The discourse presented in this podcast episode is a profound exploration of the concept of "Christlike Conversations as Image Bearers," emphasizing the significance of engaging in meaningful dialogue amidst the limitations inherent to human existence. Foremost, the episode delineates the notion that our conversations possess the capacity to alleviate the burdens of stress and anxiety that many individuals face in their daily lives. Through the poignant case studies of two individuals, Michael and Sarah, we delve into the complexities of their experiences, shedding light on the multifaceted nature of stress stemming from external pressures and internal expectations. The speakers articulate a compelling argument that recognizing our limitations is not an impediment, but rather a divine design that fosters dependence on God and community. Ultimately, this episode seeks to encourage listeners to engage in thoughtful conversations that reflect the beauty of being created in God's image, while offering hope and understanding in the face of life's trials.
Recorded at Kinfire Festival 2026 - Kilkenny, Ireland.
1. Created with limitations, including conversations about stress as finite people 2. Created in His Image, including conversations that bring hope in addiction 3. Created with beauty, including conversations in the darkness of deep suffering
For more information visit www.kinfire.ie
The Kinfire 2026 Topical Track Series embarks on its inaugural episode, aptly titled 'Christlike Conversations as Image Bearers', which serves as a profound exploration into the intricacies of human limitations and the stressors that accompany our finite existence. The discourse is anchored on the premise that as image bearers of a limitless God, we are inherently designed with limitations which shape our interactions and conversations. We delve into the emotional toll of stress, illustrated through poignant case studies of individuals grappling with the weight of expectations, personal struggles, and societal pressures. The narrative unfolds with an emphasis on the necessity of community and the role of biblical counseling in navigating these tumultuous waters. By examining the essence of our created nature, we are invited to reflect on how acknowledging our limitations can lead to deeper conversations and connections with one another, ultimately fostering a culture of empathy and understanding. Furthermore, the episode underscores the importance of turning towards Scripture as a guiding light in our conversations, prompting us to ask critical questions that address our struggles and fears. Through this lens, we are encouraged to see our limitations not as burdens, but as inherent aspects of our humanity that allow us to depend on God and each other. The episode concludes with a powerful reminder of our need for grace and the transformative impact of Christlike conversations in our lives, ultimately steering us towards hope and healing in our shared journey of faith.
Takeaways:
The podcast series delves into the complexities of being image bearers of Christ, particularly in relation to limitations and stress.
In acknowledging our finite nature, we engage in meaningful conversations that promote hope and understanding amidst struggles.
The discussions emphasize the importance of community and biblical counseling in addressing personal challenges and fostering growth.
Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their limitations as gifts from God, guiding them toward dependence on Him and one another.
The series explores how scripture informs our conversations, prompting us to ask profound questions about our struggles and identities.
Ultimately, the series aims to highlight the beauty of being human while acknowledging the reality of sin and suffering in our lives.
This three part series is titled Christlike Conversations as Image Bearers.
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Episode 1 is created with limitations, including conversations about stress as finite people.
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Episode two is created in his image, including conversations that bring hope and addiction.
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Episode 3 is created with beauty, including conversations in the darkness of deep suffering.
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We hope you are encouraged and blessed by this series.
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Let's grab a seat.
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Do you know we're talking about conversations and I'm trying to get you to stop talking but you know there will be chats on the way through.
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I hope you're in the right place.
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Christ, like conversations as image bearers is where you are, what you're going to be thinking about.
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My name is Esther lynch and I have the joy of joining and being here to do this seminar today.
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Andrew Collins will be here to do one tomorrow and then Carol Watson will finish up on Saturday.
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I don't know what day of the week it is.
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There we go.
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And it's such a real privilege.
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And we will be thinking about Christlike conversations as image bearers today.
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Starting with created with limitations, conversations about stress as finite people.
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We're going to demonstrate the power of conversations, thinking through what does it actually mean?
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What we've been hearing about in our last two talks, to how we speak to one another, to how we think about struggle.
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Our conversations are really powerful.
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I'm based in Dublin.
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My husband Kieran is a minister at a church in the city centre, Emmanuel.
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Our kids are here, they've scattered.
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I don't know what is happening.
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And Carol and Andrew will introduce themselves as we come.
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We are part of Equipped to Care, a new and growing small organization in the south and in the north, seeking to think through.
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What does a biblical counseling approach look like to ministry to conversation in our local churches on this island?
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Andrew is with Biblical Counseling UK and we have worked so closely together.
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Please talk to us about these ministries.
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We want to connect with you, with your church, with what is happening on this island as we seek to think through.
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What does biblical counseling mean and why it's so important?
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So our plan is to think about an aspect of being an image bearer and apply it to an area of struggle.
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How does scripture guide our conversations?
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What difference does it actually make to the struggle that we're dealing with?
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What questions does scripture push us to ask to pray?
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How does that guide our conversations here, even right now?
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And when we go home, in our homes, in our work, in our churches, how does actually being an image bearer make a difference to those conversations?
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Along the way and at the end we'll highlight some resources and we want to apply this personally, collectively, and to some case studies that we will chat about today.
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Let me read some of those words from Genesis chapter one again as we begin.
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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
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The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.
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And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
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Let's go down to verse 26 and 27.
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Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
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So God created man in his own image.
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In the image of God he created him.
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Male and female, he created them.
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We'll jump down to verse 31.
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And God saw everything that he had made.
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And behold, it was good.
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It was very good.
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And there was evening and there was morning.
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The sixth day.
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Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them.
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And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done.
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And so he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
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And let's reach up to 2, verse 7.
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Then the Lord God formed the man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.
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Let me pray as we begin our time together.
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Father, we're so aware of who you are, of how you have made us.
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And Lord, as we spend time thinking about being created with limits, Lord, you will open our eyes to again the beauty of who you are and what that means as we seek to live as your image bearers for your glory in our suffering, in our sin, in our struggle, and in the joy of what it means to be your people here on earth.
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In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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I've given you two case studies on the pages on your sheet in front of you.
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There's kind of one for every other person.
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So you know, we'll join together in conversation, but I'm going to read them out as a little bit of a snapshot of stress.
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So Michael is a 63 year old married man who's followed Jesus for many years.
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He's a small group leader in his church, known by others as someone to pray for that others come to wisdom.
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For on the outside he seems steady, but lately he's been feeling under intense pressure.
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His company is under restructuring, his retirement plans seem fragile his younger brother has been diagnosed with a serious illness.
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His adult children often come to him with their struggles for help.
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He's begun to wake up early in the morning with a tight chest, racing thoughts about money, his brother's health, whether he has done enough with his life.
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He rarely talks about this with anyone and thinks at my age I should be stronger in my faith.
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Let's listen to Sarah.
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She's a 29 year old school teacher.
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She's again active in her church, helps with praise and worship, leads a small Bible study.
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Lately she's been feeling overwhelmed.
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Her class has several high needs students, pressure from school inspections, and at the same time her mother's health is, excuse me, declining.
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She often lies awake at night replaying conversations and worrying about whether she has done enough for everyone.
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She feels guilty about how stressed she is.
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Part of her believes that if she really trusted God, she wouldn't feel so anxious and worn out.
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She wonders if God is disappointed with her.
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What are Michael and Sarah experiencing?
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I'm sure you could think of lots of words to describe what we've just read and in some ways that captures the complexity of this word stress.
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There's a lot in there, isn't there?
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Here's a definition that I found.
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Stress is an emotional or mental state from actual or perceived pressures and demands in your circumstances.
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Prolonged stress results in negative mental, emotional, physical effects in your life.
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It creates a sense of tension that makes you feel overwhelmed, discouraged, burnt out.
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And it often manifests itself in troubling physical symptoms.
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It seems stress is our normal, doesn't it?
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Normal responses to the demands of life.
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And it can be good.
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We say a strong motivator helps us with achieving goals.
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That satisfaction after accomplishing a deadline, short term response and runaway from danger enhances performance.
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However people are stressed out.
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This is from:
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93% Of people in Ireland say that they are stressed.
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Ireland in that particular study was right up there with one of the most stressed out countries in the world.
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The health and safety authority here said that 60% of Irish workers have higher stress levels than before the pandemic.
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Greatly impacted by housing shortage, financial crisis, the uncertainty of work, this perfect storm of stressors.
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I think the word overwhelm just captures that reality.
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We cannot live under constant stress.
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It takes a tool.
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As we read relationally, spiritually, emotionally, physically and in our behavior, I think we can use many words to capture that idea of stress and its ripple in so many areas of our lives.
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We use words interchangeably, don't we?
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Stress, anxiety.
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Scripture speaks of Trouble, burden, affliction, these weights.
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Generally, it's seen that stress is coming from external pressure internally.
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Our response to stress then is anxiety, that persistent feeling of dread and the many, many ripples in our reactions and interactions that that can have.
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We have accumulated stresses beyond our ability to cope.
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Stress seems to be a way of life, but not one that we were ever designed for.
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And that's what we want to think about.
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What were we designed for?
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What does image bearing actually mean when we consider these limitations?
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Again, stress can be the spectrum from a traumatic, that event, what could be described as post traumatic stress disorder to that everyday unrelenting, constant demand.
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And I am sure I you can relate to what we are describing, to what we are talking about.
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Already it's done my soul good to prepare this material and consider these realities.
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How does Scripture speak to this?
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How does being an image bearer help us understand the messiness, the complexity of our experiences and prompt our conversations with one another?
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How does that make a difference?
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Here's where we want to go.
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We want to think about conversations about limitations and dependence as we think about being created as an image bearer.
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Distorted image, the reality of where Genesis goes.
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Conversations about truth and life.
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And then finally we will come to Jesus.
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That work of the perfect image of God in us.
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Conversations in community towards change.
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So that's our plan.
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We do want to think personally, we do want to think about our case studies.
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I hope we will think briefly about what this looks like in your local church.
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So that's where we're going.
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So let's begin with this first one.
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Perfect image.
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Conversations about our limitations and dependence as we think about being created as image bearers.
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In the beginning, God.
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As we've enjoyed this morning, the limitless God created limited human beings.
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And that is good.
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I wonder if you know this book.
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Some of you might know it.
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Kelly Kapich.
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How you say his name?
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It's called you're only human.
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How your limits reflect God's good design and why that is good news.
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What a great title, eh?
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He starts his book like this.
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Oh, here we go.
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Many of us fail to understand our limits are a gift from God and therefore good.
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This reduces in us the burden of trying to be something we are not and cannot be.
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This is actually one aspect of how we are made as image bearers.
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What does it mean that we are creatures and not God?
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Creation introduces us to this limitless God who has made us from dust like we read, who breathed into us the breath of life, creatures made by our Creator.
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He is limitless we are made limited.
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Let's think about these words limitless, unlimited for a second.
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In Scripture we meet a God unlimited by time, space, in Himself, our limitless God, only our Creator.
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Listen to how Scripture describes Him.
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Without beginning, uncreated, imperishable, immortal, eternal, transcends space.
To know love, to be loved, to know God and be known by Him.
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We are created to bring him glory alone.
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We are image bearing creatures, body and soul, limited in time, space and in our bodies.
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We are made to be dependent on God and on one another.
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And that is good God's good design.
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Here's another quote from that book that I just said.
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When I say finite.
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This is the author I am focusing on good created human limits.
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All creatures are limited by space, by time and power.
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And our knowledge, energy and our perspective always have been limited.
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How does that, you know, if I had time to talk to you, how does that impact you?
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What is your immediate reaction to hearing that?
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Let me think about how Scripture pictures.
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Can I just say, if you scan that QR code, I should have said this at the beginning.
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All the slides are there for all of these seminars for all.
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So I apologize that QR code is around the place if you want to follow along.
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So give me shout out some pictures that Scripture presents to us of our limits.
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Dust being one that we heard already anymore.
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Give us a shout out.
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Yes.
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Grass of the field.
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Broken.
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Yeah.
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Vessels.
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Yeah.
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Other thoughts.
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Dry bones.
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Here's a few.
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Oh, there's my question.
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Okay.
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We thought about dust child.
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Sabbath's not really an image.
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But we need to rest.
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Babel or languages.
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Brass, flowers.
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Clay.
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Potter jars of clay.
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In need of protection.
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Sheep, shadow, breath.
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This captures our good creation.
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Do you see the contrast?
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We are created, made by God in this fragile way to represent him that is mind blowing to me.
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Made by him on purpose as loved.
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Dust.
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Fragile jars of clay with dignity and worth.
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Flowers of the field.
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Grass.
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To image him in community.
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I mean just even ponder that for a second.
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It is amazing.
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And Genesis goes further.
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We are made as body and soul.
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We are made from the dust with the breath of God to work and rest.
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As we read, we don't fully image God without rest.
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So God works.
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He directs Adam and Eve to work.
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Why?
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Because that's part of what it means to be an image bearer, to be human.
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It's good.
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We image God in significant ways as we work, as we create, as we order, as we labor, as we work for his power, pleasure.
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But that's not the whole story, is it?
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Adam and Eve don't fully reflect God's image until rest happens.
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God rests in his creation.
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He ceases, he stops.
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He puts down his work on the seventh day.
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So from the very, very beginning, we see the balance of working and ceasing from work that is vital to who we are as image bearers.
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So creation teaches us that the limitless God created limited human beings and that is good.
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This is how God originally designed us to function.
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Our limits are not sin.
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Our rest is not sinful.
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Our dependence on God and one another is not sin.
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Our weaknesses and the things that we cannot do are not sinful.
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It is part of being an image bearer.
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I love this reality here.
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Rightly, understanding our creation as image bearers enables us to see that at the very root we are people who live before God all of life.
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It's every detail.
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The hard, the struggle, the joy, and people who were made by God to live for Him.
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How does that big, big perspective, perspective help us think about the nitty gritty realities of our conversations, of our struggle?
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Loved, dust, made for him and to live for Him.
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And it is good.
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I keep saying that because it just is exciting.
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It's great.
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So we are made by our limitless God with limits, this essential reality to being an image bearer.
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I hope you can begin to see how this begins to reframe our conversations about stress, about our limits, about our finiteness.
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Let's think about our case studies there for a second.
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These good created limitations can frame our conversations, Christlike conversations.
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Then see the good of our limitations and move us towards dependence.
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Dependence on God and dependence on one another.
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Our limitless God has made us as dependent people on him and on one another.
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So here's a question for you to consider.
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Oh, not doing that question.
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This question.
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What can you see of these good created limitations in Michael or Sarah's story?
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They might not perceive them as good, but what are we beginning to see when we reframe this within the way that God has created us to be as limited.
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Do you want to take a couple of minutes just to chat?
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I'm going to do it really, really short.
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So chat for the person beside you for a moment.
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Pick one person, pick Michael, pick Sarah, and take a couple of minutes to check.
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Wow, okay.
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Gosh, I thought I was shouting.
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Folks, can you hear me?
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Some people are saying they can't hear me at the back.
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Oh, don't know what to do.
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I will shout or come forward.
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Come on, please move forward because I will start to cough and splutter if I have to shout.
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I'm being recorded, but I don't.
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Do you want to come forward if you can't hear, please?
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Thank you.
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Join the front row because there are spaces up here.
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Can you hear me?
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Okay.
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Okay, people, let's go.
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Gonna make you move.
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I love it.
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Okay, any ideas?
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That's better, I hope.
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Can you hear me?
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Of course you can hear me.
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You're in the front row.
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I hope you can hear me.
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I don't know how to.
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Don't put me to sleep.
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Don't rest.
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You can't rest.
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I know, I know.
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There's like a whole thing happening here.
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Okay, let me come back together.
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Any ideas?
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What good of their limitations are they beginning to experience?
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And I'm going to try and shout.
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Okay, well, we're going to keep moving and we'll have time for feedback in a second.
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They are beginning to see their fragility, aren't they?
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They're beginning to experience some of those limits, the fragility of those around them.
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This foundational truth can help us see who God is, who they are.
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This is how we have been made to know and see Him.
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You may have noted the good of their work, the good of loving others that they desire to do, the good of serving God, the good of actually experiencing some of these limits that their body is speaking to them.
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The good of work, the good of rest, the good of their bodies being actually made to rest.
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Stress and anxiety can confuse these limitations with sin, thus convincing us that we have let God down.
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And we will come back to that in a moment.
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I'm also struck by the isolation of their experience, their lack of conversation.
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I'm struck by how they beginning to express a distance and an uncertainty about who God is and about who others are, how others are perceiving them, or how they are beginning to perceive others.
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How does our understanding of being limited help us frame their experience?
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Limited by time and body in their work and space, to depend on others.
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Here's the beautiful question.
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How could one fellow image bearer come alongside another image bearer to interrupt that isolation, to have a Christ like conversation with Michael or Sarah, to listen to, truly know, to see that dependence on God and on one another is an image bearing thing that others are not just to depend on them, but they on the Lord and They on one another.
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That is how we've been made.
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We want to move towards them.
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We want to know more, don't we?
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How are you really?
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You have been on my heart.
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Tell me more about what life is like right now.
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How are things at home?
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What's happening at work?
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We want to truly know.
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A desire to know, to speak towards them and ourselves with dignity and worth as image bearers.
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To move towards that sense of intimacy, not isolation.
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To bring all to the one that we are called to image.
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In our struggle, the good of every moment lived before him and for him, the good of asking for help.
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How does that intimate reality of our God begin to bring significance, meaning, hope?
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Nothing is insignificant, nothing is unseen, nothing is unknown.
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In their story and in ours.
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This is the God who invites us and them as his image bearers, to draw near.
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So Christlike conversations want to see the good of their limitations and move towards dependence.
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Christ like conversations want to speak of hope.
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The reality of being an image bearer created with limitations and dependence.
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For dependence lifts our eyes again to our limitless God, to the one that we are called to image.
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They and we are never made to carry these burdens alone or to do everything.
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God has purposed the moments of Michael and Sarah's lives right now.
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The people, the roles, the demands on them that they are experiencing.
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And we and they need words of hope, need the person who is hope.
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So this perfect image before sin is one with limitations.
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And Christ like conversations speak about the good of those limitations as we want to move towards dependence, bringing hope.
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But we know where Genesis goes, don't we?
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We know that the question is there.
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Did God actually say this question causing Eve to doubt, distrust her Creator?
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God given good limitations of work, of rest, no longer enough sin, ultimately that turning away, seeking independence from and a desire to be God, Pride becoming resident in the human heart.
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A refusal actually we could say to be human.
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Our creatureliness something to be overcome.
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Not a place to flourish and represent our Creator, but every aspect of who we are as humans tainted by sin.
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As we heard this morning, so we are still image bearers.
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But this image now distorted our broken.
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Our broken world, broken bodies, the reality of sin, suffering, sorrow, now the norm.
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And we are blind to God and his ways as a result.
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So your desires, my desires, your thoughts, your feelings, my thoughts, my feelings, all impacted by sin.
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We are becoming less human.
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I wonder how that hits you in that way.
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That may not be our conscious thought, but it is as we read maybe how Michael and Sarah are expecting themselves to cope with the many demands in this season we grasp for things we were never meant to hold.
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God is all knowing, omniscient.
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I know my kids, they chatgpt.
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They google their way to knowing everything or think they know.
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We are never meant to be omnipresent, yet we over schedule our lives so as not to miss out on anything.
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We are never meant to be omnipotent, yet we.
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I push our bodies beyond our limits, ignoring our body's need for rest, refreshment and even nourishment.
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So we get tasks done.
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We meet the expectations that we or others have set of us.
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We find ourselves in a prideful struggle against our human limitations.
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We fail to embrace what we've just been talking about, the good of God's good, good and right design.
Speaker B:
We are finite and our sinful hearts further distort our finiteness.
Speaker B:
I want you to take some time to chat about this question.
Speaker B:
What?
Speaker B:
I'm going to give you more time and we will do feedback because we've got.
Speaker B:
We're good.
Speaker B:
What realities of the fall of sin and suffering are Michael and Sarah beginning to experience?
Speaker B:
So pick one person, but then think we can name their circumstances, but go a little bit deeper, dig under that a little bit more.
Speaker B:
How are they experiencing those realities?
Speaker B:
What thoughts, what feelings, what behaviors?
Speaker B:
What questions are they beginning to ask of themselves?
Speaker B:
What interpretations are they making about themselves or about God?
Speaker B:
What expectations do they have of themselves or that others might have.
Speaker B:
Okay, you got it there.
Speaker B:
Go pick one person.
Speaker B:
Okay, let's come back together, please.
Speaker B:
So there's a lot going on in their circumstances, isn't there?
Speaker B:
Lots and lots and lots of pressure.
Speaker B:
How are they experiencing their circumstances?
Speaker C:
Let's.
Speaker B:
Their limitations.
Speaker B:
The question asked.
Speaker B:
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Speaker B:
Every area.
Speaker B:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
So.
Speaker B:
Oh, I'm just.
Speaker B:
Oh, say it again.
Speaker C:
Sorry.
Speaker B:
I just found.
Speaker B:
There's something that's come up, Michael, in every aspect of his life.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
With his adult children, illness, his retirement, the church, responsibilities.
Speaker B:
Yeah, Lots of things.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
General feedback like just let's keep going for a little bit.
Speaker B:
He thinks he should be strong.
Speaker B:
That's really striking isn't that he thinks he should be stronger.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
He is a group leader and people come to him in prayer and for help.
Speaker B:
But he's not even turning to God on this.
Speaker B:
It's all about his anxiety, distress, everything that's going on.
Speaker B:
The worry is all on him.
Speaker B:
But he's forgot to go to.
Speaker B:
He's there for.
Speaker B:
Yeah, he's like spiraling out of control to the point that he can't stand up in front of his congregation or whoever because he needs to be in control.
Speaker B:
What, he's not in control to others?
Speaker B:
Maybe.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
So we don't know.
Speaker B:
I guess we don't know, but we know the bits of the story that we do see.
Speaker B:
But they're, you know, you're picking up those deeper things.
Speaker B:
Is it about control?
Speaker B:
Is it about his dependence on God?
Speaker B:
Is it about, you know, there's something there.
Speaker B:
Definitely.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
Of how he's experiencing.
Speaker B:
It's, you know, it's stark but I guess familiar maybe in ways that we can react under pressure.
Speaker B:
And it's very hard because of the circumstances.
Speaker B:
There are so many people relying on and so many adults kind of whatever he's doing is not good enough.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
So it's not working anymore, is it?
Speaker B:
So what maybe has been working or what he has been doing or that others have sensed his responsibility to care for them.
Speaker B:
Oh, there's big, big things, aren't they?
Speaker B:
Yes.
Speaker B:
But something, you know, he is not enough anymore.
Speaker B:
There's something definitely deep in how he is experiencing that and has been, you know, been able to.
Speaker B:
To care for so many.
Speaker B:
So there's a good in that care, but there's a reality of that being stark and limited at this point.
Speaker B:
Yeah, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
What is he feeling guilty about?
Speaker B:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
What is actually?
Speaker B:
What does that mean?
Speaker B:
Yeah, but that thing that.
Speaker B:
The image distortion, believing you should be more and you should be able to be all of these things.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
You're going where I'm going.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
But that's okay because God has made a straddle.
Speaker B:
God has minted us.
Speaker B:
We are brass.
Speaker B:
We are, you know, and that's in pain.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
That's what he's beautifully created us the way he wants us to be.
Speaker B:
Not to be God, but to be his son.
Speaker B:
You know, people who come off.
Speaker B:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
I don't think we see that though, very regularly, do we?
Speaker B:
On in the pressure.
Speaker B:
The more senior you are, the harder it is then to be not okay.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
And I hope we'll come to that.
Speaker B:
When we think, how do our church leaders model vulnerability?
Speaker B:
How do our church leaders model asking for help so that wider culture, it becomes normal somehow?
Speaker B:
Do you know, that's a big deal.
Speaker C:
As well, I think how the good things of the last sentence like his age and his faith have a negative.
Speaker C:
Yes.
Speaker C:
There's no evidence that his age is.
Speaker C:
In fact, there's probably a plus.
Speaker C:
It's probably a plus why people come to him, that he's interpreting.
Speaker C:
They should be stronger.
Speaker B:
It's very.
Speaker B:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
So age, faith, maturity, his gifts, how he served, somehow are becoming lies and not.
Speaker B:
And distorted.
Speaker B:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:
The court is.
Speaker C:
There's a bit of theological misunderstanding really, with both of them.
Speaker C:
Whether it's always been that way or something they forgot.
Speaker C:
Every time they've got an identity problem.
Speaker C:
Right.
Speaker C:
They don't know who they are in Christ.
Speaker C:
Right.
Speaker C:
And then at some point it becomes somewhat performance based.
Speaker C:
Yeah.
Speaker C:
I'm not standing up here.
Speaker C:
There's not something.
Speaker B:
What does that mean?
Speaker B:
Yes.
Speaker C:
That's where this tension is coming out of.
Speaker B:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:
That's why we need truth.
Speaker B:
That why we need to expose the lies.
Speaker B:
And that's why we need one another.
Speaker B:
That's where we're going.
Speaker B:
So let me keep going.
Speaker B:
We could keep talking all day.
Speaker B:
I love these kinds of chats, but I do want us to finish on time.
Speaker B:
So let's keep going.
Speaker B:
So Christ like conversations.
Speaker B:
Listen to that whole story.
Speaker B:
In our image distortion.
Speaker B:
We want to listen well to the person's story.
Speaker B:
We want to see and identify and grasp, work hard to discover the good.
Speaker B:
But we do need to see the hard, the sad of being an image bearer in these realities where sin is operating, where those big theological truths are being missed, of how people are experiencing their suffering.
Speaker B:
We've seen challenges of work, of caring for others, of sickness.
Speaker B:
There's financial pressure, the expectations of others, what their church service looks like, physical symptoms, heavy burdens that they were never meant to carry alone.
Speaker B:
Our conversations want to take these pressures seriously, to know the experience, to not make assumptions, to slow down, to unravel the many parts of the story, to truly know what's important.
Speaker B:
Our listening, our being present.
Speaker B:
His image bearers called to listen to one another.
Speaker B:
If we had time, I would love to hear you shout out to me, Michael or Sarah.
Speaker B:
I love role play, by the way, but we can't.
Speaker B:
We do not have time to do it.
Speaker B:
So what are questions you might ask them?
Speaker B:
What is the hardest thing right now?
Speaker B:
What ways are you coping?
Speaker B:
What does that look like?
Speaker B:
How long have you felt like this?
Speaker B:
What is a good day?
Speaker B:
What's a harder day?
Speaker B:
What ways?
Speaker B:
Can I pray for you right now and actually pray with the person?
Speaker B:
I'd love to know more about work and how it's impacting you.
Speaker B:
I'd love to hear about those family pressures.
Speaker B:
Can you tell me more?
Speaker B:
Have you found comfort in scripture?
Speaker B:
Let's go there together.
Speaker B:
Our conversations want to follow what's most important to the person.
Speaker B:
And we want to know more and know well as fellow image bearers, we want to know what is important to that person.
Speaker B:
As you shouted out, as we thought about their emotions, their thoughts, their feelings have led them to interpretations about God and about themselves that are not true.
Speaker B:
Our emotions are really significant.
Speaker B:
Our emotions are a guide to what is really important, what is happening, where that identity crisis is taking place, where our identity is not secure.
Speaker B:
And paying attention to the emotions that these folk are naming is one way to truly see what is really important.
Speaker B:
So our Christ like conversations within this sense of our image being distorted want to expose lies and identify truth.
Speaker B:
And our emotions are a guide to truly seeing where that is happening in their hearts and what is really important.
Speaker B:
You picked up Michael is under a lot of pressure in every area of his life, yet he's reluctant to share it.
Speaker B:
Has he talked to the Lord about it?
Speaker B:
He's named guilt, shame about feeling this way.
Speaker B:
Have I done enough?
Speaker B:
Am I enough?
Speaker B:
The stress they are experiencing is very real, fuelled by these lies and missing truths.
Speaker B:
There may be other emotions happening there, we don't know.
Speaker B:
We want to find out.
Speaker B:
Doubt, disappointment, isolation, shame, pride, envy, fear fueling that reality of their experience of stress, the distortion of our image, the sin in us.
Speaker B:
We doubt God, we believe lies, we turn away from him and from our fellow image bearers.
Speaker B:
We've seen that in these stories and Christ like conversations want to see that reality.
Speaker B:
We want to move towards the heart, see where those emotions are leading us in that person's story.
Speaker B:
Emotions are like a window to the soul.
Speaker B:
Jesus speaks so often about out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
Speaker B:
What could be happening in their hearts?
Speaker B:
What is God seeing and wanting them to see in their hearts?
Speaker B:
We mentioned control.
Speaker B:
We can think about that identity crisis.
Speaker B:
Is it about being self sufficient?
Speaker B:
Is it about being independent, not wanting to ask for help, some sense of control and power in moments that now they cannot do that in.
Speaker B:
God is active in every single detail of these people's stories and in ours.
Speaker B:
He wants us as his image bearers to see our neediness, our limitations, our sin and come to him for comfort, for hope and to come to one another.
Speaker B:
Our conversations listen to the hard, listen to what is sad and the suffering and pay attention to the sin that we are not seeing that blinds us to the truth and the lies that we are believing.
Speaker B:
How could we have that conversation with someone?
Speaker B:
That's challenging, isn't it?
Speaker B:
Do you know it could be many conversations, I think in reality to have those deeper type conversations with someone.
Speaker B:
You said your faith, you think Your faith should be stronger.
Speaker B:
Let's chat some more about that.
Speaker B:
Can we explore what you actually feel guilty about?
Speaker B:
Do we want to pick up their words?
Speaker B:
But we want to go deeper?
Speaker B:
What expectations do you actually have of yourself right now, off God, off others?
Speaker B:
How do you think he sees you right now?
Speaker B:
Where are you putting your trust that's not in him.
Speaker B:
What is your greatest fear?
Speaker B:
Where is that fear taking you?
Speaker B:
What does it look like?
Speaker B:
How can we speak to him right now?
Speaker B:
Can you see that beginning to listen to those emotions is moving us to the depths of their heart where God needs and wants and is active and is at work?
Speaker B:
Okay.
Speaker B:
Cappage says.
Speaker B:
I love this quote.
Speaker B:
We need to stop asking or feeling like we should ask for God's forgiveness when we can't do everything.
Speaker B:
And we need to ask forgiveness for ever imagining that we could.
Speaker B:
Amen.
Speaker B:
I think.
Speaker B:
Yes.
Speaker B:
Come on, people.
Speaker B:
Okay.
Speaker B:
I want you to take just a couple of moments for personal application and then we're going to think about Jesus as we come to the end of our time together.
Speaker B:
Where do you see your created limits as not good?
Speaker B:
Where do you experience frustration with those limits?
Speaker B:
When is your attitude characterized by not enough feeling, not enough that you should be able to like God is disappointed with me because it says discuss.
Speaker B:
We don't have time to discuss.
Speaker B:
But just I want to give you.
Speaker B:
I'm going to give you two minutes to just ponder those questions.
Speaker B:
Maybe it's one that stands out.
Speaker B:
And then I'm going to finish just this little moment by praying.
Speaker B:
Let me pray.
Speaker B:
Father, we ask that these words will continue to speak to us.
Speaker B:
Your words, Father, of truth, fighting, battling with the lies that we so easily and often believe.
Speaker B:
Father, teach us, humble us.
Speaker B:
Show us more of who you are and what it means to be your image bearers in the name of Jesus.
Speaker B:
Amen.
Speaker B:
So then we move.
Speaker B:
We move to Jesus, our image being redeemed.
Speaker B:
And we think about conversations, continuing these conversations in community.
Speaker B:
God pursues his people.
Speaker B:
We meet Jesus in scripture, the one who took on our limitations, the one who became flesh, who emptied himself by taking the form of a servant.
Speaker B:
We meet the one who became weak.
Speaker B:
And weakness is his way, isn't it?
Speaker B:
What difference does that make to our stress?
Speaker B:
We are known.
Speaker B:
We meet someone who understands the weakness and meets us there again.
Speaker B:
I will keep saying, made with limitations to be dependent on God and on one another.
Speaker B:
We know Hebrews 4.
Speaker B:
I hope you know Hebrews 4.
Speaker B:
We come to the throne of grace, one who sympathizes with our weakness, yet without sin.
Speaker B:
To find grace and mercy there in our time of need.
Speaker B:
Christ, like conversations, speak of Christ.
Speaker B:
Isn't that incredible and obvious?
Speaker B:
But we want to keep saying it.
Speaker B:
Vulnerable, needy, limited creatures.
Speaker B:
Admit that we are confused, lost, unable, trapped by our sins, our misplaced emotions, our wayward hearts and the brokenness of our world.
Speaker B:
And we come to one who says, my grace is sufficient for you.
Speaker B:
Sufficiency means that there is nothing he cannot do.
Speaker B:
He brings comfort in our affliction, relief to our shame, forgiveness in our sin, that declaration that we are righteous, that we are in Christ and yet that lived out in the everyday, in the moment by moment, in the reality of our limits where we will never and never are made to ever be enough.
Speaker B:
We look to the transforming power of the gospel, to the one that we are becoming.
Speaker B:
Do Michael and Sarah see this right now?
Speaker B:
Do we?
Speaker B:
Often?
Speaker B:
That's why we need one another.
Speaker B:
Is Christ like communities who speak of Christ in community, all the many one another's come to mind, don't they?
Speaker B:
I don't need to tell you.
Speaker B:
Confess our sins to one another, bear one another's burdens, many, many, many more.
Speaker B:
And let Scripture be our conversational guide.
Speaker B:
Here's Matthew:
Speaker B:
I've shaped it in some questions just to get us thinking together about our conversations with one another.
Speaker B:
And these realities are about slowing down.
Speaker B:
They are about taking the time to know someone and having scripture frame our conversations in detail.
Speaker B:
What is the heaviest burden you're carrying right now?
Speaker B:
Get specific.
Speaker B:
We love these particular, specific details in biblical counseling about someone's life.
Speaker B:
We want the detail and we want to bring it to Christ.
Speaker B:
What does coming to him actually look like right now?
Speaker B:
My mind is racing.
Speaker B:
Let's pray every part of this experience to the Lord, with the Lord, with one another.
Speaker B:
Can you even imagine not feeling like this?
Speaker B:
Let's pray about that.
Speaker B:
So Christ like communities towards change, that redeemed image now we see that perfect image of God in Jesus.
Speaker B:
Weakness, dependence is his way.
Speaker B:
We are not to be independent, self sufficient image bearers.
Speaker B:
The good of our limitations, the distortion of the fall, the truth we cannot see and the lies we are tempted to believe need to be discussed, need to be confessed.
Speaker B:
We need one another to speak the truth in love to each other.
Speaker B:
We are called to grow up in Christ and our counsel is the truth of Scripture that we need to have these conversations about our limitations as we think about change.
Speaker B:
I frame these in just those big themes of how stress impacts us spiritually, relationally, psychologically, physically.
Speaker B:
We have spoken on some of these realities as we've tracked through the big picture of Scripture and now we are thinking about a redeemed image, the body working and each person playing its part.
Speaker A:
Thanks for listening through this episode.
Speaker A:
If you want to know more information about the Kinfire Festival and its purpose in helping to encourage, equip and celebrate the Bride of Christ.
Speaker A:
Confident in Christ's promise in Matthew 16, verse 18, I will build my church.
