Life Community Church
Life Community Church
Invitation Over Condemnation | Dream Big | Week 3
Ever felt the weight of religious expectations but missed the warmth of being known by name? We lean into the story of Zacchaeus to show how Jesus flips the script—choosing invitation over condemnation and relationship over performance—and why that shift still disrupts our assumptions today. Grace moves first, and when it does, real change follows without manipulation or pressure.
We unpack how curiosity can position us to see Jesus, but only surrender transforms us. From there, we talk about what love looks like on the ground: obeying Jesus because we trust him, loving our neighbors without strings, and refusing to let opinions drown out kindness. If love is our measure, then the loudest microphone in our lives should be the way we treat people—especially those on the same team. Scripture guides the way: love God with everything, love your neighbor as yourself, and let kindness lead to repentance.
Then we get practical. Compassion starts by noticing people, not just their choices. Faith shows up as rides given, meals shared, schedules interrupted, and apologies offered. We challenge a common shortcut—inviting friends to church before sharing our own stories—and encourage a better way: invite people into your life first. Discipleship grows in proximity, on car rides and coffee tables, where the good, the bad, and the ongoing work of grace can actually be seen. If you’re hungry for a faith that feels honest and a church that meets real needs, this conversation will give you language, courage, and a next step.
If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review telling us where you’ve seen grace produce real change.
Hello, this is Jamie Bridges, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. All of our services are inspired and built straight from the Bible. Let's get into this week's message recorded at Life Community Church.
SPEAKER_01:Morning, everybody. 9 a.m. What's up? Yeah, you are. You are. That's good. I need you to be up because uh I got a lot to uh to share with us. And uh so so glad you're here. Welcome. If this is your first time here, welcome. Thanks for uh checking us out. Love to know uh if you're a first-time guest or if there's anything we can do. So as always, you can text Welcome, 618-232-4707. Again, not just as a first-time guest, but if you are here and you say, hey, we have a need or we need help with something, or we want to dedicate our kid, or we want to get baptized, all of that is found on our app or our website. We would love uh for you to communicate that clearly so that we know. Uh, also I want to thank you for being a giving, generous uh church, not just with your money, but also with your time, your talents. Uh, I'm blown away by generosity and seeing people be generous. I think it's the call, it's the mandate as followers of Jesus. If you're a follower of Jesus in this room, I believe that is important, important, important. There's always four ways to give. You can do that on our app as well, or on the black boxes in the back, or a lot of different ways. So you you can see them. I don't need to read to you. You know how to read. Right? Okay, 7:30, I was questioning, but you you should you should know how to read. Hey, uh, the next couple weeks, I just want to uh just kind of prep you uh for the fact that we're gonna have some you know honest conversations over the last six months or so. We've been evaluating, examining uh where we are, kind of uh uh a church audit, so to speak, and and we just want to talk about that. We want to be vulnerable, we're gonna be honest, and we're gonna start those conversations next week. And uh again, it's exciting. I think 2026 is an incredible year. I know everybody says that maybe at the beginning of January, but some of you, maybe, maybe uh 18, 19 days in, you you found yourself, oh man, I've already I've already fallen backwards and I need to need to move forward. There's grace for that, that's the beauty of that. There's no arrival moment. We're not talking about arriving, we're talking about becoming. Okay? So the we get stuck when we start being like, I can't wait till this, or I can't wait till this. Listen, there's no arrival moment in this temporary life. Right? Can we agree on that? Because if there's an arrival moment, we are vastly disappointed. We are becoming like Jesus. That's the that's the aim, that's the goal. So we want to have conversations. I'm gonna start actually some of that this week. Again, just honest conversations. It's gonna stir up a lot of questions. It's gonna stir up um uh like how you ask questions. I think that's important. Uh, there's gonna be a lot of individuals that you can ask these questions to. Uh, I encourage questions. Uh, I don't encourage stupidity. Like, have you ever been told like there's no dumb questions to lie? There are actually dumb questions. You know who said those things? People who ask dumb questions. They're like, you know what? There's no dumb questions. I'm like, I bet I could find one. I bet you could too. Right? So again, we just we want to be clear. Uh we we don't want there to be confusion, so we're gonna have honest conversations. Amen. You guys nervous? You you went from to like, I'm scared. It's okay. That's all right. Let's pray. Jesus, we love you. God, thank you for uh this day. Thank you for all that you're doing. God, we look to you, we lean into you and say, God, uh, we we want you. We need you, we trust you. And God, there might be a lot of unknowns. Maybe we brought some unknowns in today. Maybe we brought some question marks, maybe, maybe there's confusion. God, maybe you are speaking something directly to us. God, we want to hear that. Uh, we know, God, that you are transforming us. We know that you're changing us. And God, we also know that, man, there's a lot of curiosity going on. And God, we just want uh what you want. So, God, teach us today. God, we want to hear your voice in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So I think one of the things as a church, like I think it's important to know what our call is as followers of Jesus. And I recognize that there are men and women in this room. Uh, some of you are curious about Jesus. Uh, some of you are um you're questioning some things, but make no mistake about it. Like, our goal, our aim as a church is we want everybody to follow Jesus. Like, that's the aim. That's always the invite. The invite is always at the end of the day, we want you to follow Jesus. Like that, that's it. Like, that's what we want. That's our desire. The Bible says that Jesus came to seek and to save those that were lost. From the very beginning, Jesus called us lost people. And and he came to seek and to save. We know John 3.16. It's an important uh passage. You're gonna see it today, probably on some banner of the Bears game, maybe tomorrow on college game day, the last college game day of the year in the backdrop. You're gonna see John 3.16. Uh at you might see the IU logo, you might see the U logo, but you're gonna see John 3.16 at some point. And it's an important passage. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him, whoever believes in him, will not perish but have everlasting life. That's important. Like it's it's the gospel, it's the good news. But then it continues, and this is important for us because in order to live like Jesus, or what Peter says, becoming like Jesus, or to be like Jesus, one translation says, 1 Peter chapter 2, to become like Jesus. Like that's the aim, that we are like Jesus, being transformed. In order to do that, we have to do what Jesus did. Live like Jesus lived. And so then the Bible continues in verse 17. It says, For God did not send his son into the world to what? To condemn the world. It's not why he sent his son, to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. So all automatically, we know this gospel, this good news of Jesus is invitation over condemnation. Jesus is inviting people, he's inviting people to the table. And they're they're they look different, they act different. It's not how people thought Jesus was gonna come. That's not new. That's not a new statement. Like there's still things that Jesus does that we're blown away by his grace, his mercy that he extends to us. It's not how we would do it in the flesh. But Jesus says, if you want to be like me, you have to live like me, which means we choose invitation over condemnation. We're not condemning people for what they've done, how they've lived. It's not condemnation. It's always invitation. We're always inviting. And this is what Jesus did. Okay, so we have pillars. Love Jesus, serve peoples, make disciples, give generously. Like these are four standards that we live by as a church, and we believe they flow into each other. And I'm gonna talk about them in a moment. But for us to see how Jesus invites, we have to look to what the scripture says. This is not Jamie's opinion. I'm not inviting you to become like Jamie. I'm inviting you to become like Jesus. And I think there's important truths from what I'm about to read to you on how Jesus did this. It's an important story. You might have said this in Sunday school as a kid. You might know the story, you might not know the story. Luke chapter 19, 10 verses. It says, Jesus entered Jericho, made his way through the town, and there was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich, kind of like a lot of congressmen and senators who were poor when they went there, but now they're rich. You think I'm joking? That's real. That is real. How are these politicians not worth Jack until they become$180,000 a year congressmen? Amazing. Making lots of money. Okay? Oh, I know some of you. 7 30 wasn't ready for that either. Maybe 1030. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short. Now I don't know why the Bible's got to say that. He was too short to see over the crowd. Who can say amen to that one? Yeah. Oh, all right. All right. Maybe you do want to be like me. All right. So he ran ahead. So he was fast. We know that. That's typically what short people are. He ran ahead, climbed a sycamore fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and he called them by name. Zacchaeus, quick, come down. I must be a guest in your home today. And Zacchaeus quickly climbed down. He took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy, but the people were displeased. He has gone to be a guest of a notorious sinner. They grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I will give my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I've cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much. And Jesus responded, Salvation has come to this home today. For this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save those who are lost. So here's what we know about Zacchaeus. He was short, he was rich, he was hated, he was a tax collector, which is what? A traitor to his people, spiritually curious, but socially rejected. Luke doesn't introduce him as a hero, he introduces him as lost. That's how he introduces him. And this is important because Jesus specializes in lost people. Here's what else I know about Zacchaeus. Curiosity is not salvation. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, but notice this. Zacchaeus didn't call out to Jesus. He did not repent to Jesus, and he did not make promises. He just wanted a look. Curiosity will get you in position, but it won't save you. Okay, know this. Some of you are here today. Just by attending live community church does not save you. Your curiosity is a good thing. You're in a tree right now and you're curious. That's an amazing thing. But if you don't come to Jesus the right way, you're going to experience years, years of potential confusion and expectations that aren't Jesus. The church has not always done a great job at showing people Jesus. We've done a really good job at showing people our opinions. Do it my way. Well, your way has led you to cuss like a sailor. So why do I want to do it your way? Why would I want to do it your way? You're kind of mean. Right? And so people go, I'm kind of confused. You go to church, but dude, you're probably one of the worst business people I've ever been involved with. So why would I want to do it your way? Don't do it their way. Do it the Jesus way. Here's what he says. He wanted a look. Curiosity. Second thing, here's the most important part. Jesus calls Zacchaeus by name. This is the most important part of the whole story. He comes down immediately because first, Jesus knows his name, he knows where he is. That's important. I don't know how many people normally hung out in trees. He knows his story and he chooses his home. This is what Jesus does. Because before Zacchaeus spoke to Jesus, Jesus spoke to Zacchaeus. It's important to know because this is the most important part and why this is important. Grace always moves first. Grace always moves first. Okay? And notice the urgency. I need to be in your house today. Not tomorrow. Don't clean yourself up and come back today. I need to be here. Why? Because grace offends religious people. Here's how you know whether you're religious. You see someone come in, this place, this house, and you go, I don't know that this place is for them. I would tell you you have a religious spirit. Because if your response isn't, oh my gosh, did you see so-and-so's here? Let's go. I've been inviting them, sharing my story with them. I've been talking to them for years, but today they showed up. If that's not that kind of excitement, you know quickly you have a religious spirit. It says that people were ticked off that Jesus, as he's walking, sees Zacchaeus, calls him by name, brings him down, and says, Let's go have lunch at your house. People were offended. People thought they picked the wrong guy. Religious people get uncomfortable when grace goes where it's not deserved. That is the definition of grace. We don't deserve it. But Jesus never, I love this, he never asked permission from the crowd. Hey, so what do you guys think? Song Zacchaeus? Think I should have lunch with them today? He doesn't care. Maybe another way we know if we're religious is we care more about what people say than what Jesus says. Here's my favorite part. Real grace produces real change. It's my favorite. Zacchaeus stands up and says, You know what? I'm gonna give half my possessions to the poor. And you know what? All the people I cheated, I'm gonna give them four times back. Did you notice something? Jesus didn't ask him to do this. Jesus didn't take up an offering. Thanks for the lunch. Let's pray and take up an offering real quick. It wasn't guilt, it wasn't pressure, it wasn't manipulation, this was transformation. Transformation. Grace doesn't just forgive you, it rearranges you. This is how we know as followers of Jesus am I living as an example of the church or how it's always been done, or am I following Jesus? Because Jesus always invites, he never condemns. Jesus always calls by name, not by sin. Jesus didn't say if Zacchaeus's kids are John and Esther, just biblical names, but no one's naming their kid Zacchaeus, I'll tell you that. If he said, hey Esther's dad, come on down here. That's not how he's known. Hey, tax collector, come on down here. Hey, outcast, come on down here. That's not what he says. He calls them by name. Because that's what Jesus does. Salvation for Jesus is a rescue mission. The Son of Man, not the impressive, not the moral, not the religious, not the popular. He came for the lost. He came for the lost. He wasn't a project, he was a soul. And Jesus went straight to him. Condemnation pushes people away from God. They say things like, You're guilty, you've gone too far. You do not belong here. Romans 8:1 says this. Therefore, there's now no condemnation. For what? For those who are in Christ Jesus. The invite is to be in Christ Jesus, not in life community church. I don't go to church to get God, but because I have God, I go to church. It's a place for us to understand. There's no condemnation. And if condemnation is present, it's not Jesus that's leading the charge. That is a it's a parameter for us to know, to gauge. Am I leading by condemnation? And if I am, I'm not following Jesus, I'm not imitating Jesus, I'm not doing what Jesus asked. I'm doing what I think would be done. And this is a dangerous place. It's dangerous because we have a mindset of how we think it should be done, but we should always go back to how does Jesus do it? How does Jesus do it? All the way back to Genesis. We see with Adam and Eve that they hid from God after sin. Because this is what condemnation does. Condemnation does hiding, not healing. Jesus wants to heal. Jesus wants to heal our past. Jesus He wants to offer us a way forward. That's why he says invitation over condemnation. It draws people towards God. And this is what con this is what invitation looks like. Come, follow me. Right? There is more for you. These are the things. Come to me, all who are weary, heavy laden, or burdened and heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Like these are the invitation things that Jesus does. And he confronts things. The Bible says Jesus came in truth and grace. Jesus is full of truth. He's full of grace. Not grace without truth, not truth without grace. He's full of that. And that's why he says things like, Neither do I condemn you. Now go and leave your life of sin. Jesus isn't unwilling to talk about sin. He just doesn't want condemnation to lead the charge. Okay, why is this important? It's important for us because if we are going to be people that love Jesus, we need to know what Jesus said. We need to know how Jesus lived. If I'm to live like Jesus, not just in the sweatshirt I buy, but in the lifestyle that I live, I should know how Jesus did this. So instead of condemning and thinking that's going to draw people in, we should do what Jesus did, where kindness leads to repentance.
unknown:Okay?
SPEAKER_01:Paul said this to the Corinthian church, and I know you probably heard this at your latest wedding that you you were a part of. But he says, Listen, if I could speak all the languages of earth and angels, but I didn't love others, he says, this is what it would sound like noisy gong and clanging cymbals. He says, Listen, if I had the gift of prophecy and and I understood all God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but I didn't love others, I would be nothing. I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it. But if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. And yes, he goes into what love is. But love will last forever. Jesus is saying, like, listen, everything that I'm talking about, prophecy, tongues, all these things. They're important, but if they're not driven by love, neglect them. Neglect them. Because it sounds like a drummer who does not know how to play. He's saying that's that's how it sounds in the ears. So when Jesus is inviting us to love him, when he's inviting us to the table and saying, like, these are the things that I'm commanding of you as followers of Jesus. Matthew chapter 22. When the Bible says that the religious leaders of the day came to Jesus and they had some serious questions, they said, Jesus, how do we, how are we supposed to do this? And the Bible says that they tried to stump him in their questioning to try to get him to go off. But every time Jesus spoke, here's what we know about him. He ultimately revealed what was going on inside of people's hearts. So if they were hurting, his words brought life. But if they were on the wrong path, doing the wrong things, they were offended, they were messed up. So when Jesus speaks and you're reading the Bible, if it offends you, just know Jesus hid an area that he's trying to expose. Not to condemn you, not to shame you, but to bring you life. So then Jesus says, here's what I say. You must love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. That's how you love him. And the second is equally important love your neighbor as yourself. All the laws of the prophets are based on these two things. So we do the exact same thing. We say up front, listen, every single one of us as followers of Jesus, we are to love Jesus with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our minds. And when we do that, everything flows from that. Everything comes back to that table, everything comes back to that question. Am I loving Jesus? Always. I'm dealing with this right now. Okay, cool. How are you in loving Jesus? Are you doing this? Here's what Jesus says loving him looks like. If you love me, you will keep my commands. John 14, 15. If you love me, here's what you're gonna do: you're going to obey the things that I've invited you to obey. Like as a church, so many, so many people are coming in like Zacchaeus. They're curious, they're searching, and we invite them and we say, listen, the invitation, not condemnation, the invitation is for you to come. The invitation is for you to love Jesus. There are and there's no arrival moment again. There's no moment where you're like, I figured it out, I'm I'm really good at this. It's you're the rest of your life you're becoming, right? There's no moment where your wife's gonna look at you and be like, you are the perfect husband. You are the best thing that's ever happened in my life. You don't need to change a thing. You just be you right here until the day we die. And if she does say that to you, most likely you are on your deathbed. Is my time short? Well, that would be the indicator. I mean, Pastor Sean used this passage last week. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope that he has given those he called, his holy people. Like this is this is the prayer that we would be flooded with enlightenment of what it is to follow Jesus. This was the call of Paul in Acts chapter 26. He said, and I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. I'm sending you to the Gentiles to what? To open their eyes so they may turn from darkness and to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins, and they'll be given a place among God's people who are set apart in faith by me. Paul's call wasn't to have an encounter with God, but a call and a purpose. It's not just a story to tell, it's an encounter to demonstrate, to be a part of. And this is the point, and this is what loving Jesus looks like. It looks like obedience. When we love someone, we care about what matters to them. That's all that Jesus is inviting us to. Church, the invitation is to care about what matters to God. To demonstrate that kindness. It's not perfection, it's direction. It isn't about rules, it's about relationship. It's choosing integrity when it costs you, it's forgiving when it hurts. It's saying yes when you're uncomfortable. It's saying, I trust you more than I trust myself. That is what he's inviting us to. And it's not just to love him to obey him, it's to love him so that you can love other people. Like that's his whole point. You can't love Jesus deeply and love people shallowly. Like that that doesn't that doesn't make sense. It doesn't translate. But you can't love your neighbors yourself and then love Jesus second. You you don't want that to be reversed because now it's impossible for you to love people the way that you would do because there's strings attached, there's contingencies, there's all these things. Jesus saying it must flow from loving him first and then your neighbors yourself. It's important. It's equally important. But if it's done wrong, we're mess, we're missing the point. He says to love him looks like a changed life, not a perfect life, a transformed life. Because Jesus, loving Jesus doesn't just change where we go some days, it changes how we live today. I'm all for heaven talk, eternity talk. I'm all for it. I want to make heaven crowded too. Like I want that to happen. But we put so much stock in the eternal that we don't live for him today. That's an incredible thing that we look forward to, but here on earth, so short. I want to say something so bad. I know, I know, I don't need the encouragement. Like I get in trouble on my own. I don't need, I don't need, I don't need you to get in trouble too. You he said that and I didn't like it. You told him to do it. I don't need you to intuitate yourself. You're now accessory to the bad things that Jamie says. You know. Listen, I love when we started Life Community Church, the people that came, and I loved hearing their stories. And then there's people that left. Some in great ways, some in like not so great ways, right? That's the honesty. But I need to understand that if I love Jesus, we're on the same team no matter where you're at, in what service, over Columbia, Waterloo, Dupa, or wherever you go to church. Like we're on the same team. Right? So you might say, Jamie, I don't like that you didn't talk about this, or you didn't talk about this, or you don't focus on this too much, and people have opinions all over the place. And I understand that. You have an opinion, it's great. Thanks for your opinion. Right? But when we're out in public, you throw that opinion away if you can't be kind to someone. If someone came to me and said, Jamie, you do this, this, and this, they they may not be wrong in that. I might need to do more of that. And I would take it as like you might be right. And they might go, I don't want to come to this church anymore because of that. But then when we go out and I see you in public, and there's no smile, there's no, hey, how are you? There's not even a hug, there's not any of those things. You dismissed whatever it was that you were mad about because you didn't do what Jesus asked you to do first, which was to love other people. Because we're on the same team. If we can't do that in public, it's the reason the Bible says this is how the world will know that you follow me. By what? By the way you love people, not by the way you go to church or what service you go to or how much money you get or what you do with your giftings or your talents and all these things. It's how you love people. And so there are people who are going, I don't want to be a part of something, not because the church is bad, not because the service is bad, not because opinions are bad, but because we don't know how to love people that are on the same team. What? We're on the same team. We might theologically think something different, but do you love Jesus? Do you need to love other people? Can we agree on that? If not, it is like this cling. Oh man, that's bad. That's an old eye pen. I don't know if that's gonna work. Hold up for me. There you go. Let's just do this, you know. Probably wasn't better. And thanks for the two tissues. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. It's a starting point. It's a starting point. Oh man. Because here's what here's what Jesus did well. I'm gonna slip and fall. I know it. Well, we talked about Will. It's gonna happen. Here's what it is. Here's what loving people looks like. It starts with seeing people. I think the problem that we make is we see how people lived and we don't see people. We see the mistakes when we see people. The Bible says that Jesus, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. You know why Jesus had compassion on him? Because he noticed them. I think a lot of times we see people, but we don't notice them. What Jesus is inviting us to is to live like that, to serve like that. That's that is not about posture, not position. I don't care what your title is. I don't, you're, as a follower of Jesus, you are to love people the way Christ loved people. And I'm not saying you don't have a bad day. I'm not saying that there's not grace there, because there's gonna be times that we blow it. What do we do when we blow it? There's gonna be times when you do it and it's unintentional. You don't even know you did it. Right? Jeez. Some of it it's written all over our face that you don't love people. You gotta be intentional, right? Because it's never convenient. It's not convenient. Look at Luke 10 of the Good Samaritan story. It's not easy. It's interruptions to your schedule, it's it's giving time that you plan to keep, it's it's loving when you're tired. It's it's so difficult. But here's what I know: when you love people, it meets practical needs. Because James says this is what faith is. Without action, it's empty, it's lifeless. Faith isn't telling someone what you believe, it's acting it out. That's what he's talking about. Because sometimes the most spiritual thing that you could do is something practical. You can't preach hope to someone who's hungry without first feeding them. And I'm sure all of us at some point have been annoyed with someone who's on the side of a road asking for money. You might have had the thought, why don't they just get a job, or why don't they just do that, or why don't they just do that? And you might roll down your window and give them a Bible verse. They didn't need a Bible verse, they needed whatever the sign said. And that sign opened the door to a potential conversation about Christ. And it may not be that time, it might be the next time you're going to Chick-fil-A, and they saw you pull out of it, and then you said, I don't have any money, or I don't have any food. Maybe the practical need is that you give them French fries and now they're open to the gospel. But we can't just preach hope. It's it fulfills a practical need, and this is why Jesus didn't preach to Zacchaeus. He said, Come on down and let's hang out. This is what he's talking about. I gotta move on. Holy smokes! So, how do we make disciples? As followers of Jesus, it starts with a relationship, not program. Jesus said, Come follow me. He walked with people, he ate with people, he did life with people. Discipleship happens best in your surroundings, not right here. It does not happen right here. This is not a disciple-making moment. This is rows. Disciple making moments are usually in car rides. In fact, if you want to share the gospel or your story with someone, take them on a road trip. They cannot leave. And if they do, it's gonna hurt. It's some of the best. Your employees, people you work with on a daily basis, people you're rubbing shoulders, people that know your name, people all. This is discipleship making moments. This is the aim. The not just information. He aimed for transformation. Jesus didn't care about Bible knowledge, he didn't care about Bible pride, he didn't care if you were hearing it, he wanted you to see it. So they they saw him forgive, they saw him rest, they saw him pray, they saw him do these things. So, my question to us is who knows us so well that they see us follow Jesus? Like, who do we show our lives to so well that they see how we follow Jesus? And listen, hear me. If you didn't say sorry this week, if you didn't say to someone, hey, my bad, I slipped there, you aren't letting people in. You're not. You're not letting people in. You're like, well, I just don't need to say sorry because I live so great. You're not living real. It's just not. Like to me, making disciples is slow, it's messy, it's intentional, it is a process, it's not an event. Jesus had disciples who were denying him, that were they're questioning him, they're questioning where their authority was. They're they're they're saying, I belong right next to you. They're saying some crazy things. And Jesus was loving them where they were, he was staying patient where they were. Jesus didn't give up on his imperfect, imperfect disciples. So I'll ask this question Who have you shared your story with? And but you've also given up on because they've rejected you, or they've disappointed you, and you're kind of fed up with them. And so you've stopped sharing. And I'll also say this. And this isn't popular, what I'm about to say to you. But stop inviting people to church without telling them your story first. Like, I'm all for inviting people to church. But if they don't know anything about why you go to church, we're missing the point. Because here's the mentality that I was raised with just inviting the church, and some preacher's gonna share the gospel, and fingers crossed it's not a weird day, and they get saved. It's like, please don't let anybody do anything stupid so that my friend get saved. Guys, that's not making disciples, that's pushing your responsibility as a follower of Jesus on somebody else. It's not our job. There's people that are gonna hear you and never hear me. There are people that you and you alone are gonna be able to share the gospel and they're gonna hear you. Because they've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of your life. They've heard you say, Hey, yesterday, just an FYI. I said something to you really short. It wasn't your fault, that was on me. I was having a bad morning. I apologize for that. That's life-changing. That's that's realness in making disciples, and we know it's working when it multiplies. We know it's working when it multiplies. I love Friday mornings. Hanging out with guys, sitting at a table talking about discipleship, talking about making disciples. I love that there's a couple guys at a table that are law enforcement. Man, I love that. For a guy who wanted to be in law enforcement but didn't cut it, to sit around the table with guys who are in law enforcement, and we're talking about hard things. There's no arrival moment, but there's guys who are like, I'm intrigued, I'm curious. I'm Zacchaeus. Man, I love it. 4 45 is a little early for me, even. But man, when I walk away, I'm like, this is incredible.