WEBVTT 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:04.559 Hey, welcome to the New North Church podcast. 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:06.879 It's great to have you listening in with us. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:13.439 Our vision at our church is to be an authentic community of Jesus followers who love and serve people. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:17.760 So if we can help you in any way at all, just reach out to us. 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:21.920 The email address is hello at newnorth.church. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:25.440 With that, let's go right to this week's message. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:29.600 Good morning, New North. 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:30.000 How are you? 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:31.679 So great to see you guys. 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:37.920 Um, I I just gotta tell you, your 65 degrees is making my life so amazing. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:55.200 Because as many of you know, I get the opportunity to be with you on a regular basis, but I make my home in Las Vegas, and I don't know, it feels like as I mature that the 100 degrees and the triple digits just isn't working as much for me anymore. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:02.000 And so yesterday my wife and I just had a great day bouncing around the Bay Area, and I know you guys are in it, and you're like, yeah, whatever. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:03.520 No, you don't understand. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:05.599 It's it's amazing. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:09.040 I loved hearing what Zohari was talking about in regards to the summer. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:10.879 So just a little tag on to that. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:18.319 I know summer is a time where a lot of times we love to get away and do a variety of things, and it's appropriate that we rest and replenish it. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:24.799 It's amazing, but it's also a time that we believe here at New North that you can plug in and that there can be some objectives spiritually. 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:39.760 And so I would just encourage you, in whatever small way you can, to take a look at what she talked about and a way to connect or a way to kind of pour into your spiritual journey this summer and make sure you don't just neglect that for the next two or three months and try to pick it up again in the fall. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:41.280 Let's do something around that. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:42.400 I would just really encourage you. 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:45.280 I think you're gonna be definitely be better for it. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:48.959 Well, I want to do something a little bit different today, if that's okay. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:53.920 It is a sermon, but it's gonna be a little bit of, excuse me, a little bit of a story. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:59.760 So you're gonna have to be prepared to kind of journey with me on this story and take some notes along the way. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:04.640 And I believe if you'll hang in, you're really gonna understand the pilgrimage that we're going to go on. 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:13.120 I had a mentor who said to me um a few years ago, he said, Lee, as we were meeting, having coffee, he said, I'm not sure you really need to learn anything new at the moment. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:15.599 You just need to remember what you already know. 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:17.919 And I was like, Yes. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:33.759 And so perhaps this morning you'll learn something new, but if if not something new, my hope would be over the next few moments as we have this conversation that I might remind you of some things that you already know, and maybe it would even help you as you take some of these objectives into the summer months. 00:02:33.919 --> 00:02:35.759 But I want to take you on a pilgrimage. 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:38.000 I want to take you on a specific pilgrimage. 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:42.800 This is something that you may or may not be familiar with called the Camino de Santiago. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:52.879 And this actual pilgrimage is something that's been walked by hundreds of thousands of individuals in northern Spain over the last thousand plus years. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:03:04.159 And through various routes, all of the pilgrims will come and they will walk towards Santiago de Compostelo, where a large cathedral has been built there, and that is sort of the destination. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:07.919 And so over the years, many people have walked this road. 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:20.879 The longest route is about 500 miles, and so if you do the entire Cino, it takes you somewhere between four and six weeks, depending on your speed, to actually get to the end of the Camino and to get there. 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:22.800 And you say, well, why will people do this? 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:23.680 Great question. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:25.919 People do it for a lot of different reasons. 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:29.199 Some people do it out of spiritual devotion. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:39.599 Some people don't have a spiritual context to it, but they may be doing it out of grief, or maybe they are on some sort of search, and so they want to get away into this environment. 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:54.319 And some, like my wife and I have taken this journey over the last few years just because we believe for us to be able to unplug for a number of days has really allowed us in that stillness, in the midst of walking, to really reconnect in our faith. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:04:10.159 Now, we haven't done the whole 30 days, we haven't done that yet, but a lot of a lot of pilgrims, as we call us, will walk for somewhere between six, about a hundred miles, all the way to like 10 to 12 days and make that part of their journey. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:18.959 It's an amazing experience that I want to take you on for a little bit today, because I believe it'll also speak to whatever pilgrimage or journey you are on. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:25.519 But here's what you don't always know is that sometimes it looks kind of glamorous, like you say, oh, you're gonna go on a pilgrimage. 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:28.079 But the reality is you're walking. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:30.319 People say, Well, what do you do every day? 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:46.000 So, well, you get up, you try to get your shoelaces tied after you walked 15 miles the day before, and then you you look at you look at your journey out in front of you, and basically somewhere between 10 and 15 miles a day, you're gonna walk to where your bed is waiting for you down the road. 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:53.199 And in the midst of that, you're gonna drink cortados and gr and eat great, eat great Spanish food and meet some people. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:56.480 And at the same time, my wife and I, when we walk, we'll do a variety of things. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:00.079 Sometimes we'll put our AirPods in and we'll listen to some music. 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:15.360 Sometimes we'll listen to an audiobook or a podcast, but oftentimes we'll just remove that completely and just walk and listen to whatever the spirit might be saying in that moment as we're you're alone with your thoughts in complete isolation. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:27.920 But also understanding that some days it rains, some days you're walking through mud, sometimes you're walking up some pretty steep inclines that'll get your heart rate up pretty high and your breathing rate as well. 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:34.800 And sometimes you're really walking in a case where your muscles are aching and the blisters are forming on your feet. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:38.639 But every day it's this combination of repeat, repeat, repeat. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:44.639 Walk, eat, drink cortados, walk, eat, sleep, drink cortados. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:49.920 But here's the thing I want you to hear before we jump even deeper into this journey this morning. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:56.000 Um, we we learned about the the Camino by watching some things and reading some things. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:04.160 But the reality of the Camino, even as I take you on this journey today, is you can't experience it just by reading or learning about it. 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:08.800 The only way to actually experience something like this is to walk it. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:18.000 You can study websites, blogs, read every guidebook, watch every documentary, but the walk is where God actually does something in you. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.519 And we've learned that this year as well at New North, haven't we? 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:26.319 It's actually true about this journey specifically of prayer that we've been on. 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:30.560 Because we've learned that you can read about prayer and still not pray. 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:35.519 We've learned that you can study the theology of prayer and still not pray. 00:06:35.680 --> 00:06:44.480 You can attend conferences, listen to podcasts, listen to sermons, which you have for the last six months, about prayer and still not pray. 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:49.040 At some point, you actually have to pray, not just know more about it. 00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:57.600 You have to do it, you have to walk it day after day, where prayer becomes a deep dive into the specific circumstances of your life. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:12.639 And that's what I believe our journey, as I've been following along at a distance, has been this year that we believe prayer is not a curriculum to just talk about, but it's a road to walk, as is our journey with Jesus. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:15.439 So, as I said, I want to do something a little different this morning. 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:25.839 Instead of a sermon with just points, I want to take you on a walk, the same walk that my wife and I have walked three times, and we'll walk again and again and again because we're weird individuals. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:28.959 But I want to, as we go, I want to give you four markers. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:32.000 So, those of you that need that, you're gonna you're gonna be able to hold on to that. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:44.560 I want to give you four markers, four things that the road teaches us, and this passage in the book of Colossians, this prayer that Paul writes, also indicate to us, and we're gonna move through them together. 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:52.319 And somewhere along the way, whether all four or just one of them will resonate with you, and God will meet you exactly where you are today. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:53.920 So let's begin with the passage. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:57.600 I know it just rolled, but I want to read it to you again with some brief commentary. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:01.439 Beginning in Colossians chapter one, if you have your Bible on your lap, open it up. 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:05.439 If you have your Bible on your app, get off Instagram and switch over to that. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:07.199 And let's look at Colossians chapter one. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:09.199 We're gonna begin reading in verse number nine. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:19.839 Here's what it says Paul speaking to the church in Colossi, he says, this for this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:33.840 We continually ask God, here's his prayer, to fill you with the knowledge of his will, to be able to understand where God wants you to go through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:36.159 We're gonna come back to that in just a moment. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:47.840 And please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you may have what? 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:49.919 Great endurance. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:50.639 It's important. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:55.919 Great endurance and patience and giving joyful thanks to the Father. 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:03.840 Now, for context, it's important that we remember that Paul is actually writing these words while he is in prison. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:07.039 He's not at a resort, he's in prison. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:17.200 He's potentially chained either at his wrist or chained to the walls that are around him, and he literally has no timetable for when he is going to be released from those circumstances. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:22.159 But what's interesting is he opens this letter to them not with a cry for help. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:26.799 He opens his letter not with a complaint or even a request that they would pray for him. 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:31.120 Instead, he opens it with a prayer for this church in Colossae. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:35.200 That actually we learn he has never even visited in person. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:39.120 He's only heard of them and heard of what God is doing among them. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:49.200 His it's so interesting that his circumstances personally are so desperate, but his first move is intercession for everyone else. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:53.440 It tells you where prayer sat in Paul's priority list. 00:09:53.600 --> 00:10:04.480 And he doesn't even pray for their safety, he doesn't pray for their comfort, he doesn't pray for them to have massive success and for SpaceX stock to just elevate all the way. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:06.240 He doesn't pray for any of those things. 00:10:06.480 --> 00:10:15.919 He prays that they be filled with the knowledge of God's will and that they would live a life, or as we're gonna learn, walk in a way that is worthy of it. 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:17.759 Because Paul Paul knew something. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:27.360 He knew that God's will is not just something that you know up here, but it is a life that you actually apply and you walk out there where we are. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:32.480 His will is not just intellectual or knowledge, but it's actually something that we walk. 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:36.879 Now, we read it in the NIV, which is the translation, we love the NIV, it's great. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:39.600 And we read the words, we live a life worthy of the Lord. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:42.960 And that's an accurate translation, but it misses just a little bit. 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:59.120 So if you look at some other translations of that Greek word there in the ESV version, or if you're like King James, you love King James, you love the Old English, if you read it in that version, it actually interprets this just a little deeper from this Greek word para potateo. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:00.960 Para potate with me. 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:03.279 Okay? 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:07.759 It means to walk or to move through. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:10.559 So we're in the NIV it says to live a life. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:22.159 In the other versions, they've chosen to make it something that's a little bit more dynamic, where it's like specifically, we're gonna walk or we're gonna move through life in a way that is worthy of that calling. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:24.879 That's why I want us to take this pilgrimage today. 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:26.960 Because we're gonna make our way along a road. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:30.240 We're gonna look for these markers one step at a time. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:36.480 And we're gonna be reminded that the Christian life is something that we live, not just something that we learn about. 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:39.759 It's something that we actually experience and live in our life. 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:42.159 And Camino will teach you that for sure. 00:11:42.320 --> 00:11:47.759 Because you have to put your boots on or your shoes on or your trail shoes on, and you gotta go walk it. 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:49.759 And you can know how to get there, right? 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:57.039 You can fly there, you can get to the beginning point, but ultimately you have to get on that road, and that is where transformation happens. 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:03.360 So here's the four markers or movement that Paul gives us in this passage, and we'll talk about them over the next few minutes. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:03.759 Okay? 00:12:03.840 --> 00:12:04.879 And here's marker number one. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:05.279 You ready? 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:13.279 It says this it says that obedience is a walk, it's not simply a plan. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.759 Okay, obedience is a walk, not simply a plan. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:22.159 Another way to say that is knowing isn't going. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:27.759 So if we just know something, it doesn't mean we're actually going to walk in it. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:32.080 Now, when you're on the trail in the Camino, there's these markers all the way along. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:41.840 And keep in mind, there are there is there's 500 miles on the main, kind of the main camino that people walk, but there's actually four or five other paths. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:46.399 Some people start in Portugal and they make their way to Santiago, there in northern Spain. 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:48.480 Some people start up north and they come down. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:52.639 Some people start in a more primitive path that's a little bit more isolated. 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:58.320 But in any of those paths that you would walk along the way, it has been marked for the pilgrims. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:00.240 But it's not marked by your phone. 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:03.679 It's marked by a simple yellow arrow. 00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:10.159 And some of the markers are there, as you saw on the screen, that are like standards, but that are like statues. 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:18.480 But sometimes you'll get into areas, and my wife and I are walking and you're looking for the yellow arrow, and it's literally someone with a spray can of yellow paint. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:25.679 And they've just taken the side of the building like graffiti, and they've just put a yellow arrow that says, go this direction. 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:27.679 And that's the whole system. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:32.000 Here's the problem for me it doesn't tell me the whole route. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:35.440 It only tells me the next turn. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:39.279 It only tells me what the next step might be. 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:42.480 It really doesn't feel like a plan for me, right? 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:47.360 Obedience rarely shows you the whole route, it just shows you what the next step is. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:53.840 That's exactly why Paul, in this prayer for the church, is praying that they would bear fruit in every good work. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:57.919 Fruitfulness doesn't can't come from having this comprehensive plan. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:08.000 It actually comes from you being faithful, starting now, in the week that God has put in front of you, in the context in which you're working, playing, and living in, and being obedient in that. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:13.759 The yellow arrows in your life are right there, the next step available to you. 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:20.720 In Psalms 119, we read the following: Your word is a lamp for my feet. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:22.879 It's a light on my path. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:37.200 I read that again this week, and I love that the psalmist actually uses this picture of a lamp because I think in my own life, and maybe some of you would relate to this, I would prefer a high beam light that would show me way down the path. 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:39.759 I want to see a mile down my life. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.399 I want to see two miles, three miles down my life. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:44.320 But unfortunately, God says this. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:57.120 In other words, you're going to be able to see the next step or two in front of you, and you're going to have to trust me each step of the way. 00:14:57.440 --> 00:14:58.639 I hate that. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:01.519 I hate GPS. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:04.000 I hate CarPlay GPS in my car. 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:05.200 I never trust it. 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:06.960 I was driving around San Francisco. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:08.559 I don't even know San Francisco. 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:15.120 I'm driving around yesterday and I'm putting in addresses of where we want to go because mostly coffee shops, and I'm putting them in. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:22.240 And when it tells me to go a certain direction, I'm like, eh, I think I've driven this way with Rob, and I don't think this is the way we're supposed to go. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:23.600 And maybe we're supposed to go this direction. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:25.840 How many of you battle your GPS, right? 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:27.600 And then you decide to go off. 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:29.679 You go rogue off your GPS. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:38.639 And within a few turns or two, you realize there's a huge traffic jam, there's road construction, there's an accident that you could not see. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.519 Because the technology of the GPS sees things that we don't see. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:55.120 And what's more important than the direction of your car and the trajectory of some destination you're trying to get to in our lives is we have to believe that the Holy Spirit sees that what we do not see. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:16:10.720 And that we have to understand that as long as God is illuminating just a step or two of obedience in front of us, that when the next step is necessary, the next yellow arrow of our nest of our lives is necessary, we will be able to see it. 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:13.679 The problem is we like to control everything, don't we? 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:14.559 I do. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:16.240 I'm sure you don't. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:19.120 And sometimes when we pray, it even comes into that. 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:22.000 So I want to encourage you as we think about marker number one. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:33.519 Maybe potentially even in our prayer life, as we're growing in prayer and we're seeking Him in prayer even more, maybe some of the demands of our prayers or the direction of our prayers need to pull back a little bit. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:37.039 And the prayer needs to be, God, just show me the next thing. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:48.639 God, it just extend to me the primary invitation of helping me to see the daily act of following the next arrow as I learn you and I learn the direction you want me to go. 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:54.720 Because the reality is obedience is a step by step by step intervention. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:56.240 Number two, you ready? 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:57.759 Number two, marker number two. 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:02.559 Here's the second thing the Camino and Paul teaches us is you were never meant to walk alone. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:03.600 You're like, duh. 00:17:03.679 --> 00:17:04.799 No, it's not a song. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:05.680 It's this. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:07.440 You were never meant to walk alone. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:18.880 In other words, even part of our direction for you this summer here at New North is designed a little bit around the fact that faith, life transformation, and faith happens best in the context of relationship. 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:27.920 You're gonna grow more in your faith, not in isolation, but as you get around people who are gonna challenge you and mentor you and care for you and pray for you. 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:31.920 That's how life, living a life and walking a life worthy, really works. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:37.440 One of you that one of the things that catches you off guard a little bit on the Camino is that there's actually other people. 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:49.119 Like you think you're gonna go out there in the middle of Spain somewhere and you're just gonna kind of be by yourself and it's kind of cool, but along the way, you're gonna stumble into people, and then when you get to the end of the night, here's where it gets crazy. 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:51.839 All the other pilgrims are all gathered, right? 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:56.480 And all the little cafes, etc., are filled with people and they're there. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:04.480 Like you might sit down at a table, and all of a sudden across from you, there's a risk, a retired school teacher from South Korea who's walking the Camino. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:10.880 You might sit down and there's a young single gal from Brazil whose dad just died and she's out walking the Camino. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:17.279 Or an older couple that my wife and I met who walk the Camino every year on their anniversary for a week. 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:21.119 You meet them and you hear their stories, and they hear yours. 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:22.640 And none of it's planned. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:26.799 You're just all tired, you're all achy, you're all blistered up. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:27.920 Sounds like life. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:29.519 You're all exhausted. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:31.440 You're sharing humanity. 00:18:31.599 --> 00:18:42.400 A few years ago, we were on the Camino during my 25th birthday, and um, and we sat down at a restaurant, but the tables were all close. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:45.440 And my wife had told the waiter to bring out a cake of some sort. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:51.680 And when the waiter brings the cake out, all of the other pilgrims around who we did not even know, they just get involved. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:19:00.799 They just insert themselves into the situation and they begin singing happy birthday, and they're acting like I'm the greatest friend that they've ever had in their lives. 00:19:01.119 --> 00:19:14.000 And that was a, it was actually, I'll use the word, it was actually a powerful moment to be halfway across the globe with people you never have met, and for them to be acting like your day of birth is the most important thing that ever happened. 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:17.279 Because it matters who we're doing life with. 00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:19.119 That's what Paul is praying for. 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:22.799 He's actually print playing, he's actually praying in the plural. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:23.839 Did you notice that? 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:29.920 He's not praying like you, he's praying in a way that says, we are together in this. 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:34.000 The worthy walk in Colossians is plural from beginning to end. 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:38.400 That we are bearing fruit together, enduring together, giving thanks together. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:41.599 That is, this is not a faith that is designed to be walked alone. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:43.519 The writer of Hebrews says it this way. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:56.559 And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up being together, meeting together, but encouraging one another. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:02.160 The worthy walk is not a solo trail, it's always meant to be walked together. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:03.200 So let me teach you a term. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:04.079 You're gonna say it with me. 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:06.400 It goes like this Buen Camino. 00:20:07.599 --> 00:20:08.480 One more time. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:18.640 We were actually running the Golden Gate Bridge yesterday because my wife loves it and the wind's blowing and she's loving it, and I'm like, uh, and she loves it. 00:20:18.799 --> 00:20:20.720 So we're we drive all the way to the Golden Gate. 00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:23.200 It's a long way from Burlingame to the Golden Gate. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:24.480 No one ever told me that. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:27.680 So we get there and we're gonna run and we run the thing, and it's amazing. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:28.720 We had a great time. 00:20:28.880 --> 00:20:35.920 But as we're coming back across from the Sal Salito side, we pass this guy walking and we're jogging, and he's coming this direction. 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:42.079 I didn't really notice, but he had a shell on his backpack and a and a uh a patch. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:48.319 The shell is representative when you walk the camino, all the people walking have a shell on their backpack. 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:52.720 So my wife screams out, Buing Camino at him as we run past him. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:56.559 And he just turns around and he's just pumped out of his mind, like, ah, right? 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:00.000 Somebody he wasn't walking the Camino from San Francisco. 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:05.519 But he obviously had done it before because it's the greeting that you use when you're walking. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:14.720 So every time you walk in the Camino and you see a fellow pilgrim, either at night or when you're walking, you just quickly say, It's like saying hello, but you say, Buen camino. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:19.759 And it's not good destination, it's good walk. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:29.279 It's basically affirming, and it's almost an intercession for them to have an amazing journey, an amazing walk. 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:30.319 It's a blessing. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:37.839 You're speaking, you're kind of speaking good over someone's road before they even know what the road is gonna be or where it's gonna go. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:39.839 You're saying, I see you. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:41.279 I'm for you. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:42.880 May God go with you. 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:45.200 And strangers say it to each other. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:49.039 Now, we're not all gonna walk around New North and say Buen Camino. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:50.480 You can if you want. 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:57.359 But I think the concept and the idea is something that we wanna continue to embed in our community. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:59.759 What if it was how we actually treated each other? 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:01.119 When we saw each other. 00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:15.440 The idea that however our walk is at the moment, the trials, the difficulties, the wins, when someone tells you they're walking into a hard week, a diagnosis, a difficult decision, a hard conversation, you say something to them that says, I see you. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:18.799 You kind of give them a buen camino kind of moment. 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:21.200 Or maybe someone shares something powerful. 00:22:21.359 --> 00:22:22.799 They took a step forward this week. 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:24.720 They had an answer to prayer, a win. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:31.359 And the same way you kind of buen camino them, you say, Man, you are killing, you are living a life worthy. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:32.079 Keep going. 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:37.839 This is where that's the kind of church that Paul was praying about and praying for with the church of Colossae. 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:46.400 People who will pay attention to each other's roads and speak good over them on the hard miles and the difficult ones. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:48.480 So let's not do this alone, huh? 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:49.519 Let's do this together. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:50.720 Here's marker number three. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:51.279 Here we go. 00:22:51.519 --> 00:22:57.839 Marker number three says this is what you carry, you're gonna feel it. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:22:59.759 Let me explain. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:06.960 When you've walked the Camino a few times, you always can spot the rookies, especially the first couple days. 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:09.839 Because they've got everything on their back, right? 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:16.160 They've got protein bars, like cases of protein bars from Costco in case they need something to eat on the journey. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:16.480 Right? 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:22.559 They've got gallons and liters of water as if there's never gonna be another place to fill their jug again. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:26.960 And the only reason we notice them and kind of laugh a little bit is because we were them. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:30.319 The first year my wife and I went, we took so much stuff. 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:35.759 I mean, American Airlines had to bring a different plane just to get all of our stuff over to Madrid. 00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:39.759 Because we just, you just, you think, I can't go without this thing. 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:44.640 But here's what happens: pretty early in the journey, people start dumping things. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:52.160 They get their first destination at night and they suddenly discover I don't need that book, I don't need that snack, I don't need that, those three pairs of clothes. 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:57.359 They actually have communal bins along the walk where people will actually dump things. 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:05.599 They'll just say, I'm done, and they will just dump that weight off because they don't want to carry it any longer. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:12.240 I think that the analogy is so real and relevant for us as well, isn't it? 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:16.160 Some of us are in the middle of trying to walk with weights that we need to dump. 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:28.079 Some of you, some of the stuff you're wrestling with and the things that are kind of bogging you down, and you're sitting here today, even thinking about the week behind you or the week ahead, and in reality, part of it is just you going, I gotta lose this weight. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:31.680 I gotta lose this weight of unhealthiness in my life. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:34.880 Things that are that I'm carrying that I'm not designed to carry. 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:37.119 You can't walk worthy carrying everything. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:38.960 Some things have to be left on the road. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:46.480 The writer of Hebrews says this very clearly: let us throw off everything that hinders. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:57.759 And the sin, which a lot of time is that weight, the decisions we make, the rebellion against God, so because it easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:02.799 And Jesus said this to us He said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened. 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:07.039 You're carrying so much, and I will give you rest. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:15.279 So if you're carrying stuff today that you weren't designed to carry, you need to, we need to have some, we need to say goodbye. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:16.960 We start to take that stuff off. 00:25:17.119 --> 00:25:19.519 But here's the thing, attention, here's the thing. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:29.519 There is another thing that the Camino also teaches us, that not everything heavy that we're carrying is actually dead weight or is meant to be disposed of. 00:25:30.079 --> 00:25:35.759 So some of the things we are designed to actually carry all the way to the end. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:37.440 And that difference matters. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:42.000 I want to show you a picture of a gal by the name of Meats, a very young gal, Meats. 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:49.839 Meats is from the Netherlands, and last year when we were walking the Camino, we were walking one of the routes that was pretty isolated. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:56.079 And within the first couple days, we stumbled upon meats as she was walking alone in Spain. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:57.839 And we didn't really bother her. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:00.319 She was always taking pictures. 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:08.799 So we would pass her because she would stop and she would take pictures of flowers or plants or animals or vines and vineyards. 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:14.480 And she had this little stenopad, very small stenopad, and she would write notes and she would take notes. 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:18.960 So we just left her alone and waved at her buen camino and kept moving. 00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:24.559 It was near the end, actually, of our week there that we were sitting at lunch one day and she just came up to us. 00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:27.680 She just kind of interjected and introduced herself. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:28.559 She said, I'm meets. 00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:30.079 I said, meets, because I'm that person. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:32.079 I said, What's with the stenopad? 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:42.799 And she said, I'm taking notes on everything because I'm writing a blog every night so that my kids can read it and know that I'm still alive here in Spain. 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:45.279 And I said, Tell me more. 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:52.079 She said, Well, I actually walked the Camino two years ago with my husband, and he passed away last year. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:27:03.920 And so I decided to come back and walk it again, and I'm wearing his rain jacket, and I'm wearing his socks, and I'm gonna take him, I'm gonna carry him all the way to the end to the cathedral in Santiago. 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:11.759 She got all emotional, so emotional that she actually just excused herself from the lunch and kept walking while we finished our food. 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:16.480 That's that's a burden that Meats needed to carry. 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:21.839 That was something that God had placed there that was appropriate for her to carry. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:25.440 That she was to carry it and process that grief. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:30.000 Because she wasn't carrying something that she needed to drop in a bin on the side of the road. 00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:32.319 She was carrying something sacred. 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:38.079 She was carrying love with nowhere left to go except forward into Santiago. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:41.359 She wasn't walking to somehow get rid of it. 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:43.440 She needed to walk to finish it. 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:45.680 Because some weight isn't meant to be discarded. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:47.759 It belongs at the altar, right? 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:52.720 It belongs that in a place where we're to bring that to God and to process that with God. 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:56.799 There are burdens that New North God doesn't want you to discard on the side of the road. 00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:59.119 He's asking you to carry them all the way. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:10.960 A burden for others, a burden for other people, a burden for a prodigal son or a prodigal child, a burden for our church, and what what our church needs to be and how our church can continue to have even a greater impact. 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:18.319 Some weight is meant to be carried the whole way because it's really what makes it an offering, not a burden. 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:27.599 So the question maybe isn't just what you need to leave behind, because there may be things, but it also needs to be what you do you need to bring all the way home on this journey of life. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.720 What do you need to bring all the way to Him? 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:34.480 Because some weights like meats can't be set down, it has to be carried. 00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:40.640 And that's why the final thing that Paul prays for is not strength to lay it down, it's strength to keep going. 00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:42.000 That's marker number four. 00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:45.680 Marker number four says this we're gonna keep walking. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:49.920 That's that endurance word, and we're just gonna be looking for the next step. 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:53.519 We're gonna keep walking, we're gonna be looking for the next step. 00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:59.440 There is a day when you walk the camito that you get up in the morning and you do not want to walk anymore. 00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:07.279 There is a day where you have 15 miles ahead of you and you're not even gonna get to your final destination, and you just think, I'm gonna call an Uber. 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:09.119 It was the easier thing to do. 00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:13.359 Your clothes are wet, your feet are blistered, your muscles are sore. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:20.400 And yet you have to get up because some part of your brain starts to think, this is where I quit. 00:29:20.640 --> 00:29:25.359 I remember those days where my legs are done, my feet are worth, and there's still miles to go. 00:29:25.519 --> 00:29:27.200 But Paul, he encourages us. 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:32.160 Remember in verse 11, he says this be strengthened with all power that comes from him. 00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:38.559 In other words, there's gonna be a moment where you don't have the strength in yourself, and you've got to get the strength from somewhere else. 00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:53.279 You may be a pretty strong individual, you may be pretty tough, you may know things, you may have experienced things, but at some point, you're gonna need his strength according to his glorious might, so that you may have had you may have great endurance and patience. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:57.119 Paul is praying for supernatural strengthening. 00:29:57.279 --> 00:29:59.279 And that's my prayer for you guys today. 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:07.119 Not from your personal reserves or just because you white knuckle it or grind it out enough, but we know that there is someone who is walking with you. 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:14.400 Because endurance ultimately in our faith and in our lives, this isn't about how strong you are, it's about acknowledging who's walking with us, right? 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:21.680 It's about acknowledging we're not walking alone, but ultimately we're walking with others, and ultimately we're walking with him. 00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:24.799 That's endurance, and God gives it to those who ask. 00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:28.880 Here's what Isaiah says: you've heard this passage before, but you need to be reminded of it. 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:39.839 Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will run and not grow weary, and here it is they will walk and not be faint. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.000 And we've learned this year that endurance even comes to the place of prayer, doesn't it? 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:45.839 That sometimes we endure in prayer. 00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:52.559 We show up in days where heaven feels quiet when you've prayed the same thing for months without receiving an obvious answer. 00:30:52.720 --> 00:30:54.240 That's not a failure of faith. 00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:56.319 That's just us continuing to walk. 00:30:56.480 --> 00:30:57.839 It's parapateo. 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:00.160 It's walking and praying through it. 00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:07.039 And Paul's saying, in those moments, you're gonna be strong because the road ahead, God is gonna give you strength for that. 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:30.319 What's amazing about the Camino is this is that no matter what route you walk, no matter how far you walk, whether you walk for five days or 50 days, that the destination for all the pilgrims is Santiago de Compostelo, which is a sacred place that for thousands of years or hundreds of years, thousands have come to. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:33.519 It's an amazing cathedral that's there. 00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:40.480 And there's nothing like walking into that cathedral and into that massive courtyard where all the other pilgrims are. 00:31:40.559 --> 00:31:42.160 And when you get there, people are laughing. 00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:44.160 Some people are just sitting there exhausted. 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:48.319 They sit there for hours, they're just quiet, they're reviewing the experience. 00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:52.079 People are taking selfies, they're taking pictures, they're doing all of that. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:56.400 But what we know is this is that that is the end of the journey. 00:31:56.640 --> 00:31:57.759 They've arrived. 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:01.680 That at least for that moment, the walking is done. 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:08.000 And last year, my wife and I walked into that huge plaza on the last day, and there she was, meets. 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:09.680 She made it. 00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:26.720 There she was, standing there with her with her jacket on and her husband's socks, and we took a picture together and we celebrated because she had parapeteal, she had walked through it, and she had done something worthy in her life, honoring of her husband. 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:32.559 There's a destination that God has for all of us, and it's worth walking in a worthy way. 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:41.359 Two years ago, when we went to the Camino, someone had given us kind of a tip, and they said, Listen, when you get to Santiago, get a shower. 00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:42.400 Good tip. 00:32:43.359 --> 00:32:44.240 Get some rest. 00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:48.400 In a day or two in, you should take a tour of this massive cathedral. 00:32:48.720 --> 00:33:01.200 And they suggested that we take a tour, not during the day, where there's lots of people inside the building, and it's a huge place, but that we take a tour at night, specifically 10 o'clock at night, because all the people are gone. 00:33:01.279 --> 00:33:04.079 It's empty cathedral, and you really can see everything. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:04.799 So we did. 00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:05.839 We signed up for the tour. 00:33:05.920 --> 00:33:09.200 The hardest thing for me was staying up till 10 o'clock to take the tour. 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:13.759 But when we went, it was it was the greatest tip ever because there was about 20 of us. 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:25.599 And this tour guide, who was a young professor from the local university who was kind of just had a side gig telling, taking people through the cathedral, walked us through all of that space. 00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:26.079 Right? 00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:27.200 Through all that space. 00:33:27.279 --> 00:33:29.920 And man, the Catholics, they know all the symbolism, don't they? 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:35.119 Some of you grew up Catholic, you understand all the symbolism and all the power of that and all the different things that it means. 00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:37.519 And so they're walking us through all of that. 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:52.079 Well, in the cathedral, the reason it was even built, and the reason it's the destination is because the story is that the apostle James was actually the missionary or the one who evangelized initially the country or that area of Spain. 00:33:52.240 --> 00:34:02.640 And so there's a whole story about James coming there and evangelizing, and eventually he dies, and they believe that his bones are actually there in that cathedral. 00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:12.400 So they have an urn where you can go down into this area, and you can behind the behind the bars, there's what's believed to be the bones of the Apostle James. 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:13.679 I don't know. 00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:33.760