Latest / Wesley at FSU & TSC / BEACH RETREAT | "Go and Make Disciples" | Speaker Everett Mangle | September 19, 2026

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BEACH RETREAT | "Go and Make Disciples" | Speaker Everett Mangle | September 19, 2026 · Wesley at FSU & TSC

• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, good morning, good morning.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: How much everybody didn't have?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like here.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, like I'm not sick, but I have a cough.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, if that happens, just like no, like you're fine in the front row.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Everything's okay.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: No morning.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so as Brian introduced me, I'm Everett.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I am from Melbourne.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is my first beach retreat.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: I have been I know, I'm excited.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have been in Tallahassee for like four weeks, like out of my entire life, I've been here for four weeks.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when I got asked to lead devotion this morning, um, I was like very happy, I was very excited.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but like I felt immediately inadequate.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like the idea that like there have been people who have been here so much longer than me, the conversations I've had with people who just feel like so much further ahead of me, I felt um, I felt like I was like having imposter syndrome, truly.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so in situations like that for me, I have to go back to the basics.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: The uh the questions I ask myself are, what am I doing?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And why am I doing it?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so as I was praying and reading scripture for um this morning, uh the the overall verse for this week, the um therefore go forth making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, um is a really it's a really beautiful verse.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't memorize that just because of last night.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's beautiful because it's a full circle moment.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um back when I was in seventh grade, I went on a beach retreat with my church then, and um that was the theme verse then, actually.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which is just like an incredible thing that this is the verse now, and that was the verse then, and the words do not change at all.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: The scripture has maintained the exact same throughout all that time, but I have not.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's a really beautiful thing that what discipling looks like for me now is different than it was when I was in seventh grade, naturally.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I was reading the scripture, and um what I was reminded of uh is this beautiful verse in Philippians.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have your paper Bible, I encourage you to flip with me.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't, not a big deal, the words will be on the screen.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: But we're looking at Philippians 3, verses 10 through 14.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it says this that I, Paul, Paul is writing to the church in Philippi, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that this really perfectly encapsulates what we strive for when thinking about the Great Commission, when we're going out to make disciples, when we are being the hands and feet of Jesus.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's recognizing that we are not perfect, and we are not supposed to be perfect.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: We are not here because we are perfect, but because we know that God has such a great plan for us that we are right where we belong.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's a really beautiful thing.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we wouldn't go to like if if I had like a cut right down my stomach, like I was just bleeding out.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: That that'd be kind of crazy.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be expected to stitch myself up.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: I also wouldn't be expected to go to the doctor already healed.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and Jesus isn't that same way, you know.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Paul is remembering the fact that he is not perfect, and that is okay.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second thing that this verse really, really just like it just sat with me, is like, wow, is Paul, as as we've talked about in the past, and if you don't know who Paul is, Paul murdered Christians for quite some time.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not a great track record, not the best thing.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: But what he's saying is that what lies in his past, he's not shackled by.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have to stay uh in that shame, in that difficulty, in that guilt, because Christ has redeemed him in that.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that as we move forward throughout our day, um that idea that we are not held shackled by our past is uh is a really lovely thing.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because, like I was feeling the idea that I'm inadequate, um that's just not the case.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Christ is going to use us the way Christ needs to use us.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I just I think that putting our full trust in him, allowing us to be worked through by him, that's like all we can all we can ask for, you know?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so um I I had more points, I swear I did.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: I I didn't print out my papers, and you know, that's that's my fault.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: But um I think the the thing that I want to leave you with, and I know this is like super quick, sorry about that, but the biggest thing that I want to leave you guys with is the idea that there's like the saying that um don't worry about yesterday and tomorrow is a new day.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's a beautiful sentiment.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't love that sentiment because we don't have to wait till tomorrow.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, tomorrow is not when we're free, we are free right now in this moment.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we do not have to wait for for some sort of renewal.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Christ renews us in this moment as we are right now.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so um, as we're going throughout the weekend, having a good time, I just want to remind all of you that you are right where you belong, with the people that you belong with, um, serving a God who loves you very much.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so with that in mind, I I just think we should bow our heads and pray.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Dear Lord, thank you for this day.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for this opportunity this weekend to get to know you a little bit better, to um to dive deep into the word and to uh ask hard questions and good and get good answers.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that as this weekend and as today goes on, we will make strong bonds and good friendships and deepen relationships that are pre-existing, and that we will just see you in all of the beauty of your creation, and that we will know the peace and love and joy that you show us every day.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that we will be uh receptive to all the blessings and mercies you have for us, and that we will then multiply those to all those around us.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you love us, and we know this.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I pray that you will just show your love to us in immense, meaningful ways.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: In your great and powerful name we pray.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.