalms. While that's a fairly true statement, that wasn't his message, was it? No.
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Unfortunately, that was our message. Where we come from, we dress like this, not like this, because I've changed a little bit. But nonetheless, that was kind of our message. We sing these songs. We use these musical instruments and we speak this language and if you want to be a Christian, then you have to become like us and unfortunately, I'd say we did that just a little too much.
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No, if Jesus had focused on the outward appearance of man, okay, you're you're to you're going to I really like both hands something. If Jesus had spoken or focused on the outward appearance of man, his hair or lack of it, his dress, or his language, his music, or his musical instruments, or his skin color, it would have taken away from the power of his message, wouldn't it? Listen, instead he came from his sin free culture to our sin stained culture and even took on all of the cultural aspects of that culture. He spoke their language. He wore their clothes.
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He sang their songs. He enjoyed their musical instruments which by the way at one time or another in their history was used to either worship God or worship Baal. So, he took on all of that portion of their their culture. So, so did I miss something here? Didn't he come to impose his culture on the Jewish people?
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Technology is wonderful until it goes blink. Didn't he come to impose his culture on the Jewish people or on all of mankind? Didn't he say, here's how we do it? No. Here's his message in John chapter 14 and I'm about to hurry.
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Thomas said to him, lord, we don't know where you're going. So, how can we know the way? Jesus answered him, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father through me. I lost it again.
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I'm sorry? Except
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through me.
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Except through me. I know it. My, I went bleak again. Lord, we don't know. So, how can we know the way?
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Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the father except through me. If you have known me, you will also know my father from now and you know him through me and have seen him in me. Simply stated, Jesus revealed the way through his incarnation and that's what we're talking about this incarnational ministry. Philip said to Jesus, show us the father and that will satisfy us.
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This is so interesting. I can see Jesus in this. You know the many walked with for a a short period of time. 12 men who hit they must have got on his nerves sometimes. And so here he is saying to Philip is saying to Jesus, Lord, show us the father that will satisfy us.
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I can almost see Jesus's eyes rolling back in his hands. Have I been with you this long and you haven't seen the father? And he says, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. We're incarnational here. The person who has seen me, he has seen the father.
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So, how can you say show us the father? Don't you believe that I am in the father and the father is in me? What I'm telling you doesn't come from me. The father who lives in me does what he wants. Believe me when I say that I am in the father and the father is in me.
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Otherwise, believe me because of the thing and things that I do. Jesus's message was incarnational. I see him as the living word revealing or as the living word revealing the written word which prompts me to ask myself, is my message incarnational? I think we have to ask ourselves if we're going to out there or is my message impositional? Do we have this tendency to impose our religious standards upon others?
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Now, look this word up. We all know what impose mean but just for clarification, impose means to force something unwelcome or unfamiliar to be accepted or put into place or to take advantage of someone by demanding their attention or commitment. Let's go just a little bit further with this and we'll be closing in in Colossians two twenty. If you have died with Christ to the world's way of doing things, why do you let other people tell you how to live? It's as though you were still under the world's influence.
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People will tell you, don't handle this. Don't taste or touch that. All of these things deal with objects that are only used up anyway. These things look like wisdom with their self imposed worship, false humility, and harsh treatment of the body but they have no value for holding back the constant desires of your corrupt nature. Folks, the only thing that can hold back the constant desires of our corrupt nature is to allow the incarnate word of God to have control of our lives.
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So, after all is said and done and someone asked me to show them the father, can I say without hesitation, if you've seen me, you've seen the father? You know, if we can do that, then indeed our message really is incarnational. Amen? Father, we're grateful today for your word. We thank you father for the time that you've given us.
1:00:49
Thank you father. I ask father that you seal your word up within our hearts that it may produce in each one of us. What you desire it to produce. Father, I speak a blessing over each one here. I thank you father for the encouragement, the support that First Baptist Jackson has given to Navajo Mission.
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Thank you so very much and we speak a blessing over that in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You, Dwayne. Thank you.
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Appreciate it. So,
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I'm going to invite the frontline team to come back forward and y'all can remain seated for right now, okay? But when the plates pass by you, you can go ahead and stand up. This song maybe somewhat new to you. We're going to sing No Longer Slaves to Time. No, I'm just kidding.
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No Longer Slaves to Fear. We started about five minutes late. So, you're fine. Don't worry about it at all but no longer a slave to fear is the name of the song and when the plates pass by, if you wanna stand and join us, then we'll do a benediction right after that. So, God, would you bless Dwayne and Diane and their mission and would you indigenous this mission?
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Lord, would you burn it within the hearts of those that they have served and let them take the reins and begin not just to their people but to the other people around them, lord. Out there in the desert, lord, you know what it's like. The incarnational ministry is real. You know what it's like to wander a desert and be in the wilderness. So, lord, I ask you to bless them and encourage them in Jesus name, lord, would you bless these offerings?
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Amen.
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I'm no longer safe to fear. I am a child of God. And
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you split the sea.
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And you split the sea so I could walk right through it. And my fears are drowning perfect love. And you rescued me so I could stand and sing. I am a child of goddess and you split. And you split the sea so I could walk right through it.
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And my fears are drowned in perfect love. And you rescued me so I could stand and sing. I am a child of God. I am a child of God. I am a child of God.
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You go and be some practice the mystery of the incarnation. Would you live out Jesus's life? In Jesus name and for his glory. Amen. Amen.
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