WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.780 Thank you, Julian. Good to see you all. It's a joy to be able to be here. 00:00:05.780 --> 00:00:10.040 As you know, before I jump into the word, we are in the middle of Adoption Month. 00:00:10.419 --> 00:00:16.320 We're trying to raise awareness of what it means for the church to care for the widows and the orphans. 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:22.280 And today I have a great, great pleasure to be able to invite a friend up to come to have a conversation with me. 00:00:22.660 --> 00:00:27.820 It's just a special time for us. Actually, just to plug again, Julian, today is Sunday the 15th of November. 00:00:27.820 --> 00:00:32.980 And that means the showing is today after service. So feel free to hear. 00:00:32.980 --> 00:00:38.120 So grab your lunch and then come back up 1.30 and we'll start watching the movie together. 00:00:38.539 --> 00:00:45.260 And I don't know if you guys noticed, but we had our dear, dear beloved family, the Rauders, here with their beautiful addition as well. 00:00:45.379 --> 00:00:48.000 And so just please go and say hi to them. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:55.539 We're just trying to continue just to pray and seek God and go, what is it that he wants us to do to care for the families and care for the children in this city? 00:00:55.539 --> 00:01:05.060 On that note, I'm going to invite a friend up, a dear friend, Sky, who's going to come up with her son, Evan, who is going to come and join us. 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:06.840 And I'm going to interview Evan, is what I'm going to do. 00:01:08.340 --> 00:01:09.920 Oh, he wants pancakes. 00:01:10.439 --> 00:01:14.840 So you've got to come to the surfing thing on the Saturday morning. 00:01:14.960 --> 00:01:19.719 For the record, I did not put my hand up to learn how to surf, but I will be there. 00:01:20.019 --> 00:01:21.739 And it's not going to be good. It's going to be pretty ugly. 00:01:21.739 --> 00:01:27.419 Can we get another mic for Sky? Is that okay? Just that green one there. 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:31.699 There's so many ways that I can introduce you. 00:01:31.919 --> 00:01:36.799 The person who formerly led Kelly's support group or the one who's leading Mother's Choice right now. 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:42.000 But really, just friend is probably the most important one. 00:01:42.039 --> 00:01:48.259 In fact, we actually have a WhatsApp group just called Friends, just so we can remind ourselves that we are friends. 00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:52.000 It is true. We kind of have to do that once in a while. 00:01:52.260 --> 00:01:56.380 Once in a while. But welcome. I'm so glad that you're here. 00:01:56.620 --> 00:01:58.980 Thank you so much. And thanks for having Evan as well. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:01:59.540 Hey, Evan. 00:01:59.719 --> 00:02:00.340 Do you want to say hi? 00:02:01.340 --> 00:02:01.660 Hi. 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:03.680 There we go. 00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:09.120 I know you've been a dear, dear friend to Christina, my wife as well. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:13.099 So tell us while you're here. Tell us a little bit about you. 00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:22.599 Well, first of all, I'm a proud mama of two very, very active boys, Evan and also Elliot, who's somewhere hiding. 00:02:23.819 --> 00:02:27.219 And proud wife of my husband, Derek, who's also here. 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:29.219 He's going to be very embarrassed that I just called him out. 00:02:29.219 --> 00:02:36.000 And also someone who is extremely lucky to call Hong Kong home. 00:02:37.139 --> 00:02:42.479 I would say that I always describe myself that I look Chinese. 00:02:43.340 --> 00:02:47.099 I sound Western, but I actually have the heart of an African. 00:02:47.099 --> 00:02:55.900 Because when I was really young, my parents and I left Hong Kong and went to Ghana and West Africa as missionaries. 00:02:56.099 --> 00:02:57.319 And that's where I grew up. 00:02:57.459 --> 00:02:59.859 So I always have a little bit of an identity crisis. 00:03:00.039 --> 00:03:04.299 I've had to work through that through my teens and my 20s. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:12.280 But someone who really has seen a lot of grace in her life and just really watching my parents' ministry in Africa. 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:18.420 But also seeing my own journey with God as I've come back to Hong Kong. 00:03:18.640 --> 00:03:27.740 And now having the privilege of finally being 100% true to my heart by saying that I think that I'm very lucky that Hong Kong is my home. 00:03:28.759 --> 00:03:32.379 Just to hear that that's, I mean, you do a whole ton of things and we're going to go into that. 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:37.979 But just to hear that the heart that drives all of that is just this place of grace and just gratitude. 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:41.139 Everything that you've had up until this point, right? 00:03:41.139 --> 00:03:43.500 So tell us a little bit about what you do right now. 00:03:44.379 --> 00:03:54.739 So today I am part of a very large team of people in Hong Kong who really fight for the protection of children. 00:03:55.539 --> 00:04:05.919 Really wanting to see not just orphans in our city, but children who unfortunately temporarily may not be able to be with their family. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:22.899 And our living in welfare and really doing our very best, whether it's through fostering, whether it's through adoption, whether it's through raising awareness, whether it's through even taking care of girls at the very beginning of a crisis pregnancy. 00:04:22.899 --> 00:04:30.899 And really being able to really stand in the gap for them and help them to make the best decisions for themselves. 00:04:31.139 --> 00:04:39.419 And for the children who sometimes don't have a voice to be able to help them to find the thing that they need the most, which is a loving permanent family. 00:04:39.420 --> 00:04:41.660 Have you always had that burden? 00:04:42.180 --> 00:04:45.759 Or has that been something that has been recently brewing? 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:48.240 Funnily, you'd say that. 00:04:48.340 --> 00:04:56.780 But when I first met or encountered Mother's Choice, I actually have been working in the NGO sector for about 20 plus years. 00:04:56.779 --> 00:05:07.579 In fact, when I first moved back to Hong Kong, I said I wanted to be in the NGO sector and everybody said, oh, I think you should go into the corporate world, make some money, do some savings, get some contacts. 00:05:08.039 --> 00:05:16.899 But I felt very strongly that the minute I stepped foot here in the city, that God was calling me for working for his good for the community. 00:05:17.119 --> 00:05:18.159 So I never did that. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:20.119 And I just went straight into the NGO world. 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:28.120 So the whole time that I've been working in NGO world, actually, I've never really connected with Mother's Choice because I lived as a young person surfing. 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:30.459 Yes, I have also tried that. 00:05:31.980 --> 00:05:36.480 Hanging out in lots of different places, mostly working with young people, actually. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:50.200 And it wasn't actually until I became a mom that the concept of children and, you know, that draw of maybe it's a, you know, a maternal instinct that really kicks in. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:53.080 But my heart has always been with the next generation. 00:05:54.040 --> 00:06:02.280 And I think whether you are a child or you're a teenager or you're a young adult, that is next generation definition for me. 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:14.359 And I think that that's actually been what's been brewing in my heart, where God's been shifting, whether it's been my career, whether it's been ministry, has always been working with the next generation. 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:18.739 And really seeing our next generation thrive. 00:06:19.619 --> 00:06:22.259 And, you know, we got to know you, I mean, six, seven years ago now. 00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:25.059 And a lot has happened in this city. 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:30.899 A lot has been exposed, especially with the fractures that happen in society between generations. 00:06:30.899 --> 00:06:37.979 We seem to fall prey to outsource our discipling of the next generation to external sources. 00:06:38.139 --> 00:06:39.359 And you see all these problems coming. 00:06:39.919 --> 00:06:42.179 And we're just so busy with everything else that we're doing. 00:06:42.459 --> 00:06:46.479 With what you're doing right now, and we don't need the whole profile of what MC does, 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:54.219 but what is it that you hope that we here as the church would know about when it comes to going out and reaching the next generation and creating safe families for kids? 00:06:54.220 --> 00:07:00.840 I really think that God speaks to all of us in our very, very personal circumstance. 00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:10.419 And when we have our ears open and our spiritual eyes open to see when he does plant that into your life, 00:07:10.419 --> 00:07:12.839 I think that that's when the magic happens. 00:07:13.599 --> 00:07:18.179 For me, I told you a little bit, and I do want to share this if that's okay. 00:07:18.599 --> 00:07:19.459 I don't know if we have time. 00:07:19.459 --> 00:07:23.620 So the night that Evan was born, I was at Queen Mary Hospital. 00:07:24.659 --> 00:07:29.719 And if you've ever had a baby in a public hospital, it's a little bit chaotic. 00:07:30.159 --> 00:07:31.259 There's zero privacy. 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:34.899 And you're right next to somebody else who's going into labor. 00:07:35.979 --> 00:07:39.259 And we're also right next to the person who's just given birth as well. 00:07:39.919 --> 00:07:43.740 And right across the bed from me was a young lady. 00:07:44.159 --> 00:07:45.859 I think she must have been in her teens. 00:07:45.860 --> 00:07:48.020 She was South Asian of descent. 00:07:48.460 --> 00:07:57.300 And she went into a four-hour conversation with a social worker after we gave birth, shortly after we gave birth. 00:07:57.340 --> 00:08:00.240 So you can imagine all the hormones and everything that was going on. 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:05.560 And in that moment, I felt like, oh, how can I help? 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:06.740 Can I be a translator? 00:08:07.379 --> 00:08:08.439 Can I give her some tissues? 00:08:08.939 --> 00:08:13.480 Can I intervene in some way to just really assist the very painful conversation? 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:20.020 But essentially, in a nutshell, she had had drugs in her system during her pregnancy. 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:25.259 So the social worker was essentially telling her that her baby needed to be removed from her immediately 00:08:25.259 --> 00:08:30.720 while there was a review of her suitability to be a parent and whether or not she could take her baby home. 00:08:31.500 --> 00:08:37.820 And so she was being informed that the baby was going to be placed in a center, a residential care place nearby, 00:08:38.580 --> 00:08:41.899 and that she would have to just wait. 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:46.500 So for me, I ended up just actually sitting there and praying. 00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:49.439 This is while you were in labor yourself? 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:50.600 Right after labor. 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:50.959 Oh, okay. 00:08:53.079 --> 00:08:54.579 It's kind of a blur, James. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:59.039 But at that moment, actually, all I did was pray. 00:08:59.340 --> 00:09:00.840 And there were two prayers that I had. 00:09:01.199 --> 00:09:07.539 The first one was I really prayed that wherever that baby went, that that baby would be really taken care of. 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:13.579 And the second prayer that I had was, you know, God, I said, God, you know, I'm not really great with babies. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:14.339 I just had one. 00:09:14.419 --> 00:09:15.399 Now I'm having a second one. 00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:22.679 But, you know, if God ever you placed me in an opportunity where I would take care of girls like this one 00:09:22.679 --> 00:09:30.480 and help reassure her that her child be okay or help her in her journey or take care of, you know, children like her baby, 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:32.120 I said I would do it, God. 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:37.799 And honestly, a month later, I was having a conversation with Mother's Choice to being their next CEO. 00:09:38.919 --> 00:09:45.679 And I think that, you know, God has a really strange way of doing things in your personal life. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:49.019 It's whether or not you hear it, whether or not you see it. 00:09:49.019 --> 00:09:56.779 And so for me, I think what I would like to say to the church is that, you know, I think we're surrounded with so many things that are busy. 00:09:57.240 --> 00:10:00.360 We have lots of things on our social agendas or work agendas. 00:10:00.759 --> 00:10:05.519 But what we don't realize is that the fundamentals of our society is actually family. 00:10:06.659 --> 00:10:10.659 And the most vulnerable of our families is actually our children. 00:10:10.659 --> 00:10:15.079 And when our families are not strong, our children are not going to be strong. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:17.559 And our next generation is not going to thrive. 00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:24.959 So what can we as a church do to step into that gap and be there for the most vulnerable? 00:10:25.859 --> 00:10:27.679 And, you know, we talk a lot about adoption. 00:10:27.939 --> 00:10:29.099 We talk about foster care. 00:10:29.179 --> 00:10:31.719 And I think there's a lot that we don't really understand either. 00:10:32.299 --> 00:10:35.919 I think the best thing is just to learn a little bit more about it, you know. 00:10:36.579 --> 00:10:36.979 Yeah. 00:10:37.639 --> 00:10:38.439 Thank you for sharing. 00:10:38.439 --> 00:10:41.359 I'm going to ask you one more question because I think Evan is very keen to hear me preach. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:51.700 I think there's people in this room who, even as you're hearing us talk, you're kind of like, oh, gosh, again, this topic again. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:54.580 Why do you keep bringing this up again? 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:58.900 But the truth is not everyone's going to be asked to be the CEO of Mother's Choice. 00:10:59.580 --> 00:11:03.240 Not everyone's going to have the ability to be able to adopt or foster. 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:09.519 So the next step, I need to hear a practical step that someone here is kind of like, okay, all right, this is my side. 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:10.279 God, this is from you. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:11.460 What do I do? 00:11:11.659 --> 00:11:12.899 Or do I just give them your number? 00:11:13.159 --> 00:11:13.620 Is that the way? 00:11:14.759 --> 00:11:17.100 Well, first of all, I have a lot of materials here. 00:11:17.139 --> 00:11:18.139 So just in case. 00:11:18.139 --> 00:11:22.899 And, you know, thanks, James, for having the screenie here and Christina as well. 00:11:23.059 --> 00:11:30.759 I think that that's actually a very practical step is actually get to know and to understand what is it that our children need? 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:31.699 How can we help? 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:35.059 What does it actually mean to adopt and to foster? 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:43.399 There was we have this FAQ that we have that we have developed because so many people ask lots of questions. 00:11:43.399 --> 00:11:52.419 And one of the questions that come in a lot, which I'd like to share with you, is the question is, if I can't adopt, if I can't foster, can I even be involved? 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:54.939 And the question is 100% yes. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:58.019 You know, because adoption is closer than you might think. 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:02.720 There might be a family in the room, a family member that is around you. 00:12:02.840 --> 00:12:04.480 And, you know, having kids is very difficult. 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:07.199 Like, I have one right now hanging off of my arm. 00:12:07.659 --> 00:12:09.639 You know, really, you know, we say this a lot. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:11.179 And I know you've heard this all the time. 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:12.259 It's not really a cliche. 00:12:12.259 --> 00:12:15.399 It really does take a village to raise a child, you know. 00:12:15.460 --> 00:12:24.740 And even being a part of somebody's life where they've made that choice and made that option, even if it means spending time with their kids, giving them a break. 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:28.799 And some of you in the room have done that for me and Derek, so thank you so much. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:31.600 Or even if it is just being there to pray. 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:41.319 You know, we cannot underestimate the power of prayer, you know, for our next generation, particularly those who live hidden that none of us can see in our daily lives. 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:43.120 And I think that that's something we can definitely do. 00:12:44.040 --> 00:12:44.360 Okay. 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:47.300 Actually, I've got a mentor of mine here, Steve Gordney. 00:12:47.520 --> 00:12:55.460 And you remind me of a quote that he shared with me last week, which is, everyone wants to have a village, but not everyone wants to be a villager. 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:56.340 Is that right? 00:12:56.780 --> 00:12:57.100 Right. 00:12:57.100 --> 00:13:01.540 So we all want the village to look after us and look after people so we can be known. 00:13:01.920 --> 00:13:06.220 But actually, a lot of us refuse to be villagers and to roll up our sleeves and actually get going. 00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:07.759 So just really grateful for you. 00:13:07.820 --> 00:13:17.620 I'm going to say a very short prayer of very few words, but I pray that you'll hear the depth of the, just the hunger to actually get involved together about this. 00:13:17.620 --> 00:13:19.940 So, can we stretch out our hands and pray for Sky? 00:13:21.379 --> 00:13:22.080 Thank you, God. 00:13:23.799 --> 00:13:25.039 You came to adopt us. 00:13:27.580 --> 00:13:30.560 You came to care for us when we were helpless and vulnerable. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:35.539 And so we ask that you would help us do the same to those around us. 00:13:36.259 --> 00:13:36.919 Empower Sky. 00:13:38.119 --> 00:13:43.779 Just with your, continued with your compassion, your joy to be able to serve you. 00:13:44.019 --> 00:13:45.399 Keep our eyes focused on you. 00:13:45.839 --> 00:13:48.379 Thank you for the blessing of Derek and the boys. 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:52.179 Pray that they'll continue just to grow in stature, in wisdom, in favor. 00:13:53.319 --> 00:13:54.139 And to grow in you. 00:13:54.259 --> 00:13:54.639 Thank you, Lord. 00:13:54.699 --> 00:13:55.319 In your name we pray. 00:13:55.779 --> 00:13:56.019 Amen. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:56.679 Amen. 00:13:57.299 --> 00:13:57.719 What do you think? 00:13:57.759 --> 00:13:58.899 Do you think you can still do the scripture reading? 00:13:59.179 --> 00:13:59.379 Yeah. 00:13:59.379 --> 00:13:59.439 Yeah. 00:13:59.439 --> 00:13:59.599 Why not? 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:00.159 All right. 00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:02.800 So we're going to jump into the sermon now. 00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:03.740 Is that okay, Evan? 00:14:03.920 --> 00:14:04.100 Yeah. 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:06.399 Mommy's going to read something from the Bible. 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:06.860 Okay. 00:14:07.580 --> 00:14:07.740 Yeah. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:08.720 Okay. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:10.320 Okay. 00:14:10.460 --> 00:14:10.820 There we go. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:11.320 He approves. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:14.279 It's not super short, but it's not super long. 00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:16.360 We're going to do Genesis chapter 34. 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:19.019 As is our tradition, can I invite you to stand for the word of God? 00:14:20.300 --> 00:14:22.759 God, we come to you now and we listen to your word. 00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:24.720 Fill us with reverence and awe. 00:14:25.100 --> 00:14:27.279 We hang on every single word that you say. 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:28.759 Would you minister to us now? 00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:29.620 Thank you. 00:14:29.620 --> 00:14:29.639 Thank you. 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:35.899 This is the word from Genesis 34. 00:14:35.899 --> 00:14:43.639 Now, Dina, the daughter of Leah, whom she had born to Jacob, went out to see the women 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:44.340 of the land. 00:14:44.340 --> 00:14:51.139 And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivitite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her 00:14:51.139 --> 00:14:53.039 and lay with her and humiliated her. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:56.399 And his soul was drawn to Dina, the daughter of Jacob. 00:14:56.779 --> 00:15:00.179 He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 00:15:00.179 --> 00:15:05.959 So Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, get me this girl for my wife. 00:15:06.759 --> 00:15:12.620 Now, Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter, Dina, but his sons were with his livestock in 00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:13.059 the field. 00:15:13.459 --> 00:15:15.859 So Jacob held his peace until they came. 00:15:16.219 --> 00:15:19.919 And Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to Jacob to speak with him. 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:23.799 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it. 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:30.219 And the men were indignant and very angry because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by 00:15:30.219 --> 00:15:34.019 lying with Jacob's daughter for such a thing must not be done. 00:15:34.019 --> 00:15:39.500 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, the soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. 00:15:39.659 --> 00:15:41.980 Please give her to him to be his wife. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:43.620 Make marriages with us. 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:46.439 Give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. 00:15:46.919 --> 00:15:50.639 You shall dwell with us and the land shall be open to you. 00:15:51.340 --> 00:15:53.759 Dwell and trade in it and get property in it. 00:15:54.100 --> 00:15:58.259 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, let me find favor in your eyes. 00:15:58.500 --> 00:16:00.679 And whatever you say to me, I will give. 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:04.779 Ask me for a great bride price and gift as you will. 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:07.159 And I will give you whatever you say to me. 00:16:07.559 --> 00:16:10.239 Only give me the young woman to be my wife. 00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:14.939 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully. 00:16:15.399 --> 00:16:18.139 Because he had defiled their sister Dina. 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:23.959 They said to him, we cannot do this thing to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised. 00:16:24.059 --> 00:16:25.599 For that would be a disgrace to us. 00:16:26.099 --> 00:16:29.359 So only on this condition will we agree with you. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:34.639 That you will become as we are by every male among you to be circumcised. 00:16:35.100 --> 00:16:37.019 Then we will give our daughters to you. 00:16:37.080 --> 00:16:38.860 And we will take your daughters to ourselves. 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:41.240 And we will dwell with you and become one people. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:44.500 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised. 00:16:44.620 --> 00:16:47.220 Then we will take our daughter and we will be gone. 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:51.039 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. 00:16:51.300 --> 00:16:53.340 And the young man did not delay to do the thing. 00:16:53.399 --> 00:16:55.940 Because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. 00:16:55.940 --> 00:17:00.000 And now he was the most honoured of all of his father's house. 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:03.680 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gates of the city. 00:17:03.820 --> 00:17:05.580 And spoke to the men of their city saying, 00:17:06.100 --> 00:17:07.799 These men are at peace with us. 00:17:07.860 --> 00:17:09.700 Let them dwell in the land and trade in it. 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:12.940 For behold, the land is large enough for them. 00:17:13.259 --> 00:17:15.080 Let us take their daughters as wives. 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:16.700 Let us give them our daughters. 00:17:16.700 --> 00:17:22.000 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to be one people. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:26.019 When every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 00:17:26.539 --> 00:17:30.080 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? 00:17:30.200 --> 00:17:33.580 Only let us agree with them and they will dwell with us. 00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:39.240 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem. 00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:41.519 And every male was circumcised. 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:44.160 All who went out of the gate of his city. 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:47.340 On the third day, when they were sore, 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:51.400 two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dina's brothers, 00:17:51.660 --> 00:17:57.680 took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:02.660 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with a sword 00:18:02.660 --> 00:18:05.240 and took Dina out of Shechem's house and went away. 00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:10.019 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered city 00:18:10.019 --> 00:18:11.720 because they had defiled this city. 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:14.579 They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:17.140 and whatever was in the city and in the field, 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:20.799 all their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, 00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:23.640 all that was in their houses they captured and plundered. 00:18:24.059 --> 00:18:26.319 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:30.380 you have brought trouble on me by making me stink 00:18:30.380 --> 00:18:34.819 to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 00:18:35.180 --> 00:18:38.779 My numbers are few and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, 00:18:38.779 --> 00:18:41.799 I shall be destroyed, both I and my household. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:45.740 But they said, should he treat our sister like a prostitute? 00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:47.379 And this is the word of Lord. 00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:50.139 Please take a seat. Thank you, Sky. 00:18:50.140 --> 00:18:58.140 Hopefully now that we've read the account that we're just going to be going through, 00:18:58.220 --> 00:19:01.460 you can understand why I decided to have Sky come and do a conversation with us 00:19:01.460 --> 00:19:05.080 so I don't need to preach too long on this chapter, just to keep it short. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:08.600 But also, we've been going through Genesis since April 00:19:08.600 --> 00:19:12.320 and one of the things about going through the Bible just chapter by chapter 00:19:12.320 --> 00:19:14.720 is that actually God sets the agenda. 00:19:14.940 --> 00:19:15.680 God sets the word. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:17.740 Thanks, see you later. 00:19:17.740 --> 00:19:20.059 God sets the agenda and not us. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:23.500 And we're going to just read from this and then ask God, 00:19:23.579 --> 00:19:28.039 what is it that you're saying to us today from Genesis 34? 00:19:28.180 --> 00:19:29.319 This is a dark chapter. 00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:32.819 And if you have a young, young kid here or just someone you'd like, 00:19:32.940 --> 00:19:37.519 just disclaimer, I'll try to remain as, you know, not as graphic at all, 00:19:37.720 --> 00:19:40.000 but we're going to just go through this and we're going to lean in. 00:19:40.299 --> 00:19:41.539 We're going to lean in and we're going to go, 00:19:41.539 --> 00:19:46.160 God, what is there here that you are trying to say to us? 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:50.420 And when you look at things like these, there's two obvious crimes here, right? 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:52.360 Can we see those two crimes? 00:19:52.800 --> 00:19:56.380 One is a young girl, probably the age of a teenager. 00:19:56.540 --> 00:20:00.259 These commentaries say that she's probably between 13 and 15. 00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:02.879 So that's the number one crime. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:06.119 The number two, of course, is the murder that comes. 00:20:06.220 --> 00:20:10.900 What I'm here to suggest to us today is they are the two very obvious heinous crimes. 00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:16.619 But underneath those two crimes are two pretty toxic, hidden problems. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:20.819 We see a society when it does not keep families safe. 00:20:20.900 --> 00:20:22.700 It does not keep children safe. 00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:23.859 You see the consequences. 00:20:24.019 --> 00:20:26.019 You see the pain of what comes. 00:20:26.019 --> 00:20:29.519 And what you see here, you have to ask that question. 00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:31.639 God, where are you? 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:35.139 God, seriously, where are you? 00:20:35.900 --> 00:20:37.839 You look outside into the world. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:44.920 You look outside and you just read SCMP or you just find a really horrifying documentary to watch on Netflix. 00:20:45.379 --> 00:20:46.759 The question will always be the same. 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:48.460 God, where are you? 00:20:48.460 --> 00:20:55.799 My point today is, actually, in this chapter, he's not mentioned at all. 00:20:56.680 --> 00:20:57.640 That's kind of the point. 00:20:58.180 --> 00:21:07.200 When God is left out, when humans decide to go their own way, you see society break down almost on every level. 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:12.980 It's sad because the chapter just before, Jacob got a new name, reconciles with his brother. 00:21:12.980 --> 00:21:15.599 And even though he's got a new name, he's sticking to his old ways. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:18.980 So he doesn't have a full reconciliation is what Gabe talked to us about last week. 00:21:20.120 --> 00:21:26.740 But he does say at the very end of chapter 33, there he erected an altar and called it Israel, the God of Jacob. 00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:29.500 He's been talking about this God as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac. 00:21:29.700 --> 00:21:32.140 Finally, for the very first time, he says, this is my God too. 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:33.680 How cool is that? 00:21:34.500 --> 00:21:39.519 Sadly, then, straight after that, chapter 24, God does not show up at all. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:45.579 He shows up in chapter 25 again, but there's this dark chapter that just sits here on its own. 00:21:46.879 --> 00:21:47.799 What's the problem here? 00:21:48.259 --> 00:21:49.720 Let me set the scene for us. 00:21:50.940 --> 00:21:57.619 When Jacob leaves his family in Genesis 28, he goes and he sees the ladder and he sees the angels. 00:21:58.139 --> 00:22:03.420 And then he builds the altar and he says, God, if you would be with me, if you would look after me, I will come back here. 00:22:03.619 --> 00:22:05.519 I'm going to call this place Bethel, which is the house of God. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:08.019 And God, I promise you, I'm going to come back here. 00:22:08.180 --> 00:22:09.400 Okay, that's the scene. 00:22:09.900 --> 00:22:13.579 And so then he goes and then he goes and he gets his wives and he gets his kids. 00:22:13.879 --> 00:22:15.180 And eventually he comes back. 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:18.900 Does he go back to the place that he said he would go back to in Genesis chapter 28? 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:20.799 The answer is no. 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:22.619 He told God, I will come back to Bethel. 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:26.220 And instead of going back to Bethel, he stopped short in a place called Shechem. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:27.700 And he decides, you know what? 00:22:27.879 --> 00:22:33.460 I know I did tell God that I was going to go back to Bethel, but I'm just going to stop right here because Shechem seems like a pretty cool place to live. 00:22:34.059 --> 00:22:36.039 My granddad didn't choose to buy land here. 00:22:37.220 --> 00:22:37.879 But you know what? 00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:41.060 Well, I'm going to buy myself a piece of land because I am rich. 00:22:42.060 --> 00:22:42.840 And so he settles. 00:22:42.839 --> 00:22:45.019 This is the end of chapter 23. 00:22:45.019 --> 00:22:48.980 And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way to Panam and Ram. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:50.659 And he camped before the city. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:56.819 And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. 00:22:56.819 --> 00:23:01.679 From this point, honestly, from every point, the people of God are always trying to figure out one thing. 00:23:01.919 --> 00:23:04.419 How can I live in this world but not be of this world? 00:23:04.420 --> 00:23:13.980 How can I be placed here but not assimilate to the point where, really, I don't really know if there's any difference between God's people and the people of the world? 00:23:14.380 --> 00:23:17.400 And so you see here, he doesn't do what he says. 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:19.100 Come on, Jacob, every time. 00:23:19.099 --> 00:23:29.859 Now, just when he's making progress and he's got a new name and a new identity, just when you think, okay, finally getting it, it pulls back and he just can't quite do it. 00:23:30.299 --> 00:23:32.399 He lies to Esau even though they've now reconciled. 00:23:32.939 --> 00:23:35.500 He tells God that, I'm going to come back to Bethel, but then he stops short. 00:23:36.179 --> 00:23:41.839 And that then sets the scene for the events of chapter 34 and the first crime. 00:23:41.919 --> 00:23:43.039 Let's unpack the first crime. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:49.379 Verse 1, now Dina, the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 00:23:51.539 --> 00:23:53.599 Teenage Dina, 13 to 15. 00:23:53.899 --> 00:23:56.720 Almost made an extra effort here just to say the daughter of Leah. 00:23:57.059 --> 00:23:58.299 So she was not the favored one. 00:23:59.539 --> 00:24:00.960 Her mother was not the favored one. 00:24:01.159 --> 00:24:04.740 So what you see here is maybe a teenage girl who hasn't really had the attention of dad at all. 00:24:05.420 --> 00:24:07.379 They're camped out in a place that they shouldn't really be at. 00:24:08.139 --> 00:24:10.440 And dad doesn't really pay that much attention to her. 00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:15.259 And Dina wanders out into the land to see the women of the land. 00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:18.720 Something about the ancient world that we have to be very, very aware of here, 00:24:18.740 --> 00:24:20.940 because Hong Kong is one of the most safe places that you can be, 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:23.640 and you can let your children roam pretty much anywhere. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:30.360 In the ancient world, an unattended female, whatever age, actually was deemed as fair game. 00:24:31.180 --> 00:24:33.140 That actually any man who would see her could take her. 00:24:33.980 --> 00:24:35.960 That was the context with which this was in. 00:24:36.220 --> 00:24:39.660 There's a few of us, our own Jeremy and Matthew, we've been reading the book of Ruth. 00:24:39.660 --> 00:24:43.820 We hear about this guy called Boaz, who meets this vulnerable young girl. 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:45.620 And what does he say to the men? 00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:46.759 You are not allowed to take her. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:48.460 Why does he have to say that? 00:24:49.060 --> 00:24:50.360 Because that's the custom of the day. 00:24:50.560 --> 00:24:52.600 If you see an unattended girl, you can take her. 00:24:53.259 --> 00:24:55.040 So Boaz says you are not allowed to take her. 00:24:55.080 --> 00:24:59.440 So actually what happens here is you've got Dina, this 13 to 15 year old teenage girl, 00:24:59.940 --> 00:25:03.580 leaving her father's tribe and heading in to see the women of the land, 00:25:03.660 --> 00:25:05.000 heading to see the Canaanite women. 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.359 The Canaanite women that actually Abraham and Isaac and Rebecca, all of them were saying, 00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:10.680 let's not mix with them. 00:25:10.920 --> 00:25:12.579 We do not want our kids to mix with them. 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:14.400 We do not want our kids to intermarry with them. 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:15.819 Stay away from them. 00:25:16.099 --> 00:25:21.240 Now you have Jacob kind of going, well, this is the daughter of the wife that I don't really care about. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:23.160 Let her do as she pleases. 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:26.460 And how that ends up. 00:25:26.460 --> 00:25:31.400 She sees, and verse 2, and when Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, 00:25:31.860 --> 00:25:36.980 he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her, assaults her. 00:25:38.700 --> 00:25:40.900 He saw, he took. 00:25:42.059 --> 00:25:44.420 What language does that remind you of? 00:25:45.860 --> 00:25:47.759 He saw and he took. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:55.259 You can go all the way back to Genesis 3 when she sees the fruit and she takes. 00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:57.759 You can go to Genesis 6 before Noah. 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:01.220 They saw, they took. 00:26:02.059 --> 00:26:08.839 Time and time again you see the same thing happening when someone takes, decides they want, 00:26:09.740 --> 00:26:11.940 and then seizes and consumes. 00:26:13.059 --> 00:26:15.359 This is the fall of Eden all over again. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:17.440 But then it's confusing. 00:26:18.220 --> 00:26:20.140 Because straight after in verse 3 it says this. 00:26:21.160 --> 00:26:23.559 So he sees her, seizes her, lays with her and humiliates her. 00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:27.319 And his soul was drawn to Dina, the daughter of Jacob. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:30.900 He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 00:26:31.960 --> 00:26:35.359 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor saying, get me this girl for my wife. 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:38.279 So he seizes, he takes. 00:26:40.500 --> 00:26:43.279 And then he says, oh, I'm drawn to her. 00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:43.420 I love her. 00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:45.740 I love her. 00:26:46.379 --> 00:26:47.660 And speaks tenderly to her. 00:26:47.720 --> 00:26:50.720 How confusing, how twisted is this story already? 00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:53.079 He does it in the completely wrong order. 00:26:53.180 --> 00:26:53.940 He's drawn to her. 00:26:54.740 --> 00:26:55.480 He loves her. 00:26:55.559 --> 00:26:57.160 And then he speaks tenderly with her. 00:26:57.160 --> 00:27:02.240 When really, what we should do, when we see someone that we might be interested in, we speak tenderly to them first. 00:27:02.279 --> 00:27:02.600 Young men. 00:27:02.840 --> 00:27:05.160 We speak tenderly to the people first. 00:27:05.300 --> 00:27:06.460 And then we get to know them. 00:27:06.580 --> 00:27:07.820 And then we learn to love them. 00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:09.759 And eventually we are drawn to them. 00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:14.140 The order here is completely wrong. 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:16.559 That's the first crime. 00:27:16.859 --> 00:27:17.740 And we know what it is. 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:19.859 It's obvious and it's disgusting and it's twisted. 00:27:20.700 --> 00:27:26.420 But what I'm here to say is beneath that first crime, there is a very big hidden problem. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:31.960 And that problem is that dad Jacob stays completely silent. 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:35.200 Completely silent. 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:41.080 When you have passive or absent leadership, this is what happens. 00:27:41.500 --> 00:27:47.000 When you have people who don't actually care for the weak and the vulnerable, this is what happens. 00:27:47.080 --> 00:27:47.539 What was it? 00:27:47.580 --> 00:27:48.340 Was it favoritism? 00:27:48.440 --> 00:27:49.500 Was it complete disinterest? 00:27:49.840 --> 00:27:56.059 Why would you let your daughter go out on her own unattended, knowing that the land that you were in? 00:27:57.460 --> 00:28:04.799 And we look at that and go, look, by God's grace, hopefully we're not at risk of committing that first crime. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:09.200 But I wonder whether we are at risk of this hidden problem, which is passive leadership. 00:28:10.019 --> 00:28:11.700 Not speaking up for the vulnerable. 00:28:11.859 --> 00:28:13.480 Not protecting the vulnerable. 00:28:13.639 --> 00:28:15.059 And you're like, well, Hong Kong's a safe place. 00:28:15.099 --> 00:28:16.019 I'm not talking about that. 00:28:16.139 --> 00:28:20.200 Actually, Brenda, you and I were talking about the book, The Anxious Generation. 00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:30.539 Jonathan Haidt, the author says, in this current day and age, essentially, even though it looks very different, are we doing the same with our children, with our teenagers? 00:28:30.539 --> 00:28:42.659 Are we giving them a device and saying, hey, go and wander, knowing there's so many dangers on social media. 00:28:42.779 --> 00:28:46.240 There's so many dangers that our children can access on their phones. 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:49.799 The horrors that they can be exposed to at a super young age. 00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:52.319 Are we essentially doing the same thing as Jacob and say, hey, just go? 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:58.119 The passive, neglectful, disinterested leadership. 00:28:59.679 --> 00:29:00.500 Jacob stays silent. 00:29:01.079 --> 00:29:05.980 Now, Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter, Lina, but his sons were with his livestock in the field. 00:29:06.220 --> 00:29:08.059 So Jacob held his peace until they came. 00:29:08.259 --> 00:29:09.079 He stayed silent. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:10.000 He was at home. 00:29:10.639 --> 00:29:13.159 His daughter left, got taken. 00:29:13.700 --> 00:29:14.960 He hears about it somehow. 00:29:15.179 --> 00:29:16.439 And then he stays silent. 00:29:16.440 --> 00:29:19.460 Until his sons come back. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.620 And then Hamel, the father of Shechem, went out to Jacob to speak with him. 00:29:22.680 --> 00:29:24.019 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field. 00:29:24.259 --> 00:29:31.240 As soon as they heard of it, the men were indignant and very angry because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done. 00:29:31.480 --> 00:29:33.279 They knew this was not supposed to happen. 00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:34.420 The sons were angry. 00:29:34.519 --> 00:29:35.059 Who were the sons? 00:29:35.140 --> 00:29:36.000 We later find out. 00:29:36.059 --> 00:29:37.120 They're Simeon and Levi. 00:29:37.380 --> 00:29:39.640 These are the full brothers of Dina. 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:44.980 The same siblings of, of course, of Leah. 00:29:44.980 --> 00:29:46.900 So probably also neglected. 00:29:47.319 --> 00:29:49.079 Probably also victims of favoritism. 00:29:49.500 --> 00:29:54.700 So they're like, dad, our sister has had this terrible thing happen to her and you're staying silent. 00:29:56.339 --> 00:30:00.400 I'm going to peek into the second crime and we see, we know what they're going to do because we've just read it. 00:30:01.019 --> 00:30:01.940 But where does it come from? 00:30:02.339 --> 00:30:07.000 I think it comes from a passive disinterested leader who is absent, who doesn't take control. 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:11.980 And when he doesn't take control, you see the sons who are filled with anger for their own sister. 00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:13.400 They take control. 00:30:13.400 --> 00:30:17.700 This hidden problem where we stay silent in the midst of injustice. 00:30:19.500 --> 00:30:20.280 Hamor comes. 00:30:20.420 --> 00:30:23.519 He said, hey, actually, interesting here in this whole chapter, there's no God. 00:30:23.940 --> 00:30:24.540 Guess what else there is? 00:30:24.740 --> 00:30:25.580 There is no apology. 00:30:26.300 --> 00:30:27.140 There is no sorry. 00:30:27.300 --> 00:30:31.560 It wasn't like, hey, man to man, I am so sorry that my son did this to you. 00:30:31.640 --> 00:30:32.000 Nothing. 00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:35.800 You can see how it was almost just assumed that it was okay. 00:30:35.799 --> 00:30:40.220 Hamor walks straight in and says, the soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. 00:30:40.339 --> 00:30:42.220 Please give her to him to be his wife. 00:30:42.500 --> 00:30:43.319 Make marriages with us. 00:30:43.379 --> 00:30:45.379 Give your daughters to us and take our daughters for yourselves. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:47.680 You shall dwell with us and the land shall be open to you. 00:30:47.779 --> 00:30:49.339 Dwell and trade in it and get property in it. 00:30:49.799 --> 00:30:52.559 Shechem also said to her father and her brothers, let me find favor in your eyes. 00:30:52.819 --> 00:30:54.579 And whatever you say to me, I will give. 00:30:54.980 --> 00:30:57.559 Ask me for as great a bride price and gift as you will. 00:30:57.619 --> 00:30:58.819 And I will give whatever you say to me. 00:30:58.879 --> 00:31:01.220 Only give me the young woman to be my wife. 00:31:01.220 --> 00:31:04.700 He is infatuated with Dina and he's willing to do anything. 00:31:04.819 --> 00:31:07.519 So he takes his dad and he goes into the tribe of Jacob. 00:31:07.600 --> 00:31:09.640 He says, just name your price. 00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:10.740 No apology. 00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:14.440 You left her unattended yourself, but name your price. 00:31:14.680 --> 00:31:15.079 You know what? 00:31:15.420 --> 00:31:16.640 I'll do you a big solid. 00:31:16.980 --> 00:31:19.120 Why don't our families just intermarry? 00:31:19.200 --> 00:31:20.460 Why don't we just join together? 00:31:20.779 --> 00:31:21.259 Guess what that'll do? 00:31:21.299 --> 00:31:22.920 Let's merge and we'll become stronger. 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:24.279 We can get rich together. 00:31:26.860 --> 00:31:27.799 Here we are again. 00:31:28.259 --> 00:31:28.920 God's people. 00:31:28.920 --> 00:31:33.800 How are they going to figure out how to be in this world, but not of this world? 00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:38.200 God kept saying time and time again, do not mix. 00:31:38.360 --> 00:31:40.180 You are my people and I am your God. 00:31:41.820 --> 00:31:44.759 And yet what we see here, Jacob, the guy with the new name. 00:31:45.019 --> 00:31:48.980 Interestingly though, he's got the new name before, but the Bible keeps referring him to him as Jacob. 00:31:49.259 --> 00:31:52.320 We often have a new identity, but the old one is just right next to us. 00:31:53.779 --> 00:31:54.860 Romans 7 talks about that. 00:31:54.860 --> 00:31:55.980 Even the great apostle Paul. 00:31:56.759 --> 00:31:58.620 He says, look, I want to keep doing good. 00:31:59.539 --> 00:32:03.519 But there's just this thing, this shadow next to me that always just keeps to my side. 00:32:04.300 --> 00:32:05.620 What wretched people we are. 00:32:06.080 --> 00:32:07.620 You see that here with Jacob. 00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:08.960 He stays completely silent. 00:32:09.360 --> 00:32:13.380 Even after that proposal from Hamor, he still doesn't speak. 00:32:14.560 --> 00:32:15.080 Verse 13. 00:32:15.160 --> 00:32:18.500 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his wife Hamor deceitfully. 00:32:19.259 --> 00:32:20.480 So we've just talked about the first crime. 00:32:20.539 --> 00:32:22.039 Now we move on to the second crime. 00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:25.140 Dad, you're not going to speak? 00:32:25.960 --> 00:32:26.640 We'll speak. 00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:28.720 Let us scheme. 00:32:28.940 --> 00:32:33.640 Let us figure out what we can do from here to avenge the crime that was done to our sister. 00:32:34.440 --> 00:32:35.240 It's already here. 00:32:35.960 --> 00:32:37.500 They spoke to them deceitfully. 00:32:38.020 --> 00:32:39.040 Like father, like sons. 00:32:40.660 --> 00:32:42.560 They've seen dad lie his way through life. 00:32:42.900 --> 00:32:43.960 And now they'll do the same. 00:32:43.960 --> 00:32:50.799 They said to them, we cannot do this thing to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised. 00:32:50.840 --> 00:32:51.819 For that would be a disgrace to us. 00:32:51.860 --> 00:32:53.440 Only on this condition will we agree with you. 00:32:53.600 --> 00:32:56.400 That you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 00:32:56.579 --> 00:32:57.900 Then we will give our daughters to you. 00:32:57.940 --> 00:32:59.799 And we will take your daughters to ourselves. 00:32:59.840 --> 00:33:01.920 And we will dwell with you and become one people. 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:07.180 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and we will be gone. 00:33:07.460 --> 00:33:09.019 Abraham is rolling in his grave. 00:33:09.900 --> 00:33:14.480 He spent all his life trying to separate his people from the people of the world. 00:33:14.680 --> 00:33:19.420 And now you've got these kids saying, okay, yeah, let's join together. 00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:20.080 Let's intermarry. 00:33:20.140 --> 00:33:20.820 You can take our daughters. 00:33:20.920 --> 00:33:21.560 We can take yours. 00:33:21.840 --> 00:33:23.200 There's just one thing that we have to do. 00:33:23.300 --> 00:33:24.800 The small thing called circumcision. 00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:26.960 Because that's what we do. 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:27.940 Because we are God's people. 00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:29.879 And that's something that he passed on to us, to Abraham. 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:32.859 And so we can't do this unless you get circumcised. 00:33:34.299 --> 00:33:36.119 Just stop and pause for a second. 00:33:37.460 --> 00:33:38.980 The second crime is about to come. 00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:41.899 But the hidden problem is just hypocrisy. 00:33:43.059 --> 00:33:50.980 They're taking the symbol, the sacred symbol of God giving to his people saying, this is how you're going to be separated. 00:33:51.919 --> 00:33:54.500 Now I won't go into the details of what that looks like. 00:33:55.539 --> 00:34:01.919 But they're taking the symbol and then using it deceitfully for their own shameful gain. 00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:04.740 And then I just, forgive me for the example. 00:34:04.919 --> 00:34:08.119 I mean, it's a little bit like, Jasper, I'd love to baptize you. 00:34:08.159 --> 00:34:11.340 I mean, they're taking a symbol that God gave to them. 00:34:12.420 --> 00:34:13.820 Like, I'd love to baptize you. 00:34:13.880 --> 00:34:14.559 Can I baptize you? 00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:15.539 Come on, let's go to Repulse Bay. 00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:16.219 Let me baptize you. 00:34:16.519 --> 00:34:17.579 And then I drown you. 00:34:19.340 --> 00:34:20.199 Baptized to death. 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:23.440 I did drop you in the water. 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:24.259 That is true. 00:34:24.360 --> 00:34:25.300 I am sorry about that. 00:34:25.300 --> 00:34:28.980 I definitely dropped Kenneth into the water. 00:34:29.300 --> 00:34:32.120 Because Kenneth is like three human beings in one. 00:34:32.260 --> 00:34:35.880 So that was like, can you see the hypocrisy here? 00:34:36.380 --> 00:34:42.640 That they would take a gift and a sign that God gives them and they would use it in such a way. 00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:43.639 Whew. 00:34:43.639 --> 00:34:43.960 Whew. 00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:49.320 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. 00:34:49.320 --> 00:34:53.340 And the young man did not delay to do the thing because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. 00:34:53.539 --> 00:34:55.460 Now he was the most honored of all his father's house. 00:34:55.539 --> 00:34:57.780 Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of the city. 00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:00.680 Remember, the gate is where all happenings were happening. 00:35:01.120 --> 00:35:03.280 This is the interactive brokers platform of the day. 00:35:03.680 --> 00:35:03.860 Okay. 00:35:03.860 --> 00:35:05.740 Everything is happening right here at the gate. 00:35:05.980 --> 00:35:09.039 So they take all the people back to the gate. 00:35:09.720 --> 00:35:10.740 Jacob and his sons are there. 00:35:10.920 --> 00:35:11.440 Everyone's there. 00:35:11.720 --> 00:35:14.400 And they have a big meeting and saying, this is what they say. 00:35:14.460 --> 00:35:15.480 These men are at peace with us. 00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:16.940 Let them dwell in the land and trade in it. 00:35:17.079 --> 00:35:18.559 For behold, the land is large in us for them. 00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:21.019 Let us take their daughters as wives and let us give them our daughters. 00:35:21.539 --> 00:35:24.660 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people. 00:35:24.659 --> 00:35:28.119 When every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 00:35:28.319 --> 00:35:29.739 And then here comes the interesting thing. 00:35:29.819 --> 00:35:33.440 Here's why you can see that Hamor, Shechem's dad, is a really good businessman. 00:35:34.039 --> 00:35:38.219 With Jacob, he's saying, hey, let's just be together. 00:35:38.319 --> 00:35:39.679 Let's just be one big happy family. 00:35:39.779 --> 00:35:40.460 You're God's family. 00:35:40.559 --> 00:35:41.739 Why don't we be God's family? 00:35:42.039 --> 00:35:43.480 Let us just enjoy this time together. 00:35:43.940 --> 00:35:45.039 And you can have my daughters. 00:35:45.759 --> 00:35:46.159 Likewise. 00:35:46.859 --> 00:35:51.019 When he goes back to his own people, verse 23 exposes a little bit more of his heart. 00:35:51.359 --> 00:35:53.539 It's not just that they would be one big happy family. 00:35:53.539 --> 00:35:56.880 Will not their livestock, their property, and all their beasts be ours? 00:35:56.980 --> 00:36:00.099 Only let us agree with them and they will dwell with us. 00:36:02.119 --> 00:36:03.279 We're going to get rich too. 00:36:03.699 --> 00:36:05.000 Have you heard about God's family? 00:36:05.340 --> 00:36:08.440 This covenant group of people that are wondering how rich they are? 00:36:09.059 --> 00:36:13.000 Imagine if we merged with them, we would be rich. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:16.460 Maybe the first hints of the prosperity gospel here. 00:36:16.699 --> 00:36:19.779 Why don't we follow this God and we're going to be blessed? 00:36:19.780 --> 00:36:23.860 The compromise is happening. 00:36:24.540 --> 00:36:26.820 And of course, we know what happens after this. 00:36:27.460 --> 00:36:29.280 Funnily enough, all the men agree. 00:36:29.420 --> 00:36:31.680 And all who went out of the gate of the city listened to Hamel and his son Jechem. 00:36:31.960 --> 00:36:33.260 And every male was circumcised. 00:36:33.340 --> 00:36:34.940 All who went out of the gate of this city. 00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:40.519 What a productive meeting that they managed to convince everyone that this was the way to go about it. 00:36:40.880 --> 00:36:42.180 Have we heard from Jacob yet? 00:36:43.519 --> 00:36:44.180 Still nothing. 00:36:45.640 --> 00:36:46.260 Still nothing. 00:36:46.260 --> 00:36:49.040 Still the absent leader. 00:36:51.180 --> 00:36:57.660 On the third day when they were sore, after the operation, remember, this was not, they did not go to the sanatorium to do this operation. 00:36:58.760 --> 00:37:02.180 They just did it very quickly at home with a very blunt knife. 00:37:02.320 --> 00:37:07.740 On the third day when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dina's brothers, again, they're full brothers. 00:37:08.720 --> 00:37:09.660 Dad's not doing anything. 00:37:09.800 --> 00:37:10.140 We will. 00:37:10.140 --> 00:37:15.640 They took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 00:37:16.260 --> 00:37:20.020 They killed Hamel and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dina out of Shechem's house and went away. 00:37:20.460 --> 00:37:24.340 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city because they had defiled their sister. 00:37:24.600 --> 00:37:27.540 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys and whatever was in the city and the field. 00:37:27.820 --> 00:37:32.820 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all those in the houses they captured and plundered. 00:37:35.320 --> 00:37:35.640 Wait. 00:37:36.420 --> 00:37:37.720 That first crime was heinous. 00:37:37.820 --> 00:37:38.240 It was horrible. 00:37:38.360 --> 00:37:38.880 It was unforgivable. 00:37:38.880 --> 00:37:44.599 But now you go and do the same, but times 100, times 200. 00:37:46.460 --> 00:37:48.220 That's how you justify what you're doing. 00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:51.700 The hypocrisy that we can see here. 00:37:52.840 --> 00:38:00.019 Isn't it interesting that sometimes in the name of fighting evil, we become evil ourselves. 00:38:00.019 --> 00:38:07.840 Sometimes we, well, I've always said one of our biggest problems as a church is just hypocrisy. 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:13.900 When we tell people to live a certain way, but it looks just as we are doing just the same things. 00:38:14.780 --> 00:38:22.460 You look at every scandal that happens in a church, every leader that falls, every believer that goes out and doesn't bear good witness. 00:38:22.460 --> 00:38:30.760 Yes, this is an extreme example, but I wonder whether we're at the beginning of that path, whether we flirt with that same idea. 00:38:31.820 --> 00:38:37.460 Remember, Jacob didn't deliberately say, I'm going to raise sons who are going to murder a whole group of people. 00:38:38.780 --> 00:38:41.559 He just, just let me stay outside of the city here, just a little bit. 00:38:42.179 --> 00:38:43.320 Who does that remind you of? 00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:46.240 Genesis 13, right, Lot. 00:38:46.960 --> 00:38:48.900 I'm not going to go into Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:38:49.059 --> 00:38:51.019 I'm just going to pitch my tent outside in the valley. 00:38:51.260 --> 00:38:51.860 It's nice here. 00:38:51.860 --> 00:38:52.880 It reminds me of Egypt. 00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:55.519 It reminds me of, this is probably what the Garden of Eden looks like. 00:38:55.680 --> 00:38:56.599 I'm just going to live out here. 00:38:57.260 --> 00:39:01.760 But before you know it, within a few verses, he started on the outside and he ends up in the heart of the city. 00:39:03.019 --> 00:39:05.579 That slippery slope of sin that we talked about a couple months ago. 00:39:07.559 --> 00:39:09.960 I wonder whether we have hypocrisy in our own hearts. 00:39:10.039 --> 00:39:12.700 I wonder whether we fight evil with evil. 00:39:12.860 --> 00:39:15.840 When we look at something that isn't right, do we go about it in the right way? 00:39:15.900 --> 00:39:20.079 They were trying to get justice, but they were just trying to get justice in the wrong way. 00:39:20.260 --> 00:39:21.680 Gandhi was the one who said, right. 00:39:21.860 --> 00:39:26.740 If it was really an eye for an eye, the whole world would be blind. 00:39:29.039 --> 00:39:30.980 There's another quote. 00:39:31.059 --> 00:39:31.780 Let me see if I can get it. 00:39:32.780 --> 00:39:33.380 W.H. 00:39:33.480 --> 00:39:36.300 Auden, he's a poet during the Second World War. 00:39:36.820 --> 00:39:37.539 He says this, 00:39:37.539 --> 00:39:56.719 When we look at the injustices of the world, when we look at the darkness that we see, when we look at some of the injustices that are done to us, 00:39:56.719 --> 00:40:04.459 maybe not to this extreme level, but maybe there's an offensive, we all have that rude, offensive uncle at home in our family. 00:40:04.599 --> 00:40:05.559 We all have that person. 00:40:05.559 --> 00:40:07.980 And they say something offensive to us. 00:40:07.980 --> 00:40:09.460 What's our response in that moment? 00:40:10.179 --> 00:40:13.659 We all have that colleague who stabs us behind the back. 00:40:13.739 --> 00:40:14.480 Then what do we do? 00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:19.960 It's interesting in the Old Testament, there were rules about justice. 00:40:20.079 --> 00:40:22.980 Hey, if this is done to you, then it's an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. 00:40:23.019 --> 00:40:23.880 That's where it comes from. 00:40:25.719 --> 00:40:27.019 But Gandhi has wisdom there. 00:40:27.219 --> 00:40:29.219 But if we operated by that, then we'd all be blind. 00:40:29.219 --> 00:40:39.959 What is there that's inside our hearts where we're trying to fight for something good, but we end up taking on the evil that we're trying to fight? 00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:51.119 All this time, we still do not hear from Jacob, the guy with the new name, the patriarch, one of the founding fathers of the faith. 00:40:51.559 --> 00:40:53.259 He stays silent. 00:40:53.260 --> 00:41:00.160 How often in the face of the crimes that are going on in society does the church stay silent? 00:41:03.640 --> 00:41:05.160 But finally, he does speak. 00:41:06.260 --> 00:41:09.020 But now that he speaks, you really wish that he didn't. 00:41:11.240 --> 00:41:14.160 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, you have brought trouble. 00:41:14.840 --> 00:41:15.940 Let me emphasize again. 00:41:16.340 --> 00:41:21.020 You brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 00:41:21.019 --> 00:41:26.199 My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed. 00:41:26.300 --> 00:41:28.860 Both I and my household. 00:41:30.179 --> 00:41:36.099 What's this passive, abstent, disinterested leader thinking about himself? 00:41:37.980 --> 00:41:44.199 When we don't have leaders who are willing to lay down themselves to sacrifice for those who have been put in our care, 00:41:44.800 --> 00:41:46.840 who are just focused on what they can get. 00:41:46.840 --> 00:41:51.940 The only time this guy speaks is not when his daughter gets violated. 00:41:52.039 --> 00:41:54.420 It's not when his sons commit a heinous crime. 00:41:54.579 --> 00:41:58.160 The only time he speaks is when he is in trouble. 00:42:00.380 --> 00:42:01.420 Don't we have that? 00:42:01.620 --> 00:42:02.920 We live in a dark world. 00:42:03.140 --> 00:42:05.820 Philippians 2 calls it the crooked and twisted generation that we live in. 00:42:06.019 --> 00:42:09.500 But we stay silent until it inconveniences us. 00:42:09.500 --> 00:42:13.960 And then we're like, oh, how outrageous, outrageous is that? 00:42:15.920 --> 00:42:17.679 So you wish he wouldn't speak. 00:42:18.559 --> 00:42:24.880 And the brothers finish with just this line, but they said, should he treat our sister like a prostitute? 00:42:26.719 --> 00:42:30.179 It's one of the first times this term, this concept is mentioned in scripture. 00:42:30.179 --> 00:42:33.579 They're like, you didn't do anything. 00:42:34.159 --> 00:42:37.619 Are we really going to let this happen to our sister, your daughter? 00:42:39.139 --> 00:42:47.159 We just did what we felt was best in the absence of a godly, interested, compassionate leader. 00:42:49.179 --> 00:42:50.679 And then the scene fades out. 00:42:50.679 --> 00:42:59.460 Conveniently, or bringing great comfort, the next verse in chapter 35 is God said to Jacob. 00:43:00.179 --> 00:43:01.219 God shows up again. 00:43:01.659 --> 00:43:03.519 He was there at the end of 33. 00:43:04.359 --> 00:43:07.859 He was completely ignored throughout the whole of 34. 00:43:08.379 --> 00:43:10.099 But now he comes back into the scene. 00:43:10.659 --> 00:43:12.659 And so next week we will see that there is hope. 00:43:12.719 --> 00:43:16.739 But you look at this whole chapter and you wonder, Jacob, you've got to do better. 00:43:16.739 --> 00:43:22.739 And then we look at ourselves and go, we have got to do better. 00:43:22.839 --> 00:43:27.079 The church has to look to ourselves and go, we have got to do better. 00:43:27.279 --> 00:43:30.759 To show more interest in protecting the vulnerable, the weak. 00:43:31.699 --> 00:43:33.979 To stand for justice, but in the right way. 00:43:35.639 --> 00:43:36.719 Jacob must be better. 00:43:36.979 --> 00:43:37.899 We must be better. 00:43:38.319 --> 00:43:43.079 But of course, the point of this, you ask yourself, why is chapter 34 in the Bible? 00:43:43.479 --> 00:43:45.059 We could have done away with this. 00:43:45.319 --> 00:43:46.679 We don't need this. 00:43:46.739 --> 00:43:51.939 Hasn't it been interesting as we've been going through Genesis and you look at every person coming up, 00:43:51.979 --> 00:43:55.719 you're like, no one, no one is innocent. 00:43:56.679 --> 00:43:57.839 Not a single person. 00:43:58.239 --> 00:44:00.099 Everyone is messed up. 00:44:01.500 --> 00:44:03.119 And then you wonder, well, why is it here then? 00:44:04.279 --> 00:44:05.719 Well, this book exists for one reason. 00:44:06.599 --> 00:44:11.139 It points us to someone who was innocent, who remains to be innocent, 00:44:11.239 --> 00:44:14.239 who came to die for the sins of many. 00:44:14.239 --> 00:44:18.579 The sacrificial lamb who took the place of the many. 00:44:18.579 --> 00:44:26.239 The better prince, where Shechem was a prince who saw and took the better prince that is the prince of heaven. 00:44:26.319 --> 00:44:29.239 Jesus comes and sacrifices his own life. 00:44:29.239 --> 00:44:30.859 His own comfort. 00:44:31.519 --> 00:44:32.279 His own power. 00:44:32.379 --> 00:44:32.959 His own authority. 00:44:32.960 --> 00:44:35.320 For the sake of others. 00:44:35.880 --> 00:44:39.179 And there's no greater love than this, that one who would lay down his life for his friend. 00:44:39.260 --> 00:44:40.179 The better prince. 00:44:40.280 --> 00:44:40.960 The better brother. 00:44:41.480 --> 00:44:45.639 Simeon and Levi were working with very, very limited resources here. 00:44:45.900 --> 00:44:47.460 They went completely the wrong way. 00:44:47.559 --> 00:44:50.619 There is no justification for what they did in the second crime. 00:44:50.619 --> 00:44:52.880 But you're asking yourself the same question. 00:44:53.159 --> 00:44:55.480 How are we going to protect those who are weak? 00:44:57.299 --> 00:45:02.400 Well, stepping up to the plate is the descendant of another brother. 00:45:03.779 --> 00:45:07.619 A descendant of Judah steps in and says, I am the better brother. 00:45:08.539 --> 00:45:09.539 I will protect. 00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:10.719 I will save. 00:45:11.460 --> 00:45:12.400 I will bring freedom. 00:45:12.400 --> 00:45:21.360 Jesus is the descendant of Judah who comes in, the innocent one, who steps in the place and breaks that cycle of revenge. 00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:26.700 He subjects himself to the pain, to the ultimate violence. 00:45:27.900 --> 00:45:33.820 So that cycle of just horror and revenge is broken. 00:45:36.720 --> 00:45:40.059 He would disagree with Gandhi in some ways. 00:45:40.059 --> 00:45:45.960 He says, well, the answer to all of this, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. 00:45:47.239 --> 00:45:48.739 He says in Matthew 5, right? 00:45:49.299 --> 00:45:50.400 He says, turn the other cheek. 00:45:51.480 --> 00:45:59.340 The only way you break that cycle of hate, that cycle of revenge, is if we turn the other cheek. 00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:04.139 He takes it a step further, in fact. 00:46:04.699 --> 00:46:07.079 And just says, it's not even just turn the other cheek. 00:46:07.079 --> 00:46:14.539 In fact, all the consequences of the sins that we, all the decisions that we've made, we're going to break that by simply me. 00:46:15.159 --> 00:46:15.900 Jesus himself. 00:46:16.039 --> 00:46:17.319 I will deal with this. 00:46:17.739 --> 00:46:18.920 I will turn the other cheek. 00:46:19.159 --> 00:46:20.279 I will lay down my life. 00:46:20.380 --> 00:46:24.599 I will climb onto the cross for these people. 00:46:25.619 --> 00:46:26.900 They can't save themselves. 00:46:27.299 --> 00:46:29.279 I will save them. 00:46:29.280 --> 00:46:37.500 It's a really interesting thing, that verse 31, when the brothers are like, why would we let them treat her like that? 00:46:39.060 --> 00:46:46.080 Many years later, the prophets in the Old Testament would ironically refer to Israel in the same way. 00:46:47.120 --> 00:46:53.040 People of a covenant committed to their God, but whoring themselves out to any other God. 00:46:53.039 --> 00:47:04.639 So we see two serious crimes here, but I wonder whether we are guilty of the two hidden problems underneath. 00:47:06.259 --> 00:47:12.039 The one of silent, passive, disinterested leadership that the church must be taking, and the one of hypocrisy. 00:47:12.039 --> 00:47:17.779 What's the Lord saying to you? 00:47:20.639 --> 00:47:25.239 As your shepherd, I wish I knew exactly the circumstances that God has placed you in. 00:47:25.440 --> 00:47:32.900 The workplace, the school, the families that he's placed you in, because then I'd be able to give you some insights to maybe what God is calling you to do. 00:47:34.139 --> 00:47:36.099 To be the person that you are called to be. 00:47:36.400 --> 00:47:38.940 To look after the vulnerable that he has placed around you. 00:47:38.940 --> 00:47:44.700 To not be someone of hypocrisy, but of integrity. 00:47:46.059 --> 00:47:48.960 Willing to stand up for what is right, in the right way. 00:47:50.579 --> 00:47:54.860 Willing to bear the name of Jesus, by following the way of Jesus. 00:47:56.920 --> 00:47:58.539 Can you imagine if we did that? 00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:03.500 Less of Jacob, more of Jesus. 00:48:05.059 --> 00:48:07.240 Can we commit to being that? 00:48:08.940 --> 00:48:15.780 So that when we see injustices happening around the world, we do not turn the other way and ignore. 00:48:17.039 --> 00:48:19.720 And only be outraged when it inconveniences us. 00:48:21.539 --> 00:48:24.679 Can we live and look and love the other? 00:48:26.460 --> 00:48:28.900 Just like our Lord did. 00:48:28.900 --> 00:48:35.380 Chapter 24 has no mention of God. 00:48:38.660 --> 00:48:44.740 There's places in this world right now where you walk into, you're like, God, I can't see you. 00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:46.059 I can't hear you. 00:48:46.059 --> 00:48:50.519 But know one thing. 00:48:52.340 --> 00:48:53.079 He is there. 00:48:54.320 --> 00:48:55.059 He is here. 00:48:57.320 --> 00:48:58.920 And if you're stood in that place, 00:48:59.619 --> 00:49:02.420 He is there through you. 00:49:05.539 --> 00:49:06.699 Would you allow Him to work? 00:49:06.699 --> 00:49:09.539 Would you speak up? 00:49:10.699 --> 00:49:11.839 Would you go out of your way? 00:49:14.339 --> 00:49:16.359 Would you live in the Jesus way? 00:49:18.939 --> 00:49:19.480 Let's pray. 00:49:19.480 --> 00:49:20.159 巨 tro battle of Christ. 00:49:20.159 --> 00:49:20.980 Please hear me. 00:49:20.980 --> 00:49:21.779 Please hear me. 00:49:21.919 --> 00:49:22.759 Please hear me. 00:49:22.819 --> 00:49:23.679 Please hear me. 00:49:23.759 --> 00:49:24.239 Please hear me. 00:49:24.259 --> 00:49:24.819 Please hear me. 00:49:24.859 --> 00:49:25.460 Please hear me. 00:49:25.500 --> 00:49:25.899 Please hear me. 00:49:25.939 --> 00:49:26.460 Please hear me. 00:49:26.480 --> 00:49:27.199 Please hear me. 00:49:27.219 --> 00:49:27.839 Please hear me. 00:49:27.879 --> 00:49:28.460 Please hear me. 00:49:28.460 --> 00:49:29.379 Please hear me. 00:49:29.379 --> 00:49:29.839 Please hear me. 00:49:29.839 --> 00:49:30.359 Please hear me. 00:49:30.359 --> 00:49:31.000 Please hear me. 00:49:31.000 --> 00:49:31.699 Please hear me. 00:49:31.699 --> 00:49:32.299 Please hear me. 00:49:32.299 --> 00:49:32.819 Please hear me. 00:49:32.819 --> 00:49:33.480 Please hear me. 00:49:33.480 --> 00:49:33.899 Please hear me. 00:49:33.899 --> 00:49:34.319 Please hear me. 00:49:34.319 --> 00:49:34.659 Please hear me. 00:49:34.659 --> 00:49:35.000 Please hear me. 00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:35.359 Please hear me. 00:49:35.359 --> 00:49:35.579 Please hear me. 00:49:35.579 --> 00:49:35.799 Please hear me. 00:49:35.799 --> 00:49:35.819 have't you. 00:49:35.820 --> 00:50:05.800 Thank you. 00:50:05.800 --> 00:50:10.780 We read passages in scripture like this and we struggle to make sense. 00:50:15.260 --> 00:50:18.400 We look out into the world and we see injustices. 00:50:21.100 --> 00:50:22.460 And it doesn't make sense. 00:50:35.800 --> 00:50:59.280 But today we ask that you would show us what it means to live in a way that is based on how you lived. 00:50:59.280 --> 00:51:06.620 And we started the service with Philippians 2 and maybe this is where we'll end it. 00:51:07.700 --> 00:51:13.980 That we as a people would not do things whilst we're grumbling and disputing. 00:51:13.980 --> 00:51:22.880 But that we would live as lights shining into this crooked and twisted generation. 00:51:23.539 --> 00:51:24.980 Living as children of God. 00:51:25.340 --> 00:51:26.940 Holding fast to the word of life. 00:51:27.940 --> 00:51:33.920 We profess to have the words of life yet we refuse to share them to the darkness that surrounds us. 00:51:33.920 --> 00:51:37.300 Give us courage to speak up. 00:51:39.500 --> 00:51:41.099 Give us courage to stand up. 00:51:41.099 --> 00:51:54.199 Holy Spirit we need you. 00:51:55.380 --> 00:52:01.980 We recognize the only way that we can do this is if you go with us. 00:52:01.980 --> 00:52:15.219 Would you convict the world of sin and righteousness through us. 00:52:17.280 --> 00:52:18.199 Here we are Lord. 00:52:19.780 --> 00:52:20.360 Send us. 00:52:20.360 --> 00:52:25.519 Thank you Lord.