 Let's pray. Okay. So father, we just thank you and praise you for each beautiful soul in this room I think you most especially the Lord for the souls that they're carrying in their heart The people that they're walking in with the the lost the prodigals in their lives In Jesus that you would just come and Mama Mary would you wrap your mantle around them and Saint Joseph would you come be just a sturdy shelter for them? We entrust these prodigals we entrust these beautiful sons and daughters to you Whether they know it or not We just release them to you and we release any burden any Any exhaustion any heaviness of feeling like we've had to carry them Jesus you promised that we could cast our cares upon you because you care for us. I don't like necessarily the image of flinging people at Jesus, but I do like the image of of Handing them over and even maybe in in some ways the way that the image of the pieta with Mary holding Jesus that Mary would hold Each son each daughter. It's grandchild each friend each neighbor Whomever it is That you are either having us a company or you're calling someone else to a company into your kingdom Jesus we love you we trust in you we trust in you we trust in you We ask this and you are precious and holy name. Amen. The name of the father son holy spirit Amen So we're gonna talk about accompaniment today And if you've been in the church lately and you pay attention a little bit you've probably heard that word Right, and I think you can hear it go one of two ways You can hear it go in the way of Jesus or you can hear it go in the way of we're just nice people And I think that's the danger That we can fall into with accompaniment it was just we're just nice people and we're going to be nice to them We're gonna love them But we never really introduce them to Jesus And the accompaniment I want to talk about today and the accompaniment that I think that Pope Francis and the church is Asking of us is one that's focused on and centered around the person of Jesus Christ Or that he's actually and we'll talk about this in a minute when we talk about accompaniment in scriptures He's the one that's walking with him. We're just walking alongside And we have to have that I feel like imagery and conviction in our hearts So let's talk a little bit about what accompaniment is and those of you I have some friends here from encounter So they know me. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes couple encounter friends So they know I am an English major My undergrad was in English So I love a good word as I said before I love Hebrew. I love all of it But words have power and they matter So I always like to actually understand what a word means not just what I think it means so I looked up the word accompaniment and I love that there's some definitions that even the dictionary gives us that Helps us to understand more fully what accompaniment can look like and so there's in reference to some different styles of accompaniment The first is this accompaniment in music to support with an instrument or voice a solo artist This is probably one of my favorites See the father is singing a song of love over them directly to them He is the solo artist Jesus is the solo artist. We merely play in the background We play something that supports maybe add some beauty some some depth to but Jesus is singing and he's the solo artist So anywhere along the lines where we felt like then this can happen where we felt like our accompaniment or our walking with someone has turned to us feeling the pressure of needing to be the savior or their savior Like There's only one hero in this story and it's not us That's very comforting and I hope freeing But when you start to walk with people and you love them and your heart burns for them And you begin to experience the thirst perhaps in a small way that Jesus experienced on the cross for them You can get a little overwhelmed and a little over involved turn over invested, right? And Jesus is like pull back They're mine. I'm the solo We just support so I love keeping that in my mind, right? That we support with an instrument or a voice a solo artist Jesus. I love this too. I'm a foodie If you see my Instagram, it's a lot about food, but I contend Jesus ate a lot of meals So it works out well But in food accompaniment complements or adds balance to Right, you're not the main dish again You're complimenting or bringing a little balance to the meal that the Lord is the banquet the Lord is setting before them In people it literally means to go with Right and those of you who've done this or experienced this you'll know this and it's a synonym for it is companion That were companions on this journey of life This journey that heads us back home to the father There's a couple of things. I think that We can differentiate so there's accompaniment in two ways that I see it Accompaniment like how many of you have ever done like Street of evangelization meaning like you've gone on the streets You've told people about Jesus. You've told them about I love you've knocked on some door You've done whatever you're like, are you Catholic sir? Yes, I am. It's a thing. You can do it a few of you So like what I think is so amazing about those experiences Is someone could actually hear that Jesus loves them for the very first time if the simplicity of your message is Hey, I just feel like I wanted to let you know. I don't know if I've ever told you Jesus really loves you It's actually a really powerful way to begin a witness to somebody you don't have to have super special gifts You don't have to know the whole gospel, but just to open that door The thing is is like after that door is open. They're probably gonna need somebody to walk with them like if they're like whoa Or the Holy Spirit convicts their heart or the Holy Spirit have been tilling their heart waiting for you to drop that seed of truth They're probably gonna need somebody to walk with them Or maybe you get a word of knowledge or you pray with them and God does something amazing and they're like whoa God is real. I want to follow him They don't come out just ready to go right they need someone to walk with him But then I think there's a second kind of accompaniment and like the way I differentiate these and the way that I think it's helpful to think of them In my mind is this the microwave and the slow cooker Right like you've met people where it's like the Holy Spirit just gives you the code you punch it in and they're like boom I'm cooked. I am I am in like and you can you know you hear stories of this right of people who have that Encounter something is unlocked in their heart. They say yes, Jesus comes in and they are on fire. They're ready to go They're like a hot pocket lava just ready oozing with Jesus, right? But then there's other people that you talk to them and just because of like this their story the things they've walked through The distortions they have about God The things that they think they know but really don't about him It may take a little longer, so they may be you're low and slow But they need somebody to walk with them to right like they need someone to walk alongside them. I Think the challenge is is like we want like if you're like in America You want the microwave all the time like wouldn't that be nice? You're like just Jesus Just give me I will do it. Just tell me whatever you want to say and sometimes he does When we ask what do you want me to say to this person? Particularly when we step out and take a risk. I feel like he shows up big time for us, right? but Even though there's that desire for us. How many of you have experienced the slow cooker in your life? Yeah, right that you've been walking with somebody and you're walking with somebody and you're walking with somebody My friend that I was talking about this morning that took like a couple of years Right of walking and then he kind of had to hit his own rock bottom, right for him to really come to the end of himself But the reality is at some point like when I talked about this morning with the prodigal at some point the famine comes And the choice is do we say yes, do we say yes to the Lord? Do we come back? Do we respond to him or do we wait for the next man? It always comes and so if we're there with them We will be there with them to walk them back to the father to introduce them to the father to bring to them what they need But I love some of the things that the church says or particularly Pope Francis says an Evangelium Gaudium about Accompanyment this one I love and he says this spiritual accompaniment must lead others ever closer to God to accompany them would be counterproductive if it became a sort of therapy supporting their self absorption and Seize to be a pilgrimage with Christ to the father. Do you see the difference there? A pilgrimage with Christ to the father Here's the tough part Because we are all really nice people in this room. I can tell I mean just look at you. You're lovely I'm sure you're just so kind Sometimes we will just wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait to talk about Jesus and We listen and we listen and we listen and we do all this like great stuff, but we never get to Jesus and That's where I think accompaniment can go off the rails But what he's saying is is it can be counterproductive if we don't lead them closer to Jesus and we let them just continue to sit in their stuff You can sit with them in their stuff, but we can't stay there, right? Genuine spiritual accompaniment always begins and flourishes in the context of service to the mission of evangelization This is the context in which we're doing it I like this the one who accompanies is like a midwife Helping us to come to life to live more fully, but the a computer receives life also And as people open up to each other a communion of hearts develops between them They do not clutch on to each other, but give life to one another to call each other to greater freedom Right, this is a gift not only to the person that we're walking through what like walking through life with but to us too You get life. What's more exciting than seeing someone come alive with the love of Jesus? Doesn't it just build your faith when you have a testimony or you hear someone share their testimony and they're like This is what God did for me. Doesn't it just light you back up again? It's like it takes the cold of your heart puts it back in the fire and then puts it back in your furnace and you are ready So this isn't just like a gift of ourself. It's a gift to us As well, and I love this they do not clutch on to each other Right We don't need their affirmation. We don't need their love We don't need their voice to define how good or valuable we are because whose voice is defining us right We don't want it to become codependent Like we need them to need us It's his voice that defines us so anything that happens anything that we walk through with them That's them in Jesus and we love them and we support them, but it doesn't define us. It doesn't give us value I want to be careful not to clutch too tightly Right not to hold too tightly and for you. Mama's out there. You're like saying Augustine st. Monica Don't tell me that Sarah. She chased him all the way Yes, but she also had a bishop named st. Ambrose who said girl you got to let go a little You got give him some space. I'm walking with him I'm working with him and she did she had to back off a little bit Doesn't mean she stopped praying, but she maybe wasn't like on his tail like all the time But one of my favorite examples, I feel like in the church and I may just be partial to him because he's my guy But st. John Paul II I think is a master of accompaniment You want to look at somebody who did this really really really well in the modern world? Look at JP to in the life that he lived not just when he became Pope But when he was father caroatea there's a A biography about him that I love and one of the quotes that I'm gonna read to you from there I think it's just beautiful is his father rotia was a master of accompaniment walking with people amid their daily joys and struggles and Witnessing Christ's love to them He said that God called him to live with people Everywhere to be with them in everything but sin There's the line in the sand There's the line we have to be mindful of that's what we have to see to live with them to be with them everywhere To have life with them in everything but sin That's where I just can't go with you it said that he Of one of the friends these young adults that he walked with this is what he said we felt that we could discuss Anything with him we could talk about absolutely anything Another young person said he had mastered the art of listening That he was always interested and always had time Another simply said he lived our problems Such a beautiful witness right to what it is and a man who if you ever did any of you ever get to hear him Speak or be anywhere in the general vicinity of him and when he spoke From the stage there could be millions of people. Did you not just feel so loved? Like he was speaking directly to you That's a man who carries the heart of the father in my opinion What I encountered when I met JP to at like a World Youth Day five million people back Was someone who loved me who knew me who spoke the truth to me, but he did it with the heart of the father And I think that's a witness to us as we walk with people in accompaniment And I love this last little bit on father Wattia or Pope John Paul II. They said this after years of serving as a priest and investing deeply in these young adults Father Wattia eventually became a bishop then a cardinal and then later he was elected pope Many of his friends wondered if this new responsibility would destroy their friendship one of them lamented we've lost him Only a little while later. However, they found themselves in possession of invitations to the Vatican each year Even with his torturous schedule as Pope. He made time for them in Rome and just hours before he died He sent one last message to those same old friends This wrecks me. I don't know why does but like the commitment of that like that's a slow cooker friendship, right? And to think of even on the deathbed to think of them That they would feel so known so seen so loved So walked with I think he's such a beautiful example for us of what it looks like to accompany people But I think scripture Gives us great example of what accompaniment looks like and there's no other master greater than Jesus Right in the way that he walked with people, but there's two particular scriptures I want to highlight When we're talking about accompaniment the first one might be a surprise I'm a fan of Paul you might remember from this morning, but in first Thessalonians their first Thessalonians Two eight. He said this so Be affectionately desirous so affectionately desirous of you We were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God But our own selves because you had become very dear to us To me this is a great just tiny little scripture of like You I are our hearts were filled with compassion and love with you So not just that we shared the gospel with you, which is a great gift in and of itself But they would share our very selves with you Jesus is the standard and Paul is the pattern. Here's a great example of that Yeah, but he was so affectionately desirous. Are you affectionately desirous of the lost? Do you want to share the gospel with them? But do you also want to share your lives? Do you want it? Will you are you willing to give them your very life as well? It's a high call but to follow Jesus is right. There is a cost to discipleship It will cost us But it never ever outweighs what we receive It's worth it But the one that I think I really really love as a beautiful example and one that I would encourage you when you Go home to meditate on more is the story of the road to Emmaus Some some road to Emmaus fans out here. Yeah, okay couple people couple people. I think there's so much richness I'm gonna pull out some things some practical things that Jesus shows us and walking in the road to amaze Emmaus But spend time with the Holy Spirit when you go home One of the things that I love about workshops and keynotes and all the things at these conferences is they're inspiring They encourage you. They're like, yes, I'm gonna do it And then you go home and then you're like, I'm gonna do it in two weeks later. You're like I'm tired. I don't remember Right, but these the word of God is alive and active, right? So when you go home and you study the scriptures that were talked about it will bring back Memories it'll bring back experiences and it'll bring back conviction So hold on to the scriptures everything that like people gave you this weekend treasure them revisit them Spend the next few weeks in them You'll never get tired of it. I promise There's always something new but on the road to Emmaus I'm gonna read to you and I know this is dangerous If someone snores just give them an elbow. We will make it Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem and Talking with each other about all the things that had happened Well, they were talking and discussing Jesus himself came near and went with them But their eyes were kept from recognizing him and he said to them, what are you discussing with each other while you walk along? They stood still looking sad Then one of them whose name was Cleobas answered Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days? I'm like, what a funny question you are talking to Jesus friend. He's like, are you the only he probably felt real bad anyways moving on He asked them what things don't you love Jesus? Like master of rhetorical questions always answered these questions like let me make you think Answered a question with a question, right? Here we are question with a question He's like, I mean, I'm not just gonna drop truth on you because he could have He definitely had earned it at that point for sure, but he answers a question with a question, right? I love that He said what things they replied the things about Jesus of Nazareth Who was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him But we had hoped that it was the one to redeem Israel. I Love that they lost hope Lot of people were gonna walk with we had hoped Yes, and besides all this it is now the third day since these things took place more over some women of our group astounded us They were at the tomb early this morning and when they did not find his body there They came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said he was alive I love this you are you you had been a part of all of what was happening You are questioning you are hopeless you're done There's angels that came and told you that you were that Jesus is alive, but here you are walking away sad What more do you need anyways? Some of those who are with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women Women are trustworthy just as the women had said But they did not see him Then he said to them oh how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had declared Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures what humility is They came near the village to which they were going he walked ahead as if he were going on But they urged him strongly saying Stay with us Because it was almost evening and the day is now nearly over so he went in to stay with them when he was at table with them He took the bread blessed and broke it and gave it to them Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from the sight They said to each other were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road while he was Opening the scriptures to us That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together They were saying the Lord has risen indeed and he has appeared to Simon Then they told him what had happened on the road and now he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread Here's some things I think that are helpful to remember about the scripture that teach us About accompaniment in the way of Jesus number one. Yes, he asked he like asks questions with questions or responds to questions with questions He's he prods them he searches them he tries to evoke the truth that's already in them Not just tell them what they need to know or tell them the truth. He's patient He's humble Here's what I love about the story that not maybe not everybody knows either they were going the wrong way Did you ever think about that? Everything in the scriptures are centering around what happened in Jerusalem the last supper the cross the resurrection the sending of the Holy Spirit They're going the opposite way In some ways I like to think like perhaps they were so sad and had lost such hope that they were literally just going back to the lives that they led before Perhaps to where they had come from originally But what I love is Jesus walks with them even though they're going the wrong way Could he have yanked their shoulders and said hey, we're going back. You're we're going this way. What are you doing? But for a little while He walks with them in the wrong direction. I Think sometimes that's what accompaniment looks like We're gonna be walking in your room like what are we doing? And you could tell have you ever had that experience of like Someone's telling you you're going the wrong way like you're driving the car and you got a backseat driver And they're going the wrong way You're like no no and then you realizing like something like a sign or something real or actual around you're like ooh I Might have Perchance Gone the wrong way, but you they had to have an experiential knowledge themselves Right if the person in the seat next to them just rips the steering wheel and like turn pulls a ui and turns them around It's not gonna be a good experience. They're not gonna feel freedom In the same way Jesus is like, okay, we're gonna. I'm gonna walk with you And for some of us that might feel a little bit uncomfortable, but what did we talk about this morning? What did Jesus's dinner table look like? It's full of all the unworthy all the unclean all the sinners all the people that they're religious or those around them would have said Not worthy Shouldn't be sitting at that table with Jesus if you really are the son of God We have to be convinced if you're gonna do this work of accompaniment You have to be convinced that the light within you is stronger than any darkness you will walk through You have the light of the world living inside of you. Amen Do you believe that is that light stronger than any darkness? So everywhere you go, where does that light go? With you You have to be convinced you cannot look in the dark look at the darkness and try to say a measure it out It's like no Jesus the light of the world the king of kings is inside of me. What shall I fear? I'm not asking you to be stupid be prudent be wise. He's the Holy Spirit, right? But you have to be convicted of that truth But the light that you carry is brighter than any darkness when we go to meet people where they are He listened to them. He didn't begin by teaching They didn't begin by explaining Are you a good listener? when I worked with alpha we used to do this like little Activity and I tell people to go home and try it out and they're like real lives and their families at their works I'm like what I want you to do is I want you just to listen to everybody around you like all day for one day and All you're supposed to do is say things like that's interesting Tell me more or like I've ever really heard about that's fascinating. Tell me more or ask some more questions and do a lot of listening You will be fascinated at what it does in your relationships We as a culture are quick to speak and slow to listen right But when you start listening you will hear them, but you will also I believe hear the Holy Spirit speaking about them Because you're not so busy trying to think of like what should I say in response? I love apologetics Please hear me go be an apologist if that's what the Lord has on your life But do a lot of listening. I'm what I was walking. I've been walking with them for a long time Who actually came through an alpha and we you know the pandemic's been hard on people. Amen We had our first dinner together and she had been She'd been watching the history channel So she's trying to tell me all these really fun things about Jesus that are not true and so I had to do a lot of listening and What I call internal clenching like what I was doing up there where you smile and you're like That's so interesting And I I caught myself I caught myself in that moment where she's saying some things I was starting to get a little you know You can feel the heat rising and and I and I almost said something back and I realized I was listening to respond Not listening to hear Right formulating my response to what they were saying Helpful no and when I'm so busy formulating my response. I can't hear Holy Spirit Trying to tell me about what's really going on And what's really going on and when we finally got there is I finally just had to say you seem kind of angry about this What is going on? And then she was able to say well if this is true and this is true and this is true This explains so much of what happened in my life, and I was like, okay. I get it now There's a place of deep pain that this this feeling like it's helping you justified help you understand. I get that And if I just try to rip it out of her hands, it's not gonna go well But in listening and helping break down and having being able to hear the wound the thing that was actually driving the Intensity of the conversation instead of just matching her with intensity I was able to speak truth and life and bring a balm through the Holy Spirit of Healing to that place inside of her But if I had bulldozed if I just listened to respond, I would have missed that moment I would have missed that opportunity to invite Jesus in to bring the healing that she needed. I Love this and this is a key for us Catholics because sometimes we get this bad rap about not using scripture enough just false but He opened the scriptures for him Like Jesus opened the scriptures for them and helped them make sense of their experience in the larger plan that God had When we're walking with people Opening the scriptures to them using the scriptures is powerful We can't avoid inviting them into scripture We can't avoid helping them see themselves in this larger story that God's writing But you don't have to quote verse and citation and give them the address You're like, well, did you know and first Thessalonians 2 verses 14 through 17 the Lord sayeth to you not the way But I Have found that when you know the scriptures well enough When you spend time and abide with the Lord in the scriptures they become like real stories for you and you can tell them like a story and I was walking with another young man who's struggling with addiction and he'd come basically to say like I'm just a mess I don't know what to do. I can't figure it out. So I told him the story of the prodigal son without telling him It was a story And from the Bible and he was like, that's me That's where I'm at. That's what I need. I'm like cool because that's God the father And that's what he wants to do in your life He was like, okay, I'm like, can we pray? He's like, yeah But I didn't have to get out the you know, I didn't have to get out the Bible I didn't have there will come a time for that right when you learn when you teach them then to Seek his voice there in his word, but you can do that in a way that's very unassuming Okay, so I want to move into some practicalities of accompaniment I'm mindful of time and everybody loves a good practical, right? So I'm gonna break it down for you in two ways the microwave and The slow cooker we've talked about before so I'm telling you the microwave because I believe I Believe that there are people in this room that the Lord is stirring And there are people in this room who the Lord would give words to if they were bold and they stepped out in their everyday lives To share the love of Jesus So I believe there are gonna be a lot more people in this room who need the microwave version of accompaniment because they just met Somebody and they spoke the love of Jesus to them and they responded and now they want to know what comes next I Believe there are people in this room who are like I could never do that and the Lord is saying yes You can and it's not leave that don't drop that nugget for you to discern with the Lord But after a powerful moment of encounter, let's say you pray for someone and they get healed It happens You pray and the Lord gives you a word about them or a word of encouragement or something About them that they're like how could you know that I'm like I don't know that but the one who knows everything the one who made you and loves You knows it all and he knows you and he loves you and he sees you Guys the gifts aren't used for shell, right? That's not the reason It's not to like go do fun showy things and talk about the testimonies later The gifts are to draw people back to him That's the purpose So if you have one of those moments my suggestion to you would be Become so desirous of them that you'd share even yourself with them and obviously you can't do that with everybody Let's say you meet like 20 people if you get real if you get real excited And you leave this place and at dinner you're like telling everybody about Jesus And you've got like 20 people like that may not be possible But may not be possible to follow up with every single one of them But if the Lord highlights someone if they give if he gives you a heart if you're filled with compassion with someone ask for their email Follow up with them send them something encourage them. I Would love to tell you that I'm one of those people who naturally Always is like hearing the Holy Spirit when I need to check in on somebody I'm walking with sometimes I have to automate it Where I put a little reminder in my phone follow up with so-and-so and it sends me a little notification So then I pause I pray and say Lord, what do you want me to say what scripture verse? Do you want me to send? What do you want me to do? I mean, I know that sounds maybe less spiritual than people would like but it's real Because if you're really busy and you're doing life, it's a really practical way of like Oh, this is how I'm gonna follow up with somebody. I just met I'm literally gonna make an appointment in my calendar from a week from now To reach out to check in to see how they're doing Don't overlook the practicals that God wants to use to help you do that So ask them questions find out what they need To help discern like what's the next step for them? Maybe they just been away from church I met somebody we engaged with her at her front door and Invited her to come back to mass because she'd been away from church Because you know you kind of start with like all sorts of things and then she's like oh, I actually grew up cat Do you know you're still Catholic and there's this really cool church down the street for you that would love to welcome you back and The gift of like being able to come to discern like where they are Do they need is there like a local church that you can connect them to is there something else? That would be a good resource a good follow-up. You know, obviously, I'm a big alpha fan So I'm gonna push alpha, but like like something that's like a big Beginners open door to what's the next step for them? And be obedient to the Holy Spirit, so if the Lord prompts you follow If he gives you something for them be bold share it with them if the Lord invites you to do something Do it and you will see one of my favorite stories. There's this guy named Did anybody know of a guy named Robbie Dawkins? He's like a Protestant pastor. Oh, we got a Robbie Dawkins girl We'll talk later. You guys know okay He tells us story of this woman who was trying to follow the Holy Spirit for the first time in her life And she was just like I'll do whatever you ask Lord Pray that prayer He goes I want you to go inside that gas station and I want you to stand on your head And she was like there is no way that is the Lord But it just kept getting stronger and stronger She went in that gas station And she stood on her head And the cashier behind the register burst into tears And she's like what happened And the cashier said I had just been telling God that the only way I'm gonna believe the only way I'm gonna know that you're real is if he sends somebody in this store and they stand on their head in front of me Moral of the story friends Your obedience could save someone's life We don't know What people are walking through But what is the slow cooker like look like here's a big one Some of you are like probably really good at this. I have a feeling in this room. Number one is like check begin with intercession prayer and fasting If you're walking with somebody if you are like really desirous of them to know the Lord Pray and fast I love you say sarah loves me. Yeah, okay good We have to rediscover the power of prayer and fasting in the church In the prayer and fasting. Yes, of course like it doesn't move God's heart a hundred percent But what I think the prayer and fasting does I think it builds our faith I think it refines us it purifies us like it helps us in this work of evangelization that we all want to do So don't be afraid To travail and prayer for somebody does anybody know what that means? Travelling prayer that's like the like Crying out from the depths of your heart for somebody standing in the gap in a powerful way Don't diminish the prayer and the fasting number two As much as possible seek to create an authentic friendship with people in your circle of influence meaning Here's the low hanging fruit in your life the people around you The people you work with the people you pass every day on the way to work the people you pass Every day in the coffee shop These are your low hanging fruits These are the people that he might be inviting you into create just a friendship with first Maybe just be friends Like see as louis said like that moment of friendship begins when it's like oh you as well I thought I was the only one Having those moments with people let them be authentic be interested in people Create real relationships with them and allow the Lord to speak Listen be curious and be contemplative Contemplate the person in front of you Jesus did this But contemplate what the father is saying at the same time about them Like father, what do you want them to know? What are you saying? What do you see? Ask the Lord questions Be like Jesus in this way be generous this may sound like a simple obvious one but Christians we should be the most generous people group on this planet in a lot of ways We really are like we support hospitals orphanages. I mean there's no greater legacy I think than the catholic church in terms of the way that we care for the poor but in the daily interactions with people Tip more than you need to When you tell them god loves them show them god loves them if you can Really go out of your way to be generous with your time with your talent with your treasure Um look for moments to share your testimony in the regular rhythms of life Some people have developed like your little um Elevator pitch your 30 second testimony awesome great But I think when you're really walking with people slowly what a beautiful testimony it is when they say hey How did you navigate this with your kid? It's an opportunity to say like well, you know actually it was really hard for me and my husband But then we started to pray And we asked god to show us How to make decisions About what our children will do or not do or whatever like you weave it into the normal at like rhythms of your life You're not forcing on them. They've asked you the question. They've given you permission And let them be curious And let them ask you more questions and when they're ready To tell them the truth of the gospel To let them know That the fruits of your life are the fruits That he wants to bear in their lives as well And don't worry about the people who won't like you Don't worry about the people who won't respond well to you. Don't worry about the people who may not agree with you You keep bearing fruit And if the only way they receive it is because they're pecking at it let them peck They're still getting the fruit one way or the other and can you continue to walk with them as they grow Make space for encounter walk with them invite them to shallow entry points in your life And you will see god do incredible things We have to be convicted that he is even more desirous of them Coming to know him that we are amen Okay, I want to make a little space for q and a Because we're actually running short on time So I think there's another microphone and if you're like I have no question sarah I'm like great. We can just rest in the spirit for a while But you do probably have a question or two maybe and I'll do my very best I don't know the answers always, but I know the one who does so we'll sort it out somehow I think we've got one up here We have a runner I think we're sort of here Tell me your name first, please when you ask a question as well Hi, my name is sandra tapia. Um, you just said walk with them in the shallow Walk with them even in shallow entry points. Yes Yes, great great question. So shallow entry points sometimes someone's ready for a full-on catholic experience You bring them to the highest holiest most beautiful rich mass and they're like boom. This is it They are wondered by awe and beauty in his presence Other people because of stuff may need something a little less overwhelming Right, so they may need like just like a movie night at your church Something that's kind of low-key where they can meet people they can see that they're friendly They can see that they're kind and they're a little more open to doing something, right? So creating those shallow entry points like it's essentially like what's your front door? What's your porch for your church? Where can people just come and sit for a while? And see if you're trustworthy if you're good if you are who you say you are Because a lot of people don't trust us We're in a post-christian culture here in the united states if you haven't noticed that you probably haven't been I don't know what you've been doing, but What's fascinating is so what that means is like we're trying to win people back A lot of times they've had some experience of god probably not A experience of the real god of the true lord, but they've had some experience of god or church What's interesting is like as time passes like in the west coast like my friends in portland and seattle They're experiencing what we call a post atheistic culture Where they're so separated from faith now that they're literally now engaging with evangelization with people who've never heard The gospel never been to a church Nothing Which is actually a lot easier You'd be surprised C.S. Lewis used to say give me a pagan any day than a disenfranchised divorcee like someone who's divorced themselves Disenfranchised with the the commitment the covenant they walked into So those shallow entry points allow people to come and see Oh, you're okay Now you just like again, this is why we all need the holy spirit. Amen Because sometimes holy spirit says hit the gas they're ready and sometimes holy spirit says pump the brakes. They're not Right, so sometimes you you walk them into like the most incredible mass and they're like they're in But sometimes they're like their shells are so hard and they're so they're like no I know what this is. I don't want it Right So shallow entry points does that help? Cool. Last next question My name's Dan. Oh, hi You kind of kind of answer this maybe in some some different ways, but like specifically I'm looking at relatives Especially like in-laws. They're surrounded by faith-filled people But the husbands are just they don't want anything to do with religion You know, they don't even talk about god or anything But yet maybe their spouses are and but me looking from the outside in or just you know, having contact here and there with them any advice of I mean, you know, I know there's the the prayer but any practical thing I mean, I think praying praying and really loving them well Caring for them well being generous with them. I think it's like till's the soil Um, here's the hard thing about families But it's also a grace. I believe like there's an interdependent interdependency god's created at us in the body of christ, right? So your son or daughter or even your relative may not be brought into the kingdom by you maybe But it may be not Maybe god has somebody else they're going to put in their path. That's why I'm so committed and devoted to the work of evangelization because I may not be the person who brings my baby sister home I pray I try, you know, we have conversations. I love her. I listen to her but You maybe Maybe you live in her neighborhood Maybe she's open to you And she'll receive an invitation from you that she wouldn't receive from me The harvest is ripe guys There is no more exciting time. I believe than right now to be following jesus And to be inviting people into a relationship with jesus But if we're all doing our job We don't have to worry about any member of our family not being brought into the kingdom because everybody's working towards the same goal And eventually they'll get picked off by somebody but Don't miss the opportunities that the holy spirit might open for you like there's the challenges sometimes we we spiritualize our fear Or our nervousness. We're like, oh, I don't know if it's right. I don't let me pray. I have to discern it You're like actually you just don't want to you just don't want to talk to them You don't want to have the conversation with them, right? And the Lord's like no go Because he knows their heart And he knows what he's doing in their heart and he knows that right moment just like he did with that cashier To send one of his people and to stand on her head. Isn't that a great you'll never forget that story, right? If any one of you goes and stands on your head in the gas station down the street, I'll give you 20 I'm just kidding Only if the Lord asks right I mean, I love there is an art to accompaniment. I like to call it the art of incoming. It is not a science It is it is completely led by the Holy Spirit That's why I think the gift that the church needs now more than ever is real authentic discernment with the Holy Spirit Not just our human discernment. Yeah Yes, I love you I love your heart Because I'm a type B person where I'm like, all the things are great, you know Um, I I can't answer that for you only the Lord can in that or your spiritual director like someone that you're walking with Because there's sometimes a Desire in us to go really hard. That's not from the Lord Right like where we're like, I'm gonna not eat for 40, you know, and if that's of the Lord God bless you boo boo, but if it's not What's the fruit gonna be You may bear fruit, but there'll be no seeds of life in it Like God's gonna bless it. Obviously he loves you and he honors your sacrifice, but um, I you know In a lot of ways like to me there's this line, you know the line like obedience is greater than sacrifice in the eyes of the Lord Be obedient to him and whatever he calls you Make an offering right So it looks different for everybody Like I've walked with young people who are really really passionate about fasting, but they also have come out of an eating disorder They're not ready Right, the Lord's not asking them to fast in that way There's another way that he's gonna allow them to walk in that But it's actually not a great place for them to step into that So we need to honor that right in people's lives their stories their history. I think Though like there's plenty of spiritual books and things you can read on fasting the spirituality of fasting It's wonderful, but just ask the Lord like what do you what are you asking of me? And then just do it, right? And it's about there's some like goodness in like we master right ourselves in it Like we say no to ourselves like no sarah. You cannot Right, but there's also a grace and being learning to really be obedient to God even when it's hard Even when it's difficult. So for a newbie, you know a little fast here There's a big deal and that's really a big offering for the Lord for somebody's been fasting for a while You're like, I'm gonna go a little more And that's a great offering to him so I mean the short answer is like Really only the Lord and probably a spiritual director can help you or someone is walking with you It can help you discern like what's the Lord asking? What that looks like, but I say Ask the Lord get a sense and go for it And give it give it your best And receive his mercy when maybe you're not perfect in it Yes Sarah I'm Sarah. Oh, sorry Sorry Anyway Quick story when you talked this morning after your talk you said like ask God what to do And the host had fallen on the floor right in front of me And I was like, oh my gosh. God literally fell to the floor Burning for my heart to totally trust in him But I also had a question like how do you pick yourself up like I'm very good at helping others It's really really hard to love myself Uh, that there was a lot there. Um, I could do a whole another talk, but I won't Don't work on loving yourself. Well To care for ourselves and to work through the blocks we have to receiving the love not only of the Lord, but of ourselves Um, you will see an exponential growth in your ability to love others when you start to see yourselves the way that he sees you Right. So like in our like I teach it in counter ministries. We do I actually teach a one class in year two on loving yourself Well, you know that like, um that word they let on millennia's use like triggered By the end of that class everybody triggered They're like, oh triggered because like we'll ask them things. I'm like he created your body. He loves it Ask him what he thinks about your body How he sees it And then what would it look like to come into agreement with it? Right, I picked body because that's always like a hard one for people Um, but how does it look differently when we when we like want to love something into life instead of like Rejecting it disciplining it hating it into life. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't work that way, right? So there's just different ways that I think as you learn to love your neighbor as yourself You're highlighting a key piece That the Lord might also want to work in your own heart And show you how he loves you and wants you to love yourself So that when you love others, it's very free It's not it doesn't grasp it doesn't hold tightly It doesn't clutch because you're like, I don't need to get any value or worth or anything from you Because I know what he says about me. Does that make sense. Is that was that helpful? Okay Maybe one more. Yeah Okay Yes Oh, you're gonna get so excited for tonight But it's a good question. So she asked like, how do you know it's just not you Discernment, right? But like that's a good point and it's like nice language But it's like, okay, what does that mean? Right? Like what does discernment mean? Um, I think one of the the ways to start Very simply and this is what I tell like young people even when we're beginning to learn to hear God's voice and we're all learning Here's what I want to tell you. You'll miss it sometimes You're still just as loved as you were before you missed it And there's a humility a poverty of spirit like father Dave was talking about where you say I missed it. I'm sorry Or like, hey, I'm still just learning Like when it sometimes when I'll share something with somebody a word You know when you're really stepping out. I'm like, hey, I'm learning to hear God's voice. Would it be okay? If I share with you what I think he's saying and you can tell me if that kind of makes sense to you Right that gives them permission that they're not saying like thus sayeth the lord, right that you're like Oh, I have permission to flush it if it doesn't make sense, right? And it gives us freedom to share And not saying that we're perfect or that we know exactly what But I I like to say like is it in line with his character and his nature and is it in line with his word Does it line up with scripture scripture doesn't line up with his character in nature? Is it like encouraging upbuilding edifying all of the things that we read in scripture Are great places to start discernment, right? Like is it in line with his word doesn't line up with his character and his nature Is it encouraging is it up building is it edifying? Those are the ways I really see the lord Speak through me to other people particularly, right? And to just be open, you know I could be wrong But I think this and people are usually pretty gracious I feel like when you say hey, I'm just learning or I'm just starting But those would be ways that I would I would begin to discern Like because he won't say anything outside his character and his nature And he won't say anything outside his word that doesn't line up with the word of god because he's already spoken, right? So if we're looking for a word start in the scripture, so then he'll build on What he said amen. All right. Let's pray