Multiply Exponentially – Part 2

In this message from Acts 2:47, David Platt reminds us that our mission is both local and global.

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Transcript

Demonstrating Love With Simple Gifts

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You're listening to David Platt Messages, a weekly podcast with sermons and messages from pastor, author, and teacher David Platt.

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You know, in a land of Xbox and PlayStation, isn't it amazing how all it took was a couple simple games to put smiles on kids' faces all over this room. Can you imagine what it would be like to take this kind of scene into a third world setting with kids who eat out of a dump? Can you imagine the looks on their faces? It'd be like taking six flags to them. Demonstrating love. Every child in here, desperately in need of somebody to show the love of God to them. Every child in the world desperate to see that. And we've got a Savior who demonstrated love as he proclaimed love. He broke bread and then said he's the bread of life. He talks about water and he gives water and he talks about how he's the living water and he demonstrates his love for us and the death he died on a cross. So what we've got is a picture that we've seen illustrated here of a God who wants to demonstrate love. A people, every single one of us who were able to demonstrate that love. There wasn't a thing going on here that not one of us could, one of us could not do. Even if you couldn't hand a baseball to somebody or paint a face or make a sword balloon that are going to be going all over the place during the rest of our worship service. You could at least carry a suitcase and take an extra suitcase with you with supplies full of things that people in third world countries need. So we've got a God that desires to demonstrate love. All of us in this room, his people, able to demonstrate that love. And he's got a plan to demonstrate that love to the entire world. And the question I want us to ask this morning is how is this church doing with his plan? How is this church doing with this plan? If you got a Bible, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to open with me to Acts chapter 1 and 2. For the last time for a while, we were going to Acts this morning. And I want you to pull out those notes from your celebration guide. You'll see on the front the notes from what we began talking about last week. We walked through four characteristics of the church that Christ put together that we oftentimes separate. We talked about how Jesus was adding to their number daily those who were being saved as they were unifying and expanding, growing quantitatively and qualitatively, worshiping and witnessing and gathered and scattered. I want you to turn over to the back, and we're going to come to the last characteristic of the way the church grew. How Jesus grew the church. And if I could be completely honest with you, it uh I'm convinced it's one of the most important, if not the most important, and the one that's going to stretch us more than any of the others. The one where I believe in the church today we have completely missed the boat. And we're going to dive into some fairly heavy stuff this morning. And I want to pray for us before we do, and I want us to pray that God would open our minds and our hearts to what He has to say to us as we look at the early church. God, we thank you for the grace and the love that you have demonstrated to us. And we praise you for the opportunity and the privilege we have to sit in here today and be a part of your church. And God, we pray that you would help us to connect the dots today. To give ourselves to your plan to demonstrate your love to the entire world. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

The Church Mission Goes Global

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We saw how these put these different things together that we know most often separate unifying, expanding, worship and witness, gathered, and scattered. The one I want us to look at all day today is how they put local and global together. Local and global, if you got your notes there. What we see in this two-volume work, Luke Acts, written by one author, Luke, what we see is in the very beginning of the book of Luke, he gives us the picture of Jesus in the temple and Jesus in the synagogue. It's a very Jewish picture. It's the same place that Acts chapter 1 starts. A very Jewish picture as the disciples are gathered together in Jerusalem. The interesting thing is, though, when you get to the end of the book of Acts, Acts 28, you've got a completely different picture. It's transformed from this Jewish picture to a Gentile picture where Paul is in pagan Rome, the farthest thing there could be from Judaism in a sense, and he's there proclaiming the gospel. And what there is is the transition that goes on in Luke and Acts that shows us how the early church put local and global together. Now remember what we're doing here is we're taking a step back, taking a bird's eye view of this picture of the early church, and we're looking, okay, we've studied for the last three months at what made the early church different. Now let's see overall what is Christ doing here, what is Christ telling us that we may have missed out on in the way we do church. And they put local and global together. I want you to look at Acts chapter 1, verse 8. This is a verse that I know will be very familiar to some of you. We've read it a few different times in this series, but I want you to circle one word that's mentioned three times. One word that's mentioned three times. The Bible says, You will receive the power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Jesus speaking to his disciples, and he says, And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. One word that I want you to circle three times. In the very end there, it says, You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. What's the next word? And circle it. And in all Judea. What's the next word? And Judea and Samaria. One more time. And to the ends of the earth. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Ladies and gentlemen, we have taken what is a both and in Acts chapter 1, verse 8, and we have relegated it to an either-or. And we have decided, as a church, we will choose when and where we will take the gospel, either Jerusalem or Judea or Samaria, or the ends of the earth. And it's not biblical. This is an outline for the entire book of Acts. Acts chapter 1 through 7, the gospel goes throughout Jerusalem, but it's stuck there at the end of chapter 7. What happens if Stephen is stoned? In Acts chapter 8, verse 1 through 4 says the gospel was scattered and went throughout Judea and Samaria, fulfilling what had been said here in Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 8, 9, and 10, the gospel goes throughout Judea and Samaria. You get to the end of chapter 9, especially. It talks about how the gospel was strengthened in churches and it grew throughout Judea and Samaria. And then you come to chapter 10, verse 34. And Peter says, Now I realize that God does not show favoritism, and he desires to show his gospel, his grace, his love, and his mercy to all peoples, regardless of race, regardless of where they are. And that unleashes the early church in Acts chapter 11 through 28 to go to the ends of the earth. Acts chapter 11, verse 19 through 21 gives us a picture of the church at Antioch as they began to take the gospel to the Gentiles, to the people who were not like them. And when they did that, the Bible says the Lord's hand was with them and used them throughout the rest of this book to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. From Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth. Both hands. They didn't separate. Either we're going to share the gospel here or there. Jesus was serious about the church's responsibility to affect the entire world with the gospel. And I'm convinced we have lost sight of this today. And we've missed the picture that's being unfolded here. And we have distinguished between the two. And I'm convinced it's one of the main reasons our churches today don't look like the church in the book of Acts. And I'm convinced also the church in Acts would not stand for the lack of gospel penetration to the world that's going on through the churches today. I don't know of any church. I'm not saying there's not one out there, but I don't know of a church that has a strategy to impact the world with the gospel. And it's carrying that out. What

Three Excuses That Block Mission

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I want us to do is I want us to look at two different facets. Number one, a dangerous approach, and number two, a dynamic alternative. The dangerous approach is, I believe, the pit we've fallen into. The dynamic alternative is the picture we're going to see in the New Testament church. We'll start with a dangerous approach. And what I want us to do is I want us to think about three phrases that we say very commonly in the church today. That when we say them, I think we show that we lack understanding of the basic truths of Christianity and Scripture. And I think ultimately all they are are excuses for the fact that we're not penetrating the world with the gospel. Phrase number one, but I'm not called to foreign missions. I know in your notes there it says nations, cross that out and put missions. But I'm not called to foreign missions. Dave, I'm not called to foreign missions. You talk about the nations all the time, but I'm not called to foreign missions. Now, when we say that, we usually mean one of two things. Either number one, we mean we're not called to missions, missions as a program. And we relegate the Great Commission to an optional program for the few faithful who are really called to that. That's their deal. We take the Great Commission, put it in a program as opposed to it being the very commandment which transcends every single one of our lives in this room. We ignore that command. We look at Matthew 28, 19, and we say, make disciples of all nations. That means other people. But then we come to Jesus' words when he says, Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest, and we say, That means me. And we say, You're going to be witnesses to the ends of the earth, and we say, Well, that means other people. Then we see, cast all your cares on him because he cares for you, and we say, That means me. What right do we have to draw a line of distinction between the obligations of Christianity and the privileges of Christianity? By what right do we accept the privileges of Christianity as applying to all of us and the obligations applying to only a few select people? So first we think, well, I'm just not called to missions, missions is a program. The other thing we're often thinking when we say that is we're thinking, well, I'm called to home missions, not to foreign missions. Not everybody's called to foreign missions, I'm called to home missions. And ultimately, that's a smokescreen, because the majority of us in this room are not constantly involved in home missions. But even if we are, even if we are, then we say things like, Well, my heart, Dave, my heart is for Birmingham. Or, Dave, my heart is for the United States. And these phrases sound great, even spiritual, we think. Until we realize all these phrases do is give away the weakness of our spiritual condition. Because God's heart is for the world. If God's heart is for the world and you have a heart for the United States, then that means you have 5% of God's heart. If your heart is for Birmingham or even Alabama, you have less than 1% of God's heart. And somewhere along the day, we've created the idea that we can say, we have 5% of God's heart and actually boast about it. I have a heart for the United States. We've created this idea that when we say we have such a small percentage of God's heart that that's actually going to indicate a greater spirituality. And we've missed the boat by saying, Well, I'm called to home missions, not foreign missions. This idea at the deepest root is more than just the fact that we've relegated the Great Commission to a program or we've tried to distinguish between home and foreign and you choose one or the other. I believe ultimately this statement, but I'm not called to foreign missions, reflects an unbiblical understanding of our salvation. I believe ultimately this statement reflects an unbiblical understanding of our salvation. Say, Dave,

Saved For The Nations

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what do you mean? Well, when you come to Acts chapter 9, let's take Paul for example. When Paul encounters Christ and he's saved from his sins at that point, immediately he sees that as a call to proclaim the gospel to the nations, to the Gentiles. And that's exactly what he tells us later. Turn over in your Bibles to the right. Go to Galatians. You'll go to Acts and Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians, and you'll come to Galatians. Look at Galatians chapter 1. Look at Galatians chapter 1. I want you to see Paul describing his salvation. And I don't want you to miss it. See Paul describing the very purpose of his salvation. Why did God save him? Look at what Paul says in Galatians 1, 15 through 16. He says, but when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son in me, so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. I did not consult any men. Did you catch that? He said, God was pleased to reveal, verse 16, to reveal his son in me, to reveal Christ in me. So that, purpose clause, why did God, why was he pleased to reveal his son in me? So that I would do what? Preach him, proclaim him among the Gentiles, among the nations. So Christ is in me so that I might preach him among the nations. Don't miss it. Paul is not saying this is relegated to a special call in our lives. He's saying this is the very purpose of our salvation. That because Christ is in us, it's automatic that we would give our lives to proclaim that gospel to the entire world. Turn back to Romans, a few pages to the left there. We passed over it. Look at Romans chapter 1. It's even clearer there. I want you to look at a verse that I would encourage you to underline in Romans chapter 1. As Paul is starting the introduction there. Romans chapter 1. Look at verse 14. Paul is about to launch in to an explanation of the gospel. And I want you to see what he says. He says, I am obligated, verse 14, both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. That is why I'm so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome. I'm not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Now I want you to notice a word. You might circle it in Romans chapter 1, verse 14. It says, I am obligated. Some of your translations, it may say, I am a debtor to both Greeks and non-Greeks, both the wise and the foolish. What Paul is saying here is he's saying, I owe, don't miss this, I owe a direct debt to every lost person in the world to make this gospel known to them. I am indebted. I am obligated to the world. Don't miss it. Because Paul owns Christ, he owes Christ to the world. Does that make sense? Because he owns Christ, he owes Christ to the world. And what this means is that we, all of us in this room, have a presumptive obligation on our lives because we have been saved, we are obligated to proclaim that to the world. It is not a special call. It is the very purpose of our salvation. Every saved person, this side of heaven, owes a debt to every lost person this side of hell. Let me say that one more time. Every saved person, this side of heaven, every single one of us in this room who has Christ in us, God has been pleased to reveal Christ in us. Every single one of us has a debt to every lost person on the face of this earth, this side of hell. We are obligated to proclaim the gospel to them. We owe a debt to the entire world. And we have missed this. What we have done is we have intentionally taken ourselves out from under the weight of a lost and dying world and washed our hands in pious concern and said, isn't it horrible what's going on in the rest of the world? And we have taken ourselves out from the obligation that we have as believers to make the gospel known to all peoples. We have separated local and global and missed the very purpose of our salvation. How could any one of us sit here today and say we have been saved from our sins and we have the hope of eternal life through the blood of Jesus on a cross and sit back and make excuses for not sharing that with the rest of the world? Is that biblical? And we mask it in a spiritual statement like I'm not called to foreign missions. God help us not to say that. Second statement. Wouldn't

Why Going Matters More Than Checks

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it be better for me to give than to go? Now I don't want you to hear me wrong here. I'm not saying giving is not a part of our mission as followers of Christ. Undoubtedly it is. We've talked numerous times about how all of us here will be held accountable for the way we spend our resources. Undoubtedly, giving is a part of this thing. But wouldn't it be better to give than to go? I want to tell you a story, but before that, you can fill in that blank there. I believe this statement at the core reflects an unbiblical understanding not of our salvation, but of the very gospel that we have believed in. It reflects an unbiblical understanding of the gospel. A few years ago, when I was preparing to go to Sudan, it was an expensive trip. $3,3500. Costs a lot to fly over there and then charter a plane to get into where we needed to get into, in addition to supplies and that sort of thing. And I remember a lady came up to me and she said, David, why why don't you just send the money to them instead of going? Wouldn't it be better off for them to have $3,500 than for you to go there for a week and a half? I remember wrestling with that question. Wouldn't it be better to give than to go? Am I being a responsible steward? I remember when we got over to the Sudan, and you've heard me talk about it, a country where about a million of our brothers and sisters have died over the last 20 years, civil war, sitting in a village that is just ravaged by bombs. And to sit there and talk with a young believer named Andrew. And for Andrew to look at me and to say, David, over the last 20 years, which is basically his life, all of his life in war, he said, There have been various people who have brought us things, most of them government-funded agencies from other countries, brought us things and sent us things. And he said, But do you want to know how you can tell who a true brother is? I said, How? Andrew looked at me and he said, David, a true brother, comes to be with you in your deepest time of need. And he looks at me and he says, David, you are a true brother. Now, how does that show an unbiblical understanding of the gospel? Don't miss it. When God decided to bring salvation to you and me, he did not send. Praise God, he did not send gold or silver or cash or a check. He sent himself. Where do we get the idea then that if we send our funds, that's going to be the most effective way for the gospel to penetrate the world? We'll send our money, we won't send ourselves. That is completely against the gospel. Not that giving isn't important, but how can we ever show the gospel if we don't put feet to God's word and go? Are we that shallow to think that our checkbooks, our money alone is the answer to the needs of the world? We know that's not true. Even in this world around 280, there are neighborhoods filled with homes that are large homes with nice cars and hefty bank accounts represented, and in the middle of those homes is hurt and sorrow and desperation and separation from God and deep need. We know that money's not the answer. So why, when it comes to the needs of a billion people who have never heard the name of Jesus, are we willing to give but not to go? And misses out on the entire picture of the gospel. God help us not to skew the gospel to the point where we send our money and we don't send ourselves. Wouldn't it be better for me to give than to go? Third statement that we say. But I'm not called to foreign missions. Wouldn't it be better for me to give than to

Compassion Cannot Be Selective

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go? Third statement, but what about the needs here? But what about the needs here? This is another smokescreen. To hide our spiritual poverty. We think this sounds spiritual. Well, I'm concerned about the needs here, and you're talking about the nations all the time. Don't forget there's needs here, Pastor. It's a spiritual smokescreen because the overwhelming majority of us in this room are not actively engaged in meeting the needs here. How many of us are feeding the hungry in Birmingham? How many of you have ever led one person to faith in Christ in Birmingham outside of your family? Spiritual smoke screen. But even if we have, even if we are actively involved, engaged, and meeting needs here, I believe the statement doesn't miss the point of our salvation or the gospel. I believe it completely reflects an unbiblical understanding of compassion. When we say this, we show that we do not have the compassion of God. Say, what do you mean? Well, when Jesus saw the crowds, Matthew 9, 36 through 38, he had what on them? He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. When he saw the crowds and the needs, compassion welled up in him. It means in order to have that compassion, a Christ-like compassion, well up in you, you have to see the crowds. But we've chosen to ignore the crowds. Compassion does not select. Compassion does not choose who we're going to show compassion to and who we're not going to show compassion to. Compassion does not say those who it's easiest to show compassion to, I'm going to give them compassion. Those who are closest to me, those who are right in front of me. That's not biblical compassion. Biblical compassion says we are not going to be selective in the way we express the love and demonstrate the grace of Christ. We're not going to separate it between, well, needs here or needs there. So you're thinking, well, Dave, you talk about going to all nations all the time. Aren't you being selective about those other nations and not caring about the needs here? When you say we need to go to all nations? Aren't you being selective? Well, I hope not. The United States is still a nation. No big changes recently. We are still constituted. When we say we're going to go to all nations, it includes here. But what we are saying as a church is we're going to stop putting limits and boundaries on the compassion of Christ expressed through us. We're going to stop sitting back and saying we're concerned about what's right in front of us and we're going to ignore the rest of the world. It's not biblical and it disregards the compassion of Jesus Christ. And it sounds good. What about the needs here? But don't forget. In our world, even talking about a city dump, there's people in the Sudan that would long to be able to eat out of a city dump. And Jesus says, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for who? You did for me. So maybe the ultimate question is not do we have compassion on the children of the world. The ultimate question is, do we have a care for Jesus? And we've got to answer that question. We will be held accountable for how we answer that question. I'm not called there, Dave. I'm not called there. If you were standing on the bank of a stream and you saw in that stream two kids that were drowning, would you stand by and wait for a formal call to do something about that? Would you come up with excuses for why it's not the right time? Or it's not your responsibility, or you've got other needs in your life to attend to. Absolutely not. At that point, the need determines the call. God help us to see the need and to see the purpose, the very purpose for which He has saved us. It's not a call, it's the purpose of our Christianity, and we miss it completely when we say these things. God help us to stop saying these things. Jesus is serious about his church taking his gospel to the whole world. He is very serious about that. And I mentioned earlier that I don't know of a church who has a strategy to reach the whole world and is carrying out. And what I want to say to you as the pastor of this church is it's time for that to change. It's time for us to rise up from our spiritual smoke screens and excuses for not penetrating more of the world with the gospel and take seriously the very purpose for which He has saved us. And it's time to put these lines that we come up with that we think make us spiritual, put them behind. God may they not be said at this church anymore. And let's leave behind this dangerous approach and let's give ourselves to this dynamic alternative two areas. I

The Dynamic Alternative In Acts

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want you to see that unfold here in the book of Acts. One, world-impacting disciples. World impacting disciples all throughout the book of Acts here. You see portrait after portrait after portrait, Timothy, Paul, Silas, Barnabas, Stephen, Philip, Lydia, all of these different people who are taking on the world with their one life, taking the gospel that's been entrusted to them and spreading it to the ends of the earth. Each one of them, impacting the world. God, may it be that a congregation of believers would gather together and say, we are going to each take on the world with our one lives, and we're going to impact nations for the glory of Christ. Think about it. The harvest. A billion people who haven't heard the name of Jesus, in addition to hundreds and hundreds of millions of others who are engrossed in all kinds of false ideologies and worldviews that steal the glory from the God who alone is worthy of that glory. With that kind of harvest, if a farmer were going to harvest that field, would he dig one big hole and put 4,000 seeds right in that one hole? Is that the most best way to grow a harvest? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. It would not make sense for God to take 4,000 people to the church of Brook Hills and put them all in one big hole and cover it up. Because what happens when the seeds all put in one big hole and it starts to grow up? What happens? It begins to choke each other out. God help us to see a picture of the church. And then he's ready to bring in the harvest? What does he do? Does he go and stand in the barn and call for the harvest to come inside? No, that would be a ridiculous strategy. To stand in a building and think the harvest is going to come in there. Wouldn't that be a ridiculous strategy? Be careful how we answer that. No. If that harvest is ready to be taken in, then he's going to mobilize everybody he knows to get out there in the harvest field. He's going to spread them out and they're going to pull up the harvest and it's going to bear fruit. That's the picture of the New Testament church. Not standing in the barn, not pouring into one hole, but harvesting seed all over the world. World-impacting disciples. Some of you are thinking, Dave, you don't get it. I'm not moving overseas. You don't get it. You don't get it. I'm not talking about a career change. I'm not talking about where you're going to have your house. I'm not talking about where you're going to raise your family. What I am talking about is your life surrendered to the Great Commission. And saying, God, scatter my one life wherever you want to. Even.

The 2 Percent That Changes You

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Just imagine, next year. Next year. What if you gave 2% of your days? Just 2% to global. Connecting local and global together, it gave 2% of your days. Seven days. Next year, 2%. Wouldn't make that big a difference. We've actually intentionally, today in the worship service, done things 2% less than we normally do. Lights are down 2%. Can you tell? The video screens are dimmed 2%. The shades are down just 2%. There's 2% of the seats in here that are broken off. Even your celebration guide has a font that is 2% smaller this week than it normally is. This volume is 2% down than it normally is. Can you tell? Does it make a difference? Some of you think, well, I couldn't see it as well. No, absolutely not. Don't try to ruin the illustration. It is 2%. 2% does not make that big a difference. What if you gave 2% of your life next year to connecting local and global and meeting needs and sharing Christ where the need is greatest in the world? If you just gave 2%, what do you think would happen? I'll tell you what'll happen. I guarantee you what'll happen. God will take that 2% and He will transform the other 98%. See how? See how we, even when we talk about short-term missions, we miss this. We disconnect local and global. We talk about, well, I'm going to train or work for 51 weeks out of the year to get ready for one week overseas. And we disconnect them together instead of putting them together and saying, God used one week for me in another context to transform the 51 weeks in my own backyard. Because I guarantee you, if you were to give across this room, if you were to give 2% of your life next year, seven days, I promised you God would challenge you and He would change your perspective and He would open your eyes to see what He sees. So that when you come back to Birmingham, you'll begin to see what He sees. I'm convinced that the most effective ministry we may have in Birmingham is completely dependent on the ministry we have in 2% of our days somewhere else. I'm convinced the people of Birmingham need us in this room to give 2% to global so that we begin to see what Christ sees and feel what Christ feels, and it'll change the perspective on what we see when we go to our house, or we look across the street at our neighbor, and when we go downtown and see the guy on the street, it will change everything. We put them together, connect, local and global. It transforms. And can you imagine seeds now being scattered all over the harvest field? Isn't that a great picture? And now it makes sense. Now you see how just how ridiculous it is to ask. Why would a guy who's passionate about proclaiming the gospel of the whole world, why would he settle for pastoring one church in Birmingham? You realize how ridiculous a statement that is because you realize that a whole faith family full of believers, that are world-impacting disciples, can absolutely shake the earth for his glory. And you realize how ridiculous it is to sit back and ask, well, does the pastor care about Birmingham? Because you realize the commitment and surrender to the global mission of God radically transforms commitment and mission to the local mission of commitment and surrender to the local mission of God. And what Oswald Smith said is true, the light that shines the farthest ends up shining the brightest where? At home. The light that shines the farthest shines the brightest at home. And you put them together, and you've got a picture of world-impacting disciples that are scattering the planet for the glory of Christ. With just 2% of their days. Instead of going to Disney World, they give themselves to the global mission of God for 2% of their days. And don't miss it.

Multiplying Churches Through Shared Mission

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World-impacting disciples produce ever-multiplying churches. This is the second component of this dynamic alternative. It's not a new strategy, it's exactly the strategy of the book of Acts. World-impacting disciples lead to ever-multiplying churches. Think about it with me. If we go overseas or go to another context for just a week, seven days, are we going to be able to start a church that way? Can you start a church in seven days? Probably not. You can do some important things in seven days, but you probably can't get a whole church going, build a whole church. Not just a building, but a church, the people. But what happens? What happens when over those seven days you begin to invest your life in believers in those churches? And you begin to give them some of the training or the resources or the things they need to be more effective at being world-impacting disciples there. And we begin to lock arms with believers in this country and that country. And because of that seven days, they are able to more effectively be world-impacting disciples where they are, and churches begin to grow. And together we lock arms when we go to another country. Together. And we go to another country. What you've got is a picture of the family of God, the church of Jesus Christ, united together as world-impacting disciples and multiplying churches. It is the plan of God. We have missed it. We missed out on the picture of what it means to give ourselves to his mission.

Turning The Circle Outward

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Let me give you an example. Let me get some volunteers who are up here. Can I get just get maybe five adults who could just come up here? Down here at the front. I know everybody's looking at each other. I'm having a hard time seeing folks. There we go. Alright, five, one, two, three, four. Okay, one, five. There we go. Okay. Y'all come on up. Thanks. Okay. What I want to ask you folks to do is to uh to gather together, uh, join hands in a circle. If you could join hands in a circle. There we go. All right. Y'all give them a hand. They did exactly what told them to do, all right. Now, this is exactly what most of our churches look like. Join hands in a circle. The only problem is, the only thing they can see is what? Each other. Now, if we left them here for a while, they'd start to get a little frustrated. They'd start to see things in each other they really didn't like too much. Or they began to just get uncomfortable with always looking at each other, and it begins to cause problems, maybe some friction. Does that sound familiar? Begin to complain about ridiculous things like I didn't like the style of music today, or I wasn't comfortable in the church, or this person didn't talk to me, or that person didn't say hello to me, or the preacher has too much time on his hands, or he doesn't have enough time on his hands to meet with me, whatever it may be. We begin to complain about the most ridiculous things. Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus did not die on the cross so that we would live our lives turned inward on each other, insulated and isolated from the needs of the world. See, there's another way to make a circle by joining hands. Why don't you turn around? Changes everything, doesn't it? Don't miss it. Unifying and expanding. What we've got is still the unity. They're still together. Join hand is a faith family, but where are they faced? They're faced outward, and their perspective begins to change because they begin to see what Jesus sees. And she sees a mother who's holding her child that's crying because the child has parasites and worms, and the mother can't do anything about it. And it changes her perspective on how comfortable she is in worship. And he sees a homeless boy with no shirt, no shoes, and no parents, whose only alarm clock is the hot pavement that wakes him up in the morning so he can go sell gum and try to buy another meal for himself. And it changes the way he responds when the style of music doesn't fit exactly what he was thinking it should have been. And all across the circle, God uses his perspective, even if it's just 2% of our days, to transform the rest of our perspective, the rest of the year.net.