Ep 81: I Hope My Friends Show Up!

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Hey, good morning and welcome to
the show.

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I'm Daniel Dalp and this is
for your Sunday morning drive, a

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short podcast with the goal of
providing some motivation, some

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drive and encouragement on your
way to worship and to help you

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recenter your mind on those
spiritual things on hectic

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Sunday mornings.
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I hope you're having a wonderful

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day.
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listening for making us a part
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or or checking us out whenever
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support the show and more
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morningdrive.com.
All right, well, let's get the

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show on the road this morning.
This is episode 81.

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I hope my friends show up.
Let's go to church.

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Are we there yet?
If you take a look at the album

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artwork for this episode or you
check out the corresponding page

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on our website, you'll see a
picture of my son in silhouette

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standing in the doorway of the
Hawesville Church of Christ

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where I serve.
It's obvious he's looking for

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something.
But what you can't hear is what

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he said while he was staring out
at the parking lot on that

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particular Wednesday evening.
He said, I hope my friends show

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up.
Yeah, it touched my heart, too,

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because he wasn't just talking
about his child playmates.

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He refers to everyone at that
congregation as his friend.

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I'm sure there's a lesson there
somewhere, maybe for another

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time.
But the rest of that story is

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that yes, his friends all showed
up.

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Dorian was overjoyed.
We gathered as the church, we

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praised God, we opened up His
word together and all was well.

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From his perspective.
Why wouldn't they?

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The simple result of childhood
innocence and pure unbounded

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hope.
From a three-year old's

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perspective, people come to
Jesus and by extension are added

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to the church because that's
simply what people do.

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It's the right thing, no effort
required other than good

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intentions and a sincere wish.
Ah, but friends, we know in

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reality it takes more than that.
But I do think we tend to have

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sometimes the same outlook or
expectation that my three-year

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old son has concerning the lost
and the church.

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Sometimes we sit back and we
stare out at the parking lot and

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we say, man, I hope my friend
shows up.

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That would be nice, wouldn't it,
if we could face the certainty

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of judgement with the boldness
and just hope that our friends

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will be there.
But we need to be honest with

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ourselves.
It takes work to bring the lost,

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those that we know and those
that we don't know yet, to God.

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Jesus himself said in Matthew
937 and 38, the harvest is

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plentiful, but the workers are
few.

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Therefore, plead with the Lord
of the harvest to send out

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workers into His harvest.
You see, Jesus recognized that

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more workers and by extension
more work was needed to

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accomplish push the will of God.
Many times it seems that we have

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this, build it and they will
come mentality about soul

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winning and evangelism.
We build buildings, we make

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programs, we run events, we do
service projects.

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And there is nothing wrong with
any of those things.

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They're all good, even
necessary.

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But let's go back to what Dorian
said.

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I hope my friends show up.
You see, that implies a

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relationship and that is what we
need to build.

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That is what we need to foster
because people are largely not

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going to care about a savior
whose people don't care about

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them.
The moral of the story is we've

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got to put in the work and don't
grow weary in doing it.

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Galatians chapter 6-9 and ten.
Let's not become discouraged in

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doing good, for in due time we
will reap if we do not become

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weary.
So then, while we have

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opportunity, let's do good to
all people, especially those who

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are of the household of faith.
Yes, we should want our friends

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to show up spiritually, both
those who are saved and those

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who are lost.
Yes, we should want them to know

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Jesus.
But we can't just want it.

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Nothing removes our personal
responsibility that we have to

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the lost.
Not a program, not a hired

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evangelist, not a wish, not a
hope.

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If you have a friend that you
can't imagine not being in

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heaven with, let me encourage
you to reach out to them this

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week.
Invite them to assemble with the

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church.
Maybe you just invite them the

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talk over a cup of coffee.
Be planning for the future.

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Invite them to sit around your
table at Thanksgiving.

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Grow those relationships.
Because showing up, it's great,

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but it's just a start.
But it's the start of something

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purposeful and important.
Because I'm right there with

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you.
I hope my friends show up and I

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hope yours do too.
Well, those are my thoughts for

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your Sunday morning drive.
Now it's time to hear yours.

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Our discussion questions for
this week are why do we tend to

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have hopes regarding bringing
others to Christ but lack

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attempts to do so?
Do those that you long to be in

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heaven with know that you care
and what is something you can do

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this week to reach out to them
and do more than just hope.