When Barriers Must Be Broken - Vineyard Columbus


Aug 23, 2014 - ...

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When Barriers Must Be Broken Rich Nathan August 23-24, 2014 Forever Changed: The Women Who Met Jesus Series Mark 7:24-30

Marlene and I had the privilege of visiting South Africa this past month for us to teach at a Pan African Conference for pastors from 16 different African countries. While we were there in South Africa, we took the opportunity to visit the Apartheid Museum in Capetown. Most of you know that South Africa had a rigid system of racial segregation called apartheid which is the Afrikaans word for “apart-hood” or “separate existence.” Apartheid laws which were on the books for many decades required every South African to be classified according to race. All work places, all schools, all restaurants and hotels, pools, vehicles, government spaces were strictly segregated. So were churches. Blacks and whites were forbidden to marry or have sexual relations between the races. Blacks, Asians, and what were called “colored people” – those of mixed race – were forcibly removed from their homes and their land and were pushed into segregated group areas. Blacks and mixed race people were barred from voting. They were barred from organizing. The South African minority white government was legally permitted to detain and jail blacks without a trial. Thousands of people were tortured and killed; and tens of thousands of people were imprisoned by the white minority government who enforced the apartheid laws. A number of South Africans resisted these discriminatory barriers. One man, Nelson Mandela, who was one of a handful of black lawyers, emerged as a leader of the AntiApartheid Movement. From August 1962 Mandela spent 27 years and 6 months in prison for his activity against racial segregation. 17 years were spent on Robben Island for his political offenses. Marlene and I had the privilege of visiting Robben Island which, like Alcatraz in the United States, was an island prison. It is just off shore from Capetown. You have to take a ferry to Robben Island. Mandela was housed in unit of single cells just big enough for a tall man like him. He was 6’4”. It was big enough for a tall man like him to lay down flat. He could literally touch the walls on both sides of his cell by stretching out his arms. His eyesight was permanently damaged by the glare of the sun and the dust from the limestone quarry where he was forced to do hard labor for year. He never got to see his children grow up. His marriage fell apart. But he stayed strong.

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And as you know, he emerged from prison not bitter, seeking vengeance. He emerged from 27 years of prison from middle age to old age seeking the healing of his country. Mandela became the first popularly elected President of South Africa. His story that we got to see a little part of, and touch his jail cell walls – his story is incredibly inspiring. But signs of the legacy of racial discrimination are still everywhere in South Africa. Many blacks having been deprived of educational and economic opportunities for decades live in shanty towns. Some don’t have running water, or electricity. Many are put in government housing because of the incredible impoverishment of the black population. Many whites having been privileged for so many years live in beautiful suburban neighborhoods surrounded by high walls with barbed wire on the top. There are reminders of black anger and resentment and white privilege everywhere in South Africa. A week after Marlene and I returned to the United States Michael Brown, an 18-year old teenager, was shot and killed in Ferguson, Missouri. And the issue of race was put back on the front pages of every newspaper in America. We Americans are debating the issue of race and our racial history once again. We’ve been doing a series this summer on women whose lives were transformed by Jesus. The series is called “Forever Changed.” Today we’re going to look at a woman who broke down a series of barriers including the racial barrier and her life was never the same because of her encounter with Jesus. I’ve called today’s talk, “When Barriers Must Be Broken.” Let’s pray. Mark 7:24–30 (NIV) 24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 28 “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. We don’t know why Jesus went to the city of Tyre, away from Galilee. He may have wanted to get some rest from his opponents in Galilee. Maybe he wanted to teach his disciples in private. One thing that is clear in this story is that Jesus is no longer in the

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Promised Land. He is no longer in Judea, or in Galilee. He is going to an area where at least Jewish people assumed God was absent. The barrier of God’s absence I want to look again at v. 24: Mark 7:24 (NIV) 24 Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. One thing we know wherever Jesus went his presence was never a secret. When Jesus is present in a place, people find out. That’s true all throughout the gospels. Jesus takes a boat across the Sea of Galilee, people find out where he is and they walk miles to get to Jesus. Jesus is in a home, the crowds are so thick pushing in that some men dig through the roof to get their sick friend to Jesus. Whenever Jesus is present in a place, the only problem you have is crowd control. Why are some churches bursting at the seams when other churches are just going through the motion? Bottom line, it is often the presence or the absence of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, the thing that has always distinguished God’s people from all the other people in the world was not the fact that they had the land and other people didn’t. It was not ethnicity or blood. The thing that distinguished the people of God both in the Old Testament and the New Testament was the presence of God. Here is what we read in the Old Testament book of Exodus: Exodus 33:12–17 (NIV) 12 Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” 14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” 17 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” The distinctive mark of the people of God is that we are people of the presence. The greatest disaster in Old Testament history was when God departed from the Temple in Jerusalem because of Israel’s sin. You can read about that in Ezekiel 10. The people of Israel still had the Temple standing. They still made sacrifices. They still had the rituals.

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They still had the religion. They still had the prayers. They were still living in the Promised Land, but they didn’t have the presence of God. The Holy of Holies where God dwelt was empty. And for nearly 600 years God’s presence was withdrawn from his people. The prophetic voice was stilled. And the prophets all looked forward to the day when the Lord’s presence would return. Here is what we read in Malachi 3:1: Malachi 3:1 3 See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. The great promise of Jesus repeated over and over again especially during the last week of his life and after his resurrection was the promise of Christ’s presence with us. Brothers and sisters, nothing that we can do as a church, no act of mercy, no act of justice, no counseling, no teaching, no community center program, no words we sing, or thing we do contributes more to people getting set free, people getting healed, people being changed, people being transformed. Nothing we can do compares with what happens when a person encounters the presence of Jesus. The mark of Vineyard from its beginning is we want to be People of the Presence. And whenever we fall away from seeking the presence of God, nothing works. Let me ask you some questions. Do you pray for the presence of God in your life? Do you pray for the presence of God in your marriage? Do you pray for the presence of God in your family? Do you pray for the presence of God in this church? Do you pray for the presence of God in your workplace or in your school? Do you pray for the presence of God in this city? When you watch the news in this country and in this world, do you say, “God, give us your presence?” Whenever I need a little reminder of how desperately I must have the presence of God in my life, all I need to do is consider how I live without the presence of God in my life and how I live with the presence of God in my life. I want to read to you from the Message Version of the Bible what life is like when it is just powered by our own ambitions, our own drives, and our own smarts. Galatians 5 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magicshow religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yetnever-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of

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depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I cold go on. But what is life like when it is under the presence of the Holy Spirit? But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifs into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard – things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Nothing is better, nothing offers suffering people more comfort, nothing gives confused people more direction and empty people more satisfaction than the presence of Jesus. Let’s read on. Mark 7:25–27 (NIV) 25 In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” And here we encounter: The barrier of biblical misunderstanding This text has caused readers of the Bible problems since the time of the early church. We have records going back more than 1600 years of people who struggled with this text. And, of course, the problem with the text is obvious. Jesus’ words appear really harsh, really insensitive. They seem so out of character for Jesus. We constantly encounter in the gospels a really compassionate, really kind, really loving Savior especially with people who are in need – not so much with the religious, but with people in need. Jesus makes himself so available to the hurting and especially to those outsiders, to women, to tax collectors, to lepers, to prostitutes. So when we Jesus’ statement in v. 27: Mark 7:27 (NIV) 27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

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It seems so inconsistent with the character of the person we read about in the rest of the gospels. What do we do with this? Before I tackle this tough text, I want to frankly acknowledge that this text is only one of hundreds difficult passages that you and I encounter as we read the Bible. What do you do when you read a passage in the Bible where God appears to be doing something unjust, or doing something that appears really harsh, or saying something that offends you? What do you do with difficult Bible texts? Do you just get upset? Do you say to yourself, “Well, after all, this is an ancient book; what do you expect from people who were living thousands of years ago in a pre-scientific time?” When a text pokes you in the eye, do you just do your own thing because you disagree? Do you say, “Well, I’m sorry; this doesn’t make sense to me, so I’m not going to do it?” Do you react like so many people who get offended and say, “Well, if that’s the way God feels about this; if that’s the way God feels about women, or about slaves, or about gays, or about non-Jews, then I’m certainly not going to go to him for help?” One of the best ways to grow your faith is to wrestle with tough texts, to wrestle them down until you feel that you’ve come to some sort of understanding. Faith grows when you dig into texts that bother you. Don’t shy away; don’t run. Don’t compartmentalize them out of your faith. Wrestle, argue with the text. Search out answers. Read. In this particular case, I would note just a few things that relieve some of the sting and reveal the text as not being so harsh and unloving as a superficial reading of the text might suggest. First, the gospel writers where we read this story, Matthew and Mark, certainly did not interpret the text as harsh and unloving. If they were convinced that this text conflicted with the portrait of Jesus that they were painting, the portrait of a man who was absolutely compassionate, especially to the hurting; if they thought Jesus’ words contradicted that portrait they probably wouldn’t have included the story. And second, the woman to whom these words were spoken was not pushed away. She wasn’t offended. She continues the dialogue. Third, Jesus’ reply contains two words that really soften the blow. The first isn’t apparent in the English translation. It is the word for “dog.” There are two words in the original Greek for “dog.” The first is a kind of scavenger dog that you often see in the developing world. They are filthy pack animals that are eating garbage in the street. That is not the word used here. Jesus uses a second word for “dog” which really means “puppy.” He is talking about a household pet. He says, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the children’s pets, the children’s puppies.?” The one word that is really important here is this word “first.” V. 27: Mark 7:27 (NIV)

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27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” First, he says, let the children eat all they want. Let the children eat first. And then we’ll give it to the puppies. What is Jesus saying? Jesus is saying what he says all through the gospels, that his mission during his time on earth was centered on the children of Israel. He came to fulfill all of God’s promises to the people of Israel. Not one word of promise from the entire Hebrew Bible would be left unfulfilled. The purpose of the promises of God to Israel was not so that Israel would keep God and God’s kindness as their private possession, but so that Israel would be a blessing to the nations. God’s plan revealed in Jesus’ mission to Israel was to first bless Israel so that Israel would bless the world. That’s why we read texts like this in Matthew 10:5-6: Matthew 10:5–6 (NIV) 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. Jesus’ ministry during his earthly life was focused on Israel. He was fulfilling God’s promise to Israel. But after he died on a cross and was raised from the dead, we enter the second phase of Jesus’ ministry. Here is what we read in Matthew 28:18-20: Matthew 28:18–20 (NIV) 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The final thing I would quickly note about this text and so many texts that we struggle with is that we are hampered by reading our reading of a text and not hearing Jesus. We don’t have the privilege of hearing Jesus’ tone. Communication experts tell us that the majority of meaning is found not in the content of a statement, but in its context, in body language, in tone. That’s why, if you have a difficult message to communicate, you don’t want to communicate it by email. Folks can’t see your facial expression; they don’t know what your tone is our your body language. There is a difference between saying, “You look sick,” which is a statement of concern, “Are you OK,” and, “Man, you look sick! You look awesome!” There is a difference between a sarcastic “terrific, that really makes my day,” and “Terrific! That makes my day!” If Jesus said this statement about the puppies with a warm smile on his face and a gleam in his eye, no wonder the woman felt free to push in.

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We have the barrier of biblical misunderstanding. And then we have here in this story: The barrier of obstacles to answered prayer Jesus puts this woman off, at least for a moment. And the problem is exacerbated, at least in Matthew’s account, because not only does Jesus say, “First let’s give the bread to the children before we give it to the puppies,” but here is what we read when Matthew fills out the account with these words: Matthew 15:22–23 (NIV) 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” 23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” Initially, Jesus is silent and the disciples are driving this woman away. One of the things we find over and over in the gospels are how often obstacles are thrown in the way of people connecting with Jesus. Over and over again individuals are confronted with a choice – do I push through the barrier until I get what I want from Jesus, or do I let this obstacle dissuade me and walk away from Jesus? Zacchaeus had the barrier of a crowd. He was a little guy. And so he climbed a tree to be able to see Jesus. The woman with the flow of blood faces an obstacle of shame a crowd, but she pushes through to see Jesus. The men with their sick friend faced the obstacle of a crowd and a roof, but they dig through to get to Jesus. We face so many obstacles to touching Jesus. It may be a doctor’s prognosis – here’s the way it is. It may be what everyone else says. It may be Jesus’ delay. Tim Keller, the wonderful teacher and pastor at Redeemer’s Presbyterian Church in New York, said: There are different kinds of people; there are cowards, there are regular people, there are heroes, and then there are parents. Parents are not really on the spectrum from cowardice to courage because if your child is in trouble, you simply do whatever it takes to save her. It really doesn’t matter what your personality is like, whether you are a shy person, or an outspoken person. Your personality is irrelevant. It really doesn’t matter how much income you have, or if you can afford what your child needs. It doesn’t matter if you live near or far, how tired you are, loving parents do whatever it takes to get their child the help they need. If your child is on the autism spectrum, if your child has some kind of disability, if your child needs special help, loving parents push in despite the obstacles.

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There are two kinds of ways to assert yourself with God. There are two kinds of ways to push in. One way that is so common for us in the Western world is to assert our rights. Basically we say to God, “God you are being unfair with me. After all of my Christian service; after all of my prayers, after all I’ve done, you can’t do this for me?” There is a boldness based on the assertion of rights. But there is something very different in this woman. I would call it a right-less boldness. Right-Less boldness The woman says essentially, “OK, I get it. I’m not part of the nation of Israel. I’m just one of the puppies under the table. I get it. I don’t have any right to have you heal my daughter. But I’m going to be bold with you, Jesus, not based on my moral worth, but based upon your goodness. Jesus, give me what I don’t deserve because God is good.” This is the gospel in miniature. God, I know I’m just a puppy under the table. God, don’t give me what I deserve, give me what I don’t deserve based upon your goodness and grace, alone. I’m going to be bold with you, God, because I trust your goodness. That’s why Jesus says to her in Matthew 15:28: Matthew 15:28 (NIV) 28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. The last barrier to be broken is: The barrier of race This passage is about a Syrophoenician woman. Matthew calls her a Canaanite woman. He raises for us all of the incredible enmity and hostility that existed between the Jewish people and the Canaanites going back 2000 years to the time of Abraham. Centuries of hostility between these two races. Is there anything more relevant to where we’re living right now in America than the issue of race? This issue keeps asserting itself over and over again in the United States, most recently in Ferguson in August. But also in New York in July when Eric Garner was arrested on the charge of selling loose cigarettes. He was put in a chokehold and died. And in Sanford, Florida last summer when Trayvon Martin, another black teenager, was killed. Of course, the issue of racism is not just an American problem, or a white problem. I recently read the Ethiopian story of creation and it goes this way. When God was creating man, God formed him out of the dust. God put him in the oven to bake him, but he turned the heat up too high. When he pulled the man out, he was a bit too

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burned. That’s how black people were created. So, God tried again and this time he set the oven too low and out came whites. He couldn’t do much with them because they were under-baked. On the third attempt, God got it right and out came beautiful brown Ethiopians. Race, religion, culture, ethnicity – there are so many sources of conflict in the world. It is hard to share the same space without conflict. When we look around the world and we see these ethnic conflicts in Rwanda in the 90’s, in the former Yugoslavia in the late 80’s, in South Africa, and now in Israel and Gaza, in Iraq, in the Sudan, in Ferguson, what’s going on? Certainly, one of the things that keep people apart is our fear of each other. This other group is scary. They’re violent. They’re oppressive. They are different than us. They don’t act like us, or talk like us, or think like us, or feel like us. They hate us. One of the things that keep us separated from one another is simply fear. We’re afraid to get close. And then there are old wounds that keep resurfacing over and over again that are never healed. And every new injury is a reminder of that seeping wound that’s never dealt with, never acknowledged, never paid for, and never forgiven. Right now, regarding Ferguson, there are two basic storylines that are competing for dominance regarding the shooting death of 18-year old Michael Brown. Polls tell us that many whites hold on to the narrative that this shooting death was an isolated incident and that we need to be careful to not rush to judgment. We need to look at the individual facts of the case and let justice run its course. The same polls tell us that many blacks in America believe that this is precisely the problem. That what happened to Michael Brown is not just an indictment of an individual police officer in an individual circumstance. This circumstance is read against a much larger story of a racially discriminatory criminal justice system which profiles African Americans, stops African American young men on the streets way more often than it stops white men, harasses African American, and pulls African Americans over in cars in disproportionate numbers, searches the cars, and convict African Americans for the same crimes in disproportionate higher numbers and to tougher sentences than whites. That this is part of pattern and practice across America. Now, I’m not going to stand up here and tell you which storyline is correct, as if I could. God only knows which perspective is just, which is right – neither one, or in some combination; one or the other. I’m not going to stand up here and give you the correct narrative. But I will pose a question: why should we listen to anyone else’s narrative other than our own? Why should I as a white man, try to walk in the shoes of an African American teenager? Why should I listen to what people other than my group believe?

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Let me personalize this. I will speak from the perspective of someone who has enormous privilege here in America. I’m white. My race guarantees me that no one is ever going to call me a credit to my race, or ask me what all whites believe about such and such; and I will never need to suspect that I’m denied credit or housing, or pulled over by a police officer because of my race. My race has absolutely more power than other races in America, more wealth. I’m part of the majority. And I’m a man. My gender has more power than women in America. And I’m a citizen of this country. As a citizen I have more power than non-citizens. I’m educated. I have a law school degree. I know how to get help, and I can afford to get it. I’m part of the strongest country in the world, the wealthiest country in the world, and I’m the senior pastor of a megachurch. My life is a life of privilege and power. And on top of all of that, I’m from New York! And so when I come in the room, people of different races, different educational backgrounds, citizens, non-citizens, men and women, educated and uneducated, I come into a room, by definition, as an elephant. People with less power are mice. The mice always have to take account of where the elephant is. Because if the elephant steps in the wrong place, the elephant is going to crush the mice. The elephant, on the other hand, doesn’t have to account of the mice. We just walk around and do our thing. So, what do you do when you discover that you are the most powerful person in the room, or part of the most powerful group in the country? Why should you listen to anyone else? Why hear their perspectives? Every time the issue of race is raised again in our country, I think to myself: only Christianity has the resource to enable people to transcend this racial divide. Only Christianity provides the resource by which the more powerful people can humble themselves to walk in the shoes of those with much less power – people of a different race, non-citizens, folks living on the margins, the poor. Only Christianity has the resource that enables the elephant to get down, to really hear and welcome a perspective other than our own. Why should the powerful listen to the narrative of the powerless? Let me tick off four reasons in closing. Number one, God demonstrated it We Christians worship a God who stepped down from a position of power and walked in the shoes of the powerless. The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:9: 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NIV)

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9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. Christ modeled the proper use of power. Power is never used to get our own way or to insist on our own perspectives, or to step on other people. Power is always used to lift up the powerless. Peace requires it We’re never going to have peace, if the elephant doesn’t listen to the mice. Romans 12:18 says this: Romans 12:18 (NIV) 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. We’re always going to be sitting on a powder keg in America. We’re always just a spark away from an explosion – unless we elephants begin to listen and respond to the very real pain and sense of injustice from those who are our neighbors. Christianity, I believe, has the resource to heal our country. Here is a third thing: The cross achieved it Here is what we read in Ephesians 2:13-14: Ephesians 2:13–14 (NIV) 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, It always is painful to have true reconciliation. When there is hostility between people, we can deal with that hostility superficially. We can say you just need to get over it! We can say the person who says there is a problem is just creating the problem, or we can engage in the very painful process of trying to achieve true reconciliation. It cost the Son of God his blood to break down dividing walls and create the church. And it will continue to be costly to have a truly reconciled multicultural church like Vineyard Columbus. It is hard, painful work to bring people together. It doesn’t come cheaply. It is achieved with blood, sweat and tears. It is hard to love across dividers. It’s hard to have your heart broken. It’s hard to be humble and to listen. Finally,

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Our common mission enables it The reason why our Christian faith has the resource to pull people together is blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans, the able-bodied and those with disabilities, citizens and non-citizens, when we come to Christ we are drawn up into a common mission that transcends our differences. I want to close by showing you a clip from the old movie, Remember the Titans. It is a true story of a high school where there was forced integration back in the early 1970’s. Integration that created all this racial tension on the high school football team. Let’s watch. Remember the Titans Call: Some of you know that you are called specifically to the work of reconciliation. You are called specifically to bring people together across races, across ethnicities, across dividing lines. I’m going to ask you to come up now to receive prayer.

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When Barriers Must Be Broken Rich Nathan August 23-24, 2014 Forever Changed: The Women Who Met Jesus Series Mark 7:24-30

I.

The barrier of God’s absence

II. III.

The barrier of biblical misunderstanding The barrier of obstacles to answered prayer

IV.

The barrier of race A. B. C. D.

God demonstrated it Peace requires it The cross achieved it Our common mission enables it

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