Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / August 23, 2020 | [re]START - Restart Ministry (Discovery Day)

Transcript

August 23, 2020 | [re]START - Restart Ministry (Discovery Day) · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, how's it going?
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone having fun so far?
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a beautiful morning so far.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: So this part of the service is for the children.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_03: Though if you're an adult, don't worry.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to tune me out if you don't want to.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: You can do everything that we said, but I need some volunteers from the children that are here.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_03: Would anyone like to volunteer?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_03: You have some people.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_03: So when I say go, what we're gonna do is I'm gonna have you come up, come close, but not on the stage, not on the wires, and not on the speakers.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, and we're gonna have all the kids, you guys say 13 and under, or if if adults want to do it too, they can.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: And there is a prize involved in it.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: So if you would run up here to the stage, all the children, every children, 13, 14, and under, whatever.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, you're out of here, that's good.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, very good.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, here they come.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna have a small competition and you have to stand up for it.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: Very good.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, come on up.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: And then if you don't want to come up close, if you're a child and you don't want to come up to the stage, then you can do it where you're at.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: But everyone stand up that wants to compete and get a prize in the competition.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: Keys, children, you can do it.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: No, okay, very good.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so what we're gonna do is when I say on your mark, but when I do this as just an example, okay?
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: When I say on your mark, get set, go.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: I want you to do 10 jumping jacks up and down as one, five, squat, jump, squat down, and jump up.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I hope I don't break the trailer when I do this, okay?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: So jump up and fall down and jump if and I, okay?
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_03: And then I want you to take, if you have a fan or just your hand and use your fan, the fan, your three times cool down and hands on the hips, and the first one to do that wins.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: Okay?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: So what was the first thing?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: Ten, what?
• 1:45
  unknown: Jumping.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_03: Jumping jacks, five squat jumps, okay?
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then three fans, and then what do you do with your hands?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: On your hips.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: And when you're gonna go when I say on your mark, get set, and then there's the G word, the G O word.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know what it is?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, it's go.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: But that's not didn't count then when I said it, okay?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: So are you ready?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone out there, are you ready?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: I see a lot of people sitting down.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: You gotta stand up to do this.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: So, I mean, anyone up there you go.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, good job, mom.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh at least support your son up here.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, very all right.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_03: J ready?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: On your mark! You ready?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: Get set donut! Oh, wait, wait.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: It was donut.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_03: We didn't say the magic word.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: I got the okay.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: That was a good false start.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: False start.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, are you ready?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: On your mark.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: Are you ready?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yo, get ready.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you look like you're not ready anymore.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: Did I upset you?
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um okay, there actually is a point to this, but okay, all right, so ready?
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Please do it.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know, I'm really feeling sorry sad.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_03: All right, ready?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_03: On your mark, get set, salami.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, less people are filled there.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, this is for real now, okay?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: You ready?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: Ten what?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: Ten jumping jacks, five squat jumps, three fans, and hands on your good, okay.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: Ready?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: On your mark, are you ready?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: Get set! Yo! Jumping jacks, jumping jacks, jumping jacks, squat jumps.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: I want to see good form on those squat jumps.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: Come on now, squat down, jump, squat down, jump.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: Alright, fan three jumps.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, JP got it already on hands on the hips.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: George was there here.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, but some of you still don't have your hands.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: That was a little chaotic, and I don't have time to do it again because we're on a time schedule, because this is the adult church here.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna give you all a prize.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: Okay?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_03: So what you do, because you did so great, and you you know, and only one of you cried, and I'm sorry to upset you, that there is a treasure chest back of the children's ministry tent, and you don't have to do it right now.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, probably best not to do it right now, but after the service, there's enough round, they're in the treasure chest, there's a goodie bag with bouncy balls and candy and all that kind of thing, that you can have something out of the treasure chest, okay?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: So give them a round of applause for doing a great job, and you guys can go back to your seats.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: So it is an honor for me to be able to kick off the message portion today for the children, and we are doing our message today is restart ministry.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: And there's two parts to that, right?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: Restart and ministry.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: And so, children, why do you think we need a restart?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: Why are we restarting things?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: Why in our society are we restarting?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: Does anyone know?
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yell it out if you know.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: Huh?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_03: It used to be, so it used to be when in Sunday school of time, which is actually technically Sunday School of Time, when I'd ask a question, everyone would say, Jesus, right?
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Because that's the right answer for Sunday school.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_03: But the last five and a half months, the answer to every question has been COVID, right?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: So the answer for restart is why do we need restart?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's COVID.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: Everything's messed up.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: You know, some of you did start school, some of you are starting school this week, some have been a couple weeks.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: You guys have enjoyed, you children have enjoyed the longest spring break in the history of spring breaks.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: Hope you've enjoyed it because it's about to end or it has ended for some of you, right?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: But so that's the restart.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: We're restarting because everything is messed up from COVID.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: We're trying to relaunch ministries and trying to re-rego with what we're supposed to do.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: The ministry part, most people, when you read through God's word, which is the Bible, we learn and we know that following Jesus requires us to have service or ministry.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so we're doing restart ministry, and today is at Tobeka Bible Church a day where you'll hear a lot, children, you'll hear a lot about ministries.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I feel like as an adult, and as sometimes when we do something like this, you're gonna hear a lot about ministries, and we're kind of setting you up for failure.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_03: We're not, I don't think we necessarily mean to, but you're gonna hear about ministries like, hey, you could come and help at Harvesters once a month, you get in your car, you drive down to the old Expo Center, whatever it's called now, Performing Arts Center, or Sormont Vale also Performing Arts Center, and you can help once a month hand out food for people that need food.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: But if you're a child, please don't go get in your parents' car and drive down there, okay, because that would be it would be disastrous.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: You'd get in trouble.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: Also, you might hear someone say, You can you can volunteer over in the traffic ministry, you get to wear one of those awesome yellow vests and use the lightsaber light, you know, and direct traffic.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_03: But, children, who in here has ever run out in the street and try to direct traffic?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: Your adults will probably yell at you and tell you to not do that.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: So you're gonna hear a lot, if you walk through those tents over there, you're gonna see a lot of ministries.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_03: Now, we do have treasures and candy at the children's ministry, so that's good for you guys.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_03: But you might be confused.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like that we're saying we want everyone to be in ministry, and yet when we talk about a lot of the ministry opportunities for the children, it doesn't, you know, maybe it doesn't really fit.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: You might actually feel like we're talking about all these ministries that people can can do, and you might actually feel like when we played that game, and I said, on your mark, get set, donut.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: You knew the rules, you knew what was expected, but you didn't really know exactly what was going on, because I kind of changed the rules on you there.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: But today I'm going to talk about three ways that anyone of any age can be involved in ministry.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so the first way that you can be involved in ministry is to use your time.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, in Psalm uh 119, verses 105, it tells us that God's word is a light to our feet and a lamp into our path.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, when I was younger, I was really, really, really afraid of the dark.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_03: But one of my jobs was feeding our dog pepper, and I had to walk outside sometimes at night to feed him because it was winter or because I procrastinated and doesn't didn't go out there when I was supposed to.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_03: I would go outside and it would be totally dark, and I'd be so scared to bring and he would be in the dark and I could hear him kind of you know, and it was it was kind of a scary thing.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_03: But one thing I could do is go and get my flashlight as I carried his food out there.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: It didn't take for me very much time to get my flashlight, but do you think that's a good idea if you can't see in the dark?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: Get a flashlight, shine a path so you know how to get out there and accomplish your task, right?
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's what God's word says that it does for us.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: It lights a path.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: And so I want to challenge you children, and all of us really, but you can take a couple minutes a day.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: Invest your time to learn God's word so you can light your path.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, maybe put down the fortnight and pick up the God's word just a little bit, you know, a couple minutes a day.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: It would be awesome.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, second thing, you can be in ministry with your work ethic.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: Now, a lot of people don't like work.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: But Colossians 3 23 tells us that whatever we do, work at it with all of your heart as working for God and for the Lord and not for men.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_03: In fact, one translation actually says, work at everything you do from the soul.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: So the idea is that your work can be worship, your work can be ministry.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: Who in here likes chores at your house?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: No one.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, me neither.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_03: However, I remember, this is when I was in junior high.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: I remember I asked my mom if I could have my friend Doug over to uh to play and to be over.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, she said, that's fine, but you still gotta do your vacuuming.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, Mom, really?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_03: Doug's gonna be here, and I can't I do it later.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: She said, No, you have to do your work.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I was not having the attitude that I just said from Colossians 3.23.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: But my friend Doug came over and I said, Doug, I'm so sorry, but I gotta take like 10 minutes and vacuum.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's so horrible.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, Well, that's okay, I'll help you.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so I started vacuuming, and you'll know what I'm talking.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: Some of you kids will know what I'm talking about.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: I was vacuuming halfway.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: I was vacuuming some, but I was missing some.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't really doing the baseboards.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_03: But Doug said, Hey, I'll move the couch.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, what?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: Move the couch, and he pulled the couch out.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, now you can get bound by the baseboards.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, oh, and he picked up a chair, and he I mean he picked up a chair so I could vacuum under it, and he was like working really hard and he took it very seriously.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: So if we want to honor God and use our work ethic and our work for ministry, let's vacuum like Doug taught me to how to and not how I was doing it on my own.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: Let's, if we're picking up a room instead of pushing everything under the bed, let's take things out from under the bed and let's just do a really, really good job.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: And the last thing is that we can use our obedience for ministry, and you've heard this before, but please don't tune me out.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_03: Ephesians 6, 1, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_03: Now I know children, you hear that verse from your parents a lot, okay?
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: And you might just be like, okay, yes, obey my parents, obey my parents.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: But think about this.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: If you obey your parents, obey your authority, obey the people that are giving you instruction, and you cheerfully do what they ask you to do and do the right thing, your household will be a lot more peaceful, you will have a lot less stress, and you may even get more free time.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just saying, I'm not for sure about that.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so those things with your time, with your work ethic, and your obedience, those are things that we can do at any age, at any time, and it's a ministry to the Lord, but let's not look at it like a checklist or a drudgery.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: Let's look at it like a mission that's given to us by our commander, God, that can bring glory to our Heavenly Father.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_03: Okay?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_03: And don't forget your treasure pieces down to the children's ministry tent.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you very much.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Who's the best children's minister in the world, kids?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Jason.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: Some of you who've been around TBC for decades will uh this this morning will sort of remind you of old days.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: You remember when the church was relatively small, so small that we could take Sunday morning sometimes and go out, and all of us could get on a hill overlooking uh Lake Shawnee or something like that, and we'd have our one morning service.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we decided we'd take advantage of the opportunity that fewer people have been coming uh because of COVID, and we would do that out here.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now, obviously, we didn't expect this many, or we would have had ordered another couple hundred fans.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: But those of you that got fans, they're pretty cool, huh?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: Pass them around.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: So this is uh our Discovery Day.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: This is a joy of ministry day, restart ministry, as Jason said, and I want to tell you a story of a boy named Mark.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Mark grew up in Jerusalem.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: He was raised by a single mom whose name was Mary.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: And though they didn't have a dad, Mark was fortunate to live in a nice house.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: And he had friends.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, they had enough money so that they could even hire a maid, give a girl a job so she could come around and she could make money.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: When Mark uh was about 10 years old, like everyone else, he and his mother began hearing about this traveling healer and teacher way up in Galilee, whose name was Jesus.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: And every few years, one of these kinds of Messiah figures came along, but this one sounded different.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: So when this Jesus came down to Jerusalem for the great feast of Passover, they were in the crowd watching him.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, like many others, Mary and her son Mark became Jesus' followers, and then after a while, they became Jesus' believers, mom and son, believers in Jesus.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: And young Mark looked forward to those Jewish festivals when Jesus and his disciples, led by Peter, would come down to Jerusalem every year.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Mark's mom would let him tag along.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: And Mark watched Jesus talk with people and care for people, as if he knew and loved every one of them.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: And he got to know the disciples, and Mark especially hit it off with the big fisherman Peter.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, as a young teenager, about 13, Mark had actually tagged along with Jesus and then his disciples on that horrible night in the Garden of Gethsemane, halfway up the Mount of Olives across from the city, where they had gone to pray.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: But then they'd all fallen asleep, all of the disciples and Mark too.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then the mob had come to arrest Jesus.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And like the disciples, Mark was fast asleep.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Number of the disciples woke up when they heard the noise and saw the soldiers and they ran for their lives.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Mark slept a little sounder, apparently, than the others, as kids will do.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so the earliest that he had known anything was when someone grabbed a hold of him and said, I've got one of them.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: But Mark was a slippery sort, and so he slipped out of his garment and got away.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: He describes himself, the story is only in his gospel, describes himself as young and wearing nothing but a linen garment, and he says, When they seized him, he fled buck naked, leaving his garment behind.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Mark had sobbed in despair with his mother the next day as they watched Jesus get nailed to a cross.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: But a few days later, they'd gone crazy with happiness to discover that Jesus had risen.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus went back to heaven.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: And then Mark and his mother had been part of that revival on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit fell, and Mark's big buddy Peter preached, and thousands believed.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: And as the church in Jerusalem grew and the revival spread, Mark's home, since it was a pretty big one, was one of the key places in Jerusalem that the early church met to study the Bible and to pray and to eat.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: And one night Peter was arrested.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: That day when he was arrested and thrown in jail.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: It was at Mark's house that the early church had gathered to pray to God to deliver Peter and save his life.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where they heard a knocking at the gate.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: And their maid had run out to the gate and discovered it was Peter himself and was so shocked she didn't even open the door, but came back in and yelled at everybody.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: He'd been broken out of jail by an angel.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps it was no wonder then that Peter, the leader of the early church, took young Mark under his wing.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Another church leader who took Mark under his wing was Barnabas.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Barnabas was actually Mark's older cousin, about 20 years older.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: He'd gone off when he was in his twenties as a businessman to the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean, made a lot of money there, and he'd come back and now supplied the funds that the early church needed to survive and feed their poor.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: And everyone knew and loved Brother Barnabas.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Barnabas seemed to know and love everyone.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: In a way, Barnabas and Peter were the fathers that Mark never had.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_01: There's evidence that Mark called his older cousin Uncle Barnabas.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: Barnabas was so shaped by these events that he went through his teenage years longing to be a full-fledged disciple himself, to serve the Lord and minister to the church.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so it was an exciting and wonderful day for Mark, now in his young twenties, when his famous cousin, Barnabas, reappeared one day in Jerusalem with his arm around a short bulldog of a guy named Saul, whose name would later be Paul.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: The last time anyone there had seen Saul several years back, he'd been the great persecutor and killer of the church.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: But they'd heard he'd been converted.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Barnabas said, It's true, and I'm taking Saul on a missions trip.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to go to my home turf of Cyprus, and then we'll go up to Asia where Saul is from to tell everyone about Jesus and plant churches.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: And Mark said, Do you need an assistant?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Can I go?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Barnabas looked at Mary, and Mary nodded.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Barnabas put his arm around Mark and said, Of course you can go.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: And they were off.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: It started out so exciting.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: The first missionary journey of the church, telling people about Jesus, starting in Cyprus, getting to see Uncle Barnabas' big house.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: Often when you begin a new ministry, children's ministry or student ministry or women's ministry or divorce care or young adults or YFC or Young Life or Haiti Lifeline, it's so exciting at the start.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: But before long it becomes difficult for one reason or another.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what happened to Mark on Cyprus.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Seemed like they had opposition everywhere.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Unlike back in Jerusalem, no one seemed open to the good news of salvation in Jesus.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: There were actually demons opposing them.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: There was only one convert during that whole time.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was discouraging.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: It was almost a relief to leave Cyprus, get on the ship to sail 300 miles north to the coast of Asia, Turkey, today.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: But Mark had never been on a 300-mile ocean voyage in the Mediterranean, and that was no fun, not in those old barges.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a relief when they landed safely in a harbor on the southern coast.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: They hiked a few miles to the walled city of Perga.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: But Paul had no intention of stopping.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: He said, Let's press on.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: His home, Tarsus, was far north.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: But as Mark looked up, he saw a mountain there.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right, we're hiking, he said, hundreds of miles, camping out in wild, rugged country.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Jim Gaffigan says, I married a woman who loves to camp, and I am what you call indoorsy.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm surprised we can still get people to camp.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, you honey, you want to burn a couple vacation days sleeping on the ground outside?
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: What if I told you you'd get to use the bathroom standing up in the woods?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: I still wouldn't want to go.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: You wake up freezing, covered in a rash.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, all right, I'll go.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Gaffigan likes to say, if it's so great outside, why are all the bugs trying to get in my house?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Mark would have laughed and agreed.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't be surprised if the reason that he cut out, quit, and left the trip at this point were the bugs.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: Bad bugs, because that's where they started their trip on the coast of what is today southern Turkey, then and for a thousand years was called the Mosquito Coast.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: And these mosquitoes carried malaria.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: One of the worst malarious spots in the world.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: We know a couple of things about that part of the world back then, and none of them are very nice.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: There were bad bugs, bad roads, and bad people.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: It was warm and swampy with mosquitoes everywhere, and maybe for safety's sake, fear of threat to life and health.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: As bad as the coronavirus, no medicine.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Did Mark begin to feel sick?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: There were also bad roads.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Rome had built great highways across his empire and had soldiers on those highways to protect you all the time, but this was an out-of-the-way place.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: And they hadn't built their highway down here.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: There were bandits and robbers.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: So every night they had to build up their fire high to keep dangerous animals and dangerous people away.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: And you had to take your turn on watch, huddled in your sheepskin, tending the fire, keeping an eye out.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's not what Mark thought he was getting into.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: And in the morning, no hot tea or coffee to look forward to because tea hadn't made it out of China yet.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: And coffee wouldn't be invented in Ethiopia for another thousand years.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: So all you had to look forward to was a few olives, a bit of goat cheese, something left over from supper.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then you look forward to another 15-mile hike in slow hot weather, cold weather, sudden storms, danger of sudden attack.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Paul would write later that they were in danger then from rivers, from bandits, and danger in the cities and danger in the country, often without sleep, hungry, thirsty, without food, cold.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe that's why Mark went home.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe it was psychological stress.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe he was homesick.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe he was upset because this trip that started off with his cousin Barnabas being the leader had suddenly flipped, and now Barnabas was number two.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: And Saul, whose name was now Paul, was the boss.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: You just know that Mark said, I gotta go home.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: And as bad as Barnabas and Paul may have felt let down, I'm sure Mark felt worse.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: He'd seen how Jesus had kept going all the way to the end, how the early church Christians had persevered, even gone to their deaths bravely, with his head hung down, feeling like a failure.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Mark made his way back home to Jerusalem.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: His mother wept to see him, hugged him, welcomed him home.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Mark hunkered down, took long walks, gradually healed, grew and changed.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: And two or three years later, when Barnabas and Paul returned with their stories from Asia, Mark thrilled with the rest of the church to hear what God had done.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: The people in Asia who'd come to Christ.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: The churches planted.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: And when Paul and Barnabas said, We're going back to Cyprus and Asia, gonna visit them again.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Mark went to his uncle and said, I'm not the same kid I was five years ago.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: I won't cut and run this time.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: Can I go?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: His cousin said, Sure.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: Let me clear it with Paul.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: Paul said, No way.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_01: They had a sharp disagreement, the Bible says.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: Both of them had good sound reasons.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Paul said, it's all about the task.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: God's given us a job.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: You stay and get done.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: He says, you don't put your hand to the plow and look back, stop in the middle.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing personal against your cousin, Barnabas, but this is a big task.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: We need someone we can count on.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: Barnabas said, Listen, it's all about the task, but it's also all about people.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the best people are the ones who fail the first time, but don't give up.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Give it a second try.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: And in God's will, they split over this.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: And Barnabas took Mark, said, You know what?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to go to Cyprus.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'll take Cyprus.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: You just take Asia.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul took Silas and he went to Asia, and that gave him time to go beyond Asia into Europe.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why you and I are sitting here this morning.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because on that second missionary journey, Paul had time to take the gospel to the West.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's what God wanted.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: And Barnabas was right about Mark.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Mark became the minister and church leader that he had always wanted to be.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_01: He proved his worth to the whole church, including Paul.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, in the next 10 to 15 years, Mark would not only finish that successful missionary journey, but become Peter's personal assistant for several years, after which he would write his own story of Jesus, the second gospel.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then he would go back and become a co-worker with Paul himself.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_01: And in the last years of his life in a Roman prison, Paul would write to Timothy and say, Listen, would you go get Mark?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: Would you bring him to Rome with you?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because Mark is invaluable to me.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: What Mark learned about ministry and service from watching Jesus and Peter and Barnabas and Paul, what he learned about ministry and service in his own life became the heart of his gospel.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Because when Matthew thought about Jesus, he first thought of a king, not Mark.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: When Luke first thought of, when Luke thought about Jesus, the first thing he thought about was, Jesus is the ideal man, not Mark.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: When John thought of Jesus, the first thing John thought of in his gospel was he's the Son of God, not Mark.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: No, when Mark thought of Jesus, the first thing he thought of was the servant, the servant who came to serve us and suffer.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: For the heart of his story about Jesus is this sentence in chapter 10, 45.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: Mark's gospel is like the USA Today newspaper.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's colorful, it's brief, it's blunt.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: The Go Gospel, someone called it.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: It splashes one quick story after another on the page.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: One exciting scene leads into the next.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: No dawdling, no rambling.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Mark's favorite word is actually the word immediately.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: And the picture Mark draws of Jesus is the super servant who's constantly on the move, serving here, serving there.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: You're lost?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Not anymore.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: You're lonely?
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Follow me.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: More friends you can count than you can count.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: You need healing?
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Let me take care of that.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: You need anything.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I may be your prince and messiah, but I didn't come to be served, but to serve.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: And though you don't know it, what you need most is for me to die to ransom your rebel soul.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: For I didn't come to be served, but to serve, and to ransom you.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever known somebody with the gift of service who's always moving from one person to another, from one place to another, serving everyone she meets and finding joy in serving them?
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's the difference between being a servant or a minister and being a helper or a volunteer.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: If you're just a helper or a volunteer, you help the people that you like when you like in ways that you like, but if you're a servant and minister, you help people whether you like them or not.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: When you feel like it or when you don't feel like it in ways that you like or dislike.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: Melody and I, Melody and I both took the spiritual gifts test.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: Her number one gift is service.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: My number one gift turns out to be thinking of ways I want to be served.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we're a great team.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: Honey, could you scratch me right here, please?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: I could use a back rub right now, Mel.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: How about it?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: I I think, however, she may be on to me.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_01: The other day I yelled back to the bedroom, asked her to get me something to drink, and she actually called back, Do you have a broken leg?
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: Get it yourself.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, let me say a word to those of you here who are in midlife, in your 40s, 50s.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: There is a misconception that when you're retired, that's when you'll serve.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because then you'll have more time and energy.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: But churches and charities and surveys have all discovered that retirees have not proven to be the cornucopia of service we once thought they would be.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Retirees cut their engines off and lose their edge.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: Peter Drucker put it this way: if you haven't started your service or ministry by age 45, and you're not vigorously involved in it by age 55, it will never happen.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_01: By the way, some would have you think today that number one, that God's number one command for you today is stay alive and to take every precaution and to avoid every risk to prolong your life as long as possible.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: But scripture never says we are saved in order to stay alive as long as possible.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: What we do find in our Bible is this.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: To live for Christ is to live for others.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: To live for others is to serve others.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's as simple as one, two, three.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to repeat those three things after me.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: One, we are saved in order to live for Christ.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_01: Say it with me.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: We are saved in order to live for Christ.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, to live for Christ is to live for others.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_01: To live for Christ is to live for others.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: Number three, to live for others is to serve others.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: To live for others is to serve others.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: For Christ did not come to be served, but to serve.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're a Christ follower, you're not here to be served, but to serve.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: I've asked Alex and Teresa to come up and inspire us with the unique service and ministry opportunities that they're in charge of this fall.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: Alex, you first tell us the new thing that uh your young adults are gonna be doing.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thanks.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh good morning.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Alex Wolf.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm the uh new Young Adults pastor here.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: And and one of the things that uh the leaders of the Young Adults Ministry and I have been talking about since I arrived is how can we be a ministry that doesn't just exist to serve young adults, but how can we be a young adults ministry that exists to serve the greater body of Christ?
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh our leaders really took the initiative and said, you know, we don't just need to be served on Sunday mornings.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_02: We think our time would be better spent uh serving the rest of the church.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh we've made the decision uh in starting this coming week.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we we are uh the group has taken the initiative to say we're not gonna meet on Sunday mornings, rather, we're gonna get rid of our beloved Sunday morning uh ministry where we were just serving one another and we're gonna go out into the church and send our young adults to various places to serve around the church.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: So you're gonna start seeing a lot more uh young faces throughout TVC on Sunday mornings.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then we've moved our uh our gathering to Thursday nights, and so uh that's how we're able to accomplish that definitely.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Alex.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's really exciting.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, something we're doing differently this year is on Wednesday nights.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: We really want families, just like we are today, we're all coming together, and what better thing to come together around than a meal, right?
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we're starting Fed and Led.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: You may have read about it in the eBulletin this week.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: Fed and Lead is a Wednesday night program for families, and we also want individuals, singles to feel welcome to join us.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: We will have a meal together.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're still working on the details of that.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: That meal will start about 5.30, and then about 6.10, 6.15 we'll dismiss.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where the lead part comes in because we're feeding you physically and spiritually.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: The lead part is you will be led spiritually in a class.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: So for men, we have a men's Bible study.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Jim's gonna do the book of Job.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's a 10-week study.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: This whole program is 10 weeks.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: Some of these classes will be a little bit shorter.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Ladies, we will have the Beth Moore Tasting Vine study.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Patty De Liberto will continue her chronological study.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: And for couples, Brittany and J.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Bowles will be leading a Max Luceto study.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we really have something for every member of the family.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: For the kids, we will be doing, and I've got my my club catapult shirt on, children's ministry, we will be doing club catapult.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: It has the high energy and fun and the devotionals of Club Cat of Camp Catapult, our summer camp, uh, but we'll also be doing a lot more scripture memorization that some of the things that we really liked about Iwana, we're gonna pull into Club Catapult.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that's for 10 weeks for the kids.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Student ministry, you'll still be meeting downstairs in the basement.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have divorced care also here on campus.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: So Fed and LED is really an opportunity for you to be together as a family and and parents, other adults, if one of those classes just doesn't tag at your heart.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: We really need volunteers in Cloud Catapult to make this happen.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: We have some volunteers who are just taking a season off because of the pandemic, and we we respect that.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: But we need your help with children's ministry.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: So sign up at the tent with that today.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we've got these little fed and lead brochures at several of the tents that you can pick up.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Teresa.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we are concluding this morning our sermon, summer sermon series, restart.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: Next week, I've invited uh a friend of mine, the new young director of Jews for Jesus, an Israeli named Dan Sarrid, is gonna come and speak to us next week.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_01: You don't want to miss that.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: He's amazing and a great buddy.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he's not all that young anymore.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: He's probably late 30s.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: So uh that's gonna be great.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, which is really young for me.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: So uh let me close us in prayer.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: This is Discovery Day.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you will discover the joy of ministry.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, thank you so much for uh for the story of Mark and for Peter, especially for Jesus, for Barnabas, for all of these people in our uh in our upline who have ministered to us and led us in such brilliant ways, and we thank you for the opportunity to join them in serving you and ministering.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's part of the body of Christ, and as far as part of living for your son Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: God's people said Amen.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for coming.