Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24460 - On Mission with Jesus - Part 1 - Acts 13:1-3

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#24460 - On Mission with Jesus - Part 1 - Acts 13:1-3 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the Study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co To learn
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more about the many resources available through Abounding
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Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services, visit us
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online at Calvary, Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
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Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Take your Bibles, open them to Acts Chapter 13.
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We start a new chapter today, Acts Chapter 13.
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We're going to spend a couple of studies introducing the chapter
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and introducing the first few verses because this marks a big
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turning point in the book of Acts.
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This is the beginning of the world ministry outreach of the
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church, or what we commonly call missionaries.
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This is the missionary outreach of the church starts right here
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in Acts chapter 13. And as we think of missionary,
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we need to think that we too are on mission with God.
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We are on His mission, and that's the title of our Bible
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study today, on mission with Jesus.
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And it'll be A2 parter as we spend some time looking.
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At this foundational turning point in the early church.
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Why? Because our God is a missionary
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God. That's his heart.
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His mission, Jesus said, according to Luke, chapter 19,
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is to seek and to save the lost. Aren't you glad that's his
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mission? That's how you were reached.
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God's heart was to reach you and to go after you and to pursue
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you. I mean, if you go back and open
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the Bible in Genesis, you see this right away.
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You've got this pristine garden. You have two humans created by
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God, Adam and Eve, enjoying fellowship, enjoying life until
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they failed until they sinned. The first response, after trying
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to cover themselves up was to run away from God.
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What did God do? He went after him.
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That's his mission. He pursued them.
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What's going on? Where are you guys going?
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That's the heart of God. I think of Abraham or Abraham in
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Genesis chapter 12. He calls Abram and says, I want
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you to leave the place where you live to a place that I'll show
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you why. Well, the Bible says so that all
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the families of the earth would be blessed through Abram.
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It's a part of this plan, a part of this mission.
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It's God's heart to seek and to save the lost.
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And you see God's heart in the early church here, right here in
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Antioch. All throughout the book of Acts,
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the Holy Spirit is moving in and among believers to move us in
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sharing the good news with others.
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It is not just a pastor thing to share the good news.
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It's not just a pastor thing to teach the Bible.
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It's not just a pastor thing. Any of the characteristics that
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we might associate, that's only for him or that's only for her.
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No, it's for us. It's for all of us to have a
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heart for our community, to have a heart for the people.
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To not live behind labels so that we can label someone and
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not not serve them and not care about them because after all
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they are that, or they're there or that's where they live, or
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that's the nationality or the language they speak or the color
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of their skin, whatever. The kind of labels that that the
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world likes to use are not appropriate for believers.
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Because God said that we're to love him with all our hearts,
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own mind and what love our neighbor.
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That's the label to use for someone.
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They're your neighbor. They're your neighbor and
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therefore they're worthy of the love of God flowing through your
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life. It's very clear in the Bible
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that the Holy Spirit is missions minded.
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Not just world missions, not even just a short term mission
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trip. Sometimes God's going to call
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you around the world and you should obey, and sometimes God's
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going to call you to be on a short term trip and you should
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obey. But sometimes God's going to
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call you across the street, and you should obey.
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Or to your neighbor at your own office worker, You know, the
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person that's working, that just got hired, and God says I want
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you to go reach, I want you to connect with them.
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We should obey because it's our spiritual DNA.
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If they were running our DNA, they'd find something we all
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share in common, all of us as believers, and that is this a
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heart for the loss? It might be different.
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It might manifest differently because of the giftings and the
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place that God's placed us in the body.
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But everyone right now, all of us as believers have a mission.
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We're on mission with Jesus. Notice with me in Acts chapter
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13, what's happening in early church, They don't even know.
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They don't even know what's about to hit them.
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First one. Now in the church that was in
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Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers, Barnabas
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Simeon, who's called Niger, Lucius of Sirene Menain, who had
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been brought up with Herod the Tetrark.
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And Saul notice verse two. And as they ministered to the
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Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit spoke, And he said, Now separate
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to me Barnabas, and Saul for the work to which I've called them.
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Then, having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent
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them away. The missionary outreach of the
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church began with God calling his people together and speaking
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to them. It was clearly a move of the
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Holy Spirit. Missions is always bird in the
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heart of God, not through planning and preparation.
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As important as that is, it is the Spirit of God moving upon
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us. That's why the natural and only
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acceptable response to God's speaking is obeying.
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That's what they do right away. I want you to show you
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something. It's foundational.
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To help us moving forward, would you turn back in your Bibles to
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Zechariah Chapter 4? Zechariah Chapter 4?
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It's toward the end of the Old Testament, so you don't have to
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turn too far. It's right before Malachi.
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It's a foundational verse for our church.
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You could even say it's a part of our philosophy of ministry.
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It is a verse that we cling to and we must remember.
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It's how our church started. It's how our church continues
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and it's how we'll end. And I want you to remember this
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too, because what's true for the church is true for you, because
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you are the church. So we talk about the larger
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gathering, yes, but you're the church and this is important for
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you to understand. Notice with me, Zechariah,
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chapter 4 in verse six. So he answered and said to me.
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This is the word of the Lord to Zorubba Bell.
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Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of
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Host. And who are you?
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Oh great Mountain? Before Zorubba Bell you shall
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become a plane, and he shall bring forth the capstone with
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shouts of grace, grace to it. Without getting into all the
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details of this man, Zorubba Bell, he's faced with an
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impossibility. It's overwhelming him.
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He's assessing the situation and coming up with solutions, and
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God interrupts him in this, I believe, an overwhelming feeling
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like it's something over his head incapable of doing.
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Even if he came up with all of his solutions, he still isn't
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going to be able to accomplish what God wants him to.
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God interrupts him and reminds him of a very key point.
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He says this Zorobevo, it's going to happen, but it's this
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is the way it's going to happen. I'm going to do it and not you.
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We have to remember that. And he says it this way, It's
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not going to be your might and it's not going to be your
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powers, rubber bell, but it's going to be by my spirit.
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This really is the Old Testament definition of the entire book of
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Acts, the entire book of Acts from the early church, even to
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this day. Anything that God does, he does
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it by his spirit. That's it.
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It's not our might. It's not our wisdom, not our
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knowledge, not our great plans. Not some seminar we went to or
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some book we read. It's the spirit of God.
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It's what God is accomplishing. That's what we need.
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Without the Spirit of God, there is no church.
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You know, that doesn't mean there can't be a gathering.
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It doesn't mean that rooms can't be filled with thousands of
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people. But if the Spirit is not there,
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that's not the church. I mean, if you think about it,
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we could fill filling a room is not that difficult.
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I'm certain very confident of it.
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That if we rented the Pepsi Center, we could fill it, no
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problem. And we could fill it this way.
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We could start putting advertisements all over town
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saying we're giving a free car away and this is the day and
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this is the time. We'll be at the Pepsi Center and
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we'll fill the place. We'll fill the place.
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It'll be filled with people. We don't know where they're
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coming from, what their heart is, but they're just there
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because of a free car. You see, the Church of Jesus
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Christ is different. The Church of Jesus centers
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around him. We gather together for the sake
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of worshipping him. Well, we aren't here for what
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we're going to get out of it, although in some respects we
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want to hear from the Lord. We're here not because of what
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we get out of it, but we're here because of what God has already
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done for us. I mean, how much more, how much
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more can we possibly receive from the Lord than we already
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have? He's been so gracious and so
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good to us. He owns us, the Bible says.
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And so just because there's a filled room doesn't mean you're
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a part of the church that Jesus is building.
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And I hope you want to be a part of the church Jesus is building.
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I want to be a part of the church Jesus is building.
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Even with all our faults and failures, even with all our
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weaknesses and mistakes. I want to be a part of what I
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don't want. And I guess let me step back for
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a second and just say I can say this with absolute confidence
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with you and true transparency. If I had the chance, I can scan
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the room and kind of look everyone in the eye.
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When I say this, that you are in a church that is not built by Ed
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Taylor. You have to know that this is
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not my doing. I just showed up where God told
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me to move here, and I get to watch what God is doing.
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That doesn't mean he doesn't use me.
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It doesn't mean he doesn't how, you know, help me along the way,
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that he's giving me wisdom and I get to lead.
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That's I'm not. Of course I have a role of
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leadership, but I have a role of leadership in the church that
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Jesus is building. I'm not heading off looking for
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books on how to fill the church and how to grow the church and
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how to and and you'd be amazed at the things that are available
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to pastors. Pressure pressure.
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I just, I got another one this week, a whole kit for 79 bucks
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on how to grow this church. I mean that would be the worst
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79 bucks I ever spent plus shipping and tax I'm sure.
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Like why if I needed it. If I want to.
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If I was really concerned with that, I just ask God, He's
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building the church. You know, pastors get caught up.
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It's like, oh, I mean, I can't believe it.
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Look at all the empty chairs. Look, the church is not about
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empty chairs. The church is about the people
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sitting in the chairs. You know, this is not, this is
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not a time for experimentation. Like, hey guys, I just got back
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from a conference. I came back from the seminar and
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I want to test everything out on you.
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I mean, the Bible doesn't, You know, when the Bible describes
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you and me in the church, you know, the animal that's used to
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describe you and me, you know what it is?
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It's a sheep. You are sheep, so go ahead and
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practice. Bah, that's what you are.
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We are sheep. Let me just be clear here.
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The Bible never calls you a Guinea pig.
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You're not a Guinea pig. You're not here to test things.
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And so we can write an article and say look what's happening in
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the church because we tried this and we tried it on the precious
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flock of God. Pastors, if you're listening
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pastors here in this church, you guys listening from a distance,
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our responsibility is to take care of the flock of God, not
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use them for our own means or our own desires or to test
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things out or to take advantage of them or whatever it might be.
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You're not Guinea pigs. You're not Guinea pigs.
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You're sheep. And I'm a sheep just like you.
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And we need to be cared for by the Good Shepherd.
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We need to be a part of the church.
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That that means the church. Like, like our church.
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Like, you know, if you sat in some of our staff meetings, you
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would just laugh. You're like, God uses people
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like you. Yes.
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Sometimes we don't know what we're going or we're talking
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about this or what were we talking about that or we don't
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have this answer. And it is just a reminder that
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that whole room is filled with men and women that want to hear
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from God. He has the answers.
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We may not have them. I know many times people are
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disappointed with me. They e-mail me.
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They call me pastor. Pastor, pastor.
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What's going on? Which what are we going to do
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here? And what are we going to do
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there? And then when I say I don't
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know, people get all mad at me. What do you mean you don't know?
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You're the bastard. Yeah.
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Like, I don't know everything. I have no idea.
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I have no idea what God wants to do.
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But I do know this. I want to know.
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I want to discover it. And just because, I don't know
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doesn't make me dumb or anything.
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It just means God hasn't revealed it yet.
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And if he hasn't revealed something church, then don't
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make it up. Just wait.
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Just wait for him. You know the church here in Acts
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13, they're really living this out.
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They don't know what's going to happen.
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They're just getting together and they're living out already.
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Hey man, we're just here in the Spirit.
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We don't know what the church is.
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We don't know how many churches there are.
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We don't know how many believers.
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We don't know anything but this. We love God.
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Our hearts are connected to Jesus.
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What made them so strong is what's going to make us strong.
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Their hearts and their eyes were on things that were eternal and
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not temporary. They weren't testing things out
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or figuring out in some weird new doctrine that they got into.
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Now they have to give it to everybody.
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They're just seeking the Lord. Wanting what's right and what's
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best for the flock? What will honor God?
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And you know Jesus at the end of his ministry, Really.
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After he died and rose again, he sent 7 letters.
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Remember to the churches in Revelation.
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Remember that there were seven churches.
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Each geographically in an area and Jesus sent them more like
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postcards or post it notes a few last things to say.
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Whenever we as pastors teach that section, we always want to
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be the church in Philadelphia. Some pastors eyes up, we're all
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the church in Philadelphia. And of course we want that
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they're the church that persevered.
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They're the evangelistic church. They're the Church is going to
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make it. There the church is, you know,
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just blessed of God. And of course we want to be
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Philadelphia. Nobody ever claims to be the
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church in Sardis. Do you remember the church in
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Sardis? Let me read to you what Jesus
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said to them. He said, I know your works.
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Yes, Lord, You know my works. That you have a name, though
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you're alive. Yes, Lord.
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How did you know? Finally, Yes.
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And Jesus said, excuse me, you interrupted me.
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I have one more thing to say. I know your works.
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I know you have a name, that you're alive, but you're dead.
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Nobody wants to be at the church in Sardis.
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I don't want to be the church in Sardis.
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I don't want the church to be filled with people like that.
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Where here you are. Got your best on you.
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Woke up, made it on time. Got your parking space early
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enough to get the kids in. You got your clothes on, you got
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you ready. Got your smiles on.
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Hey, brother. Hey, brother.
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Hey, brother. But you're dead inside.
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I don't want that for you. It's not good for you.
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Why would you want to live that way?
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Why would you want to put all the effort inside, like to have
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everybody think you're alive and then you know right now like
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listening like God's called, like over and over.
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Doesn't God just remind you, hey, I've got I want you to be
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alive. I want you to walk in the
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spirit. I want you to live for me like,
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hey, hey, hey, it's me. And you remember God says so if
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I look what I'm doing, everybody thinks I'm alive.
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Yeah, but you're not. And Jesus calls that church to
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repentance. How about the church that lay to
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see and nobody wants to be the church and lay to see it?
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I don't want to be the church and lady to see if some of you
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Bible students, you know that's the lukewarm church.
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You're not hot, you're not cold, Jesus says, but you're lukewarm.
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And what's the response? Therefore I'm going to vomit you
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out of my mouth, Jesus says, Who wants to relate to Jesus in the
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terms of vomit? Nobody.
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And you know as well as I do, when your body vomits something,
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it is a violent reaction to something that doesn't belong,
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and your body's taking care of itself.
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And Jesus calls them to repentance.
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You know, when I talk through Revelation verse by verse of
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those seven churches, I came to this conclusion.
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I think there's a little bit of each church in every church
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among us. God's always doing a work.
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He's calling those that have a name, that they're alive, that
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they're dead. He's calling you back to life.
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He's calling the lukewarm ones that you know 1 foot in the
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world, 1 foot in the church. He's calling you back.
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He's taking you that are Philadelphia and going keep
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going church, keep going keep persevering and all the others
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as well. The Smyrna, the suffering
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church. How many.
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Yeah, that seems to be a season right now that that's that
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describes a lot of men and women today.
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You know, we pray a lot and we're hearing it a lot in our.
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Generation, right now we're praying for our church and the
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church at large to have revival and renewal.
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But I have to ask you, are you willing to pay the price revival
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and renewal, how do you think that's going to happen?
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It's going to happen through repentance.
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It's going to happen by looking in the mirror and saying here I
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am Lord and allowing the spirit of God to replace our human
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centered activity with spirit centered activity.
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The price for revival? You know, real revival comes and
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centers around the gospel. It doesn't center around man.
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Man made excitement or false teachings or hyped up rhetoric
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or false earthly goals or some man made religion or whatever it
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might be. True revival and renewal comes
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from God with a recognition of our own sin and our need to
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repent. When you when you repent and get
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back to your first love, you are revived.
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And when a group of people do that, there is new life breathed
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into that which became lifeless. The early church.
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Walking in the Spirit. Here in Acts 13, they reached
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the world through prayer and preaching.
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They got together. Here in Antioch, it's
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interesting, isn't it? It happened in Antioch, not
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Jerusalem. I mean, if you were putting
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together a plan, wouldn't you say, I think Jerusalem,
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Jerusalem's the place. That's the apple of God's eye.
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That that is that. That's the place that's the
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epicenter of all events. Everything is happening in
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Jerusalem, but we're going to have a missionary outreach.
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It has to be Jerusalem. But, you know, sometimes you
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have your goals. The Bible says that a man plans
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his ways, but the Lord directs his steps.
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The Bible says that there is a way that seems right to a man,
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but the end thereof is death. And so we have all our plans and
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we have our ideas and we have our whole life planned out.
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And then God says, no, not Jerusalem, Antioch.
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It's going to be an Antioch, a place you would never expect,
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the missionary outreach of the world.
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To the world will not happen in the Jewish center church in
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Jerusalem. It will happen with the
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Gentiles. But what that what that tells me
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is like, you can't predict what God's going to do.
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You can just go with the flow. Because you could be in
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Jerusalem. No, no, no, no, no.
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You can't do it out there in Antioch.
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Bring it home. Bring it home.
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We're going to do it here. What do you mean you can't do
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it? Of course you can do it.
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You want to do it from Antioch? Go for it.
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Do what God has called you to do.
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I think this comes up from time to time too.
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Like in the church it's like, hey pastor, pastor, when are we
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going to, when are we going to do this?
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You know when are we going to have another afterglow?
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Because Acts Chapter 13 is kind of like a a beginning stages of
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an afterglow service as we'll see in a moment just believers
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getting together so people will come.
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Pastor, pastor, when are we going to do an afterglow?
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And and I'll say, well, when do you want to do an afterglow?
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And they'll say tonight, let's do one tonight And I'm say,
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well, go ahead do one tonight. What?
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Well, you're the church. You can do it anytime you want.
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You don't need to wait for us to do something or schedule
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something or open the door. You're a believer.
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Do you want to seek the Lord? Seek the Lord and then let me
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know how it goes. Let the Lord spoke to you,
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Pastor Basser. When are we going to feed the
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homeless? We need to go, and we need to
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get a group and go feed the homeless.
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When are we going to do that? My answer When do you want to do
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that? I want to do it today.
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Well, then, God bless you. Go feed the homeless.
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No, no, no, Pastor, you don't understand.
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No, I do understand. Go down, go get to the ATM, get
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some money out. Go buy some food and take it and
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feed people in Jesus name. The church has become so
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institutionalized. Like you're waiting for us to
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tell you what to do or you're waiting for some event to
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happen. Look, you're the church, church.
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Be the church. You can do anything you want to
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do in the Lord. Imagine that you have permission
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right now from God through his pastor.
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Here in this church, you have permission to do whatever you
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want to do in the Lord. Go do it.
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You don't have to. Wait.
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What? We have events.
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Of course we go. It's part of our discipleship.
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It's part of our responsibility. What?
21:30
We have gatherings of prayer. Yes.
21:32
What? We have gatherings after. close.
21:34
Sure. What?
21:35
We have gatherings together. Men's, women's Bible studies.
21:38
Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
21:40
But their discipleship, they're training you, as we learned last
21:43
time, to be the church outside the building.
21:47
There's so much happening outside of us.
21:50
We just need to seek the Lord and do it.
21:53
Get involved in a small group. Make a friend.
21:55
And then together with friends, seek the Lord.
21:59
Together. You want to have a afterglow?
22:02
Then get that friend together and get some coffee.
22:04
And seek the Lord. Maybe you don't need coffee.
22:07
Get some tea. That's fine.
22:09
Maybe you don't like tea. Well, OK, Get water, then.
22:11
Say bring water. Get together with a brother or a
22:14
sister and seek the Lord. God will meet you there.
22:17
You'll be encouraged. You don't have to wait for us.
22:20
You don't have to wait. I don't want you to wait for us.
22:22
I want you to be the church. Can I get an Amen on that?
22:25
OK, so we all know we have like, a retina scanning cameras in
22:29
here. We all know who said Amen.
22:32
And we're going to check you and say, OK, are you doing the work
22:36
of the church? That's what God's desire is for
22:39
you. So here they are and and next
22:41
time we'll get to an exegete this text a little bit more but
22:44
I just want you to notice they're in Antioch.
22:47
Past prophets and teachers are there.
22:48
So there's an established leadership and then it they name
22:52
them. We'll get to them next time and
22:54
notice what they do in verse two.
22:56
And this is where I want to spend the rest of our time.
22:58
It says as they ministered mark that phrase as they ministered
23:03
to the Lord. I want you to focus on that word
23:06
to as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit
23:13
spoke, the Holy Spirit said, and notice what he said.
23:17
Now separate to me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I've
23:21
called them. They ministered to the Lord, and
23:26
that was their desire when they came together.
23:29
They they are caught up in the things of the Lord.
23:33
Church, I want you to be caught up in the things of the Lord.
23:36
I want your identity to be in Christ.
23:39
I want you to know who you are so you can fulfill God's will
23:42
and destiny for your life. I I want you.
23:45
I want to hear testimonies of gatherings where people are just
23:49
coming together, seeking the Lord, fasting, and praying
23:51
together. If you've never fasted before,
23:54
it's an essential in your spiritual walk.
23:57
You go to our website Calvary Co dot church or our app and just
24:01
put the word fast. Just put the word fast in the
24:04
search bar. I have taught in very detail
24:07
what the Bible has to say by on fasting and how to do it.
24:11
It needs to be a part. It needs to be like breathing
24:13
and praying and reading the Bible that you might deny your
24:17
physical flesh. Your food like become hungry so
24:22
that you when your hunger pains come it reminds you to seek the
24:25
Lord and it's almost like fasting is almost like this.
24:28
You're telling your body your you know body.
24:30
You don't rule me. God rules me, and I don't care
24:34
if you're hungry. I'm not feeding you right now.
24:35
And then your body goes, oh, really?
24:37
And it starts to fight. And then you begin to see.
24:40
No, I have victory in the Spirit, not by my not by power,
24:44
but I have victory in the Spirit.
24:46
And the church seems to be so caught up in other things.
24:49
The church today at the church at large, perhaps even our
24:51
church. You know, we have to be careful.
24:53
We don't point out there, it's in here.
24:55
This is it. But I, you know, I'm a part I,
24:57
I, I get the privilege of bringing to you the pastor, part
25:00
of this, the world that I live in, but also the world I live in
25:02
with you. So that when you hear a
25:04
testimony about the church at large, you can go, boy, that's
25:07
us. And the church at large is very
25:09
distracted today. They got their eyes on things
25:12
that really don't matter, things that will change, things that
25:16
will go away. But they're expending all this
25:18
energy and all this effort and all this time to something
25:22
that's going to pass. It's not eternal.
25:27
The church, well, you remember, we'll get to it in Acts chapter
25:30
17. But in Acts chapter 17, it says
25:34
when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of
25:36
the Brethren to the rulers of the city.
25:40
And this is what the rulers of the city said.
25:42
These who have turned, Well, this is what they said is they
25:44
brought them. These who have turned the world
25:46
upside down have come here too. By the time we get to Act 17,
25:53
the reputation of the church is, man, we don't want anything to
25:56
do with them because they're going to flip this city.
25:58
It's going to change. But you know, what we've found
26:02
today is that the Church isn't really turning too much of the
26:05
world upside down. But the world's doing a good job
26:08
of turning the Church upside down.
26:11
With the cooperation. With our cooperation, the
26:15
world's got all this pressure and always pressing into us and
26:18
leaders. Really, it's our responsibility
26:20
to help you guys. It's mine.
26:24
I'll take it by myself as I come to the Lord.
26:27
I take it deep, deep responsibility to help you
26:30
navigate this difficult culture so that you can honor the Lord
26:33
with your life and not be so scared or not be so overcome or
26:38
not even get into this world and live for this world and like
26:41
this world and understand that man the Lord is coming back.
26:47
And I'm the reputation of the church.
26:49
We need to be with the, with the lack of a, you know, a cliche
26:52
type thing, we need to be world changers.
26:56
That's some of you're going to do it in a small scale, some of
26:58
you're going to do it on a large scale, but together we're going
27:01
to be used by God to bring people to Christ.
27:05
That's really the essence when you think of, well, wait a
27:07
minute. And then what's so important?
27:09
What's so eternal? What do I focus my life on?
27:12
There's really in the Bible only two things that are eternal, or
27:15
you could say two things that go from here into heaven.
27:19
You ready? #1, the word of God.
27:22
Jesus said as much heaven and earth will pass away, but by no
27:25
means will my word pass away. The word of God is eternal.
27:29
So we want to spend a lot of time knowing, studying and
27:32
living out the word of God. But you know the other thing
27:35
that will go from here to eternity, the souls of men.
27:39
Every effort and energy you spend on the souls of men and on
27:42
the word of God is worth it. It's eternal.
27:46
The problem is, is it doesn't give immediate results.
27:49
And so we just kind of give up on stuff.
27:51
So I've been praying. I've been praying, I've been
27:53
praying, I've been praying. And nothing's happened.
27:55
No, man, a lot of stuff has happened.
27:58
You've been become a different person.
27:59
You've prayed more than you ever have in your whole life.
28:01
Is not not something. Yeah.
28:03
But I didn't get what I wanted. Well, that's because God has
28:06
something more for you that you didn't even know you wanted.
28:09
And that is intimacy with him. So he keeps having you pray.
28:12
Keeps having you pray. You keep coming back.
28:14
You keep coming back. You come back when you're mad.
28:15
You come back when you're happy. You come back when you're
28:17
hopeful. You come back when you're
28:19
hopeless. And guess what?
28:20
Every time you come back, you're with the Lord.
28:23
I would say that's something I don't know how he's going to
28:26
answer. I know in my life I got some
28:28
serious stuff that I've been knocking and seeking and asking
28:31
for over 10 years. I just want them just 10 years.
28:34
And yeah, I haven't gotten some things even gotten worse.
28:36
They haven't happened, not the way I want them.
28:38
But I'll tell you what, I know the Lord a lot better.
28:42
I know the Lord. I still want the answer.
28:45
But you know what God's telling me, He's telling me.
28:47
But Ed, I want you to want me more than the answer.
28:52
And I always said, OK, Lord, yes, I do want you, but I always
28:55
want the answer. You know, I don't know if you do
28:57
that. I do want you, Lord.
28:58
But please, I still want the answer.
29:01
Here's the church. That's they're so simple.
29:04
Just in a simple place. They're ministering to the Lord.
29:07
That's what kept them out of all the junk of the world, this
29:10
minister to the Lord. They they continued steadfastly
29:14
in the apostle's doctrine, in prayer and fellowship, breaking
29:17
of bread. Turn over to Ezekiel 44.
29:19
I want to show you something because I want to make this
29:20
distinction in our final moments of ministering for the Lord and
29:26
ministering to the Lord. I want to show you why I think 2
29:29
is a very important why there's something a little different
29:31
happening here. Because we all have a.
29:34
We have no problem ministering for the Lord.
29:36
We we might call that good works or service.
29:39
And I invited you to be the Children's Ministry meeting
29:41
today. Yeah, that's serving for the
29:42
Lord. You're serving.
29:44
He's done so much for you. Now you are gonna serve him.
29:47
And you're. You have good works that flow
29:49
from your life. Yes, Yes.
29:50
You serve for the Lord. You you are active in serving.
29:54
But there's a little bit of a distinction of serving.
29:57
Ministering to the Lord. Not just ministering for the
30:00
Lord. And go to Ezekiel 44.
30:02
Cuz I want you to see this in your Bible when you get there,
30:06
which I will get there eventually.
30:07
Here go to verse 15, Ezekiel 44, verse 15.
30:12
It's one of those obscure passages, but really neat that
30:15
this what's happening in the sons of Zadok here.
30:18
And it says here in verse 15, But the priests, the Levites,
30:24
the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary, when the
30:27
children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near me
30:32
to minister to me, and they shall stand before me to offer
30:37
to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.
30:40
They shall enter my sanctuary and they shall come near my
30:44
table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.
30:50
There's a distinction made here. That was the faithful sons of
30:53
Zadok, who God reserved in ministry a special, unique place
30:58
for himself and to himself. They had a special, intimate
31:02
place with the Lord. And that's what you and I get to
31:05
do today. By choice.
31:07
It's not a distinction anymore. By the blood of Jesus Christ, we
31:12
not only can minister for him, but we can enter into that
31:16
deeper place of intimacy with him, to draw near to him so that
31:21
he might draw near to me. We get it all confused because
31:24
of activity and busyness. And we got all this stuff going
31:28
on. We got this schedule and we got
31:29
the kids and we got the work and we got jerked.
31:31
We got all of this and and God says, no, I'm, I want you, I
31:36
want you. That's what's happening here.
31:37
They're ministering to the Lord. They're fasting.
31:40
And the Holy Spirit spoke. I mean, if you approach your
31:44
devotional life that this way, it'll change.
31:46
Because, you know, every time you open the Bible, God's going
31:48
to speak to you. If you approach your prayer life
31:51
this way, it's like, I'm just going to.
31:52
I want to grow in my intimacy. I'm not doing my DeVos because I
31:55
have to. I just want to grow.
31:57
I want to hear from the Lord. He'll speak.
31:59
I just want to cast my cares upon him.
32:01
He'll speak. I just want to come to a church
32:03
service like this. And I'm not going to be
32:04
religious, going in and out, just like waiting till the guy's
32:07
done. But I'm here to hear from the
32:09
Lord. He's ready to speak.
32:11
You turn on the radio, listen to a Bible study.
32:13
He's ready to speak. You've got music on in your home
32:15
or your car that's glorifying God.
32:17
He's ready to speak. You gather together with the
32:19
Saints after service and pray for one another.
32:22
He's ready to speak. You're going to learn how to
32:24
minister to the Lord. Not merely minister for him, not
32:28
just on his behalf, but to him, where you are gathering to him,
32:33
drawing near to him. It's like a part of a definition
32:38
of of abiding where you're ready.
32:41
You're drawing close to him in a special way.
32:44
Let me show you one more illustration.
32:46
Turn over to Luke chapter 10, one of those passages that we as
32:49
pastors have a tendency to mess up, and I pray that I can add a
32:53
different distinction to it on top of any other time I might
32:56
have messed up. But it is the the passage that's
33:00
very familiar to us. Many of you Bible students
33:03
already know and already think you know when I mentioned the
33:05
names Mary and Martha. And that's where we are in Luke
33:09
10. Mary and Martha.
33:10
I think in their lives we see a beautiful distinction between
33:14
ministering for the Lord and ministering to the Lord.
33:18
Notice with me in Luke 10 verse 38.
33:22
Now what happened as they went? They entered a certain village
33:25
and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
33:28
And she had a sister called Mary who also sat at Jesus feet and
33:33
heard his word. But Martha was distracted with
33:37
much serving and she approached him and said, Lord, do you not
33:40
care that my sister has left me to serve alone, Therefore tell
33:44
her to to help me. And Jesus answered and said,
33:49
Martha, Martha, you're worried and troubled about many things,
33:52
but one thing is needed. And Mary has chosen a good part
33:56
which will not be taken away from her.
34:01
Martha invites Jesus into the home and then she gets very busy
34:06
taking care of things. You know, she's going to clean
34:09
up and get things together. She's got a very special guest.
34:13
And I don't want you to be too hard on Martha because I think
34:15
she's in a position that many of us would be.
34:17
I I just thought of Marie and my wife.
34:19
I I just think when we know somebody's, when she knows
34:21
somebody's coming over, man, we got to clean the whole house.
34:24
They're not going to see the whole house.
34:25
But some reason we got to clean the whole.
34:27
I think it's a trick, actually. But she's got to clean.
34:31
And I'm like, I don't care if they see my house.
34:32
It doesn't matter. It's not dirty.
34:34
It's not dirty. But this woman can find dirt
34:36
where there is no dirt. And I, you know, I don't.
34:40
I I don't want to clean. I just what do I just see?
34:43
The house is what we live, is what we live in every day.
34:47
Like why can't we show people what we live in every day.
34:49
No, no, we've got a but. But she has good motives.
34:52
She wants to serve someone. She wants to go good for them.
34:55
She she I mean, and you know if Jesus came to the house and we
34:58
all OK, Jesus is coming. OK, that might be a good reason.
35:02
I might help her. If Jesus came to the house,
35:04
that's where Martha is. It's like, OK, honey, I would
35:07
help you. But like this is she she wants
35:09
to take care of the hospitality so important.
35:11
Don't get too down on her because that's a big mistake.
35:16
Wanting to serve Jesus and love him and take care of him and
35:19
clean the house and cook whatever.
35:21
You know, if you put it into a modern day thing, she I can hear
35:24
the pans clinging and and you know, the cupboards closing and
35:27
that's also like that's not what Jesus tells her is her problem.
35:35
What Jesus says her problem is, is she was distracted.
35:40
With much serving, she was distracted.
35:44
You see, the serving for Jesus was more important.
35:48
It's more important than anything that was happening.
35:50
Jesus was literally in her house and serving was more important.
35:56
Mary on the other hand, we see her sitting at Jesus feet
35:59
hearing his word, and Jesus tells us about her that she
36:04
chose the good part. Jesus, don't read into this.
36:07
What Jesus doesn't say, Jesus doesn't say.
36:10
Martha, don't ever do this again.
36:12
You don't need to clean the house.
36:13
You don't need to cook. You just be just like Mary.
36:16
And Jesus doesn't tell Mary that you know you should be served
36:19
like he. He just gives them the direction
36:21
that they need individually. And I think there's a
36:25
combination of Mary and Martha that's so important.
36:28
Martha's taking the position of ministering for the Lord.
36:31
Mary's taking the position of ministering to the Lord.
36:34
And I want you to see it in relationship to the Word, Right.
36:37
Because it was when they're ministering to the Lord that
36:39
they heard the word of the Lord that the Holy Spirit spoke.
36:43
So there's Martha in the kitchen, and it turns her.
36:47
It like her ministering for the Lord turned her against Jesus,
36:51
the very one she was supposed to be serving.
36:53
She gets mad at him. Don't you care?
36:56
What do you mean, don't I care Him in your house?
36:58
What are you talking about? Don't I care?
37:01
You know what, Sister? You got a problem.
37:04
And this is what it is. And not only did it turn her in
37:07
against Jesus, but now she's bossing him around her own
37:11
guest. She's not even accomplishing
37:14
what she's desiring, and that's good hospitality.
37:17
Instead, she's telling off her guest, and her guest is Jesus.
37:25
That's the issue. She's distracted by it all.
37:30
So Jesus says I want to show you something that's going to help
37:33
you, Martha, in your service. I want you to see your sister,
37:35
and who knows if they had a sibling rivalry or not.
37:37
I don't want to hear one more thing about Perfect Mary.
37:41
You know? I don't know.
37:42
But I said I want to add something to you.
37:44
I want you to see your sister because she made a really good
37:46
choice. She's right here listening to
37:50
me. She's close, you know, think
37:54
about it. In the busyness of the kitchen,
37:56
the loudness. If Jesus said something to
37:59
Martha, she would have to say what?
38:01
What? What'd you say?
38:02
Jesus, I can't hear you because distraction is clouded.
38:06
Her hearing, you know it's stopped up her hearing.
38:09
But Mary is so close that if Jesus decide to whisper to her,
38:15
she would hear it just because she chose the good part.
38:21
And whispering, being in a position where we could hear the
38:23
voice of the Lord, even if it's low and faint, it's so
38:26
important. And it comes by learning how to
38:28
minister to the Lord. You go.
38:29
How do you minister to the Lord? What you you give yourself to
38:32
him and sacrifice. You live in obedience.
38:37
It really isn't anything over and above what you already do,
38:41
in the sense that you're a believer and so you live in a
38:43
relationship with God. You you minister the Lord when
38:46
you pray, you minister the Lord when you give, you minister the
38:49
Lord everything about. It's not ministering for him
38:52
though see, it's the heart of the matter.
38:55
It's ministering to him in appreciation of all that he's
38:58
done. The reality of Mary and Martha
39:02
is that we need a little bit of both in us so we can hear what
39:06
God has to say for His church, not just voices from years ago.
39:11
We need to hear the voice today. What is God doing today?
39:15
What does He want for now? How does he want me to respond
39:18
to my kids? And how does He want me to deal
39:20
with this issue? And how does He want to lead my
39:22
life? And what?
39:23
What, Lord? And you might even say what on
39:25
this one? You want me to go and become a
39:27
missionary? What?
39:29
And you're so close to me, starts to comfort you and
39:31
encourage you and strengthen you.
39:34
And you know you'll be the next one we're praying for.
39:36
You'll be the next one we're supporting.
39:38
You'll be the next one We go, man, reach out to them.
39:41
Because they were here, sitting right where you were.
39:45
Who knows what God has for you? But you'll never know until you
39:49
press in like the early church here and we'll see.
39:52
It was combined with prayer and fasting.
39:55
The Holy Spirit spoke how? Probably through the prophets
39:59
there were leaders there to speak on behalf of God, to speak
40:01
forth the word of God, the dynamic that God wants to
40:05
accomplish in our lives. Jesus said seek first the
40:08
Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these
40:11
things will be added unto so as we we tie up everything today.
40:16
You can see it's just not going to do you any good to get caught
40:19
up in the things of this world. It's just not any good for you.
40:23
You have choices to make. I have choices to make.
40:27
And it all has to do with where we want to be.
40:30
Where do you want to be? What kind of life do you want to
40:33
live? Think about the beautiful gift
40:35
and freedom that God has given us.
40:38
He He's here today saying, where do you want to be?
40:41
And then you say, I want to be with you, Lord.
40:44
And some of you might even say that Maranatha come quickly, I
40:47
want to be with you. But you know, until he comes, do
40:49
you still want to be with him? Do you still want to live for
40:53
him? Do you want to pay the price for
40:55
revival? Do you want to pray the price to
40:57
bring revival into your marriage?
40:59
Do you want to pay the price to bring revival into your home?
41:02
Do you want to pray the price to bring revival into your life
41:07
through humble repentance, ministering to the Lord?
41:11
If you want. If you do, man, God's ready.
41:15
As we talk a lot about waiting on God, but you know God's
41:18
waiting on you. I go for it.
41:21
Be the church. This stuff in the book of Acts
41:25
is 21st century stuff. It's not some group years ago.
41:30
This is it. And if you desire it, God's
41:32
ready says, well then let's do it.
41:34
Get together. Let's let's do this together.
41:37
So this week I want you to take note of how you can personally
41:41
minister to the Lord, not just minister for him, and then
41:44
listen for the Holy Spirit to speak.
41:47
And if you receive something, e-mail me.
41:48
I'd love to hear it. It's like the Lord spoke
41:50
something. You got a scripture, got a
41:52
verse, you, you got a song, you got a lyric, You got a text
41:55
message out of the blue. Look, church, the world needs
42:01
you. The world needs you.
42:04
That's why you're still here. The world needs a church that
42:08
truly is living out the life of agape love.
42:12
But you also need the world because the world has a tendency
42:16
to push you and move you toward God.
42:19
I know you think the solution is get out of this world.
42:21
Get out of this world. Get out of this world.
42:23
It's gonna be great when we do, but until then, you need this
42:26
world. Jesus, he was in this world for
42:29
for 30 years. For the last three years, the
42:31
last few weeks or the last week of his life was horrendous.
42:35
But he was in the world, but he wasn't of the world.
42:39
That is the call of the church. We are in this world.
42:41
We're in this city. We're in this state.
42:43
We're in this country. And we have privilege of serving
42:46
like, like, when you think about how hard it is right now, how
42:48
challenging it is, how upside down, like doesn't make any
42:51
sense. World we're in right now.
42:53
You were born for this time. I want you to think about that.
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You know what your birth date is.
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Whatever it is got you alive right now.
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It is God's will for you to be in the world right now.
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So go for it. Don't let it all beat you up and
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go. I can't believe it.
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I can't believe it. I can't believe it.
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Instead, go. I can't believe it.
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God is on the move. What does he want to do next?
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What's happening? What new open door do you have
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for us? Lord?
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What new peer person can I experience?
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For some of you, it's just going to be a baby step.
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You're going to obey. And I'm not asking you to obey,
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but like, you're going to do what I asked you to do by
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reaching out to a missionary. And you're so scared.
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It's like, I don't think I can do that.
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What if, what if they asked me a question here, So I'm going to
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give you the answer to that. If you e-mail a missionary and
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they respond with asking you a question, you want to know what
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you're supposed to do. Answer it and start a
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relationship with a missionary. Maybe it's skating in Florida.
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Maybe it's ministering. We just got back from where were
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we? Columbia or where'd we go?
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Peru. There you go, Peru.
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That team just got back from Peru.
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And Jake Brand new missionary kid, He's just a kid, but that
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kid has more energy. And and then probably 100 of us
44:04
love this guy. And if you ever move back to the
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States, I'd say, man, join our team.
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Join our team. We need you.
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This guy's amazing. But Jake needs encouragement.
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Jake needs encouragement. Nesty and Jess, they need
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encouragement. Allen, over in Brooklyn, they
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need encouragement. And so do you.
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And you get to minister to one another as the Holy Spirit moves
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you. Amen.
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Father, I thank you for the privilege.
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I just think that emphasis on our missionary so important.
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But not just our missionaries. We are the body of Christ.
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We need to be praying for our pastors.
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We need to be praying for their wives and their kids, praying
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for one another. Lord, that we would just be the
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church. Not because we're ministering
44:46
for you, but we're ministering to you.
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This is our, this is our joy of intimacy with you.
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That even standing up here with Ian.
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And I'm sure if I turn to the left and we got testimonies on
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this side of the stage and and behind us and and just like,
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man, you, you are so gracious to us.
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Who are we? You're the one that started the
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work. You're the one that continues
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it. And you're the one that's going
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to finish it. And I would just say, if you're
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here today, you've never given your life to Jesus Christ.
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Today's the day. Now is the time that is the
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missionary heart of God to reach you.
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We're all enjoying a Bible study, and we do love the Bible.
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Let me tell you, we love to hear from God.
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We love to study it. But you know what we love even
45:34
more is to see life's changed. That's why we pray for you
45:38
regularly and why we pray for our parents and our family and
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our friends. We want to see God move.
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But now you have the chance, because you're here or watching
45:47
online or downstairs, that before we leave, I'm going to
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give you a chance to receive the Lord Jesus Christ into your
45:55
life, to receive the forgiveness of sins.
45:58
So today, if you would say Ed, that's me, I need my sense
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forgiven. Would you just stand to your
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feet? I want to pray with you that God
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would move upon your life today, that today would be it.
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God bless you. God bless you over here.
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Who else would say that? That's that's me.
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God bless you. Pastors are going to be coming
46:16
up with you so that we have somebody praying with you.
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So if you would stay standing for a second, anyone else, if
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you stood, would you stay standing so we can connect with
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you. And it's actually nothing weird.
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I just want you to know we got pastors here that love you and
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serve you. And we got someone right here in
46:35
the middle, back here in the back.
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But today's the day. Today is the day of salvation
46:44
that God is doing a fresh work. So we got a brother coming over
46:47
for you, anyone else and you guys downstairs.
46:52
You're not forgotten. You guys online, you're not
46:56
forgotten. It's just like you're here.
46:59
I'm so glad that you tuned in on YouTube or Facebook or wherever
47:02
you're like with us right now. Your family doesn't matter if
47:05
you're on the radio or online or watching this 10 years from now.
47:11
We love you. And do you that hear the love of
47:15
God? Listen right here, here, Byron.
47:20
You guys hear the love of God. The the Bible says this.
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If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you believe
47:29
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
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saved. And that's just the truth.
47:34
What are you confessing? You're confessing that you've
47:36
sinned against a holy and righteous God.
47:39
And what are you believing? That he loves me enough to
47:42
forgive me that he that missionary message, right.
47:47
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, That
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whosoever will believe in him will not perish.
47:54
That whosoever is you, that whosoever has a name, it's your
47:59
name. And so I'm going to lead you in
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a prayer. With that you can say directly
48:03
to God. I'm going to help you confess
48:05
what you already believe. You could say something like
48:08
this, and you could repeat it after me.
48:09
You could say God. I admit that I've sinned against
48:12
you, and I ask you to forgive me of all my sin.
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I believe you sent Jesus to live for me, die for me, and I
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believe he rose again from the dead to save my soul.
48:34
Help me to follow you all the days of my life, turning away
48:40
from my sins, my habits. Father, I pray right now for
48:48
those and even hear some of the prayers.
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It's just come on. It's so good.
48:53
It's so good what you're doing in people's lives.
48:55
God, that you would continue to pour out your love and your
48:58
mercy in these last days. That you would continue to
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rescue lives and rescue marriages and rescue homes.
49:06
That this would be real and not some emotional experience, but
49:09
God in the emotion. There would be true newness of
49:14
life that just transferred in a Milla Milla millisecond of time.
49:20
And for us as a church God revive us, shake us, and stir us
49:26
to the place where we move forward with the gospel,
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trusting you with our lives. Not by might, not by my not by
49:36
my power, but by your Spirit Say it.
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The Lord so bless them. They come to you today.
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Courage them even as we're encouraged in Jesus name.
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Amen. We pray that you've been
49:49
encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
49:51
sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer.
49:54
Call us at 87730 Grace. That's 877. 304-7223 To listen
50:03
to this message in its entirety or to join us for our live
50:07
stream services, visit us online at Calvary, Co dot Church or
50:12
download our free Calvary Church app, Be Blessed as You Worship
50:16
Jesus this week.