Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24461 - On Mission with Jesus - Part 2 - Acts 13:1-3

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#24461 - On Mission with Jesus - Part 2 - 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, would you?
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To Acts Chapter 13. Acts Chapter 13 in Part 2 of a
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Bible study that I've entitled On Mission with Jesus.
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On Mission with Jesus. Chapter 13 represents the
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beginning. Of God's missionary outreach
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through the church. Of course God is a missionary
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God. He has a heart to of outreach
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toward those that are lost. That's how you got reached.
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That's how I was reached. I mean, it started in the Garden
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of Eden. When Adam and Eve find
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themselves in a place of sin and separation, what does the Bible
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say? He God went after them and
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pursued them. Where are you?
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And that's God's heart. And the word mission, if you are
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taking notes, the English definition for the word mission
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Is this an important assignment or an important expedition?
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The history of man is marked by God's mission to love and to
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reach us. God is a missionary God and his
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heart is outreach. What that means is is his
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mission is our mission as the church.
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His outreach is our outreach. And as followers of Jesus, we
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are missionaries concerned with the lost.
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Some of us, some of you will be world global missionaries.
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That's unfortunate that the word missionary kind of stops at that
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definition. Or you think of someone who has
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a deep calling to a culture, to a place to learn the language
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and sell everything and move to reach a group of people
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somewhere else. That is a true definition of a
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missionary, for sure, a global missionary, but not an exclusive
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definition. Because in a real way we are all
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missionaries, and I like to put it this way.
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We are all people missionaries. God uses people to reach people.
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Rescuing and redeeming sin into the world with hope to a weighed
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down to to a culture that's weighed down with their own sin
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and the consequences of others sin.
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God has always reached down and reached out to man.
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It's a consistent theme throughout the scriptures.
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You can draw it down in Philippians chapter 2 and verse
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five. I mean this is the very essence.
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Listen and let it sink down. Philippians chapter 2 and verse
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five says this Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
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Jesus. So let's just pause there.
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Let the instruction of the Bible sink in.
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The Holy Spirit is saying, this is how you need to think church,
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this mind. This is how your mind needs to
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operate. You and you need to let it
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happen. Almost you.
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You need to pursue this. That that you have to match the
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way you think right now with this mind that was in Christ
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Jesus, he says You got to let this mind be in you exactly as
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it was in Christ Jesus. And here's what it says, Who
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being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be
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equal with God, but made himself of no reputation.
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Taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the
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likeness of men, he came to you. That's the mind.
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The mind is not how you can be served, and the mind is not how
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you can be reached as much as as a follower of Christ.
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Now you've got to let this mind be in you.
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You live for the sake of others. That's your life.
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Now that that's the newness of life that you're walking in.
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You're you're learning that the world doesn't surround you, but
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rather surrounds others. The redemptive plan and purpose
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of God is to reach the loss through the shed blood of Jesus
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Christ. His life, his death, his burial
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and his resurrection equals new life for anyone that will turn
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away from their sin and choose to follow him.
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Even today, even in a few moments, you'll have that
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opportunity. Let that mind be in you, that
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you would empty out all your divine prerogatives, everything
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that you believe is yours for the sake of others.
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That's what we see beginning here in the Church of Antioch.
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The beginning of the missionary outreach.
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This is such an important concept, such an important
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theme, such an important biblical truth, that it's woven
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together in the vision of our church.
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You know, when we put together our defining documents for
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people that ask questions, why is there another church in town?
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Why does that church exist? Because, you know, there's a lot
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of great churches in town doing a lot of wonderful things all
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throughout Aurora, Denver, Co. Amazing, wonderful, thriving
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churches reaching the loss, reaching your neighbors,
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reaching your family. It's amazing to code labor with
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so many wonderful churches. However, there's only one this
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church with this purpose. Well, we have a uniqueness and a
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calling to our community that's not like any other church.
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That God had a specific plan in mind when this church was
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planted. I mean, it reminded me of the
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property that we're in right now, you know, where we're
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sitting in a building. But before there was a building
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here, it was just open. It was just land.
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There was a time when there were all the houses going east.
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It was all just land. And some of you that have lived
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in Aurora for a long time, you come and tell me your stories.
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You know, you're like, yeah, I used to.
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I used to drive my motorbike on that land and I used to party on
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that land. Well, now I want you to know the
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land has a a building that belongs to the Lord and you
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can't party here anymore. Only for Jesus.
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That's it. That's all.
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This building, this land, was designed by God before you even
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knew it. It was his eternal purpose that
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you're a part of this church. It's his eternal purpose that we
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would be using this land for his glory, gathering together.
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So there's got to be a reason why we're here.
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Not just a general reason that we all share with every church,
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but a specific reason. And we communicated this way.
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It's not original to us, but it's what we've adopted.
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That the vision of our church, you can read it on the website
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and all the documentation we have.
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The vision of our church is simple.
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It's one word. Evangelism.
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That's why we're here. To reach the lost with the
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responsibility to win, disciple and send.
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That's what we breathe in and out here in this church.
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Is what we're about to do going to be used of God to win someone
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to Christ. And once they're one to Christ,
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once they're born again. How do we build them up?
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How do we teach them? How do we train them?
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And then? Every single time you leave,
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every time you wake up in the morning, you are sent out into
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the world. Every day, all day.
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These things are operating in your life and in our life.
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This is what's been transferred to you.
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The desire to reach the lost. Let this mind be in you.
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Go to the people. Share the love of Jesus Christ.
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Live it out in your lives in a variety of different ways.
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And we learned earlier in our study turn over to Acts, chapter
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one. We learned God's strategy for
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reaching the lost. We learned God's strategy for
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building a church. We learn God's strategy in using
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that church to reach the lost. I was reading a sermon this week
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by a pastor, Adrian Rogers. Some of you are familiar with
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them, and it's an it's important that we follow God's strategy.
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Because he said something, I'm going to adopt it as my own.
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I love it. He said as a pastor, that he
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wasn't called to fill the pews. His calling was to fill the
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pulpit. And I'm like, man, I like that
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because my responsibility isn't anything other than being a
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witness. That's what God's called me to.
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That's what God's called you to. Just be a witness, and this is
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God's strategy. Notice in verse eight of chapter
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one. But you shall receive power when
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the holy spirits come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me
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in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
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earth. And I want you to think of this
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in two ways. I want you to think of this
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responsibility individually. Who you are individually.
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And then I want you to step back and think of this responsibility
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for our church at large. So there's two ways.
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So first of all, God's power comes upon us.
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We're born again and empowered by the Holy Spirit and the
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gospel goes out. First of all, number one, it
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starts at home. You notice that Jerusalem, it
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starts at home. So on the personal level, your
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responsibility. Is to be a good witness at home.
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That's where it starts. Don't think that anything else
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is going to happen in your life unless you're faithful at home.
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It starts at home. If you're married, it starts in
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your marriage. Single mom, dad.
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It starts with you and the kids. If you live with your parents,
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it's your relationship, but it starts at home.
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You want to be a faithful witness at home, which, by the
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way, can be the most challenging place.
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To be a faithful witness as we just kind of let our guards down
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and and we live life in the Holy Spirit uses our homes to
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challenge us and to refine us. But don't think for a moment,
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don't think for a moment that God would call you to world
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missions if you don't know how to be a witness at home.
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So I think that's what God's called me to do.
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We're going to pick up no, no, no listen if you don't know how
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to serve at home. Like, don't think God's going to
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call you across the world if you don't even know how to serve
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across the dinner table. Like God wants you to be
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faithful at home. Number one, Jerusalem.
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That for? For the church.
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Well, every church has a local community that they're in.
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For us, it's Aurora. This is where we're at.
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We want to be faithful in this city.
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God has called us to be in this city for the people of this
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city. That's our primary calling.
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And there's nothing outside of this city unless we're faithful
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here. And that's our this is our
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Jerusalem. Then notice in the next, in
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verse eight, it says to Judea and Samaria, if you took out
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your Bible maps in the back of a paper Bible, which most Bibles
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do, you'll see that Judea and Samaria are regions around
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Jerusalem. So the gospel goes out, you're
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faithful at home, Then it continues on.
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And you, on a personal level, you have inlaws, you have
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family, you have connections, you have work connections.
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You have people that you shop. You have people outside of home.
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That you extend your life to. And as a church family, we have
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the Denver metro area. We have all of Colorado.
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We have the United States. We have a responsibility to be
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faithful in our Judaeus Samaria. So we plant churches and we have
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radio stations, and we do things that were continually reaching
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beyond Aurora. And then thirdly, this is what
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we commonly understand, missionaries to the uttermost
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parts of the world. But there's a particular order.
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And as individuals, some of you are called around the world.
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Some of you might take a shortterm trip.
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Some of you might be on a vacation one day.
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But you understand I'm on vacation, but I'm a I'm a
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minister of the gospel. So I'm enjoying time away from
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work, but I'm not enjoying time away from the Lord.
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He goes with me everywhere. And and whether that or you take
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a shortterm mission trip like the team that just got back from
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Uganda safely and they were doing the work of the ministry
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there, they did a shortterm trip and who knows who got on fire to
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be a longterm missionary. But there is world missions
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individually also as a church. If you haven't visited
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downstairs, you need to visit the mission wall of the many
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missionaries, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, uttermost parts of the
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earth. We got Aurora, got Colorado,
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United States around the world. That's part of your church.
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And that's the encouraging part for us that God has called us to
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this city. He's given us direction, He's
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given us power to serve him with our whole hearts.
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And it's a truth that we fall back on when confusion comes,
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When we're not sure what the future holds, we're not sure
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what direction to take. We come back to the basics.
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Hey, why are we here? What?
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Why did this piece of property become a property owned by God
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for the purposes of the gospel? It's a foundation, as we learned
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last time in Zechariah Chapter 4, verse 6.
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Not by might. It's not by our power, but it's
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by His spirit. Say it, the Lord.
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That's how it starts. That's how it continues, and
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that's how it has to end. The missionary heart of the
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church, the missionary heart of our church starts right here in
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Acts 13. Now, I know some of you Bible
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students, go, wait a minute, wait a minute.
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The church started in Jerusalem. Didn't the missionary outreach
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start in Jerusalem? Well, I guess on a technical
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level you can say that. But you remember they left
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Jerusalem against their will. They didn't want to leave.
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It was persecution that said, hey, we got to leave and we
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we're going to lose our lives and we're going to run away.
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It was persecution that moved them from Jerusalem, and we're
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grateful that they took the gospel with them.
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But here in Acts 13 is the specific word of God.
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So you got the broader sense of choosing God's word, and now
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this is the specific word of God that starts the missionary
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mandate of the church that continues on even to this day,
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verse one. Now in the church that was at
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Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers.
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So let's pause there to church gathering gentile church newer.
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They're already coming together and notice there's already
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prophets and teachers. God wants us to see that when we
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were studying the spiritual gifts.
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Remember, a new covenant believer with the gift of
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prophecy speaks forth the word of God.
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Speaks forth. So there are men in the
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congregation that are identified here, speaking forth the word of
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God. And then secondly, God wants us
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to see in this gathering that there were teachers there.
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And again, someone with the gift of teaching in the New Covenant,
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they're able to explain the truth, to take the word of God
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and explain it. So you've got people explaining
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it. You've got people that are able
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to speak it forth, receive a word, speak it forth, and then
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they're named. Notice Barnabas.
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We met him. He's an encourager.
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That's his nickname. What a what a wonderful nickname
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to have. He was just an encouragement to
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the church. This is a Levite from Cyprus, a
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very giving and caring man, used greatly in drawing Saul into the
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church and giving him credibility.
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Then there's Simeon. It says in verse one who is
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called Niger. Simeon is a Roman name, probably
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from Africa, probably dark skinned.
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So he's gathered together. Then there's Lucius.
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Lucius also is another Roman name.
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He's from Sirene. We don't know much about him.
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And then check this out. This guy Manayan Manayan, who
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had been brought up with Herod the Tetrark and then finally saw
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So Manayan, history tells us, was a foster brother of Herod
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Antipas. You remember Herod was wicked.
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He's the one that killed John the Baptist and mocked Jesus.
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And yet from that corrupt living arrangement, the gospel was able
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to break through even to this guy Menean.
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And now he's a part of the church.
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He's not aligned with with Herod at all.
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He's a part of the church. And then, of course, there's
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Saul. We're still a few years early
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into the church here. It's not very well defined.
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So that the testimony of Saul is still very raw.
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You'll remember the testimony of Saul was that he was breathing
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in and out murders and threats against the church, wreaking
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havoc with the church, destroying families, even
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attributed to murdering people in the name of God.
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And now he's in the church. If you were in the church with
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Saul, I'm sure if Saul joined our church, that would still be
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some. I'm not sure about that guy.
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Keep an eye on him. I'm not sure.
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And he's there. God is working through him, but
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he's a part of the church. One of the things we noticed
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again in the early church and in any and in any healthy church,
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is the variety and diversity of the people in the church.
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Just like your church. What a church filled with
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variety and diversity. In this church.
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It's an amazing thing what God does.
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Different backgrounds, different parts of the world, different
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skin colors, different education levels, different income levels,
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different occupations. You name it, it is in the
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church. And it's a beautiful, wonderful
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thing to be in a church filled with variety and diversity.
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But that's not what is surprising to the world, that
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there's a group of people that are diverse.
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That's not what's important to the Lord.
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What's important is not diversity, and what's important
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is not variety. Listen.
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What's important? Is that when there's diversity
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and there's great variety, Here's what's important.
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You ready? There is unity.
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That's important to the Lord. That's what the world wants.
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Isn't that what the world wants? Unity.
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Unity. We even have the United Nations
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and let's bring unity. Unity will never come apart from
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Jesus Christ. I mean the the, the diversity in
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this room, like on Wednesdays, we have these impromptu
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testimony times and you hear the testimonies.
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You're sitting there going whoa. Wow.
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Now I've been sitting next to that brother.
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I didn't know what he came from that background.
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He's been going, he's been going through that.
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He he was over there. He just got out of jail,
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whatever it might be. And you're just sitting there
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going, man, God, you're powerful.
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Look at where they come from and look what God is doing and look
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what he wants to do. The power in the church is not
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diversity in, you know, a lot of churches even try to do that.
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We're going to go after, we're going to have a multicultural,
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multiracial church. Now listen, just have a church
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that Jesus blesses and you get all of that.
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In unity, you get all of that in unity.
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Why? Because God is doing a new thing
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in the church. It's not like the world.
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You're not going to get this in the world.
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It's only from him. Because we learn to set aside
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our differences for the sake of the gospel.
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That's where unity comes from. We learn to serve one another
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and to love one another, to value him above anything else.
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That's what's happening in early church.
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That's what's happening in our church with all of the
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diversity. All the changes, I want you also
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to notice, it says in verse two. As they were ministering to the
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Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Now separate to me,
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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
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they sent them away. The Holy Spirit is in charge of
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the Church. Whether you and I choose to
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yield to the Holy Spirit, that's a different topic.
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That the Church belongs to God. It's not yours and it's not
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mine. And the Spirit of God is ready
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to lead you. The Spirit of God is ready to
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speak to you. The Spirit of God is ready to
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empower you. It is ready to carry you and
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direct you if you're open, if you have ears to hear, like
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Jesus said what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
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And here's the thing. It all has to do with your heart
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and mine. As someone once said that the
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heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart.
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And Pastor Chuck Smith taught us when it comes to ministry, he
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used this phrase and I quote if you strive to attain then you
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must strive to maintain. End Quote.
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And when I believe he was trying to teach us, is that how you
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start is how you're going to have to continue, how how you
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start something, for example, in ministry and following the Lord.
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If you start by working really hard to attain some spiritual
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level of success in your mind, then you're going to have to
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work even harder to maintain that level and keep working,
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working, working until you tire out and completely give up
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because you can't work that hard.
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Like when you are, if you're striving for something, then you
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have to keep striving. The rest.
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If you start with striving, you're going to continue with
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striving. But if you start with the
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Spirit, you will continue in the Spirit.
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Paul would even tell the Philippians.
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He'd say he he would ask them this question.
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Have you guys started in the Spirit only to be perfected in
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the flesh? And I have to say that question
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needs to be asked again today, because many people do.
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Many people start out very, very well, but they don't finish well
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along the way. I'm not just talking about a
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blowout at the end of their lives.
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I'm talking about things along the way where they get so
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excited. Let's put it in the context of
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serving God, Serving God in ministry, if you will.
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Maybe serving in your local church where you're like, yes,
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this is so awesome. I can't wait.
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I want to do this. I think God's called me to this.
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I think I've heard the voice of the Lord and this is what I want
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to do. Only to find down the road
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you're all beat up and burn out and now you're complaining and
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now it's a burden to you do in an obligation and and find
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yourself. You know, I can't believe it.
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Where is everybody at? You know, like, I've seen
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ministry leaders do this where they might have an event and
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then they have people sign up to, to serve with them that
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maybe 10 people and they come to the event and the 10 people
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don't show up. And then I'll hear, I can't
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believe what kind of church is this. 10 people don't show up.
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What do you mean? And you might say nobody shows
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up. And I'm like, that's not true.
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You're there, so why don't you serve?
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No, I don't want to be upset about the other ten.
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Yeah, but you're there. Didn't you say you wanted to do
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this? I wanted to say that, but now I
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want ten other people. No, no, no.
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Let the Lord deal with the 10 people.
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But it sounds like God's dealing with you right now.
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Because when you see ministry as a burden and as an obligation,
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whether it's in a church or like, I don't want to show the
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gospel anymore and I don't want to be a witness at work.
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And everybody's getting away with stuff and you start
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complaining and you start murmuring.
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Let me just tell you this. You are not in the spirit.
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You are now in the flesh, and God will not bless your flesh.
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You know that by now He will not bless.
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I mean, you think about it. You don't need a pastor to tell
22:13
you this. You think about it.
22:14
Last time you complained and murmured.
22:17
How did God bless that? How did God bless it?
22:20
You just made things worse. You bummed out somebody with
22:22
your complaints and you didn't come to the Lord.
22:24
And then you got bummed down. And there's more friction
22:26
because as much as God values unity, the devil loves division.
22:32
He loves division. He celebrates division in
22:35
churches, and it happens so often because we don't guard our
22:40
hearts. The early church here, they're
22:43
ministering the Lord. They're in unity, and they're
22:45
hearing the voice of the Lord and doing great things.
22:48
When a church is in the flesh. Individuals, when they're in the
22:51
flesh, they don't hear the voice of the Lord.
22:53
So they're fighting with one another.
22:55
And now the leaders, we all have to get involved and try to solve
22:57
all these problems, and we will, because God has given us the
22:59
leadership. But like, it's just wasted time.
23:02
If you would just get your eyes on the Lord, we wouldn't waste
23:04
our time. We can all go forward for the
23:06
gospel. Does that make sense?
23:07
It's not OK to be in the flesh church.
23:10
It's not OK. It's not okay to be in the flesh
23:12
as a single. It's not okay to be in the
23:14
flesh. And as a married couple.
23:15
It's not okay to be in the flesh as a servant of the Lord.
23:18
It's not okay to be in the flesh.
23:21
As a ministry leader, as a pastor, as a pastor's wife, as
23:25
kids. It's not okay to be in the
23:27
flesh. Have I made that point clear?
23:30
Hello, okay. I just want okay because I hear
23:34
the people on the radio longer, louder than you, and they're not
23:36
even here. Like, I know it's hard.
23:38
I know it's hard. But listen, God has a future for
23:40
you. There's a destiny He's riding
23:42
out and you're not going to get there in the flesh.
23:44
That's not going to happen. You're going to be stalled and
23:48
stunted and then you're going to be pulling down people with you
23:51
because you're in the flesh. I didn't say that.
23:53
The Lord said that, that, that the like, just think of that.
23:56
The wrath of man. The Bible says the wrath of man
23:59
does not produce the righteousness of God.
24:02
And the Bible says in Galatians that one of the works of the
24:05
flesh is outburst of wrath that you can go through and think,
24:10
oh, it's got to be the heart. Let me show you where it looks
24:13
in the heart. Turn over to Exodus 36.
24:15
This is so good because when your heart is right with the
24:17
Lord, it is amazing. You can't stop a person that's
24:21
in tune with the spirit of God and empowered by the spirit of
24:24
God. And notice this episode in the
24:27
life of this growing nation being drawn out of slavery,
24:36
which is a great picture and a type of your life and mine.
24:40
I'm going to give you a couple things to mark.
24:41
If you have your paper bribels, I want you to mark them.
24:44
You can highlight them on your phone or your tablet, but I
24:46
don't want you to miss these. In this episode, Exodus 36 Verse
24:50
one and Bazel, Eliao and Aholiab and every gifted artisan and
24:56
whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do
24:59
all manner of work for the service of the Sanctuary shall
25:03
do according to all that the Lord is commanded.
25:05
So this there's going to be a Tabernacle built so that the
25:08
people can come and worship and serve and they can meet the
25:12
presence of God there with the ark of the covenant, and they're
25:15
going to make it temporary so they could pick it up and travel
25:18
as they're following the Lord. And there's artisans and special
25:20
people that are called to with special purposes like we're
25:24
seeing in Acts 13. In verse two it says then Moses
25:27
called Bezalt lyal and a holy AB.
25:30
And every gifted artisan and mark this phrase in whose in
25:34
whose heart the Lord had put wisdom.
25:38
Don't miss this. God dropped wisdom into their
25:41
hearts. And everyone secondly whose
25:44
heart was stirred. So you've got a group of people
25:48
now there's wisdom that God's doing a work in their heart.
25:51
And then secondly, God is stirring hearts to come do the
25:55
work. Verse 3 And they received from
25:58
Moses all the offering that the children of Israel have brought
26:01
for the work of the service of making, of the sanctuary.
26:04
And they continue to bring him and mark this third phrase, free
26:08
will offerings every morning. This was not forced or coerced
26:13
or manipulated. Why?
26:15
Because God is moving on their hearts.
26:18
It's the same thing that happens with you.
26:20
God moves on your heart and you just go for it.
26:22
God speaks to your heart. This is where we get the phrase
26:24
where God speak into our hearts. Or even in Acts 13 the Holy
26:28
Spirit said and spoke to the hearts of the church to get Saul
26:32
and Barnabas and send them out. Here the free will work of the
26:37
people of God was stirred by God.
26:40
It was a response to God. Every good thing we ever do,
26:45
every good thing we ever do, is in response to God.
26:48
We are the responders. God is the initiator and if
26:53
we'll just be in the right position abiding in Christ,
26:56
he'll speak to you more than you can handle and just be stepping
27:00
out in free will. It says in the rest of the
27:02
section here it says in verse 4 all the craftsmen who are doing
27:05
the work of the sanctuary they came from, each of the work he
27:08
was doing. They spoke to Moses and said,
27:10
hey, the people are bringing much more enough the service of
27:13
the of the work which the Lord commanded us to do.
27:17
So Moses gave the commandment and let it be proclaimed
27:19
throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man or woman do any more
27:22
work for the offering of the sanctuary.
27:24
And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material
27:28
they had was sufficient for all the work to be done.
27:31
Indeed it was too much. Isn't that great?
27:34
We've seen that multiple times in this church, over and over
27:37
and over. Big things, small things like
27:39
God has abundantly exceeded the abundantly more than we can
27:42
think. Our ass always provided for
27:45
everything we've ever he's ever put on our hearts.
27:48
If I ever get come to say hey, I think it's time to move and
27:50
God's moving us on, we got a new building.
27:52
It'll be because God stirred our hearts and then it's laid before
27:56
the people and God stirs. Hey, with this radio station,
27:58
we're going to buy this one. We're going to buy that one.
28:00
Hey, we want to get out of debt. All of those things, each and
28:03
every time in the life of this church, This is the kind of
28:05
church you're a part of where we can come up and go.
28:08
You know what we were? There was a time we were asking.
28:10
We're not asking anymore because we got enough.
28:13
It's all right. Everything's great.
28:14
All the needs are taken care of. That big step of faith is taken
28:17
care of. And here's the thing.
28:19
Here's the thing. If you're not in the right place
28:24
in your walk with Jesus Christ, then your heart is hardened
28:31
toward God, stirring it and dropping things into it because
28:36
God has to take a different posture with you.
28:38
And that is to soften your hard heart.
28:41
If you're holding a grudge and you're all bitter and you know
28:44
self-centered, whatever it is and God's dealing with that and
28:49
you don't hear, you don't hear the oh you know it's just
28:52
another church. One of my money again.
28:54
No, no. If that's your attitude, keep
28:57
your money. We don't need it.
29:00
My God has way more money than you.
29:03
He owes the cattle on 1000 hills.
29:05
We don't need to manipulate of course anything.
29:08
If you don't have a free will offering, keep it, That's
29:10
between you and the Lord. But if you don't get excited
29:13
about something, then you just have to ask yourself you got to
29:15
go home and look in the mirror and go, Why am I not excited
29:17
about the things that God is doing in my church, family or in
29:21
my family or some open door, some new thing that's happening
29:26
because God is working on the heart.
29:28
True service is when someone's heart's in it.
29:33
That's how you started. That's why you see so many
29:36
times, like even with the church and Ephesus, what did Jesus have
29:38
to tell him? He said you know what you guys
29:40
need to get back to your first love.
29:42
That's your problem. You're so busy and so active but
29:45
you're not. It's not our love.
29:47
You need to remember from where you have fallen.
29:50
Well, you need a repent of that sin.
29:53
And then go back and do the 1st works.
29:55
Remember when you were born against so many of you, man,
29:57
I'll do anything for the Lord. I'll go anywhere.
30:00
For the Lord I I'll give. I'll just do what?
30:02
Whatever you want, Lord. And then time happens and before
30:05
you know it you're doing nothing, or you're upset or
30:09
you're complaining, or you're mad at the very people that God
30:12
called you to serve and you're just in the flesh.
30:17
That's not God's will for your life.
30:20
When you have a church gathered together like this and Acts 13,
30:23
they are not in the flesh, They're in the spirit.
30:28
They learn the lesson well as we learn the lesson well.
30:33
And I know when your heart is in it, it is a labor.
30:38
We do get tired. There are difficulties.
30:42
It's not like we won't help. So you sort out, why didn't 10
30:44
people show up or whatever? Of course we will.
30:46
That's what God's called us to. But there's no striving, There's
30:51
no grumbling. There's no complaining.
30:55
We're not trying to make something happen.
30:58
We're wanting to keep up with the God is already doing, just
31:01
ministering to the Lord, seek his face.
31:03
That's why another church can be doing something.
31:05
We're like, God bless you. That's God's call upon your
31:07
life. Because you notice back in verse
31:10
in verse two of chapter 13 that Paul and Barnabas are, excuse
31:14
me, Saul and Barnabas, they had a work to which he has called
31:19
them. So there's a uniqueness of the
31:22
work that God has called you, even though they've been
31:24
prepared beforehand. According to Ephesians 2,
31:27
there's a uniqueness in your work.
31:29
That's why it's foolish to compare yourself with other
31:32
people. The Bible says that because
31:35
God's doing something in you, God's doing something in her,
31:38
God's doing something over here, God's doing thing.
31:40
And in all the diversity and variety He's bringing what
31:43
Unity? For the sake of his glory.
31:48
As we minister to the Lord, we come together and encourage one
31:51
another and strengthen one another and fulfill the call
31:55
that God has called us to Called me to I I'm.
32:00
It's important that I take the call of God upon my life and
32:04
respond with faithful obedience. Otherwise you won't receive.
32:09
If I choose to be unfaithful and disobedient, you'll suffer.
32:13
I'll suffer for sure, but you'll suffer because God has given the
32:16
church pastors and teachers for the equipping of the Saints for
32:20
the work of the ministry. So the pastors, myself included,
32:25
are not walking in the Spirit. I mean, you don't want pastors
32:28
in the flesh, do you? I don't think so.
32:29
I'm going to ask that out loud. You can say yes or no.
32:31
Do you want pastors in the flesh?
32:34
No. We don't want a congregation in
32:35
the flesh either. So we're together on that.
32:39
We don't want to be in the flesh.
32:40
It holds back, and God's doing a new thing.
32:47
The coming of the Lord is at hand.
32:48
Church, you got to open your eyes.
32:51
Everything that you see is just a reminder that you're on
32:54
mission with Jesus. Don't you forget that.
32:57
It might upset you, it might freak you out.
33:00
You might do a lot of different things in response to the
33:04
culture the way it is right now. But I'll tell you this, if the
33:07
culture the way it is right now does not spark in you a desire
33:11
to be on mission with Jesus, you have totally missed the point,
33:16
because that's God's heart for us.
33:17
Let me show you one more thing and then we'll head out.
33:21
I love this phrase ministering to the Lord because we often
33:25
talk about, as we did last time, ministering for the Lord.
33:29
But there is this episode here where the Bible is very clear
33:32
that they were ministering to the Lord.
33:34
So we have to ask the question, what does that mean?
33:37
And I can give you a broad sense.
33:39
I think we talked about it before, you know, reading the
33:41
Bible, praying or serving. There's a lot of details.
33:44
But let me give you the broader sense here.
33:46
Turn over to Romans chapter 12. I think the Holy Spirit says it
33:51
a different way here in Romans chapter 12 of How do I minister
33:55
to the Lord? You know, we're coming to a
33:57
Bible study right now and we have a church service.
33:59
We're beginning our week. They're listening to the radio
34:01
right now or watching on YouTube somewhere And And So what we're
34:04
here to receive, but before we receive, we need to give unto
34:09
the Lord like we need to minister to the Lord.
34:11
And you're like, what can I possibly give to the Lord that
34:13
he doesn't already have? Notice in Romans chapter 12,
34:16
verse one. I beg you therefore, brethren,
34:20
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
34:24
sacrifice, wholly acceptable, acceptable to God, which is your
34:30
reasonable service. And don't be conformed to this
34:33
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you
34:39
may prove. What is that good and acceptable
34:43
and perfect will of God? What does it mean to minister to
34:49
the Lord? I believe it can be summed up in
34:52
simple in in simple language. And that is they came in a
34:56
surrendered submitted posture. They came in a submitted
35:02
surrendered posture, a desire to hear from the Lord, to lay down
35:08
those cares and concerns. Because you know it's not God's
35:11
will for you to live life all upset all the time and
35:14
begrudging everything. It's the exact opposite of Jesus
35:17
heart for you know, remember what Jesus said.
35:19
He invites us to himself and he says to those you are weary and
35:22
heavy laden, Come on to me and what I'll give you.
35:26
Rest, Peter later on to the weary and the tired.
35:31
He would say, cast your cares upon the Lord.
35:34
Why? Because he cares for you.
35:37
That's the heart of God for you. It's not to go through life so
35:40
angry and frustrated all the time, whether it's church
35:43
related, whether it's family related, whether it's work
35:46
related, whether it's culture related.
35:48
It's not as hard for you to live in the flesh all the time, but
35:51
rather to come to him in a position of sacrifice and
35:57
submission, pleasing, practicing your faith, presenting yourself
36:04
to him. And I know it's hard serving
36:07
people in the church, outside of the church.
36:10
I mean, how many of you right now in in your job have a
36:13
position of customer service? How many of you have a position
36:16
of customers? There's quite a few.
36:17
OK. So I had to do this in other
36:19
services. So I learned how many of you in
36:21
your life have to deal with people.
36:22
How about that? Oh, yeah.
36:24
There you go. It's hard to serve people.
36:26
Amen. It's hard.
36:28
People can be difficult and demanding.
36:30
Amen. Guess what?
36:32
You are people. It can be very challenging.
36:39
And then you add the layer of spiritual warfare.
36:42
Within the context of a church, it gets really, really hard.
36:46
So you don't know. You can't see the fiery darts.
36:48
You don't know. You don't know where this is
36:49
coming from or like, it can get really, really hard.
36:53
People can be demanding, and difficult can be one of the most
36:56
frustrating things to do, to serve someone else.
36:58
That's why people quit and they give up.
37:00
That's why that's why our flesh is provoked.
37:03
Especially in the church. We're all humans.
37:07
We're in a large gathering, and so we're gonna have friction and
37:10
we're gonna have challenges. I came when I moved to Colorado.
37:14
Here I came from a much larger church, Calvary Chapel and
37:16
Downey. My pastor, Jeff Johnson, used to
37:19
share. It's probably about 7 or 8000
37:21
people when I left, came to this church that came to the City of
37:24
Planet Church and something he was always teaching us.
37:26
I want to share with you today, especially in a church that's
37:29
growing and continues to grow over the years.
37:31
I want you to see this in your Bible.
37:32
So turn over to Proverbs chapter 14.
37:36
You got to see this. He used to remind us all the
37:38
time. He'd weave it into his messages
37:40
probably every three months or so to remind us to stay in the
37:44
Spirit. And he used this kind of obscure
37:47
passage, but very powerful, as you understand.
37:50
So you got Psalms and Proverbs Chapter 4.
37:53
We're all humans. We're all growing in grace.
37:56
There's growing pains in any church.
37:58
We're all in the process of being changed.
38:00
So of course there's going to be difficulties.
38:02
Of course there's going to be challenges, especially in the
38:05
church. Then he would remind us here in
38:07
Proverbs 14. Notice in verse four he would.
38:11
Say where? No oxen are the through is
38:14
clean, but much increase comes by the strength of an ox.
38:20
And to that many of you say wow Ed, that helped a lot.
38:23
But here let me explain. It's very simple.
38:30
Where there's no oxen, everything's fine and clean and
38:33
no problems. There's no oxen to deal with.
38:37
They're not butting heads, they're not dirtying and messing
38:41
it up. The through is clean.
38:42
It's all fine when there's no oxen, but where there's no oxen,
38:47
there's no strength. So what do you want?
38:51
Do you want strength? Well then, guess what?
38:53
There's much strength with Minnie oxen.
38:56
And with Minnie oxen it gets dirty and nasty and messy.
39:08
That's the word that's being used today.
39:09
The church is messy. Why?
39:11
Because we're all dealing with stuff and as the church grows
39:14
and more and more people come, it's going to get dirtier and
39:17
dirtier. That's just the way it is.
39:21
That is God's will for us. Clean stalls, man.
39:25
That's not our desire. We we want, we want to see God
39:29
do much increase and because of He's going to do much increase,
39:32
there's going to be a lot of stuff to deal with.
39:37
You know these things are going to come to you, so you got to be
39:39
ready to deal with them spiritually and not in the
39:42
flesh. And if we're doing it under the
39:44
Lord, we won't be griping, we won't be murmuring, we won't be
39:47
complaining, but we'll be trusting be.
39:50
Careful not to let the faults of others drive us inward.
39:54
Because here's the thing. One of the most frustrating ways
39:57
to live your life is to live for yourself.
40:02
Some of the most frustrated people I meet are those who are
40:05
centered on themselves, and it's all about them.
40:10
And it's all about what their needs are and what they're It's
40:12
all about them. One of the obvious things we.
40:16
See in the believer in the early church, solved, particularly in
40:19
Barnabas, is this absolute surrender to Jesus where we
40:24
come, to the place where we go. Lord, my life is in total
40:26
surrender to you for you to use me any way you see fit.
40:30
That's ministering to the Lord. You want yours to hear what the
40:33
Spirit is saying? Submit yourself to him.
40:36
Get your eyes off of people. Get your eyes off of situations
40:39
to get them back on the Lord. See him high and lifted up.
40:44
In His Holiness, this early church comes together, and the
40:48
atmosphere was set in unity and diversity and variety and an
40:53
openness and a submission. Where they're praying, they're
40:56
fasting, they're ministering, Holy Spirit speaks, and they're
41:01
so quick to pray and fast and go okay.
41:04
If this is what God wants, we got to send them out and they
41:07
send them out. And the first of three
41:10
missionary journeys starts here in Acts chapter 13.
41:13
It's not going to be an easy Rd. in the missionary journey.
41:17
It's not an easy Rd. going after the souls of men and investing
41:20
your life in the word of God. It's not going to be easy.
41:22
You can read the testimony of everything that Saul went
41:25
through. You guys that are Bible
41:27
students, you know you can read ahead that even in the
41:30
partnership of Saul and Barnabas, they ended up
41:33
separating over a third person isn't.
41:36
That always the case. Isn't it always the case?
41:39
Division of people is some third person.
41:42
It's rarely the two, it's always someone else.
41:45
We just got to keep our eyes open.
41:47
Say OK, Lord, I want you to use me.
41:51
We want to be entrusted with the leadership of the church so that
41:54
we might stay open and sensitive to the leading, guiding and
41:57
movement of the Holy Spirit. We don't want to just say it.
42:00
We don't want to just parrot it. We don't want to just print it
42:04
on a pamphlet somewhere. We want to live it.
42:07
That's God's will for your life, that your life would make a
42:11
difference and you would live according to the eternal destiny
42:15
and will of God for your life. I mean how many of us don't say,
42:19
Lord, speak to me. I want to know the work that you
42:22
have set me apart for and he will as you come to him.
42:26
Amen. Lord, thank you for your word
42:28
today and just the dynamic work of your spirit in your in the
42:33
text here. Just knowing that you have a
42:36
particular work that you wanting to accomplish in and through
42:39
your church. And I just pray God it's a hard
42:42
message to hear. Because we don't want to come
42:44
and be, you know, be even thought of that we might be in
42:48
the flesh, but we can be. And there are some today that
42:51
are that you're just ministering to them and softening their
42:54
hearts so they could come back to you, Lord, so they can come
42:58
back to how they started. That's how they started.
43:00
They're so excited. It's so awesome.
43:02
I can't believe it. The Lord.
43:03
I get to serve the Lord, but now I got to serve the Lord.
43:06
And I don't want to. And I just pray that you would
43:08
soften their hearts. Look, for the sake of your
43:10
church, for the sake of unity, for the sake of whatever.
43:13
And I know this message will be if you don't come back, it'll be
43:16
on the radio in a year and it will be ministering to people.
43:19
It's universal, the work you want to do in our lives.
43:22
So bless those listening to me right now and draw them to
43:25
yourself with the cords of love that they might come in humble.
43:29
Repentance and for others, You may be here today, and you never
43:32
given your life to Jesus Christ. So the church right now is
43:35
praying. They're just praying for you.
43:37
We've been praying all week that God would touch you, minister to
43:41
you, and bring you to the point of decision.
43:43
And I want to give you that point of decision.
43:46
If today you want to align your life with the Creator of the
43:50
universe, acknowledging that you have sinned against a holy and
43:54
righteous God, and that if you will turn away from your sin.
43:59
And choose to follow Jesus Christ.
44:02
The Bible says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
44:05
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
44:07
listen, you will be saved. And so I invite you today.
44:11
Do you want to be saved? Then come to Jesus Christ right
44:14
where you are. You can just stand to your feet
44:16
and I can pray with you and help you turn your life away from
44:20
your past and submit it to Jesus Christ for the very first time.
44:24
Is there anyone here that would say yes that?
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Is me. I see you in the back.
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God bless you. Who else would say that's me,
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that today would be that day of reckoning?
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Here you are in a church, hearing about the love of God,
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and he invites you to himself. What a great God.
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Anyone. I know you might be downstairs.
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Or online and we don't see you, but for you guys in the room, we
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want to see you, we want you. To make a public proclamation to
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follow a God who publicly gave His Son for you.
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And here we are, that moment of truth of God working in and
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through His Word to bring you to a place of surrender.
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Just let him work in your life. This is what you've been.
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Hoping for what you've been desiring, God puts words to it's
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a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, your Savior, and
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those that respond near and. Far You can pray with me right
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now. I'll help you with this
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confessing with your mouth you could say something like God, I
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ask you to forgive me of all of my sin, and I believe you sent
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Jesus. Christ to live for me.
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And to die for me. And I believe you rose from the
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dead to save my soul. And I choose to follow you from
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this day forward. Today is a great day, church,
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and a great day for those of you that would choose to yield your
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life to him. He is your only hope and Father
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I pray for. Those near and far, those in the
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room and downstairs, just the beautiful gift that we have of
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sowing the seeds of the gospel, watering those seeds, and seeing
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the increase. May you continue to use us being
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on mission with you, Lord this week in Jesus name.
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We pray that you've been. Encouraged by this Bible study
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delivered live from the Sanctuary of Calvary Church for
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prayer, call us at 87730 Grace. That's 877-304-7223.
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To listen to this message in its entirety or to join us for our
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live stream services, visit us online at Calvary, Co dot Church
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or download our free Calvary Church app.
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Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.