Transcription downloaded from https://services.pcumc.org/sermons/27668/acts-bible-study-part-4/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] So, all right, well, let's pray. God, we thank you for this night and for each other. And we just ask you to bless our time together and help us to continue to open your word both to our lives and our minds and to our hearts. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen.

[0:18] Amen. All right. So we talked about Pentecost while you were gone. Okay. Kelly and but we're going to we're going to revisit Pentecost in a in a different way. Because we're going to look up some other verses little pieces in acts that are called the other Pentecost. And so I thought that it didn't show up in my version.

[0:47] So I'm going to give Linda, why don't you look up acts eight 14 to 25 and Kelly acts 1044 to 48. And there's one more, but we'll start there. So we'll start with the acts eight. I didn't catch what they were talking about in this passage. But Linda, maybe it'll be in your version and you can you can read it to us.

[1:15] Okay, acts eight 14 to 25. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God. They sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers.

[1:37] They prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of Jesus.

[1:51] When Peter and John placed their hands on them. And they received the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw this. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered them money.

[2:07] And said, give me this ability also so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.

[2:17] Peter answered, may your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money. You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God.

[2:31] Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for your having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you're full of bitterness and captive to sin.

[2:43] Then Simon answered, pray to the Lord for me so that nothing you have said may happen to me. After they had further proclaimed the word of the Lord and testified about Jesus, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages.

[3:02] Now I hear it. I don't know why when I read it, I just skimmed right over it. But the, but he, Peter and John laid their hands on him and prayed for them and they received the Holy Spirit.

[3:17] Now, when we look at the other passages, we'll hear it just a little bit differently that makes it sound more like Pentecost. So Kelly, why don't you share yours? Okay. Acts chapter 10, 44 through 48.

[3:33] While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.

[3:49] For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.

[4:03] So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days. All right. Then the, the last one is, um, Acts 19, one to seven.

[4:18] Um, while Apollo, while Apollo was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. He said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?

[4:32] And they replied, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Then he asked, then he said into what then were you baptized? And they answered into John's baptism.

[4:44] Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him. That is in Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

[4:58] And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. And then he said, well, all together, there were about 12 of them.

[5:11] So it's, it's interesting, this observation that these are for other Pentecost experiences. Um, what do you hear? That's the same. And what's different.

[5:26] One thing. Go ahead. Go ahead. Minus relatively minor point in the passage that I read, they talked about speaking in tongues.

[5:38] Mm hmm. Which makes sense. And that's what it was in mind too. Um, which is not the way it's described in acts two. They were speaking in their own languages in acts two in the original Pentecost.

[5:58] They were speaking their own language and other people were hearing it in their own language. Right. So. Um, got it. In fact, some people make it very, some biblical scholars make it very clear that speaking in tongues is a, is another one of the gifts, spiritual gifts.

[6:19] And that that was not what happened at Pentecost and that everybody can be baptized with the Holy Spirit, but not everybody will speak in tongues. Right.

[6:30] And one thing that stood out to me was it doesn't matter whether you're baptized by the Holy Spirit first or baptized with water first.

[6:44] But you should be baptized both. Is what I picked up. And I guess. So when you say that, do you mean like when we baptize, we baptize in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

[6:58] And we understand that the Holy Spirit acts in that baptism. Um, and we use water. Mm hmm.

[7:10] But some people were never baptized. And some people.

[7:21] I guess it's it. I'm looking at it as adult perspective. Not as a baptizing in infants perspective.

[7:32] Um. Because some people are never baptized. Adrian wasn't baptized till. I don't know.

[7:44] I don't remember when, but he was late teen, early adult when he was baptized. He'd been working at the church for a long time. Mm hmm. But. People don't have to be baptized.

[7:57] You're right. People. People can experience the Holy Spirit without being baptized. Yes. Um. And the, I think that in the United Methodist Church, we look at baptism and communion as means of grace, which means that we believe that the Holy Spirit acts within that sacrament.

[8:19] That something. That's something. Holy Spirit happens in that whether regardless of when a person is baptized. Um, but that's not exclusive.

[8:30] People can experience the Holy Spirit without ever having been baptized physically baptized. So I think that's what you're talking about. Yes. Physical baptism, which is what you described with water.

[8:42] And then I think an experience of the Holy Spirit. I'm not sure we call that a baptism, but you know, an experience of the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Yep.

[8:53] Um, and it's, you know, that is a part. It's a, it becomes a baptism is a very complicated thing in organized religion.

[9:05] Um, because people, um, some denominations baptized babies and don't baptize adults.

[9:18] Some baptized babies and adults. That's what the United Methodist Church does. Baptize and by adults, meaning someone who's able to make the decision on their own, like at confirmation.

[9:29] Um, and there are other churches that reject all of our baptisms and say that if you aren't baptized as an adult, and I'm not sure sometimes they would count confirmation.

[9:43] Um, it depends on the church. Now some of the Baptist churches, they do baptism at around the same time, same age that we do confirmation.

[9:54] Um, about the basically not quite the age of driving or legal decision, but an age of perceived decision-making. Um, my older son was going to Kenmore Alliance for a while.

[10:10] Um, he was baptized as an infant, but he felt that he needed to make that decision on his own and chose to be baptized again as an adult making the decision on his own.

[10:25] Um, and it's interesting. Um, and it's interesting. The United Methodist Church does not agree with that. Right. Um, I don't know that I don't, I don't think that I feel that way. Um, and I understand where they're coming from, from the perspective of if you're baptized once you're baptized, you don't need to be baptized again.

[10:51] So there've been many times when someone has wanted to be baptized a second time and we've renewed their baptism, even renewed their baptism. See, when we renew baptisms, it's not supposed to look like a baptism because then we confuse people by thinking that we do believe in re baptism.

[11:10] Right. Um, and, um, I mean, I, I, um, I did a, a sort of a baptism in a river with a woman who was renewing her baptism.

[11:25] She'd already been baptized as a baby. Um, and so we just didn't call it a baptism, but oh my goodness, it was in a river and she went under, so it was a baptism and she was taller than me and I went under too.

[11:41] So, um, they, um, so it's, it's hard because I think there's, you know, we hear in the, one of the passages baptized in it by John and then baptized in the name of Jesus.

[12:02] Um, well, what about that is not a second baptism? Yeah. Yeah. Now as a United Methodist, it's not like I advocate for it or encourage people to make that decision.

[12:15] I just don't see, I think there are places where people want to, um, renew their faith, um, in a pretty dramatic way.

[12:27] And that is one of them. Um, I was actually kind of baptized twice cause my mother, I was so skinny and scrawny, believe it or not. My mother didn't think I was going to live to my baptism.

[12:40] So she baptized me in the bathtub. Aw. That's, uh, before my dad had the chance to do it, but. And you know, that's, they say any baptized Christian can baptize.

[12:53] Um, and, and it was, you know, we were Lutheran. So I'm not quite, I don't, I don't remember what their stance on everything. Um, Lutherans wouldn't be big on a second baptism either, but.

[13:06] Yeah, I didn't think so, but. No, but they Lutherans, Presbyterians. Well, even, even the baptizing, um, adult baptizing denominations depends on which one.

[13:21] If you, depending in terms of like, if you said you were baptized as a believer and then wanted to be baptized again as a renewal of your faith, I honestly don't know what they would do.

[13:33] Yeah. You know, that's different from being baptized as a baby and then being baptized as an adult. Um, I was just talking with Sherry about the fact that she's working on papers for commissioning.

[13:46] And one of the questions is the difference between deacons and elders. And in the United Methodist church, elders, um, are, are ordained to word order and sacrament.

[13:59] And deacons are ordained for, um, servanthood service. And they're very specifically like, um, in areas where they have more deacons because deacons have to find their own job and upstate New York or all of New York.

[14:19] And the Northeast in general, they're most churches don't have the money to hire a full time deacon. But deacons, there are, you can be a deacon and be a church administrator, a church musician, a church nurse, um, or physician.

[14:36] I suppose, um, the, um, lots of deacon music directors and children's ministry people. Counseling. Isn't Lori going for counseling deacon?

[14:47] Deacon. Deacon. And she's, she's thinking of going for deacons orders. I don't, I mean, that, that may be what she's going to do and that would make sense.

[14:59] Um, I don't know how all that is going to work out cause she's, she's barely started. So, um, it's, but you become essentially a specialist as opposed to elders who are general practitioners and we're guaranteed a job and deacons are not.

[15:22] Um, so for example, um, defense, she was at Seneca street as a deacon. She is presiding at that church in a pastoral role.

[15:33] And yet she's also, um, doing what it is she was trained to do. Um, I love Valley is at Kenmore. She's a deacon and she has done children use like Christian ed.

[15:49] She's done discipleship right now. I think her job is more discipleship than it, than it has been in the past. And, um, and we have, we actually have a number of deacons who are serving in churches in a pastoral role.

[16:04] Um, partly because they have, um, the education and the credentials and they live someplace where someone.

[16:15] Who's there where they're just not going to find someone else who's, um, appointable as an elder. Um, so it's a, it's a very interesting thing.

[16:29] And part of the reason I started to say that is because I was back to, I was baptized. I was baptized once, but I was ordained twice. I was ordained a deacon, but back then a deacon was the same as what Sherry's going for now, which is commissioning.

[16:45] So they're commissioned now they're not ordained, but it's the same thing. You're moved into a provisional probationary status as you move towards ordination as an elder.

[16:57] But back in the time when, when, uh, Matt and I and others were ordained, you were ordained a deacon. And, um, that was just what they did back then.

[17:11] And part of it was, is that it, it also was your credentialing to be a member to begin your, um, probationary. It's very much the same.

[17:22] And I think when they went to just one ordination, um, it made a lot of sense. Cause if you don't baptize twice, why would you ordain twice? Right. If, if God does the, now we don't consider ordination a sacrament, but if you don't baptize twice, you don't have to do it a sacrament.

[17:36] But if we believe that God is in the ordination, then didn't he get it right the first time? Why would we have to do it a second time? Um, so it's just a very interesting thing, this baptism.

[17:50] And I, um, I, you know, it's funny that I feel this way because I'm a life long United Methodist. I think maybe it's because I married a Baptist, but the, um, the infant baptism and I was baptized.

[18:04] As an infant and I baptized my twins, you know, as soon as possible. Um, but I just feel like it does make more sense when the person can make a choice.

[18:16] You know, it just feels like it's a lot more meaningful, but I, you know, I guess that's confirmation. But you know, where you're confirming your baptism and your choice to, to follow Jesus and be a Christian.

[18:31] Um, but I don't think like most of our youth even truly understand all of that as they're going. You know, when, when we baptize at 13 or somewhere around that age, they're kids.

[18:44] They're really just kids. Yeah. And so I don't disagree with you. I, I, you know, we're live streaming. It's going to be recorded.

[18:55] Everybody in the world can hear me say this, but I, I don't necessarily disagree. Um, with, with people finding a ritual, right?

[19:07] Something that marks an adult decision. Now that can look in a lot of different ways. It doesn't have to be baptism.

[19:19] Um, and I think that's the, what the United Methodist Church has offered, which is that you can do other things. You don't, doesn't have to be baptism. Kind of like renewing your wedding vows.

[19:31] Yeah. Except that we commit. Renew their wedding vows. They've been married a really long time. You know, it's not like, although people renew their wedding vows when they decide, okay, I'm still in it.

[19:45] I'm signing up again, renewing my contract. Right. Huh. So it's very interesting. So what would, what would a United Methodist, and I guess like I'm thinking just as a little bit of a backstory.

[19:58] We have some friends that, um, invited us five or six years ago to, to go to a Christian family camp. And we went several summers. I think they, they grew up in the evangelical Lutheran church or some, maybe something that along the lines of that name.

[20:17] Um, and it was very evangelical, but it was so moving. One of the years that we went as a family, there was a 20 year old young man and he got baptized in the lake.

[20:28] It was in New Hampshire and this beautiful place on a lake. And it was just probably one of the spiritual highlights of my life, even witnessing that and being a part of that for him.

[20:41] And that just was like, just so moving that I, I felt like, oh, I wish I hadn't done it as a baby or my parents. I would love to do that again.

[20:52] You know, I know, I, I get it. I know, I, I get it. And I have witnessed those baptisms when I was at a, on a, when we were on a mission trip, um, in Mississippi after Katrina, we went to New Orleans first and then came back and went to Mississippi.

[21:07] And we stayed at a United Methodist camp and there it's on the ocean and there was a baptism that we ended up with.

[21:18] We had a number of youth with us. And so we, we ended up all watching the baptism and cheering. And, um, I think that I just think that some of our rules make good sense in your head, but not heart.

[21:38] And so like I did a baptism and this is, um, I don't, I think I might've mentioned this before. I did a baptism for a two year old who drowned and there was some certainty that she had been baptized by someone in the emergent, in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

[22:00] And then the parents asked me to baptize her at her funeral. Wow. Now that contradicts so many things about the United Methodist church, about any, you know, whatever.

[22:15] And so I remember I was teaching seminary at the time and I gave this to my seminary students as a, what would you do? Yeah.

[22:26] And I had to almost laugh, but not look like I was laughing because well, the rules say, and this is what the discipline says. And this is it, and I, so at, at the end I said, you know, you're correct.

[22:41] That's what it says. I said, how is it that the parents would understand that? Well, I, we would teach them. And I said, they're two year old just drowned.

[22:53] Right. There is no teaching at this time. And so ultimately what I wanted them to get to was that if there was any comfort to be found, then it didn't matter if that baby had been baptized five times.

[23:09] It didn't matter if that gave them some physical reassurance that that baby was going to be in heaven. I never doubted that baby was going to be in heaven, not for a minute if she'd never been baptized.

[23:21] Right. But if that gave them reassurance, then that's, that's what felt important to me was that we, we don't throw out our guidelines and we understand that they're there for a theological reason.

[23:37] You know, I was also invited to come to a hospital room and baptize a, I don't know, he was maybe two or three and he had pneumonia. He, he wasn't really that sick.

[23:50] You know, when we do emergency baptisms, it's because there's a chance that there's imminent risk that the child is going to die. And then of course we'll do it.

[24:01] Um, but what we talked through instead was anointing this toddler and praying for him to be healed and then talking through going to their church and having him baptized when he was disabled.

[24:16] Yeah. Um, because they didn't, they didn't need that reassurance that if he died, that he was going to be in heaven.

[24:28] They were just worried. Yeah. So, you know, there are times to kind of say yes. I mean, I've baptized other babies or toddlers who are on life support and they're going to take them off life support.

[24:44] And that's different. That's very different. Um, and that's really hitting home for me because, um, to make the long story short, Jack was born without his lungs developed.

[24:58] They were premature. Um, but Katie was healthy as a horse. She was six 11 and one of the longest babies they've seen, which is not surprising. So she went fine, but he, I didn't even see him.

[25:12] They whisked him away in an ambulance to children's because I delivered at Millard Fillmore Suburban and Dan followed the ambulance. And apparently he was, it was really touch and go the first few hours.

[25:26] And I had to pitch a fit to get Katie and me moved to children's because they said, well, we don't move healthy babies. You know, if, if we have to, we'll move you, but we're not moving her.

[25:38] And I had had enough drugs in me that I would, I didn't care. You know, I was just like, well, you're doing it. I'm going and she's coming with me. So then they took me in an ambulance down the 33 to children's and she and I arrived in the lobby of children's.

[25:57] And she was like maybe eight hours old. Cause it took that long to get it all done. And everybody clapped cause they thought I had delivered in the. No, no, no, really.

[26:09] And then, um, but Jack was really, really sick. And in the NICU and I, you know, I made a mistake. I talked to our church Pendleton center and they said, um, you know, do you want, it was, it was actually pastor Suzanne, Suzanne block.

[26:25] And, you know, I, I was still one of those young mothers that didn't want to bother anybody. And she said, do you want somebody to go? And I said, Oh, I think it'll be okay. And then I think I kind of held a grudge for several years that nobody did come because I said it was okay.

[26:42] It was my fault. But then, um, another pastor, Jake Denny from the Ransomville church. He was up in the NICU because there was a baby there that did actually pass away from his congregation.

[26:56] And so he said some words over Jack and prayed with Jack while Dan was there. I wasn't even there, but that did give me a lot of comfort. I never doubted, gosh, I could cry thinking about it, but I never doubted for a minute that if, you know, Jack didn't make it, that he wouldn't go to heaven.

[27:15] Right. I didn't doubt that at all, but it was super comforting to know that like an official clergy person there, you know, that carries more weight.

[27:26] I thought that I think it's any kind of, um, and I've, I haven't gone to the hospital every time a baby's been born because that's just often not possible.

[27:40] But when I have gone with a healthy baby, even, yeah, I've, I've anointed them and definitely with babies that are, are sick.

[27:52] Um, but maybe not, you know, really touched and go in terms of life and death. Yeah. Um, and it gave, I mean, I haven't even anointed a friend's twin granddaughters because they, they couldn't decide on what to do about church.

[28:12] And so they didn't know what to do about having the twins baptized. Um, so this was kind of the intermediary step and they were, they were anointed with a vino, no scent, baby lotion.

[28:27] Oh, because most anointing oil as is either kind of like Vaseline. Yeah. Scented. It could literally burn a little baby skin with the scent.

[28:38] So you don't want to do that. But I think that, I think that there are times when, when we want a ritual we want, whether it's a prayer, um, laying on of hands, whatever it is.

[28:50] I think that, that we want that. Yeah. Um, and so it's, um, well, I'm glad you shared that. I didn't know that Kelly.

[29:01] Kelly. Yeah. And now look at them, you know, the two of them are the twin towers. Yeah. Um, so how long did he stay there? He was there only for 11 days.

[29:14] Um, they gave him four shots of surfactant at the time that it was the most they'd ever given a baby. Um, because yeah, his lungs were really just, I had a really great pregnancy, but they were six weeks early.

[29:29] Um, but they were big for six weeks. I mean, he was 5'11 and she was 6'11. But you know, thank goodness they didn't go a lot longer because they would have been really big babies.

[29:42] Um, you know, a lot of people confuse big with healthy. And they think, you know, I mean, it's certainly it's better for a baby to be 5'11 and sick than be one and a half pounds and sick.

[29:56] Um, yeah, for sure. The nurses were so cute. They said he has wimpy white boy syndrome. Have you heard that before? They said, a premature baby.

[30:08] They said, give me a little black girl any day. They are the strongest. If you're going to have a one or two pound preemie, a black girl is the best. And they said the worst is a white boy.

[30:21] They said they develop their lungs last and all those things. So they said, yeah, he's just got wimpy white boy syndrome. But every once in a while we remind him of that.

[30:32] You know, it's, it's interesting. One of the, one of the children in the church that I was in before, um, her name is Miracle. And she's, um, she's Caribbean American.

[30:46] So, but she's black. And they, uh, so she was the smallest surviving preemie at Strong. Oh, wow. At the time she was born.

[30:57] She's now six. Um, and talk about feisty. Oh my goodness. She's feisty. And she lives up to every last name of that.

[31:08] Every bit of her name. And don't you forget it. That's awesome. That's awesome. So it's interesting that you say that. Cause she was, she was less than two pounds. I know. And, um, so it's just, it's, it's amazing.

[31:23] And, um, yeah, we got there kind of the long way around, but I'm glad that we did. Yeah. Um, and I have to ask Charlie's doing great, right?

[31:38] He is doing great. He went to, I shared this in the Saturday service, but because there are so few people there, I could speak, we could share and, um, and didn't on Sunday, but he went to his, this was his first follow up with the cardiologist where he had an echocardiogram, an EKG, not yet an EKG.

[32:04] Um, and, uh, blood work and stuff like that. And they said that he's right where he's supposed to be that, um, they put a picture of his heart.

[32:16] Um, I don't know if it was before the surgery or soon after the surgery and his heart now, and because his heart had become too muscular, too big, too thick.

[32:27] And so they showed the picture. And he didn't share that with us, although they probably would if I asked that his heart now, um, is just way closer to what it's supposed to be.

[32:40] So I took him off, um, one of his medications and, um, they, it's kind of funny because they, he's on two medications.

[32:55] One is an antacid, um, and that's that because babies with heart surgery tend to have a lot of acid reflux. Yeah. The other one is actually a heart medication and that Jordan and Sarah were like, please, please just take him off the antacid because he hates it.

[33:13] It tastes nasty. It's a nasty texture. Um, you know, he just doesn't like it. Yeah. He doesn't, he likes the heart medicine. It tastes yummy. Oh, wow.

[33:24] Yeah. Sure enough. They did take him off of it. Oh, not the heart medicine, but the antacid. So Jack was on Zantac for two years after he was born, which is funny. He's got a looking old man, you know, Zantac.

[33:38] I know that's, that's what we think. We think about Dan with his acid reflux, he should be on it. But I didn't know that about newborns, um, or about preemies, but I guess that's pretty common.

[33:51] Yeah. So, all right, we're going to look at chapter three, Dan acts and, um, they, um, there's some, there's some pretty neat things about this, this first part of the story.

[34:17] Um, and so Kelly is gone. Oh, I'm here. I'm sorry. I'm closing. A vanishing act.

[34:28] I was just closing the door. My dog was barking loudly. Oh, I'm back. You didn't hear it. Um, would you read, uh, chapter three verses one through 10?

[34:39] Absolutely. Okay. And mine is titled, Peter heals a lame beggar. One day, Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon.

[34:54] Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.

[35:05] When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him as did John. Then Peter said, look at us.

[35:17] So the man gave them his attention expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, silver or gold. I do not have, but what I do have, I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

[35:31] Walk. Taking him by the right hand. He helped him up and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk.

[35:42] Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called beautiful.

[35:57] And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. So it's a, it's a pretty neat story. There are parts of it that, that I think are, are helpful to look at it.

[36:15] First of all, Peter and John are going to the temple at three o'clock in the afternoon. I'm going to the synagogue to do Jewish prayers at three o'clock.

[36:26] Okay. So part of what that tells us is that even though they have become Christians, they wouldn't even necessarily call themselves Christians, but they, they were followers of Jesus absolutely sold out for Jesus.

[36:43] Right. And yet they were still Jewish. Ah, and so the, the practices of the Jewish people did not disappear.

[36:55] Unlike when we were in Hebrews where the, it was an active fight to try to keep the people believing in Jesus and not going back to, um, being Jewish without Jesus.

[37:10] These apostles were Christian, no doubt about it. They were also practicing Jews. Mm hmm. Which I find very, it's just one of those places where if you don't pay attention, you don't really notice that that's what they're going to do.

[37:28] Um, and the, um, one of the other parts of this is.

[37:40] Um, and the way that that one person described it is when Peter and John are going to the temple and, um, he asked them for money.

[37:52] And he said, look at us. And some translations will talk about the fact that. That the man, the crippled man is mine. The crippled beggar is what's called in mind is staring at them.

[38:08] Just like looking at them, which it describes here. Um, and he fixed his attention on them. So he's looking at them. So he's looking at them. And so some people will, uh, talk about the fact that they didn't look like anything special.

[38:24] They didn't look any different from anybody else that was walking around. Um, but they certainly were better off than the crippled guy who got put out to ask for money every day.

[38:36] Um, and so then when he, um, tells them, um, so he, he saw them.

[38:47] Peter looked intently at him as did John. And then he fixed his attention on him. So they noticed him and they were looking at him. Peter, then he's, you know, there's this like staring thing between them.

[39:02] But I thought what was really neat is the fact that in the passage, it makes it clear that they saw each other. This was not just a kind of a peripheral, um, or the guy like other passages you'll hear.

[39:19] Um, you'll see people get in Jesus way and, um, kind of create a fuss to get Jesus attention. Now this isn't Jesus, but this guy just asked them like any other guy, um, for money, but they noticed him.

[39:36] And then he noticed them back. Um, and so it's, um, the other thing that is of note is that when he's healed, it's in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

[39:54] Yeah. So they, even though the disciples were given the apostles disciples, even though they were given the power to go out and heal.

[40:06] It wasn't, there wasn't ever the thought that they would do it in their name, kind of like the person baptized in John's name. Um, and I don't, I don't, I don't even know when I've heard that because they, um, but the credit who takes the credit.

[40:26] Do the disciples take the credit or does Jesus get the credit? Um, and, um, and Jesus does. And, um, they, um, it just was a, it's a very important, um, part of this particular story because, um, when he's healed, he's healed in the name of Jesus Christ.

[40:52] Um, and that's an important, and what was the response of the people who saw him at the temple? Amazed.

[41:03] They were amazed. Yep. Filled with wonder and amazement. Yeah. What had happened to him because they recognized him.

[41:14] Um, and so that, which leads into the next part of this chapter was, which is that. So now this has happened and this man has been healed and people are all noticing him, them, which then turns the focus onto Peter and John.

[41:35] Mm-hmm. Who now we're going to preach. You know, never give up an opportunity to preach. Yeah. So they, um, so we get to the, the next part of that.

[41:47] And Linda, how about if you read from 11 through the end of 16. Okay. Well, the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's colonnade.

[42:04] When Peter saw this, he said to them, fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if our own power or godliness that we made this man walk?

[42:21] The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant, Jesus. You handed him over to be killed and you disowned him before pilot.

[42:36] Though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.

[42:50] We are the witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him as you can see.

[43:09] So some pretty big messages in there. Yeah. What are the ones that jump out at you? You killed him. You did it. Yeah.

[43:20] Very like this is you. And now we'll cheat a little bit, but we're not going there yet. Verse 17. And now friends, I know you acted in ignorance and so did your rulers.

[43:36] So they get off the hook, but not in this this particular part of it. And I mean, when you think about people who get who do something wrong in their wrongs are pointed out and then they are sort of it's sort of softened later.

[43:50] What do you think they go away with? Guilt. The guilt. The guilt. The initial thing. Yeah. If they don't necessarily hear the softened part.

[44:01] I know you didn't mean it. Right. You want them to. I used to always say my mother was a travel agent for guilt trips. That's funny.

[44:13] I've never heard that. That's it is interesting. It isn't just when I was growing up. The reason that we didn't get into more trouble than we did was guilt, but it was the feet was fear of disappointing our parents.

[44:30] Right. Then there's the guilt. So, but our parents didn't necessarily. They never shamed us or did anything that. But boy, oh boy, we knew what was right and wrong.

[44:42] And nobody wanted to get in trouble. My brother didn't care so much, but my sister and I did. Isn't that, I mean, that's a whole separate topic, but you've talked so much about how you didn't grow up in the church, but it sounds like your family had really high morals.

[45:00] Yeah. And, you know, it's, that's always so fascinating to me that when people have such a great moral code and are such what people would say good people. But, you know, it's like, wow, what's driving them?

[45:13] Yeah. Yes. And it's, it is interesting. I think that while our parents loved us as best they can, that was the piece that they didn't have.

[45:24] Yeah. They, I mean, they, they, they did the best they could, but it wasn't like you didn't get the morals and the joy and the sort of the, that comes with the faith part of it.

[45:39] You got the morals and the high expectations, not as much of a reward system because as I, I heard somebody the other day, well, why do we have to thank them?

[45:50] They were just doing their job. Um, yeah, that works. But anyway, but I, when I went to college, I went looking for somebody for some place to find the same morals that I had.

[46:03] And it happened that they lined up in the Christian faith just perfectly. All I had to do is find Jesus to go with it. Um, but that was, you know, we picked up along the roadside.

[46:14] We were taught right and wrong. Um, and obeyed the rules mostly. I was always good. Cause, cause I saw what happened with my sister Sue wasn't.

[46:27] She was the troublemaker in the family. Was she the oldest? Is she the oldest? She was older than me. Yeah. She's older than I am. Sue Hiltz.

[46:38] Have you met Sue Hiltz yet? No. Okay. She's my sister. You'll see her when she narrates the cantata. That's going to be. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Name.

[46:49] Yeah. Um, anyway. Yeah. She was always the rebellious one. That's funny. My mother was the rebellious one growing up. And my brother who's my mother's son, but not my father's because she was married before.

[47:05] Okay. And he was the rebellious one to some extent, but, um, and then of the two of us, I was the one who kind of gotten a little more trouble because I was just more fun than my sister.

[47:19] That's all. That's what it is. She was more fun than me. And she, my sister knew it. She, when I came home, she wanted to go have fun with me because then she could ride on my fun coattails.

[47:33] Yeah. But I wanted to rest when I came home. I'm having all the fun. So, um, we also in the middle of verse 12, how does Peter address the people?

[47:51] He called. Hello. Yeah. Fellow. Fellow. What is real life is real lights. Um, and then he goes on to talk about, um, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob and the God of our ancestors.

[48:09] Um, so, uh, do you remember when we were, um, in Hebrews and we were talking about, um, the use of some of the big names, like in Hebrews 10, when you have the, the sort of the, all the heroes.

[48:24] Yeah. Um, and why do you remember why we talked about, why did they use all those names from the old Testament? The ancestry, the lineage, the, uh, remembering your roots. It validates that we're all from the same place.

[48:43] Um, but the resultado. But the fact that the people have. Um, it indicates that I know how. Um, the, how, in. We gave an. just yet i know where you came from and jesus came from a simp from a human lineage um that's the same and so there's a sense of identifying with their heritage even though obviously it's jewish and not christian um but by name dropping he's he's winning them over by uh finding affinity with them in his in his sermon um and then of course we go on to the shaming um and that's anything else you see in there in verse um 15 when they when he says you killed the author of life i thought oh my goodness yeah that was pretty harsh oh my god i'm like wait can anybody kill god right because we think of even though we're trinitarian we think of god as the author of life because it's god who speaks creation into being um we learn later that it's the trinity but i i don't know that i would describe jesus as the author of life but i sure wouldn't think about killing him right the author of life right goodness yeah um yeah that's pretty strong pretty strong language um and so some of the things just to recap the apostles were devout jews um three o'clock in the afternoon at the temple um gate so it goes along with the command that those who love god in the in the torah um command that those who love god offer daily sacrifices to the lord so three o'clock in the afternoon was evidently the time um and they kind of wanted to make a big deal of the thought that he was lame from birth i couldn't in any of my thinking about different healing stories come up with a reason why that would be important do you think is it about um i mean the first thing that comes to my mind is where there are stories where it's almost questioned their behavior because they're disabled or have a disability who did they did they did they sin or did their parents sin or right and then i wondered the same thing because there are um i've got my phone cord anyway i'm tangled up in cords oh hell um i went to be there he'll help i was went to move my chair and i was about to pull everything off the table um um the that sense of the sons of the the sins of the parents are visited upon their children um so i wonder and i would have to look this up to see well if you're he if you heal someone who's been lame since birth and you believe in that sort of hereditary damage that's done originally caused by sin and are you healing back are you forgiving the history in that family that's a pretty interesting question isn't it yeah yeah yeah because that's where that's where that takes me is um and when i was reading about this passage it simply was noted that it was significant that he had been crippled since his birth um yep anything else

[52:54] the um um our notes do talk about um it just says to me that you know the death of jesus had occurred right there in jerusalem only weeks earlier it is that close in time yeah and i think did we talk about that last time linda about i think so it was that it wasn't that long um that between the ascension and pentecost the pentecost oh right so yeah this is still this is still right around pentecost right yeah it's hard because we don't know like between chapter one and acts and chapter three how much time has gone by but evidently not very much time yeah but these are people that did not witness the um the pentecost experience so it's after that okay because between the resurrection and the ascension it was what 40 days right suppose it's no 50 days 50 days 50 days between the resurrection and pentecost okay right oh and jesus was on earth for he came back and was here for 40 days right right then so now we're up to 10 days about 10 days so they had about 10 days where he was gone but the holy spirit hadn't come yet right okay right and so now we're however long after that is is where we are got it's um um it's also pretty interesting that that in chapter three the two disciples or apostles that are focused on in terms of healing and preaching are peter and john the doubter and the runner um because peter denied jesus not doubting thomas but peter denied jesus three times and when they were in the garden of gethsemane john was one of the ones who ran away oh okay yeah so it's not the runner and the doubter it's the runner and the denier but doubter works better if you're gonna just describe it like that right jesus always uses the the people you least expect yeah well well and i think that it's a i don't know i think there's there's a so many stories of redemption and isn't this one of them that they um have redeemed themselves because what they did was simply fear they were just afraid you know when the soldiers came and arrested jesus and then when jesus was taken prisoner and i think that peter was likely afraid that he was going to also be taken um and now here they are significant um impact that that peter and john have um so let's continue with the sermon and now friends i know that you acted in ignorance as did your rulers in this way god fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets that his messiah would suffer so it's not just that you didn't know and your rulers didn't know it's that this was the this was what was prophesied right from the beginning repent therefore and return and turn to god so that your sins may be wiped out so the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the lord

[56:58] and he may send the messiah appointed for you that it is jesus who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that god announced long ago through his holy prophets moses said the lord your god will raise up for you from your own people a prophet like me you must listen to whatever he tells you and it will be that everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly rooted out of the people and all the prophets as many have spoken from samuel and those after him also predicted these days you are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that god gave to your ancestors saying to abraham and in your descendants all the families of the earth shall be blessed when god raised up his servant he sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways feels like one riley long run on sentence right it's not but it reads like one yeah so repentance is one of the the themes in this particular um part and repent and return um you know um have you have you had when you've talked or taught or thought about repentance how have you described that what does that how would you describe what repentance means to someone pastor tom was that was one thing that he always drilled into the congregation he would literally say turn around and he would physically do that so that has been kind of kind of be kind of be kind of be kind of be kind of that it's you know it's not just asking for forgiveness and saying you're sorry but it's turning from whatever you've done right walking away yeah i would agree with that that um and it says um repent therefore and turn to god so it doesn't talk about the necessarily use the word repent meaning turn but it's repent and turn so it is the same it is the same kind of kind of idea and um so he's talked about the ways that he that peter lets them off the hook um and the fact that god was in charge all along and that uh peter indicates the messiah's suffering was fulfillment of god's plan um the peter implores his hearers to repent literally to change their minds about jesus these jerusalem israelites are challenged to turn around in their thinking about jesus so that they like the prodigal son might return to a joyfully waiting god i don't think i i don't think that i i don't often look at other biblical stories and think about people that you're preaching to being the prodigal children but isn't that true that in any given time that in the people who hear christian preachers might be a prodigal child that has gone away and is trying to find their way back that was me but it feels like every one of us regardless of whether it was big rebellion or little rebellions every day little decisions and choices that you make

[61:02] i mean i still feel like you know you could call me a prodigal today because i'm not totally doing everything perfectly yeah well and i think and i've i've i've believed that we and maybe i don't typically think about it in terms of prodigal but i think it is we get lost along the way yeah and it's just that getting lost doesn't look like the prodigal story we don't go and you know get ourselves in such trouble that we're wishing we could eat the slop that the pigs were given right um right but i think that um life is full of full of those kinds of things i think life is full of conversion experiences which to me means remembering oh right this is what i believe turning back which is not so much the same as repentance in my mind as much as much as it is remembering my faith and saying yes that i'm all in again yeah i just googled prodigal because i was thinking what does what does that really mean it's funny like it looks very secular but it talks about just being extravagantly wasteful um but i think we as christians we're using it more of just being wayward maybe more than i think the the secular world has taken that story of spending the father's inheritance or spending your inheritance from the father or spending my kids inheritance yeah yeah i can start to relate to that yeah because when you were talking i was like well um we always told our kids we weren't going to leave them anything except for memories because we spent all we didn't spend all of our money but we spent we spent a lot of money when they were growing up making memories going on trips doing neat things together and so we we told them this is why when we die it won't be like when my grandparents died where they'd saved all their money had not done fun things they had good lives but they had not done the things that they wish they would do so we spent their money doing fun things with our kids that's not good though yeah but sometimes amazon isn't always uh buying memories i know it's so easy with online right now yeah it's like the new new bc oh my gosh yeah right we had at the church that i was in before they had several annual um they called them super sales but they literally had um uh that started when they had somebody who worked for pennies and in pennies boutique department where the where the the name brands were they would um they would either sell them or give them to the church and then the church would sell them and they'd make a lot of money oh um well that eventually wasn't the case anymore but periodically we would have somebody who was all about qvc and maybe they would go to a nursing home or pass away and all their qvc stuff would come to the super sale you know like 17 purses that are pretty much the same just different colors half of them still in the bag um it's kind of somewhere between um spending someone's inheritance and hoarding yeah right but i had i was like where did this stuff come from because i didn't recognize any of it and they were like this is all qvc stuff right i had my my aunt it is good i feel almost bad talking saying it because

[65:12] my aunt who had ms like my mom and was very bedridden it was a great way for her to shop so all of our christmas presents were always qvc but she could do that you know yeah and it was yeah because just like now the fact that you know we can send gifts like when your kids are away at college or when even even when when linda when you just can't be with them or your grand yeah and you can go on to somewhere and send something to them um yeah and it is i think they're getting gift cards this year though because i don't know their sizes and i don't know what toys they already have and so i think i'm going to send them gift cards this year some people think oh that's not meaningful i can tell you that the spenders of the gift cards think it's very meaningful yeah um all right so it's um so he talks about the messiah appointed for you it's jesus who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration is that what yours use is that the term yours use what verse is it it's um sure i just looked it's 21. it says to restore everything so very similar yeah god to restore everything which we understand to be the second coming um and then it goes on 23 how does your verse 23 read anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people mine is a little more dramatic utterly rooted out ah is what mine says yeah they're big into kind of like rooting out those weeds in the garden i know but i i throw my weeds on the the driveway and let the sun kill them off i don't think i want to suffer that fate yeah it's it's a it's there's some pretty drastic things in here um and then it goes on to talk about samuel and those after him they predicted these days descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that god gave to your ancestors the elders saying to abraham and this is the part i think we're saying to abraham and then i'm assuming that that's supposed to be a quote and in your descendants all the family of the of the west yeah i'm just you know normally it's kind of in italics or something yeah but it's not so we have like the single quote because it's contained within the double quote if that makes sense like yeah so right peter is saying all of this is john just standing there and going yeah when he said yeah it's so funny and you know some of the things that i think that um it one of the people that i was as i quoted in my working preparing peter's sermon follows a dramatic healing although peter does all the talking the narrative does include john peter and john together um do this and so we don't know um exactly why but acts make sure we remember john's

[69:20] participation because they were in it together but john you don't ever hear john's voice right you just hear him alluded to and although he does not speak yet he will go to jail with peter demonstrate boldness alongside peter in acts 4 and argue his case alongside peter so in verse in chapter 4 we'll get to john speaking up we might easily overlook john's role um and then this person said this story is about the easter church not peter being a hero so to to be reminded that even though peter has sort of taken center stage he doesn't claiming center stage right um but it does speak to why it gives some understanding that it's just not peter's john john's turn yet but it works i see it kind of like our sunday services where like if you're preaching scott and sherry are there but you're the one giving the message right they're there for their whatever they're to do at the time right and thanks for reading scripture by the way that was nice oh you're welcome hi video yeah i love that it was very nice um what did you think of the the communion liturgy did you notice the differences in it yeah i loved it it was very meaningful i thought that um you know i i wondered how people would respond to it it so i you know all the when i put it together i kept all parts together all the parts in there that people are used to right so that people find the ritual and the repetitive words um that we always say in communion are still in there but kind of weave around it words that are about christmas and jesus yeah well when i was at gawanda i didn't always use the same thing every week either and um but yeah i liked it i also like the way the sanctuary looks this year and i keep forgetting to say i love the way you did the saints that sunday too oh yeah that was awesome that was yeah so meaningful and touching and yeah yeah and you know um this being such an exceptional year just unprecedented um my dad lost his sister right i think it was two days before easter not to covid but she passed and she passed alone and she's supposed to be buried up here even though she lived her whole adult life really in washington dc and her kids have been trying valiantly to get up here to bury her they did have her cremated but it was like one of the only real public remembrances of her and so i submitted her name and uh i could tell it really touched my dad that you know that finally she was receiving some acknowledgement of her passing you know and there probably were a lot of people like that on the list that yeah have a funeral and yeah right and i think that yeah because it's been that um that i don't know that um that i don't know that um that i don't know how long it'll last if things get worse that they're still allowing for that um that i don't know how long it'll last if

[73:30] things get worse that they're still allowing someone to come in our at least at roswell i don't know about the other hospitals that when someone is dying they still someone can still come i think that is still in most hospitals hospitals it's end of life pediatric and um birth birth yes yeah yeah yeah that's um i'm taking a turn here um with communion i have noticed that we don't always do a prayer of confession before communion anymore and i had been kind of drilled into me that as well that that we needed to do that is there is does the united methodist church not think that we have to do that no i think that there's um you know when i historically i used to always do a prayer of confession and assurance of heart not necessarily like directly next to communion yeah right because the liturgy in communion lends itself to some some acknowledgement of our human condition um and so when when when when i when i came here and i was trying to get them to explain to me how they did the prayer of confession and there was a sense that um so there was a little bit of a lack of understanding that in terms of well it's not official it's not written it's something that the pastor says and then the people repeat and i i couldn't quite get my mind around it because to me a prayer of confession is pastor introduces it we pray the prayer together the pastor says in the name of jesus christ you are forgiven and then you say in the name of jesus christ you are forgiven um that's my understanding of a prayer of confession that's how i did it at gawanda yeah and so the other thing that that that i was told was that the church wasn't used to doing like together kind of prayers well we could get used to it right well and you know it was the um the the way that it got to be done in the last like probably couple of years they they typically did it um with the um now i can't think of what you know just the big prayer in service oh the pastoral prayer pastoral prayer yeah um at the end of that and and there were i hate to admit this there were times where it almost got a little comical because the phrases that the pastor said we that they wanted us to repeat got to be so confusing and it was different every single week and there was one where like a bunch of our friends and us we still laugh about it and we're probably should be struck down with lightning but it was like for you know please forgive me for the things i do not do and the things that i do that i should not do and could not do or something and i think everybody was like uh we couldn't have all all tongue tied yeah and so um it got it got to be you know people almost got giggly about it too i think that um that i think it would be nice i i miss the prayer of confession or having or feeling like i've confessed and then you know in whatever format i'm open to any format and maybe that's what the staff was referring to that it you know it was very much i feel like impromptu whatever the pastor just said

[77:35] and i i can remember when they were trying to explain to me so so okay now we're going to record this and now you're going to do this well i'm going to do what well you're going to do the prayer of confession well what prayer of confession is there a prayer of confession no this is the way we do it we say it and then and i was like you're going to have to give me a minute because yeah i can't i i have to write it down for myself if i'm going to ask people to say something that i said it needs to flow it needs to make sense right even if they don't have it written down i need it to be written down so that i'm not like i make a giggle when i when i was at gawanda i would um i used the um discipleship ministries a lot and and they would i i followed the lectionary so they would give you prayers of confession that went along with and um you know with the theme of the week and it was always in the bulletin and the the church would say it it was a unison prayer and then at the end it was in the name of jesus christ your sins are forgiven and then so and i missed some of it is not having a bulletin right yes and uh some of it is trying to keep the service really tight yeah um because years ago and in traditional services which most of the churches i've had have had at least one one of each kind of service in the traditional service there would be a call to worship which would sometimes be responsive it would be in the bulletin then there would be um prayer of invocation which it might be in the bulletin but it was usually the pastor who prayed it and then there might be one of the scripture readings and then there was the prayer of confession and um the um and part of that was that even though confession in in our humanity is referenced in the in communion there's a sense that you want to have your confession and your pardon before you get to communion right um no matter how you do it but it's um it can't for me this is this is just me for me it can't just be stuck in there it's got to be it's got to have a flow that makes sense um it can look very extemporaneous even though it's not right but it's not right but while i haven't always been a person who follows the lectionary i have been um the kind of person who works very hard to make sure that the that the prayers go and the music goes with whatever it is that we're talking about yeah just kind of like tweaking the um the consecration of communion to incorporate the fact that now we're in advent yeah that's great kind of to try to help people listen and i guess it's also the idea that even with making the sanctuary look the way it is um is the fact that you want people to feel it from the minute they get there you want them to feel feel that sense of this is a peaceful beautiful space and i don't have there's not chaos and um and so we there was a even more intentionality this year um in my uh kind of everybody helps but i i tend to be the and some of that is because i have an idea in my mind as to where i want to go and what it's going

[81:40] to look like um and so then it begins conveying that and communicating that to people so that we can all then do it together um and so it's uh it's just my feeling is that worship starts the minute people walk in the sanctuary and even if they're talk talk talking that's fine um but the the environment is a part of the message it's actually a sanctuary yeah yeah set apart i know we're a little bit over time i have one more funny story that i have to share with you about the prayer of confession it just i just remembered it this was probably like five years ago um so dan and i have been married 20 years and it was i think the 15th anniversary when we um when we used to take communion and go up by intention they would put um messages up on the wall while sue played the organ and it would be blessings and mostly blessings i guess things that you're thankful for um so long story long this week before our 15th anniversary um i didn't go to church i was sick but dan went with the kids and then the day of our anniversary the next week we were we'd done the prayer of confession we were walking up to get communion and up on the wall it says you know praise to god that i'm married to my wife for 15 years it's the best thing i've ever done or something and i got like all teary-eyed and i turned around to dan because you always submitted them the week before right and then it would show up and i said to him oh my gosh that's like the nicest thing and he goes i didn't write that and it turns out there's another couple that shared our anniversary of the same week and after we got home he said hell i really wanted to tell you that i had written that on the prayer confession that's right and we're headed towards communion this is not the time for lying i just thought it was so funny i've always i've often said like that's the time i'm going to ask him anything because we're like walking because you're going to get the truth yeah when we had when we had staff meeting today for whatever reason debbie pulled up notes from um uh staff meeting that was on march 17th and it was all the staff came together um in the sanctuary because now cove it's we have to close down and they the notes that she had were we're gonna close for at least a week and the cdc cannot tell us what to do um and and you know so we and we were all like yeah um that's not true um but there was and then they the decision was we're not going to have worship for two weeks so the idea was you know by the end of march that there would be worship again and you know there was a whole bunch of other stuff but it was just so funny to read this and to to hear how how short-sighted we all thought we all thought that that's what was going to happen um but there were things in there that we laughed about like not having to do what the cdc says and which would be the equivalent of not doing what new york state says and yeah i mean we don't really have choices about some of that kind of stuff but well i think and i think it's like i've heard people say about god he only gives us you know what we can handle at the time i think our little brains if you'd have told us in march that it was going to be all the way through christmas and however long it ends up being i think i think we would have just been like i'm done you know you're saying probably not to late

[85:47] summer early fall that yeah every the the vaccines will be done and yeah so we couldn't have handled it you know we just had to think okay well and i think we did i know that in my my planning it was like well by the time i arrive you know we'll be in the sanctuary we'll be having worship it'll be all all done and of course by the time i arrived it was like no we can't it's too dangerous um i mean that's part of what i was saying as well as everybody else yeah yeah and now we're in a time when things are kind of i don't know how are you guys feeling about the changes and the numbers and stuff like that people need to be smart yeah people need to realize that as much as we want to watch the football game with our friends and have our family dinners i'd rather not see you this year and have you there next year yeah it feel to me i'm feeling like it's really difficult to know how anybody gets it now and i heard somebody say you know you almost have to assume that people around you wherever you are somebody's right and so you just got to be just you know super vigilant with all of the the things the mask the hand washing the sanitizer just everything and trying to be around as few people as possible you know it's it's just it's hard but i think yeah i just i just wanna i want the it's selfishly i want the people i loved it to be safe through the next six months or so you know and it's like how do we keep them safe yeah and look how many just in the past since thanksgiving how many prayer requests have gone out for people with covid in the hospital one of my parents um friends just died of covid and they went to the funeral home because they're so big on that which i respect and they wanted to pay their respects but i'm just thinking oh i don't know if i would have even gone at their age yeah i wouldn't even at my age i wouldn't go to right now i know because we're trying to be so careful with them but you know but at the same time i think there's a i mean they do need to be careful and everybody around them needs to be careful at the same time they're if they're being careful and if they're wearing masks and you know taking the precautions when they go to some place like that for them to not do it is death yeah because that um that's a generational thing although matt and i both also feel very very strongly about that um but it has to be done in a smart way it has to be and the funeral homes have to have be on top of it but in general it's just better for people to stay out of groups like that i mean we're making the decision we're going to rent a house in cleveland for after christmas everybody on on zoom on thanksgiving day everybody agreed that they would everybody was willing to go through whatever was required to do this and um but we won't we'll do our grocery shopping here we won't go to the stores in cleveland we won't go out anywhere and because we're moving we'll be in a rental house there won't be other people in and out and right there's there's a good chance that jordan and sarah will come to our rental house to be with

[89:51] us instead of all of us piling into their little house but oh god um you know we just i took time off afterwards so that you know i could do whatever was required for safety and and if if it for example if katie and jeff are told you that if the flights are cancelled like they were in march then obviously we won't do it because they won't be coming right um but right just trying to be we're trying to be careful but also trying to be within that careful find ways to still be family to each other yeah like you know they were my dining room table isn't very big here uh matt's got the big one in in rochester and so having my laptop on the table while we were eating thanksgiving was a bit of a challenge because we all had to come over on one side of the table and um but it just it just felt so important yeah plus we got to watch charlie roll he rolled this way and then he rolled back and there was all this cheering come on charlie you can do it because he was trying and trying and then eventually he would flip over and then he flipped right over it was like the the going from his back over from his stomach onto his back is easy um but from his back back over onto his stomach is you know he's got it he's he knows now how to tuck his arm in because that arm gets in the way every time um but just so darn cute it's the simple things it really is it really is well it's good to be with you and we'll uh carry on with peter not to peter john we'll hear from john next week okay all right excellent blessings be safe you too all right take care okay bye-bye good night bye so

[92:22] Thank you.