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Realignment - John 4 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  John chapter 4 we one time a year on Labor Day Sunday We push pause as a church to reflect on our purpose direction and effectiveness as a family You guys know if you've been around that we consider ourselves to be a family. This is a spiritual family We are brothers and sisters in Christ And so we one time a year just make sure on Labor Day Sunday that we are going the direction We want to go as a church. We consider our trajectory over the course of the last year to determine that we are still
• 0:28
  on track it was george mueller who said the word of god is the bread of life the prayer of faith is the breath of life i counted a great privilege to eat and breathe together with my spiritual family every week let us not forget as we open our bibles that these words are the very words of god the words of christ that we should conform ourselves to them and not the other way around
• 0:58
  As Jonathan Edwards famously resolved to ask himself at the end of every day, week, month, and year, wherein he could possibly in any respect have done better, this morning is our brief time of realignment. Just as a car needs to be realigned to ensure it drives straight, so also a church needs to be reminded why we do what we do. Our church, Highland Baptist Church, is 53 years old.
• 1:23
  When it was planted, it sat in what was then primarily an open and undeveloped space. As hard as that is to believe, I have seen pictures of this building, not this building, but that building being built. And there was nothing here. It was dirt. No houses, no parks, no city hall, no police department down the street. It was planted with the hope that it would one day become a vibrant, growing church that would be a faithful witness on the north side of Denver.
• 1:50
  As its life has ebbed and flowed, many of its members have prayed that its influence would even grow beyond its walls, that one day maybe the church could even support missionaries both locally and abroad. They hoped and prayed that one day their young people would be trained and discipled to become ministers themselves. And they hoped that one day maybe Highland Baptist Church might even become a church planting church on its own. What Highland is doing today is nothing new. We have not changed.
• 2:21
  We have not changed our direction. We have not altered our course. Lord willing, Highland will continue on the same course that it has for the last 50 years. The Bible will be preached. The gospel will be lived. New believers will be baptized in the name of the Lord. Its people will be cared for and equipped. That is our church in the past and our hope for our church in the future. Amen. Well, do you ever have snap into focus moments?
• 2:51
  Do you ever have moments when you are forced to consider the most important things about you? You ever have those moments? Something happens. There's a catalyst that starts your brain going. You think, you know what? What are the most important things? If we were to boil my life down, what would be the most important things about me? Who am I as a man and in the kingdom of God? Our family was privileged to go on vacation this last week. We got back yesterday afternoon. My wife, Hallie, found an inexpensive condo for rent up in Silverthorne.
• 3:21
  We enjoyed some time together up in the mountains. One of the first mornings we were there was either Monday or Tuesday morning. We stumbled across a young moose, a bull moose. A young lady moose was with him. I can only assume that was his wife. They shared a child together. What was funny about this moose was that it was literally right on my front door. I came out of the condo. I was coming out with Pierce and Zach and Chase, my three sons. We were going to go play tennis or something together. And so we walked out early in the morning.
• 3:52
  turned the corner to our condo, Pearson stops and says, whoa, you know, and, and I mean, just 30, 40 feet away, there's this cow moose, a female moose standing there. He said, oh dad, you know, there's a moose. Oh, okay. I said, Pearson, don't move. You know, the cow was kind of moving the other way. It was, we were safe. Everything was good. I run upstairs. I'm going to go grab Hallie. Like this once in a lifetime thing. I'm going to grab Hallie, take her downstairs. She can see the moose. I come downstairs. What I didn't know was that the cow moose also had a bull moose with her.
• 4:19
  Okay, I didn't know. I didn't see the other moose. So I run up there. I run back downstairs. And unbeknownst to me, I mean, there's the corner of our condo unit. I'm running around the corner because I think that cow moose is moving the other way. It's 50, 60, 70 yards away at this point. I'm thinking, man, Hallie, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, because you get to see a moose. And what I didn't know was that the bull moose was coming toward us right down the side of the building. So when I come around this corner,
• 4:45
  Boom, moose. I mean, it was, you guys, it was right there. I could smell him. Huge, huge, huge animal. Hallie veers off to the left and gets into a little aspen grove, right? I'm like, that's pretty smart.
• 5:01
  I'm standing there with this moose. I stop. I turn back around. I'm coming around back the corner of the condo. If the moose had turned, you know, it's coming. We both startled each other. He didn't know I was there. I come around the corner. There's a second story kind of balcony thing that has some rails. And I thought, okay, how am I going to parkour this thing, run up the building and climb up over? Because I'm honestly, there was a moment where I thought, I'm going to get trampled by a moose. I don't know any other pastor who's done that.
• 5:29
  Who loses their pastor to a moose attack? You know, it just doesn't happen. I thought, man, I'm going to be the one idiot who gets killed by a moose. So I'm running around and, you know, we startled him and he ran off and all three of them kind of ran off down the hill together. But honestly, in that moment, when you are standing face to face with a moose, it does cause you to reflect. What legacy will I leave behind? Who am I? What have I done? What have I accomplished? Who are the most important people to me? Are they safe?
• 6:00
  Why do I do what we do? What was really funny was there was a lady actually in a car, and I wasn't really paying attention. I had this moose in my face. But there was a lady in a car not far away, and she was watching this whole thing. She goes driving off. A couple of days later, my sons and I are there at the condo unit, kind of in the wreck area, and this lady spots us, the lady who was in the car. She comes over to my oldest son, Pierce, and she says, were you the boys that were right next to the moose? And Pierce says, well, yeah.
• 6:30
  And she says, I don't know where you all are from. I'm like, all right. And she said, but first of all, moose can kill you. Yeah. You know, like you assume. They're 2,000 pounds and 8 feet tall. Like, it'll win. I'm not sure where you guys are from, but I want to make sure you know moose could kill you. And then she said this, but more important than that. Wait, what's more important than that? More important than that, she said.
• 7:04
  We don't want our moose becoming too familiar with humans. And you guys, I'm not known for restraint, okay? I mean, I say what I think, and I read this book not that long ago. Charles Spurgeon, who was possibly the greatest preacher of all time, okay? The prince of preachers, the number one, maybe the greatest preacher of all time, was criticized one time by a woman in his congregation for being what she called too funny. She felt like it was irreverent of him to use humor from the pulpit.
• 7:37
  And he said this, he said, ma'am, if you only knew all of the things I didn't say.
• 7:45
  You'd be commending me rather than criticizing me, okay? He said that. If you only knew all the things I didn't say, you'd know how much tremendous restraint I was using. And this lady comes and she confronts us, you know, first, a couple things. First of all, it could kill you. Second of all, more important than that, we don't want our moose becoming too familiar with humans. And in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, don't say what you're thinking. Don't say what you're thinking. Don't say, because I'm thinking, I'm going to make this lady cry. I just thought, and I didn't say it, and praise God, I just said, thank you very much. We went on our way. A couple things.
• 8:16
  Number one, who made you the moose police? Because that moose was not acting like your moose. She called it our moose. It wasn't acting like your moose, okay? Number two, and more important, if that moose ever attacks one of my boys, if I look over and see it stomping on my eight-year-old, I will do everything in my power to kill it. Do we have an agreement?
• 8:46
  I will jump on that thing's back. I will ride it like that weird elf guy from Hobbit. I'll do the whole thing. I mean, I will go nuts on that moose until it gets off of my son. More important, I wanted you to make sure I will hurt the moose if I can because my son is more important to me. You come face to face with a moose, it causes you to think about what's most important. Being confronted with a snapshot of your own mortality causes you to consider who you are, who it is that is most important to you, why you do what you do.
• 9:20
  Right? This morning's message is a reminder of those very things. We'll take a moment this morning to pause, to reflect on who it is that we are as a church, who it is that we believe is the most important to us, and why we do what we do. And so let's do it. Beginning in John chapter 4, who we are. You want to know who we are? We are, first and foremost, we are worshipers. We are worshipers. That's who we are. John chapter 4, verse 23, these are the words of Jesus.
• 9:50
  He says, but the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Only a person grounded in their own identity, a person who knows who they are, can become a productive and effective individual. A person who is grounded. And in the same way, only a church that is grounded in its own identity
• 10:21
  A church that knows who they are can become productive and effective for the kingdom. And the single greatest distinguishing mark of any genuine Christian is their love for God. That is what separates us from everybody else. We are God lovers. That's what we do. That's who we are. We love our Lord. That is the single greatest distinguishing mark. Christians are in love with God. Why should we not wear boldly?
• 10:50
  rather than shamefully and sheepishly. Why should we not wear boldly the badge that says that a Christian is madly and desperately and uncontrollably in love with our God? That's who we are. And we have a love that manifests itself in worship. Worship is what makes us unique, distinct, and different from the world. It's what makes us who we are. There's no such thing as a Christian who doesn't love God. If you don't love God, don't call yourself a Christian because that's what Christians do.
• 11:21
  And in the same way, there is no such thing as a Christian who doesn't worship because that's what people who are in love with God do. The worship is the action of love. We saw it there from Jesus's own words. The father is seeking worshipers, worshiping in spirit and truth. God is spirit. His word is truth. And so worship him in spirit and truth. Christians love of God through worship colors and transforms the rest of his or her life.
• 11:52
  It dictates and changes everything about us. The fact that we are God-loving worshipers changes the way that we live. It's hard to believe, but it is possible for a church to exist, to even grow, to win followers, and yet not be a worshiping church. When Jesus said the famous phrase in Revelation 3.20, the famous phrase, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
• 12:29
  And if anyone hears me and comes and answers, opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me. And although we have as a society and as a culture for the last five decades been using that verse for evangelism, assuming that the person we're sharing it with does not know the Lord, the context of Revelation 3 is a letter to the church. The church at Laodicea received that offer and that invitation, right? Stand at the door and knock. Here was a church that had left Jesus out.
• 12:59
  He's outside the church banging on the door, asking for somebody to let him in. May that never be true of Highland Baptist Church. As we've said before, we will continue to say, as long as there is breath in our lungs, this church is all about Jesus. This is all from him, for him. It's all his. We worship here at Highland for the next 20, 30, 40 years. And in the end, no one remembers our names, praise God. But if after our departure, no one remembers Jesus' name, then shame on us. We as a church are committed.
• 13:34
  to being rejoicing, celebrating worshipers. I want to know who we are we worship. That's banner number one. Banner number two. Who is most important to us? Who is most important to us? It is important that we as a church connect with one another. You guys turn to the right if you would. 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 3. If you guys have trouble finding it, you'll know that all of the books in the Bible that start with T are all together. They're in one big group and they're in alphabetical order.
• 14:08
  So you find the T's, you're on the right track. 1 Timothy 3. Look at verses 14 and 15. The Apostle Paul writing to Timothy, his young protege, he says, I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave. And notice the next words. What does it say? In the household of God, which is the church.
• 14:39
  You'll know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church. The Bible describes the church as God's family. It is his body. That is very true. We are the hands and feet of Jesus, but it describes us with familial terms. We are his household. We are his family. We are the church. The church is the expression of God's family. And like an earthly family has members and expectations on those members,
• 15:09
  so also the family of God. Everyone grows up in a family and every family is different. Every family operates according to its own set of family rules. Our family acts a certain way. We have told our boys from before they can remember what it means that they are gardeners. From before they can even remember you're a gardener. And that's a special thing. Not everyone gets to be a gardener.
• 15:40
  Pearson, you were chosen. You were chosen by God to be a part of our family. And you may like how other families do it better, but you're a gardener. And being a gardener is good. It's good. It's a special thing. I've told my sons, and I've told you before that I've told my sons that they have to act a certain way because they bear our last name. There are certain expectations that apply. You will love and protect other gardeners. You will.
• 16:14
  Loyalty is important. Your last name matters. You will look out for your brothers at school. You will look out for your cousins, even though they're cobs, not gardeners, okay? You'll look out for your cousins. If you see somebody picking on you, go and take care of it. You will love and protect one another. You will become one another's best friends. I tell my boys, even this week, I told my boys, Pearson and Zach were kind of, you know, butting heads a little bit. Stop. You're best friends. We're brothers. Yeah.
• 16:45
  Best friends for life is what that means. You will be good to one another. You will not ruin this friendship. You will love one another. You will come to one another's defense. You will be learners. You will make every effort to read the book before you watch the movie. Except for Lord of the Rings. Those books are rough. Just watch the movies. You're a gardener. You're going to participate. Even if you don't like what we're doing, you're going to be involved. This is a family thing.
• 17:19
  you will remember and honor our family members who have gone before us. You will honor your parents. You will honor your grandparents. If you can figure out who your great-grandparents were, honor them too. Even if they did a lousy job. Because those are the shoulders upon which you stand. You will be musicians, we've told our boys. You will learn how to fly fish. You will be Dodger fans. I had a lady a couple of years ago, an older lady who went to our church. She's passed away since. I did her funeral.
• 17:53
  a couple of years ago named lona musky lona and her husband bob were members here at the church bob passed away in september i did his funeral and then six weeks later lona passed away and i did hers lona was a huge huge broncos fan
• 18:10
  I mean, she was the lady who came dressed in Broncos gear. Every time the Broncos were playing on a Sunday, she came. She had the earrings and the shirt and the orange shoes and the whole thing, you know, and I, man, just through and through. And I told everybody here four years ago when I came on staff, I said, listen, I'm an LA Dodgers fan. I like Dodger baseball and I don't mind the Rockies. That's fine. They're great for second place, but the Dodgers, you know, and she came to me. She's funny because she came to me. She said, Danny, nobody cares that you're a Dodger fan as long as you're a Broncos fan.
• 18:41
  She said that. She says, nobody cares. You can root for whatever baseball team you want, but if you're going to pastor here, it has to be the Broncos. It has to be the Broncos. She even said, it's not even optional. This is not optional. Here's why I bring it up. We need to stop thinking about the church as a building. It's not a building. It's not a company. This is not a corporation. I am not the CEO and president of Highland Baptist Church. That's not how this works. I've said for the last four years here at Highland that the building we are sitting in is not the church.
• 19:11
  Our worship gatherings on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights are not the church. The church is sitting around you. If you look around, you want to find the church, don't look for the walls and the windows. Look for the people. The people sitting around you, they are the church. And as a church family, what are the things that should be true of us? What are the things that we could call Broncos issues? The non-negotiable, not optional issues. Here are some.
• 19:41
  We will, as the household of God, the family of believers, we will love one another. We're going to. Love them. Love the people sitting around you. You're like, well, I don't really like that guy. Then move to the other side and love them. No, I'm just kidding. Man, get over it, right? That's really what it comes to. Get over it. Love one another. Guard and protect one another. Loyalty is important. Just like it is with my son, so it is here. Loyalty is important. We will participate, even if we don't like what others are doing.
• 20:11
  We're going to participate. This is what families do. We will encourage one another spiritually. Man, we would never allow our kids to speak about one another in a harsh, negative, slandering, degrading way. You would never allow that in your home, would you? It also has no place in the church. It has no place in this family either. We don't speak negatively about one another. We don't gossip or slander one another. That's not what we do. We're family.
• 20:43
  We will be involved in one another's lives. We will eat together and praise together. We're going to raise our kids and grandkids together. That's what families do. John Stott said it this way, as brothers and sisters, we are called to love, forbear, and support one another, enjoying, I like that he calls it this, enjoying the rich one anotherness or reciprocity of Christian fellowship. In other words,
• 21:10
  We must be involved and engaged in one another's lives. There is over and over that phrase, love one another, encourage one another, meet together. I mean, there are these phrases throughout the New Testament, one another, one another, one another. We are meant to live in Christian community, and that's what this is. Fellowship. Do not misdefine fellowship to mean the seven minutes of donut time we get next door in Connect Group. That's not fellowship. That's a real quick, hey, how you doing? I'm doing okay. Yeah, me too. That's it. Fellowship.
• 21:38
  Fellowship. And I would pray that every single one of us would find this kind of fellowship. Fellowship is living your lives together, knitting your lives together, knitting your families together, time in your homes together, time out at restaurants together. That's what it is. That is genuine fellowship. If you're coming and leaving, if all you're doing is coming to church and leaving, listen, we're so glad that you're here. We're so glad that you're here. Don't stop.
• 22:10
  But also don't miss, don't miss that connection that we are designed to have. Because once you have that, once you taste that, holy cow, it's a game changer. When you know you have friends, genuine friends, other families praying for you, thinking about you, willing to help you, that is the church. We connect. Third thing, banner number three. Why do we do what we do? Our hope is that every single person who comes to Highland would thrive.
• 22:39
  would thrive let's go back to the gospel of john john chapter 15 we pick up in the upper room discourse the last sermon that jesus ever gave this is just the night before his crucifixion judas has already betrayed him and left jesus has already washed the disciples feet and he's begun to preach and he says in john chapter 5 that his greatest desire is that the disciples be happy filled with joy if you look at john 15 verse 11
• 23:09
  Jesus speaking, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be, what does it say? Full. He wants fullness of joy for us. The Lord desires your joy. He wants you to be a rejoicing person. Joy. He said, well, what things has he described? What things will make me a fully joyful man or woman?
• 23:36
  And I believe here he's talking about in verse eight, specifically bearing a fruit, bearing a fruit. Look at verse eight. By this, my father is glorified. You want to bring glory to God, right? That's our desire. We pray that we want to bring glory to God. By this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Four times in 11 verses, he says, bear fruit. It must have been important to him. I think Jesus is saying there is no such thing as a fruitless Christian. There's just not.
• 24:05
  bear fruit walk in joy bring glory to god colossians chapter 1 verse 10 says walk in a manner worthy of the lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit and every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god second peter chapter 1 even goes so far as to say that those who are unfruitful or ineffective in the knowledge of our lord jesus christ have become so nearsighted that they're blind having forgotten that they were cleansed from their former sins
• 24:34
  He says, if you're walking in newness of life, if you have Christ in your heart, then your desire should be and your effort should be the bearing of fruit, the fruit of pleasing, the fruit of praising lips, the fruits of the spirit, right? Other people coming to know Christ, the fruit of an effective crop for Jesus, 30, 60, 90 times, right? The bearing of fruit should be a part of our lives. And if we don't do that, then we've become nearsighted, blind, and forgetful.
• 25:06
  Our prayer is that our branches, the Highland Baptist Church's branches, would be drooping with fruit. That we would progress spiritually. That we would praise God often. That we would put to death things which are unpleasing to Christ. That we would put off the old man and put on the new. That the gospel would maintain a daily place in our lives. That we would be a church that thrives in the bearing of spiritual fruit.
• 25:38
  Well, that's who we are. We're worshipers. That's who's most important to us, the connection that we have as family members. It's why we do what we do. We want our people to thrive. Our course as a church has already been determined. The arrow has already been shot 53 years ago. Our trajectory was calculated. It's up to us to maintain that course. In order for Highland Baptist Church to continue to be a Bible teaching, Christ exalting, disciple making church, we must resolve to be worshipers.
• 26:09
  We must allow the love of God in our hearts to overflow in magnifying praise of our Savior. We must also connect with one another. We are the family of God. The church is the household of God. And just like we commit to and invest in our earthly family, so also we must take the same view of the family of Christ. We must commit to thrive. We must bear spiritual fruit. The day that Highland stops bearing fruit is the day that we've become nearsighted, forgetful, and blind.
• 26:38
  Let us be a church that worships, connects and thrive. Let's pray. God, thank you. Thank you for this once a year reminder of who we are, what we do, why it's important that we're involved in one another's lives. God, may we act like a family, supporting one another, caring for one another, loving one another genuinely from a pure heart. Lord, be glorified at Highland Baptist Church. You have been for the last 53 years. I pray for another year here that you would be glorified and honored, that your name would be preached, that your gospel would be lived out.
• 27:12
  that people would come to know you. God, we're excited for who will come to Christ next year, for who will be baptized in your name. God, continue to send your transforming spirit, your grace in our lives, so that we can live according to your word in a manner worthy of our calling. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.