The quality of the construction rests on the commitment of the crew.
Matthew 22:36–40 (NIV84) 37 Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Abide in God’s Presence and Live God’s love in the world
We want to reach spiritually hungry people and introduce them to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and an active role in Christian community.
A basic default line in us shifts from struggling to get our lives together to struggling to give our lives away.
The quality of the construction rests on the commitment of the crew.
Being a body of Christ followers involves being a redemptive place for individuals with broken families, which is all of us.
#alivewesleyanchurch
For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/
STAY CONNECTED:
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Website: https://alivewesleyan.com
Newsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate
The quality of the construction rests on the commitment of the crew.
Matthew 22:36–40 (NIV84) 37 Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Abide in God’s Presence and Live God’s love in the world
We want to reach spiritually hungry people and introduce them to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and an active role in Christian community.
A basic default line in us shifts from struggling to get our lives together to struggling to give our lives away.
The quality of the construction rests on the commitment of the crew.
Being a body of Christ followers involves being a redemptive place for individuals with broken families, which is all of us.
#alivewesleyanchurch
For the latest sermons, stories, & training: https://alivewesleyan.com/sermons/
STAY CONNECTED:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ALIVEWesleyan
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALIVEwesleyan
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alivewesleyan/
Website: https://alivewesleyan.com
Newsletter: https://alivewesleyan.info/weeklyupdate
So, yeah, I've got some awesome things happening today, man. I've been traveling, I've been up to Indiana twice, which is like horrible and won't ever really makes me feel great about that is least acts has to go back again this week for the third week in a row. She's in Indiana for a board meeting, but don't feel too bad because on Thursday, uh, we're both, I think either meeting here, a meeting at an airport or something and we're flying to Barbados, so, no, no, no. I don't know that. I've got to ask for it, forget it. But I were fond of our base actually to work there. We're going to go down a couple of days early to relax, but a, there's an international conference there that I'm a delegate to and we're taking some of the worship team from alive. They're actually going down on a missions trip and there will be serving as the worship team at that international conference, which is a great thing. So you can be proud of them. They're amazing. Yeah, you can I for that too if you want to. Yeah. And how, let's clap for how short the sermon is going to be. I mean, oh, stop. Stop. That hurts. I got feelings. So man, I'm glad you're here now. Jesus, thank you so much for these beautiful people, a high honor of being able to share them today. I do pray, Lord, that you would bless this time. And Lord, as uh, we heard Justine's spoken word there, we know this is going to be an intense moment and we're going to talk about families some today and about relationships and that always carries a certain amount of emotion to it. So, uh, Lord my prayer has been that we would come to this open and, and just try to hear what you would, you would say to us fresh and new as we kind of go through this demo day kind of series about, Lord, is there something you can tear down or to build something back up? So have your way we ask in your name. Amen. Well, uh, I was in a planning meeting, uh, sometime a couple weeks ago, whatever, a for core nights. So core night for us is Kinda like a church, our church family night and it's on May 19th, we all get together, we come out and come back out on a Sunday night. And um, and we worship and then we have, um, the staff get together and share. They have like a conversation in front of you and share ideas and things that we did well, things we didn't do so well. And then I have kind of like a heart to heart chat with you about different things that I'm struggling with or things that I feel about our church and a, it's kind of an amazing night to kind of just celebrate together. So I hope you'll consider that, that that's May 19th, but I was in a planning meeting for that and we're celebrating and thinking about the things we have to celebrate. And one of the things we have to celebrate is of course the completion of the new children's wing cause that happened within the past year. And so that's amazing. And that's awesome. And that, so, um, and so, um, it's the church aerobics. So, um, anyway that, that, so that, that's awesome. But we were thinking about that and we're thinking, you know, that was actually the third construction project in six years that alive has been through. And so, uh, so I was thinking it's like, you know, one of us needs to start dreaming bigger, you know, if we're going to go through this every so often. So we did this campus or this building and then we did pleasant view campus and then we did that. So it's the third one in six years that we'd been through. And so after being part of all three of these construction, I've learned something that I want to use as the basis for our conversation today. And the thing I've learned is this, see if you agree with this statement, the quality of construction always rest on the commitment of the crew, the quality of the construction, rest and the commitment of the crew. Now if you know anything about construction, we have, we hire a general contractor and we worked with Hogan this year. They were amazing, amazing contractor. We love working with them. And what a general contractor do is they will then hire a bunch of subcontractors. And so the subcontractors, they're the people that do like plumbing and electrical and roofing and other stuff and they kind of do that. And so, um, and so that's kind of, that's kind of awesome sometimes. And some of the subs we worked with, they were amazing concrete southern, they're amazing folks did an amazing job for us. And they would come, they could show up early and they would like actually do better than you thought they would do. And the, and that was great. And sometimes you work with a subcontractor though and it's, it's not so spectacular sometimes it's like, is this the first time you've ever put two wires to get, I mean, is this the first time you didn't think we needed the lights to turn on? I mean, you know, you had these kind of conversations with people and it's like, it's not amazing. And so you have to call these people back to fix this or repair this or replace this entire thing. And so that's where this statement is coming from. The quality of the construction actually wrestled the commitment of the crew. So we may have a great blueprint, we may actually have like shiny glossy pages to look at. But man, this commitment is not there. It doesn't really matter about the rest of that stuff. And so this statement is true not only in the area of building projects with you building a home or church or building or whatever, it's also true in the area of relationships. So if you would dial back into that and think about relationships, the quality of construction of our relationships, rest on the commitment of the crew. Now relationships are a big deal. And the reason relationships are a big deal I would suggest is because all of life is about these relationship things. Even if you don't really necessarily believe it, even if you don't believe in God, you would say that relationships are a big deal in your life because relationships are the source of of deepest joy or or greatest adjuncts that a source of greatest contentment and[inaudible] are the greatest Discontentment. It's all within the context of relationships. So like some of you are people people and some of you aren't people people. Yeah, I'm good. So the spring the lip. But anyway, some of us are that and so like, so kind of what we have to do, you know, even if you're not a people person, you're still deeply motivated by trying to avoid relationships. So relationships are this huge deal for us. The problem we face in relationships is they never stay neutral. Relationships are always, they don't stay where you parked them. So like Lisa and I have been together now for 30 some years in our marriage and but they're always, that relationship is always in flux. It's always changing and moving and see if you agree, if you neglect a relationship for any length of time, it will not naturally grow more intimate or healthier. You, you may have friends like I do that you can call, pick up the phone and say like, Hey India, like you never, never stopped being friends. And, and I believe that to be true. But here's what I have learned. That relationship hasn't grown over time. We just picked right up where we left off, but it hasn't grown deeper or more intimate because relationships require this attention and without effort, even the closest relationships ready get worse. I'll say it again without effort. Even your closest relationships get worse, not better. You do not default to better, and this is true in friendships and families, boyfriends, girlfriends, marriages, small groups, everything. That tendency in our relationships is to drift, is to drift into neglect and that's a, that's a big deal when relationships are allowed to drift, when there's no intentionality, when there's no plan, no blueprint then than community begins to break down. And I use the word community against the breakdown because that's safe. There's no emotion to it. But when relationships are allowed to drift, marriages suffer are our kids start walking away or parents are walking away from kids and small groups, separate or churches separator, things in the office become toxic or things at the workplace become toxic. When families are allowed to drift, your family stops being some kind of life giving station and instead it starts becoming a place of conflict, even pain. And all of us in this room can relate to that. Jesus. Jesus actually affirmed this whole discussion about relationships and the value of it. He was asked one time, what's the, what's the most important commandment? And that was a big deal because the guy that asked him was falling over 600 different commandments with his life. And so he's asked, what's the, what's the greatest commandment? And Jesus said this, he said, well, it's love the Lord your God with all your heart. I would say this means love the God, Lord your God with everything. And so it's just applies. What Jesus said was don't just give lip service to Jesus, to God, but to actually love him with every ounce of your being. And again, everyone rounded like said, well that's good. I'm gonna write that down. But then Jesus kept going. And this is the part that I would think the church we kind of need to wake up to because we almost get lost like the, the god part of this. But then Jesus unsolicited added the next thing. So same love the Lord your God, everything. And that's what all of us would expect this. So Sunday school answer. But then he said, and then the second greatest commandment is like it. And never was like, well, well we didn't ask for to just give us the one and she's not gonna give it to hear this. Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.
Speaker 2:And then
Speaker 1:Jada added everything hangs on those two ideas, those two commandments. So when Jesus, this world of following God went from doing all the right things, blood sacrifice, and you know, times of worship, days of where all the time stuff and went to ready relating and how we relate to each other. The way that I've been saying it around here lately is this, our whole call, the whole goal of church world is to abide in God's presence and then live God's love in the world. And this is my responsibility as I relate to you, whether we're friends, whether we hardly know each other, whether we're really close, like Facebook friends, or you know, whether we're married, whether you're my children, whether we we don't. This is, this is the goal. Now, what's really amazing about this, you all these two are they lean against each other.
Speaker 2:Okay?
Speaker 1:So it's not just that I gotta be really nice to you. That's not what it is, but I'm actually supposed to abide in God's presence so that I can live that love with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now that's, that's a challenge. 16 years ago I drew out on a Napkin what our church would look like if we started to try to live by that principle. And this was the drawing that we came up with. And this is kind of the whole DNA of what alive is. And it's basically this, we want to reach people that are spiritually hungry because that's all of us. Um, if you don't know Jesus and you're just investigating, you, and I have this in common, we're both hungry for God. We may know what that is. You may call it that or you may not. But we'll roll with spirits, the hungry. And we want to see two things happen for people that are spiritually hungry at alive, whether it's kids or youth or adults or grandparents, it's all the same. We want people to begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and then find an active role in Christian, healthy Christian community. That's what we want to see happen. That's what our agenda is, if you will. And this becomes the blueprint for a life that is lived as God drew things up. This is what he desires as God would plan, abide in God's presence, relate to him deeply, intimately, experientially, intellectually, emotionally, and then seek the knowledge of who he is and who he's made you to be through scripture and, and then live that out with other people.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Everybody with me so far, that wasn't real encouraging. Just as a speaker, I want you to know that you failed on that particular moment. I mean, it could've used a little bit more right there, but you gave me nothing, but that's okay. I'll give you another chance. So, um, I've been, I've been reading this book by Ronald Raul hiter and I'm not ready to recommend it cause I'm only halfway through it, but the first 200 pages are amazing, but the book is called sacred fire. And what drew me to the book was He's discussing these stages of discipleship and essentially what he's saying is he wonders if maybe we haven't embraced too small a picture of what it means to follow God as Christ followers in the modern church. See if you can connect with what he's saying. He says the earliest stage of the discipleship, like elementary following Jesus, like Jesus, one o one is where we kind of begin to see what God can do for me. We're motivated with me at the center of that discussion, uh, life and how I relate to God and what I do in church world is all about what God can do for me. And this is valuable. This is needed. This is where we start to shape an identity. This is where we learn to abide with God, where we learned we need him to give us an identity of who we are, not intellectually in our calling, who we are sexually. All these are part of with God being at the center of who we are. This is where we ask God to deal with the shame producing events of our lives. Lord, I'm carrying around all this shame. Can you do anything with it? Can you hear me? Can you forgive me? Can you re free me? And, and that's all important, important stuff.
Speaker 2:Okay,
Speaker 1:but there's more to Christian maturity then what God can do for me or what have you done for me today? Roll Hodges suggested as we grow as our lives, our behavior, our passions begin to align with scripture. A dramatic change begins to occur and it's available to anybody who follows Jesus if we'll embrace it. This is how he says it. A basic default line in US shifts from struggling to get our lives together. Lord, what can you do for me? I'm really in need of help to struggling to give our lives away. This is what scripture talks about. Perfection. It talks about completion. This is that moment and my concern is that maybe the modern church is just living on the first part of this. Maybe all of us are just trying to relate to God, asking him to help us get our lives together. And when that happens and we get married and got kids who've got a white picket fence and a designer dog, when all that happens, we start thinking, oh, we're doing really well. But really we're not, God still desires to do something deeper in us. And through us. Years ago I was challenged by the an idea. So, so the backstory of this was I was starting to pastor and I was struggling with carrying everybody's burdens. I felt responsible so I could stay in the lobby and people would share things with me. And there are deep things, very personal, intimate, heavy things, and that's part of it. And I enjoy those conversations. I enjoy that. But I was taking those like, oh, I got to fix that.
Speaker 2:Yeah,
Speaker 1:yeah, Tom, this is happening. My marriage. Oh, here's what you need to do. Read this book, take this seminar, do this inventory, and then putting my money in the plate. And then I'm sure that see will somehow be healed. Or Tom, I'm sick. And I say, Oh man, Lord, he'll heal you. You know, let's do prayers too fast as all figure out how to make this happen and all that's valuable stuff. But I was carrying too much. Do you follow what I'm trying to say? So, so I was listening to this person, they were speaking and I realized there was a change that every relationship we have, every chance encounter, uh, every family, every marriage, every singleness, every small group, there is an opportunity not to fix each other.
Speaker 2:Okay?
Speaker 1:But to offer a part of Jesus, you have to that other person, I let, let me flush that out a bit. As I relate to lease or the children to the people I work with, the people I lead or the people who are going to serve lunch to me today, it is this opportunity for me to give part of me away to them to offer whatever I might have to whatever need they might have and vice versa. If this is true and if this is a way to live, then as we interact with each other, we're not responsible to fix each other. What we're doing is I'm connecting to the Jesus part of you and you're connecting to the Jesus part of me and we're taking what we need and giving what we have. Does that make sense? That's kind of a deeper level of relating relationships are the blueprint for this life, these kinds of relationships. So what if we began to apply some of these thoughts to our relationships? Friendships, small groups, coworkers, boyfriends, girlfriends, want to be boyfriend or girlfriends, marriages, families. Well, if we tried to apply this to all of our relationships, we would be here very long time. And some of you are here to see your loved one get baptized were after the service. So I'm not going to do a tall that, but I do want to apply it just to one area. And that is the area of family, the quality of construction. Rest on the commitment of the crew.
Speaker 2:Yeah,
Speaker 1:all of us in the room are products of the relationship relational construction crews had in our lives. So let's start by acknowledging family is a word we all have a relationship with. So if you would, I want you to turn to someone close and say, you have kinfolk. That's all I want you to say. Go ahead and say it. Say it. Say it southern. Say you have kin folk. They may not be amazing. Don't get into that. But you have kinfolk. Yeah. Some of you may be updated again, but not in any way. But here we all, we all have Ken folk. I know it's, I don't, I just, I'll have kin folks and we all have different stages of family, but we all have one. We came from, everybody in the room has that. We're all part of that. Now, beyond this, I would suggest that part of being a body of Christ, a healthy Christian community involves being a redemptive place for individuals in broken families, which is all of us. So what I mean by this is we all have spiritual kinfolk. Do you follow Suze, her? Turn your neighbor. We all have spiritual kin folk. Go ahead. Tell him, tell him. We all have spiritual Ken Volk. We all have spiritual kinfolk. Very good, very good. Now we can look around our family gatherings, and if you, if you're normal, you can look around your family gathering. You can see at least one person who is weird. Don't look now that's rude. So eyes up here. I mean, come on some y'all did. He try to hide it. Maybe you can see more than one. Maybe see two or three. Listen, if you can't see any weird people at your family gathering, it's probably you. You're probably the one that's you, dude. And I hope everybody who's sitting around, he was pointed to right now saying, you're the one. We all, we all have that we do in all of our families, but the body of Christ, churches are supposed to be this place where broken people interact with each other on some, in our journey to abide in Christ and live that love in the world. It's a place where we join groups where we volunteer for kids. We help people park no longer just for ourselves, but because our following of Jesus has matured as to a place where we are living for the value of others and our possible contribution to their lives. So I'm not joining a marriage small group hoping it will save my marriage and that is some will do that. That's fine, but maybe we're now leading a marriage small group or joining a marriage small group because maybe God wants to use this in the life of someone else, not because it's perfect, but because it was willing. I'm not a small group because I don't have anything to do on Sunday night or Tuesday night or Wednesday or whenever. I think your small group meets because of what it can do for me. But I'm joining it because maybe there's someone there who needs to take some of what Jesus says in me for themselves and maybe something that I need. I'm not helping out with children on Sunday morning cause I'm indeed need a medication. You know, that's not why I'm doing that because of my deep conviction that I can help, that I can offer for them. Jesus has matured us to such a place. Well we want to become part of the construct construction crews and the lives of other people. Let me share with you one scripture verse as a blueprint for this process. Just to kind of get the conversation started if you want to continue it. Uh, Paul wrote majority of the New Testament and he wrote one particular guy, he wrote him twice, his name was Timothy. He named his letters, first Timothy in second Timothy, which could have been more creative, but he, that's kind of what he wrote. And so if you look in the Bible, you can actually read those books there. They're there. Timothy, Timothy's, this young kid, uh, he's from, if you look at a map and see Turkey, he's her modern day Turkey. And he worked with Paul and the early days of advancing this gospel message. And so Paul and his second letter, he's in prison and this isn't like Club Med prison. This is like change bars and, and Paul is getting ready to die and he knows it. So these are the end days for Paul and he's writing with his end days letters. And one of the letters he writes his to his young protege, Timothy. So it's important you understand that context. Paul's writing Timothy because he's getting ready to die. He's getting ready to die alone. And Paul's lonely.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so he writes Timothy, Second Timothy Chapter one verse five Paul Speaking to the young protege, I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother, Lois, and in your mother Eunice. Anybody have a unison? They're family.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wouldn't own it either. If you'd have any way that own us and I am persuaded now lives in you also.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you what this is doing to me. The Dude's getting ready to die and his life is getting ready to end and he's lonely. And what he remembers about Timothy isn't the neighborhood he lives in.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's not the car he drove his not, hey, your mom made the best banana pudding. It's not the team he pulled for.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:But what he remembers on his deathbed is how sincere faith was. And I wonder how much energy I'm putting into things that don't matter anymore. That word sincere. It could be translated on hypocritical or or genuine, we might say, or authentic. I'm just remembering how genuine your faith is. No pretense, no fake, no different on Sunday than it is on Monday, and this genuineness in Timothy is encouraging Paul. It's remembered fondly in Paul as he nears the end of his life and he's sitting alone in some prison. Manda Timothy was the real deal. As we begin to seek blueprints for families and for relationships in the home and the church, sincerity of faith is this significant, refreshing attribute. You can't pretend your way through this thing called Christianity. Not if you want the real stuff, you can't costume jewelry this and put it on and take it off. You can't be fake Christian Dad on Sunday and then be like, devil dad on Monday. You can't do that. You can't pretend to be one person in your small group and then be somebody totally different as school. You can't pretend to be one person at youth group and and pretend to be someone totally different. At the dance. The blueprint demands that our families walk our talk and be sincere. Be Authentic. Be who we truly are. No, pretend no you kids go on to church while I sit home. Don't dish that garbage out. Are you kidding me? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You kids need to pray. Well, we never see you do it. That she, the quality of our construction. Rest on the commitment of the crew and it's true in the blueprint of our families. Be Sincere. Don't be, doesn't have to be perfect, but be authentic. Be Hypocritical. Own it. If you want something in the lodge of your children, are lies in your marriage or the lodge, your small group, be that something, lip, that something. So where does that come from? I mean, if I said, I honestly want my children to see me. Insincere, sincere, kind of way, an authentic kind of way, where's it come from? I've ever been reminded of your sincere faith. Paul says, which first lived in grandma Lois and mom. Eunice.
Speaker 2:This is
Speaker 1:amazing and wonderful.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Parents' desire to see set this kind of example for the children. I'm thinking about that with my kids. You know, I want the kids to have some kind of sense of spiritual legacy. I want them to provide that for our children and families that we influenced together. And I think we can be pumped about this idea. I saw as a boy, um, we had to go to church all the time. So it's like, that's why we're probably more spiritual than the new generation. But what we had is like they had like Sunday evening services, when's the evening services and then revival where you went like for two weeks or you know, as horrible. But it's okay. We didn't have to like TV as much as many channels. So we would do that. And so we went out and, but whenever there was a Sunday evening service and now if you'd ever been to a Sunday evening service, that's basically where the pastor didn't have that great of a sermon. And instead of doing on Sunday morning, he did it Sunday night or they didn't do anything. So they got him said, hey, let's have a singspiration, which I didn't even know was a word, but it's where we all pick a hymn and we sing or we all give testimony. Anybody have that kind of experience? Would you just raise your hands? So I just see, okay, so a lot of us have that kind of experience so that, that, that's kind of what Sunday evening services, every Sunday evening service. I would rush in as a boy. I mean I'm not talking like little, I was probably fifth grade, fourth grade and I would rush into service because I wanted to sit behind Mrs. Cook and Mrs. Robinson. The reason is these people, they were around when dirt was invented. I mean these people were old, old people. Their faces looked like prunes. I mean they were some wrinkly people and I wasn't sure if they would live through the service because the way they would walk in, you're like, oh my goodness, they're hardly moving. And they'd get to that second pew, which those are wooden benches for those of you don't know it gets you that second too. And they would sit there every Sunday and that was their spot and I wasn't sure if they would live through the service, so if they died, I wanted to be real close to see that happen in in case it did, but more than that, it was pretty much guaranteed. One of those two ladies, we're going to stand up and give what's called a testimony and what that was was they would stand up and say, this is what God did in my life is weak. This is what God is doing in my heart, and I didn't understand everything that they had going on, but whenever one of them stood up and started sharing, I wanted to be near it, hoping maybe it would splash out on me. I wanted to have what they had. I was drawn to that. What I saw first lived in them. Do you follow? It was an amazing thing to behold. Now some of us read this and we hear about grandma Lois and mother Eunice and we think, oh my gracious. I've never had what Timothy had. I've never had a grandma or a mom or my spiritual trees. Pretty much barren. There's no heritage. I'm first generation. Did you notice that Paul doesn't say anything about Timothy's dad? Well, there's a reason for that. People agree that Timothy's dad was most likely a pagan. He was Greek there, so some people say they don't even really know who Timothy his dad was. He was a non player in this whole discussion, but grandma Lois and Eunice were there,
Speaker 2:not dad.
Speaker 1:I have a great spiritual heritage. Our heritage has been passed down from generation to generation. My father, man, that dude, he continues to travel around the world at the age of 75 encouraging pastors. He's just got back from Chile. He's already been to Mongolia this year and then this summer he's headed to Honduras and a whole bunch of other places. I don't really know and I'm grateful for that family heritage and what he does, he travels around, he encourages pastors, put on conferences for pastors and pastors, spouses and encourages them. And Dad taught us value, teaches us the value of work and the value of how to relate to God on a very personal, passionate, intimate level. And that's part of that on both sides. I have pastors in my family tree, I got church builders, Sunday school teachers, lay people, all that. But I also have another kind of heritage that I don't talk much about from this platform that I wish wasn't passed down one side of our family. There's a 20 year affair that went hidden for 20 years. Then once that 20 year affair was revealed, it destroyed the family. One of the most beautiful components to me and Christianity and the things that are offered to you as hope in this moment is this. When we believe the past doesn't necessarily have to define our future, because God forgives and God heals and God restores the healthy blueprint for any spiritual life ready can begin with you. It can begin in a marriage. You got in the singleness, you got in a small group, you got in the, in the family, you got where you're the only believer in your family. It can begin right there after this service, we're gonna do baptisms out here. And then our campus, the[inaudible] campus is going to baptisms as well. And one of the stories that has come out, all that is at pleasant view. We're baptizing today a first generation believer, mother and daughter, some service that are part of that. They got it, something connected. And so today they're going to go public and they're going to die their sin and are going to come out to new life in Christ first generation. And maybe one day, maybe one day, Hey, do you remember grandma, Betty and mother, whatever, another girl named there, what did give you remember? And I think we may have some of that going on even in our service today after this would baptize some folks. See every story in scripture is an oven is one of an embarrassing pass just like you have. Just like I have filled with shame producing, uh, events that met the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. And it changed everything. And as a result of future was different there, there will be family trees that will be renovated because of the faith that first lived in you. Just like Timothy, that is actually available to you right now. That's available to you for some families represented here. You've kind of followed this path. You went out and you kind of did your thing, you got after college or maybe during college and afterwards you all got, you know, maybe it got kind of crazy and then like you met the person you're going to fall in love with forever. And then the next thing you know, like two centers got together and they had little sinner lanes. You know, little children now are in and around. And um, and so when that happened, you said, you know, when did you get in church? Why? Well, I was raised with it. And so you find yourself coming back to church and not, that's a great thing. That's fantastic. But can you, can I tell you something that may be a pastor shouldn't say,
Speaker 2:yeah,
Speaker 1:please don't bring your kid to church hoping we can fix them. Don't bring your kid here hoping that alive. We'll be able to provide spiritual heritage and all this. You know, like here I go to get them food at a restaurant and church to get God and then school to get educated. Don't do that. And I'll show you why. Let me just give this illustration, so let's just say one of these nails is worth 10 hours over the course of a year. If you are a regular attender at our church, we're going to get your kids for maybe 40 hours. Maybe that's how often we're going to get your kid 40 hours over the course of a year in your home. The number of times you get your kid is actually closer to 300 hours over the course of the year, 3000 hours over the course of the year. Now, it's not represented here because it was a graphic challenge, but you get the general idea that there are somewhere around 3000 hours that we get them at home. You get them, your marriage, your kids, your friendships. This is on you, dude. This is on you do that. This isn't on us. This is you. This is our responsibility. This is our heritage. Now, as a church, we're deeply committed to making her role at efforts to partner with you and your family, but make no mistake, you have more power than the church and the heritage, spiritual heritage of your family. We provide a place for our children, discover spiritual heroes. So your kids are hopefully run around this church and they'll find their Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Cook. Maybe it's some of you, maybe it's something you can folks that volunteer to give your time and children and volunteer to give your time with youth. You know what I've noticed, I can still remember my first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade teacher. I still remember them. That's all I remember from that period of my life. But I can still remember them. You know what, those of you that are helping out with the kids right now, those kids will never forget you ever.
Speaker 2:They will
Speaker 1:because you are going to become part of their spiritual heritage. You're part of their spiritual legacy. Lives are changing. You listen, some of you are spiritual heroes to those teens and those kids. You are Lois and Eunice for them. Quality of construction. Rest on the commitment of the crew. Two quick stories and then we'll go baptize him. Folks. I was moved into Virginia and man, I was fifth grade. We'd moved to a brand new area. And, um, we were poor, really didn't have any money. I didn't have a whole lot of wins, as you might imagine. Nothing's really changed. I didn't have a whole lot of things going for me in that environment. But the pastor's wife, the small church, we started attending the same one where Mrs. Cook and Mrs. Robinson, where the pastor's wife, some reason picked me out of a crowd and every time she called me, her name was Stella. Every time Stella called me, she referenced me. Is Tom the grape? Don't do it now. It's awkward, but God, I know you. I know, I know. Don't do that. And she, whenever she introduced me, like if the kids were doing something singing, here's Tom the grade, she'd put it on my birthday cake. She make a birthday cake for me. She'd write on there, Tom the great, she'd signed my cards. I still have some, Tom, the great, she's part of my spiritual heritage. You know what somebody told me after the first service that came back to the office, they said, hey, we'd talk about Stella King. I said, yeah. He said she used to teach children in our church many, many moons ago.
Speaker 2:That impacted me.
Speaker 1:She's part of my spiritual heritage. Are you with me? What did she do? Call the guy that wasn't so great. Tom, the great mom passed away most of you know, in July.
Speaker 2:And
Speaker 1:as part of this process, I was spending some time thinking about my mom and dad and what they gave me. And I have a letter from mom that I carried my Bible. I have since she wrote it. It was when Rachel and my oldest daughter who just graduated college, uh, it was when she was first born. And so, uh, yesterday morning I got that letter out to read for myself and to look at.
Speaker 2:And um,
Speaker 1:as part of that letter, moms signed it, you know, I love you son, whatever. Uh, and then she signed, uh, she put psalm 91. So it's the first time I've read the psalm since mom passed away. Sofia Lami, I just want to read it to you.
Speaker 2:MMM.
Speaker 1:He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Tom. See, I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, who am I trust? God will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge Tom. His faithfulness will be your shield and Rampart,
Speaker 2:okay?
Speaker 1:You will not fear the terror of night nor the Arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness nor the plague that destroys at midday. 1,000 may fall at your side 10,000 at your right hand, but it won't come near you on if you make the most high your dwelling. Even the Lord who is my refuge,
Speaker 2:okay?
Speaker 1:The no harm will befall you. No disaster will come near your tent. Son for God will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Speaker 2:Yeah,
Speaker 1:you will tread upon the lion and the Cobra because he loves me. God says, I will rescue Tom. I will protect him for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him with long life. Will I satisfy him and show him my salvation? Do you know what that does to a son who has lost his mom to receive that kind of heritage you follow? Come on, get that from mom this late.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And to get that kind of heritage from her to get that kind of spiritual encouragement. So let me ask you, what are you giving your families?
Speaker 2:Not a guilt trip.
Speaker 1:Reality check. What are you providing your family? They say, Tom, I've never been a spiritual leader. We'll start. Don't be a spiritual leader. Just love Jesus in front of them.
Speaker 2:What
Speaker 1:did it look like? Make It yours. Make it fun. Make it who you are. Just be intentional about it.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Mom wrote a letter, to be honest with you, that was okay as far as letters go.
Speaker 2:But the song,
Speaker 1:the song ministered to me a year later. The quality of construction.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Just based on the commitment of the crew.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:It's true for you and it's true for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The end differently today. Would you stand? I just want to invite you to bow your heads. We're not going to sing any song today. Um, we're going to let everybody get out for the baptism service. But before you go, I want to invite you to bow your head. And the reason I want him to bite you bite your head is just, it's all just so that you can kind of have a moment to yourself in this noisy, noisy world. Ask Yourself, what's the commitment of the crew? What's your commitment as a couple, as a family, as a member of a small group, your friend group? What's the commitment of a crew you run with? Everything that I can find says these relationships were a part of matter. How are you doing on this? Let me ask you this. What kind of heritage are you leaving you think about your kid or think about your friend group, thinking about the family you're a part of. Maybe your son, daughter, mom, dad, grandparents. What's your heritage? Are you doing the units lowest thing or not? Cause I'll bet you don't. You're like me. I bet you don't want to end this life and say, wow, Tom sure drove a nice car. I bet you want something more. I bet you want your kids to say, mom, dad, brother, sister. They had a sincere faith, genuine faith. So God, I pray you'd take the cries of our heart right now and that you would give us that wake up, even teach us what it means to live a life in such a way that we give it away. Not what you do for me. This whole Christianity thing can't be so self absorbed, but will we give away? What kind of love do we give away? And I pray. I pray you would help us to build a legacy that lasts and your name I pray. Amen. Thank you so much for your patience today. Uh, we're going to a baptism subs. Gonna let y'all head on out. Bless you. Have a great week. It's been good to be with you.