Hot Seat Model: The Gospel (Eric)

 In this episode of the Village Church's sermon podcast, Pastor Eric Cepin continues the Lenten series, The Hot Seat Model, by focusing on Jesus' place at the Table of Decision. Eric takes time to unpack what the Gospel truly is. He reflects on the invitation to receive Jesus’ story as our own—how it shapes our identity and calls us into a life marked by repentance, grounded in the Kingdom of God. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:14

Hello, my name is Eric, and I am one of the pastors of the Village Church. The following podcast is a ministry of the Village Church. We hope that it inspires you, that it draws you closer to Jesus, and it opens your eyes to the possibilities of living in the kingdom. Enjoy and God bless. Check, check. I'm sorry. Father in heaven, thank you for today. Um, thank you for the moment we have to spend with you together. Jesus, thank you for your death and your resurrection and uh the fact that you um rule over all things and that you are sovereign and good and that you love us in the midst of our brokenness and our own confusion. Holy Spirit, as we listen to the words of Scripture and the things that you've put on my heart, that I ask that you would give us all courage to believe what is true, to push aside what is false, to wrestle with what you might be inviting us into to be people of peace and people of honesty. I ask that in your name, Jesus. Amen. Um maybe you can hear it in my voice. I I've been sick for a good portion of the week. Um, and I don't know if any of you have ever had sick brain, but if you have sick brain, that means everything is bad. You lay in bed and think the world is ending and the world doesn't help you. Um and so that's kind of where I have been in prepping the sermon today or this week is in sick brain. Um so I'm hoping my voice will last as we go. But we are in the hot seat model series, and I want to just say thank you to all of you who've been willing to just let me and others present this to you because we've really wanted to put it into book form. Um in that process we've been working on for like two years, and really came down to the idea that we need to present it to really outline the chapters and kind of simplify it. Otherwise, it becomes this like 17th-volume theological exegesis, and that's not helpful for anyone. Um, so if you're here for the first time or haven't been here over the last few weeks, you might be saying, What the heck is the hot seat model? Hot seat model is just one practice at the village that we use in discipleship to help us live into the gospel. Um, and over the last few weeks, we've been breaking that down for you. And last week, Susan spent a lot of time talking about the enemy. And today, I get to talk about the gospel. And so I'm excited about that because in some ways I'm just preaching to myself today, um, because I've been living in sick brain, and the gospel is hope. Amen. So, with all of that said, you might be saying, okay, so what's a hot seat model? Most of you are not saying that as I look around, but I am still going to review it for you so that we know where we're going for those few people who don't know what the hot seat model is. And so the hot seat model starts with this reality that our life is built on events, and most of those events um often have some problematic element to them, right? In the very simple terms, if someone you know runs in front of us with their car and then slams on their brake, problematic event. Um, and in that problem, all problematic events in life produce negative emotions. And those negative emotions, as we've been talking, are things like fear and anxiety, and but they can be expanded to despair and hopelessness and surprise. Like they're an emotional experience that you have immediately to an event which produces some kind of set of false beliefs. And most of the negative emotions that you have in your life, so if you if you have the emotion of despair, you will probably have a set of false beliefs. If you have an emotion of fear, you're gonna have a set um a set of false beliefs. It doesn't really matter what the event is, it could be a repetitive event, it could be any event. The negative emotion is the thing that's most important because it has false beliefs attached to it, and those false beliefs tend to revolve around yourself, others, and God, and they are usually absolute statements like I am, they are, God is. They don't have to be that, but they tend to revolve around those things. I'm this, they're this, right? You know, it's always me who has the bad drivers. They're a terrible driver. God doesn't care how people drive. I mean, whatever. That's a very simplified thing. If all you get is this, if you become a person who can experience your emotion and know what you believe, you're ahead of the game. But this whole model boils down to this idea of you and you having a choice. How do you respond to the person who cut you off? How do you respond to the person who said something very unkind to you? And the reality is the reason that we end up with these negative emotions and false beliefs is that all of us go around asking the question, Am I loved? and do I have impact? In the very simplest things in life to the more complex things, you are always asking that. When your child is screaming at you and being disobedient and you feel a negative emotion and a set of false beliefs, it's because they are answering in a negative way who you are and what kind of impact you have. They're saying, you have no impact, and I don't love you, right? Like there, there's that experience. Now, the whole point of this model is to help us slow down something that's happened in the past and figure out what's going on. And so last week, Susan talked to us about in those moments when we have a choice, there is a conversation that happens with the enemy. And the enemy likes to do something, he likes to affirm that set of false beliefs. So if you're having a conversation that transforms into absolutes, they never, always, hopeless, like hyperbolic language about false beliefs means you're in a conversation with the enemy. Because the enemy needs to escalate that despair, that anxiety, that fear in you. In order that relief, whatever it is, from the ice cream to the you know, flipping off the guy who cut you off, that relief has to feel impulsive, right? The relief has to feel like it's not a choice. It just happens to you. It's just where you are. And you need some kind of justification for it. You need a reason. You'll make up a reason for it. So that conversation is going on. What we don't realize is that while we, that person cuts us off, the kid is screaming, whatever situation you can think of in that problematic event, Jesus is telling you a story at that moment of choice. We talk about it not just on the Jesus side of the table, we talk about the gospel side of the story because that is Jesus' story. That's the thing he's talking about. And so Jesus is telling you, in the midst of being cut off, in the midst of your child screaming, he's telling you his story, and that story tells you that you're loved. He's telling you you have an identity, and that identity tells you you have impact. And he's inviting you to live out a way of being in the kingdom of God, which is repentance. And when we talk about repentance, it's really moving from one direction, the enemy's story and the enemy's narrative, and going in another direction. Kingdom life is take turning around and taking a step, as we like to say in our song. So, there's that model. If you were to choose the gospel side, then you end up in worship. If you end up living in what we're most familiar with, the enemy side, you end up in a deeper rut. So that the next time you experience despair, the next time you're afraid, the next time you're anxious, the false beliefs in the conversation with the enemy become stronger. There's the model for you. That's what it's about. Now, the reason that we kind of go through this process is because the burdens that the enemy offers us is really heavy. Matthew 11, 28 and 29, Jesus says, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The burden of people telling you that you're not loved and that you don't have impact, right? The warped narrative that the enemy and others tell you is really burdensome. For in Jesus' time, he was thinking about the burdens of the Pharisees who had huge amounts of sets of rules for people to live under. And that was a yoke, their interpretation of scripture, their way of living things out things. And Jesus is saying, I'm not a harsh person, I'm actually humble and gentle, and my yoke, my way of being, my story, the identity I give you, the way I'm inviting you to live, is actually really light. But it does require choice. It does require you to choose to put on that yoke and forsake the other one. So today we're going to talk about the gospel. And next week we will talk about how the two sides of the table relate and how it works in community. But today, all I'm going to be doing is talking to you about what Jesus is telling you and why we think this is so important. And it is the key part of this whole thing. Okay. So, the gospel, the word gospel is not a word that you and I use, but it means good news or victories. And I want you to kind of key into something. When there's a victory far off, this is where the word gospel comes from in the Old Testament and in the time of Jesus. Is when there's a victory, you send good news heralds and they run and they're waving and they're anyone that they can talk to, we're victorious. You know that you're in trouble when you see far off not heralds running, but military advisors coming, right? This is why the contrast is so important. It's because if military advisors are coming, they're coming to tell you what to do, and that there is no good news, only doom is happening. So when we're talking about the gospel, we're talking about the victories. In particular, we're talking about the good news and victories of Jesus. And so, to understand the gospel, I mean, I could spend an entire, like we could go verse by verse, but instead I'm just going to choose my favorite verse to talk about the gospel, and that's Romans 6.23. It says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The thing that we have to understand if we're going to have our ear tuned to the gospel, is that the wages of sin is death. A thing that you and I have to grasp is that our sin is weighty. It's so weighty that you deserve to die. As an American who's lived a relatively good life, it is hard for me to conceive that. I can see other people. I'm like, yeah, I can see how that is for them. But for me, no. But the reality, the thing that God wants us to hear and understand when you read the text and when you listen to what Scripture is saying is that you put Jesus on the cross. Your despicable self did it. The wages of sin is death. The heaviness of you. But the gift, Jesus, death, resurrection, ascension, of God is eternal life. And when we think about eternal life, we're not just saying floating on a cloud somewhere. Jesus is earthy. He rose from the dead, and his body is earthy. And your eternal life is an earthy life. It is going to be a life where you feel your arms, you see Jesus, you have things to do. It's not some play, a mandolin on a cloud, singing happily. Eternal life is real and good. Now the reason I love this verse is that in these four words, Christ Jesus our Lord, where our eternal life comes from, the gospel is in it. Just those four words. Because when you talk about Christ, that word means king or messiah. It's deity, it's God. And then you see you have God, and then you have Jesus, human, right? So we have Jesus who's fully human, fully God. He is Christ Jesus. And then the little gospel part, the part where you and I have a choice, our Lord. The only way, other than when Jesus comes back to make us do this, the only way in this moment for our Lord to be Jesus is for me to say, I need you to be my Lord and Savior. The only role I have in salvation is opening my mouth and saying, I can do nothing about my salvation. I need you to be my Lord and Savior. So when we talk about the gospel side, we first have to come there, that we have a desperate need for Jesus to be our Lord and Savior so that we might live a life that is eternal. Now what happens, and this demonstrates the table. Remember, you saw that the enemy's side, Jesus' side of the table in our choice. In Colossians 1.13, it says, For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son, He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Now here's the reality. God, when we open our mouth and declare him Lord and Savior, moves us through Christ out of the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son, whom He loves. But you and I, no matter how long you've been in the community of God, even, or outside of the community of God, are still very familiar with the enemy's narrative. You're very familiar with living in it, right? You're familiar with living in anxiety and fear and hyperbolic language and relief that's destructive to you. You're used to it. It makes sense, it's impulsive. But living in the kingdom of the sun, he loves, experiencing redemption and forgiveness, it's a reality that we are still very unfamiliar with. It's a narrative and a story and a life that you and I are very unfamiliar with. And so the Hasi model, the table of decision, whatever you want to call it, is designed to help reinforce that narrative. The narrative that is unfamiliar, to begin to bring the gospel narrative into your life, so that when you face adversity, negative emotions, when you are wrestling with false beliefs, you are so familiar with the gospel that those fade into the darkness and you're able to choose something good and to walk with Jesus. So here's the goal of the model. Comes out of Luke 10, 38, and following. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to the village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me. Now I'm not going to process this, but Martha has a hot seat moment right here, right? Am I love and do I have impact? Tell her to make that true. But what I want you to catch is that Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha is distracted. And Jesus speaks to her. He says, Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed. Or indeed, and I can just hear Jesus say this few things are needed. Moment of silence. Or indeed, only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will be it will not be taken away from her. Now, not to knock Martha. I I think Martha works this all out. You kind of see her development even in an interaction with Jesus later. Jesus and Martha have their own relationship, but the contrast here is important. Martha is a lot like most of us. We are worried and upset about many things, and we are distracted. The invitation of the table of decision, the invitation of the gospel is to be merry, to sit at the feet of Jesus. What we're trying to help people do is to be intertwined with the gospel story to the point that it overrides our familiar narrative, the enemy's side, the worried and upset about many things. So at the village, we talk about the gospel being three things. We talk about it being story, received. So it's something you receive, identity that's given, and kingdom that's lived out. And so that's why you see on that side of the table in the in the diagram, Jesus. Story, identity, kingdom. So we're gonna kind of go through this and kind of maybe help you understand what we mean about this expanded gospel sitting at the feet of Jesus, what happens. First, we're gonna talk about story. When Sue and I um were dating, Sue's my wife, so we'd been about a year and a half in, and she had been working up her courage to break up with me. And she finally did it. She broke up with me. I was so angry at her. So, so angry at her. And I remember talking to my mother. This is this is not the best music for this story, Peter. I needed better music. So I'm talking to my mom, and my mom says this really wise thing. She says, Oh, there'll be other girls. She did not understand something, she did not. Understand how I already had my life intertwined with Susan's. I'd already seen our future. She was the girl, and now that was being broken, and it was devastating to me. Well, that's actually the invitation of Jesus is to have our story so intertwined into his story, our world revolving around his story so much that when we separate from it, it just wrecks us. So that when we do go to the relief that's not good for us, when we do go to those broken cisterns that Mark talked about, where we're just stuck in mud and trying to find relief, like it feels terrible because not because we're away from the gospel. We're away from the story of Jesus. So the thing that we still were going to bring to Jesus, the thing that Mary brings to Jesus, the thing that Martha brings to Jesus is what I've been saying. Am I loved and do I have impact? And the thing that's really frustrating about Jesus is he never actually answers those questions fully and directly. Okay. So NT Wright says that you come to the Bible looking for answers, and God tells you stories. Now that doesn't mean there isn't rules and good principles to live by, but in general, God tells us stories when we ask questions. And they don't seem at the moment to be what we want. So let me give you an example of that. We're just gonna let me show you how we can be intertwined in the gospel story. So I come to the gospel story and I say, Am I loved and do I have impact? And Jesus says, In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that census should be taken in the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Cernaus, the governor of Syria, and everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from that town to Nazareth, to Galilee, to Judea, to Bethlehem in the town of David, because he belonged to the house in the line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to the firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in clothes and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them. And my love, do I have impact? Jesus says, I was born. And I was put in a manger. You see what's happening there? Because the anime side of the story is all about me, my relief, my wrestling. And Jesus says, No, no, it starts when I came into time, time and space. And I say to Jesus, Well, I don't like that. Am I loved? And do I have impact? And Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteous, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when you are insult when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is the reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecute the prophets who were before you. I say, Am I love? Do I have impact? And Jesus says, You know what? I actually turned the whole ethical system upside down. And if you join me, you're going to be persecuted and rejoice. Again, do you see what's happening? Jesus is saying, like, I am redefining everything for you. It's not about you, it's about my story and you living in that. I'm like, oh, okay. Am I loved? Do I have impact? When you're sick, you shouldn't put this much scripture in. But these are important. John 8 3 says, The teacher of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before a group, and Jesus and they said to Jesus, Teacher, this one was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? They were using this question to trap, as a trap, in order to have him have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept a on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older one first, until Jesus was left with a woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? No, sir, she said. Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. Go now and leave your life of sin. I say, Do you am I loved and do I have impact? And Jesus says, The Pharisees tried to kill me. They brought a woman who was vulnerable. And I stood up for her. And I called her into a different life. Matthew 27, 45. From noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eli Eli Lamas Baknai, which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When some of those standing there heard this, they said, He's calling Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and got the sponge. He filled it with wine and vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him. And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. I say, Do you love me? Am I love? Do I have impact? And Jesus says, I died a brutal and horrific death, where people mocked me, and I felt the abandonment of my own father.

unknown: 26:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 26:21

At last, Matthew 28, 1. After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, he is risen. He is risen indeed. Just as he said, Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples. There you will see him. Now I have told you. When I ask the question, Am I loved and do I have impact? Of Jesus, he says, I died and I rose from the dead. Now, think for a moment. When somebody cuts you off and you're going somewhere and you're five minutes late, and you're intertwined in that story, it doesn't matter anymore. When you're intertwined in a gospel story and you understand the depth of Jesus and you are merry at his feet, you have to get up and leave that to go flip the person off. You have to separate yourself from something. But when you're intertwined in that gospel, it changes the way you understand in this very simple example of how you feel about the person who cut you off and who they are in the context of Jesus and what he's done. This is the whole goal of this model is to get you so intertwined to remind you of this so that you are transformed when you experience negative events and problematic or problematic emotions and whatever they are up there in that top part. So, intertwined in the story. But because of that story, if we embrace the story, we are given an identity. And that identity gives us priority, it shapes our choices, and it is communal. So identity is priority. Romans 8, 15 through 17 says, The spirit you receive does not make you slaves. So when we follow Jesus, we're given the Spirit of God so that you live in fear again. Rather, the spirit you receive brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, Abba Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. If I get a phone call from you and you're like, hey, I'm stuck on I-10 with a flat tire, and I can't get a hold of anybody, and I just canceled AAA, so I don't know what to do. I'll say, Yeah, let me get jump in the car and help you out. And as I hang up, my son calls me and he's like, I'm down the road and I got a flat tire. Can you help me out? I'm gonna call you back and say, I'll be there later. First, I'm gonna go help my son with a flat tire. Identity in the kingdom of God, because of what Christ has done through the Spirit means that you have priority to God. You are his son and daughter. You sit in the seat of the firstborn through Christ. You have priority. You can cry out, Dad. Right? This is key. It's key because I know this is a little small, I apart, I apologize. Identity shapes choices that lead to kingdom action. Your identity shapes your choices. Now you heard Daniel read Colossians 3, 1 through 17. And just as a side note for village lore, if you are a real good website digger, you can dig into the website, you can find the old village website, and then you can find Daniel singing on the very first village song when he was this high. And it's very cute. And he's singing this, or a part of Colossians, which when he was reading it, I just could hear that. So I was like, wow. But here's a couple things that Colossians tells us that I'm just going to run through because it's important. So Colossians 3, 1 through 4 basically says, live from your new identity in Christ. Since you've been raised with Christ, let the truth shape you, shape how you see yourself and the world. Your old life is gone. Your true life is now hidden with Christ in God. When you are in Christ, that begins to shape how you interact. Number two, leave the old behind, embrace the new. Colossians 3, 5 through 11. Put to death the things that don't belong in your life anymore. Let go of anger, lies, and destructive habits. Instead, clothe yourself with the new self, being renewed in the image of your Creator, where Christ is all in all. This is important because I don't know if you remember, I keep giving this example of when I lived in North Carolina as a sixth grader, and I would go to good Southern Baptist churches, everyone dressed up, and so I had to wear, you know, starched pants and penny loafers. And as a sixth grader and seventh grader who just was more comfortable in shorts and flip-flops, it felt uncomfortable. But that's what the gospel feels like a lot of times because it's so unfamiliar. And so it is a practice that you and I, our identity is in Christ, so now we are going to practice clothing ourselves. So, point three then kind of plays on that. Let Christ rule your relationships and rhythms. Colossians 3, 12 through 17. As God's chosen, holy, and deeply loved people, practice compassion, humility, and patience. Let Christ's peace rule in your hearts, let the message dwell among you richly and in everything, whatever you do or say, do it in the name of Jesus with thankfulness of God. That's that clothing. But when I think about my identity as a son or a daughter, it shapes how I'm going to respond to things. Identity shapes things. In fact, growing up in my family, and I think some of you can probably talk about this from your own families, there is a seeping way of doing things. Sepans do it this way. Flax do it this way. Yakelis do it this way. Fukanakas do it this way, right? This there's a way of doing things. Well, followers of Jesus, because we're sons and daughters, do it this way. Identity shapes action. It at least gives us an eye to what we're called to do. And last, and my favorite, is that identity is communal. That we don't just individually have our identity given to us by the gospel, but we have a communal identity. First Peter 2.4 says, As you come to him, the living stones, rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. A little further down, 1 Peter 2 9. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness and into the wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you were not received, did not receive, had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. The identity of priesthood that all of you have in the gospel that you receive by embracing the story is communal. We are a community of priests who communally make offerings and proclaim who God is. Identity is really important because the stronger you hold on to your identity, the easier it is to say no to relief. Because you can say no, sepans don't do that. No, children of God don't do that. No, children of God do this. You understand your identity and then you understand what you're called to do. And last, the kingdom of God. There is a practice. And so in this model, a lot of time what we're doing is we're looking back and saying, oh, well, this is how we this is how we did not do what we were supposed to do. This is how we did not sit at the feet of God. This is how we weren't listening. And we're trying to help people get to that place, which we'll talk about next week. But when we talk about the kingdom, we're talking about things that you're supposed to do. And the kingdom is really about renewing, repenting, and repairing. That is what life is about. And so let me just quickly review that for you and help you kind of think that through. So first, to renew, Romans 12, 2 says, Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good and pleasing and perfect will. Part of going through this process, part of having it and understanding it and being able to practice it both in your mind and in community and individually, is that you are renewing your mind so that you can become a person who sits at the feet of Jesus and is intertwined with the gospel and with your identity in Christ. We are trying to get us to move there. This model helps us reorient. It is a renewing of our mind. The kingdom life is all about renewing our mind, moving away from the patterns of the enemy and of the world and of our own brokenness. Repenting. Revelation 3, 19 and 20, it says, speaking to the church of Laodicea, those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person and they with me. I love this picture because repentance is a turning around and letting Jesus in and a sitting with him. It is a moving in some ways from Martha's worried and anxiety space to Mary's sitting at the feet of Jesus. And repentance is saying, I made these choices. That is not the way of the gospel. I need to turn around and I need to sit at the feet of Jesus. I need the gospel to come over me. But last, and this is the key to relationship, because this whole model is designed to help us in community have deeper and more meaningful relationships, to be able to help one another and live out the gospel together in ways that are healing and good for our souls. And so we do have to do a lot of repair in life. And the hot seat model often will confront us with places where we have reacted out of our own fear and our own anxiety, grabbed hold of power, and hurt somebody, said something we shouldn't have said, done something we shouldn't have done. And so Matthew 5, 23 and 24 says, Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them, then come and offer your gift. Part of the kingdom of God, part of the gospel story, is that we go and repair things even though it's difficult. We go and we ask for forgiveness. We go and say, hey, that was hard for me to hear from you. Can we process that? We step into vulnerability. We can do that because we understand and are intertwined in the gospel story. So the whole point of this model, of this whole thing, is to invite us into this place. And honestly, not to knock Martha, because Martha Martha is trying to do her best and she has her own hot seat moment. But the picture here is that there are only a few things needed, indeed, only one. We want to be in that place. We want to be at the feet of Jesus. Because here's the thing. When the person cuts me off in traffic, and this is just an easy one, and I end up feeling angry or I feel some kind of emotion, and I need to get to work or wherever I'm headed, when I'm so deeply intertwined in the gospel, when I'm in Mary's position, I see the humanity of the person who cut me off. I understand that they have a story. And I'm able to say, you know what? It's more important for me to be in deep communion with Jesus than to gain some power through anger or yell or create some narrative about how bad drivers are and only in Tucson or whatever. I can pray for that person. I can say, God, get them to where they need to be. I can have compassion on. It shifts when I'm in the gospel. It shifts my experience of everyone. Doesn't mean I don't get hurt. Doesn't mean that I don't have negative emotional experiences. It just means that I am no longer caught up in the enemy's battle. His words, his stuff have no power on me because I'm intertwined in the gospel. Now, I'll tell you that I have been in Mary's spot. Something negative has happened enough to get me to say, that's nice, Jesus. I'm done hearing your story. I'm leaving. Right? And that's what the Hot Seat model is all about is getting me to get back there and to confess and repair. So that said, I have about five minutes, six minutes for questions, thoughts.

SPEAKER_00: 41:53

Communal identity and taking your identity in community. I think that's something that's really difficult in today, where we like if you ask if you asked me who I am, I would give like a whole list of characteristics about myself, and then it'd be like, oh, and then I'm also like a villager and I work at this place and I'm a believer, and that involves me in this wider community. So it's a helpful reminder to put those to the top and um think about myself second rather than first. Thanks, Peter.

SPEAKER_02: 42:32

I got to teach the model last week to the mid-kids, and it was I feel like it helped me understand some new things, but one of the things that kind of came about is we were drawing the table and like talking about how we're seated at the table with Jesus, and we were like drawing some food on it, so each kid said like their favorite food, and then I asked them to attach to that like one of their favorite things about Jesus. So we had like the mashed potatoes of Jesus, um grace, and then we had uh, I can't remember some of the other foods. I remember asparagus, there was like the asparagus of his uh kindness, and but I think it just helped develop the picture for me, and it it like fits right in with this of like the richness that we have before us, and I guess it just wakes up a part to my heart and mind in a new way of like I'm sitting here with like this feast of love, kindness, and grace, and that I'm leaving that when I go take relief, and I guess it helps for me to slow down the moment a little bit more, like, or at least have that new awareness of what I'm doing, like I'm pushing this away and uh running away from it and jumping up into my relief. So I appreciate this picture of Martha and the mid-kids sharing.

SPEAKER_01: 44:07

Thanks, Hannah. All right, hopefully we have a hand.

SPEAKER_03: 44:30

Yeah, thank you for the illustration of how intertwined we ought to be in Jesus' life. Um and the illustration of you know, being a couple and breaking up and having that breaking up be like, you know, when you walk away from Jesus to do something that is ungodly. That's a really vivid image. Thank you. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_01: 45:06

That's right. Father in heaven, thank you for this opportunity to just talk about you, talk about the the gospel, talk about your son. And I just pray that as we eat together, as we take communion, as we sing, as we spend time together, um, that we would be keenly aware of your story, of who we are in that story, and what you might be inviting us to do in in relation to one another. And I ask that in your holy name, Jesus. Amen.