Chain Reaction | The Time is Now

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Join us as Gabe Kolstad brings us a message about the chain reaction. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Well, I got a question for you. Do you think that this domino could knock over this garbage can? Anyone think that it could? You got some believers in the house. All right. Okay, any skeptics? Any skeptic? You're not no, I don't think so. Okay, we got a no, we got some no's. Some strong. That was a really strong no from the middle of the room over here. Okay. Um, I'm gonna say you're right, whichever one you say, because there do have to be certain conditions in place for a domino like this to knock over a garbage can like this. And that's what we're here to talk about today. It's called chain reaction has to happen. Here's the chain reaction. We got a binder right here, okay? This is just off my office shelf, a binder. And then we have a copy of uh uh Homer's Iliad and Odyssey right here. You know, you just pick up whatever you see. We have um a friend's trivia game right here, little card card game with the friends crew in it. And now I've tried this is a physics experiment. Are there any physics professors here? Good, because I'm probably gonna mess this up. Um uh and then the only other thing I could find was this uh pack of crayons that we hand out to to kids who are in the service sometimes. So um here's here's how this is gonna work, hopefully. Now I've tried this a bunch of times. We're at about a 50% success rate. So if it doesn't work, you'll just pretend with me that it did, okay? Um, but here's the thing if if the right chain reaction is in place, this domino could knock over that garbage can. Let's see what happens. Wow. And it could knock over a cup of coffee in the front row, too. I'm sorry about that. All right, it worked, but it worked, you guys. Okay. What I want you to think about is um, what is God actually doing in your life right now? And do you think that you are too small to make a difference in what he's doing in the world? Do you think that maybe you've looked at your life and thought, there's just no way that whatever I am or whatever I have to offer is big enough to make a difference? And I think we just saw proof that you are, in fact. You do need to be connected to the right chain reaction, and that's what we're gonna be talking about today. For instance, I don't know if you saw this news story, but there was this guy working this week and his boss yelled at him. And so he felt hurt. So he goes home in a bad mood, and his spouse approaches him, he yells at his spouse. Spouse gets hurt, and their teenage boy comes in and she yells at the teenage boy who gets hurt and then decides that he's gonna take it on the dog, kicks the dog. The dog bites the cat. Okay. And the cat tears up the new couch. That's not really a news story, I'm just making it up. But I mean, that's a chain reaction, right? That like could happen, and theoretically that probably has happened to some of you, where you know, stuff happens in your life, and it's like it just has this compounding effect, and it just keeps going on and on. That's the chain reaction effect, and we're gonna talk about how it works. Because, for instance, you've done it, you've walked into Costco for toothpaste, and you walked right by that kayak, and you're like, yes. And then the the 10-year supply of toilet paper somehow ended up on your cart, and then you know, you're walking by the the right at the right at the end, you're like, tires, that's a really good deal for tires, you know? So you got truck tires and the kayak and the toilet paper for the rest of your life, all that instead of toothpaste, that's a chain reaction. Some of you have been watching Netflix at night, I know, and you're like, just one more episode, you know, just one more episode. And so 90 minutes or two hours later, you're like, oh my gosh, my alarm's gonna go off in three hours. Tomorrow's ruined, right? Or if you've checked the weather app on your phone, and 27 minutes later you're friends with a guy who's a farmer in Finland who's restoring a 1974 tractor, and you're just enthralled in this whole thing because it's a chain reaction that once something starts, it's really hard to stop it. And I want you to know that's what God is doing in our world right now. There is something special going on. It is so powerful, and it starts with something so small, like a person, like you. Today we're gonna be in Romans chapter 12 in the New Testament of the Bible. This is a letter that Paul wrote to a group of Christians in the city of Rome. And he's writing it with this very specific intention of talking about the chain reaction that God wants to create in their life. In fact, Romans chapter 1 through 11 is uh Romans is 16 chapters long. The first 11 chapters are are really a theological treatise. I mean, this is like they say it's maybe the most dense theological teaching in the whole Bible is in these 11 chapters, where boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, he's going, look what God's done for you, look what God's done for you, look what God's done for you, look what God's done for you, look what God's done for you. And then he starts Romans chapter 12 with a twist, and we'll talk about that in just a minute. My question for you is this Who are we becoming? And why does that matter in our world right now? What does this world need from you right now, from us right now, and who are we becoming? And how do we connect what God is doing with ourselves? How do we become a part of that? How do we how do we open our lives to the point where the chain reaction that God Himself wants to create includes us and impacts our families and makes a big difference in our world? And because the thing is that Romans 12 is gonna teach us that we can be transformed. That's what it's gonna teach us. That there's a chain reaction to our transformation, and that transformation is something that creates things like uh a character that allows you to bless people who persecute you, a character that allows you to honor other people, reject pride, live sacrificially, and overcome evil with good. And nobody accidentally does all those things, right? You have to opt in for that kind of transformation. In fact, you you you God will not, here's what I've learned in my life, and I and I see it in scripture. God won't inject Himself into your life without your permission. You will have transformation in your life if you invite it into your life. And that's the opportunity today is to go, I want to invite the chain reaction of God into my life. And he's welcoming that today. This is something he's inviting all of us to do, is to be a part of something and to realize that it doesn't matter how small you feel, how little you think you have to offer, that God wants your life and he is ready to use you in a powerful way and to and to transform you in a powerful way. And that's what he's been doing in our community, in our city, and definitely in our church. It's why we're in a very special season and series right now called The Time Is Now. You saw it on the program that we put your notes and stuff in today. The Time Is Now is about this. It's about God is working and we want to join him, and we've recognized it. So we interrupted our other series, we cut it short, we started this one realizing that God brought us an opportunity as a church that really relates to what he wants to do in the world. And to be real specific, our church has been growing over the last few years, and we've been bouncing up against a ceiling, especially this year, of space, realizing that we cannot continue to see God move in our church without the lid coming off, without increasing our capacity. And so when he brought us an opportunity, we recognized this is from the Lord. Let's together as a church consider and process. And so this specific opportunity is for us to move our church about a half mile down the road to a facility that would double our capacity and that is in the heart of our community. We wouldn't have to leave the neighborhood. This is what we've been praying for. If God ever wanted to do something like, God, don't make us leave the neighborhood. We want to serve this place, we want to be here in this place. And so all these things are happening. And for those of you who are, maybe you're you're just you came to watch a baptism today. I want to say welcome. For all of you online, I want to say welcome. I want you to know that you are sitting among some of the most generous people in our community, and that we as a church are pursuing an opportunity. And this is not about putting pressure on somebody who's here to support someone being baptized or maybe popping in for the first time online. This is about those of us who are feeling called to this movement, processing, God, how do you want to use me and my family? And uh so we're very, very excited about this opportunity. And we believe that uh we we are headed this direction. He's moving us in this direction. And I'll talk more about this in a little bit, but I just want you to know that we're in we're in a season where we see it all over the place. God's hand and God's blessing and God's movement, and you might see it in your own life in accelerated ways. Uh, but for sure, he's up to something. And I want you to think about how we don't drift toward transformed. Even churches. Churches don't drift toward more impact. Communities don't drift toward better. You know, we drift the other way. And what God's calling us to do is to step into this chain reaction. So grab your notes, if you would, and notice that Romans chapter 12 is gonna start with a pivot, okay? Because Romans 1 through 11 was about what God has done for us, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then Paul starts out Romans chapter 12 with two words. He says, and so. And it's kind of like he's going, like, look back at the first 11 chapters of this, and right now we're we're gonna switch gears, and he's saying, and so there is something that God is gonna do through you. And so there's a response to all this goodness that God has poured out, and this is what it is. And there is a chain reaction. Here's what it looks like, number one in your notes. Jesus reshapes identity. I want you to write that down if you would. Jesus reshapes identity. That is exciting because he starts to make us brand new. I was just talking to a guy in our church who has just suddenly realized what his strengths are. And it's powerful to watch this guy because he's all of a sudden out serving in the community. He's all of a sudden using his gifts. He doesn't even realize because it's coming easy to him. Because when you when you tap into something that God put in you, it's it's like it's already there. The dream is there, the the skill is there, the conversation piece is there, the boldness is there, and this guy's being used in our community in a really, really cool way. That I've honestly never been able to observe somebody make this quick of a pivot in such a unique and powerful way. And Jesus reshapes our identity. He does that. That's really, really cool. Romans 12, look at what it says in verse 1. It says, And so, I told you he was gonna say that, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he's done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Paul's going, because of everything God's done for you, chapters 1 through 11, grace poured out, Jesus on the cross, peace with God, the Holy Spirit given to us as a gift. He's going, because of all that he's done, and then he goes, I'm begging you to give your bodies. Bodies. I thought that was a little surprise. When I first read it, I was like, bodies. I could feel like it seems like he would say, give your spirit, you know, or or give your soul, you know, maybe give your heart, right? But he's going, give your bodies to God. Interesting, right? Why would he say body? I had to look, I had to look a little deeper and really figure this out this week and really understand it. And what I realized was your body is where your worship shows up. Your body is where your worship shows up. Think about it, your calendar, your sexuality, your habits, your attention, your exhaustion. Some of you walked in here and you're like, damn, so tired. I think I'm gonna go to church and just receive. And then you get here, and God's like, now I want you to give me your body. And you're like, oh my gosh, if I have to think about giving one more thing. And and yet he's going, trust me, this is where all the energy comes from. Trust me, this gift that you make is gonna give back to you in spades. Your body is where your generosity shows up, it's where your screen time shows up, it's where your attitudes show up, it's where your responses and reactions show up. And he says, I want you to be a living sacrifice because of the mercy that I poured out for you. A living sacrifice. I want your sacrifice to be alive. It's different than the Old Testament sacrifices, the old covenant sacrifices where the children of Israel would take an animal and it was it was dead, and they would put it on the altar as a sacrifice to God. And this one is different. Paul's going, this is a living sacrifice. You know, it's gonna, you're gonna live this out. Somebody said the problem with a living sacrifice is crawls off the altar all the time, right? And so you've probably experienced that if you've been following Jesus any length of time at all, is that you know, you have this tendency to go, can I like, you know, I kind of felt like I was in a sacrificial mood yesterday. Today not so much. You know, so you don't crawl off, and today it's all about me. But God is going, no, put it here. I want your life to be a living sacrifice. Verse two, look at it with me. It says, Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you'll learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. I love this. Man, this is big time stuff. This is so good. Jesus reshapes our identity. He says, Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world. Another version of that same verse says, Don't allow the world to squeeze you into its mold. He's like, You can either let the world do that, or you can let God transform your life. But it is you who makes the decision. I find this fascinating that God gives us that much power. Let God, I mean, wouldn't God just do it if he wanted to? I have to let him? I have to let him transform me. You also have to let the world disciple you. It just depends. The world is discipling us every day. Think about this for a second. The world is discipling us every single day, trying to shape us into these things: outrage, vanity, consumerism, isolation, self-protection, comfort, tribalism, comparison. Oh, we know that so well. And God is saying, You can either let me transform you, or you will let the world squeeze you into its mold. But you have to pick. And it is your call. So this is the challenge. He's going, present your bodies as a living sacrifice because Jesus wants to transform our identity. The world says, protect yourself. God says, offer yourself. I like what he says. You're gonna learn in verse 2, you're gonna learn to know God's will for you. How many of you would like that to happen in your life? Learn to know God. You're like, oh yes, please. I just sometimes we're like, just tell me what to do, God, right? I want to know what you want. And he goes, you're gonna learn to know God's will for you as you give your body as a living sacrifice, and as you let God transform you by changing the way that you think, he's gonna give you that new identity. And we all want this, we all want this. I know we do. We wanna be the kind of people that are generous and and and patient and kind and self-disciplined. We all want those things. We want this transformation. We just don't realize how it happens. And so God's gonna teach us exactly how it happens. So, first, Jesus reshapes identity. Second, in your notes, identity now reshapes community. Identity reshapes community. It really does. Like when you have a group of people who are getting together, who have been changed by the love of Jesus Christ and transformed, and now we've offered our bodies as a living sacrifice, and we're now together in a group, I'm telling you, the magic happens. We have a term that we coined, I think. It's called transformational community. We talk about it behind the scenes all the time. Transformational community for us is when people get into a group around Scripture and around the Holy Spirit and around God's purpose for their lives. And you got these people who are now spurring one another on toward love and good deeds. That's the way the New Testament talks about it. It's so magical. I was talking to one of our greeters, and we the other night, Melissa and I went to the farmers market, which meets in Aloha on Thursday nights at this time of year, and it was fantastic. And uh we saw, I think we saw, I'm not even kidding, I think we saw a hundred people from the church while we were there, just kind of walking around. And I was just trying to get through it. You know, at first you're like, we're just gonna do a quick walk around. And then like six hours later, we've seen, I know about everybody's, you know, cats uh problems, and I I know we we know about everybody's joys and everybody's struggles, and it was so much fun. And and and one of our greeters was telling me earlier, she's like, it felt like that was my community. I was out there in public, and it felt like my community was it. That's what that's what we're talking about. Identity reshapes community. Like, if we could see what God wants to do, I think it would be he would want the whole city to be living like he was the king. The whole city to be living under his direction, the whole city to be living with peace and joy and love, right? I think he would want that, don't you? He would want everybody connected. And we see this with groups. You've got a catalog in your program today. If you will get yourself in community, I'm telling you, you're gonna accelerate your spiritual growth. You you're all of a sudden things are gonna start clicking because you're gonna show up discouraged at some point, and you're gonna think about giving up. And then somebody at the time you're least expecting it, they're gonna walk over to you and they're gonna put their arm around you, you're gonna say, Hey, I've been praying for you this week. You know what that happened to me today, so far, about a dozen times. About a dozen times. And people stopped me in my tracks today, and they put their arm around me and they said, I've been praying for you this week. And and trust me, this week of all weeks has been a bit of a bumpy one. And God just comes through and that community carries you, and identity reshapes community because now we know that we're here to be a part of something and to contribute something. It says in Romans chapter 12, verses 4 to 6. I want you to see this. Just as our bodies have many parts, and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. I love it. What has he done? He's made each person unique with a unique way to contribute. And so he's calling us to give our bodies as a living sacrifice and includes our time and our talent and our treasure. He's going, these things are gifts that you can share. And when you do that, oh wow, it transforms community because you're offering something that makes the collective whole better, that makes that spill out then, even beyond. Now that's why I want you to know something about the property that we're talking about. Again, half mile down the road. Specific opportunity is we are over the next 12 months seeking to bring back to God$750,000 above and beyond our normal giving so that we can say yes to this opportunity. That$750 basically secures the property, makes it usable for us, and helps us to move in. Right? That's what that will accomplish. Why it matters? I was talking to my son Caleb. Actually, he came up to me and he said, I had a I had a thought about why this is such a unique opportunity. He said, You know, because he's married to Maria, and by the way, they're expecting a little baby boy. Yeah, I know. I don't know where he's at, but go Caleb and Maria. Uh and October 12th, they're they're gonna uh is the is the plan. And uh little Wesley should be coming into the world. We're very excited about that. Um but he said, Dad, I was imagining if I had eight kids. And I said, Tell me more. You know, I was like, Yeah. He goes, I was imagining if I had eight kids, but we had a three-bedroom house. He goes, what would be our natural next step? Would be to move to a bigger house, right? And he goes, that's our thing right now, is that God has just grown this body and we just need a bigger house. And he goes, because the thing is that in our house we could never fit eight kids, but even if we moved into a little bit bigger house, then we would try to have a birthday party and we couldn't fit everybody. And he was like, that's what it is. It's like we need a space large enough for our family where we could also have a birthday party. And I thought that's a great illustration. That's why we're doing what we're doing. And uh thank you, Caleb, for that example. But here's what here's what you need to know. We are pursuing not a building. We are not pursuing a property, we are pursuing a chain reaction, we are pursuing the transformation of God in our community. We are pursuing becoming a Romans 12 church and seeing God create a Romans 12 city. Wouldn't that be amazing? That kind of transformation where, you know, the kids that are gonna grow up with no self esteem. We could interrupt that. We could step into that, we could be a part of that. You saw the students being baptized during this service. Was that beautiful, or was that beautiful, right? I mean, how cool is that! Do you know what that's gonna do for their future? That they have a tribe of people around them that are going like, go for Jesus, go, we're with you. They show up to school in a city that doesn't always believe the same thing about Jesus that we might in this room, that doesn't have the same hope and future for their life, and they're like, okay, I can keep going. That's what we're talking about. That's why we're doing what we're doing. And I had a friend named Brent who the other day, I do have a friend named Brent, the other day he was telling me something. He he does this interesting work in what they call closed countries. He's like a missionary. And they were, you can't go into these countries with a church or with a Bible study openly, or else people will be arrested and sometimes killed. So they were simultaneously running ads in 12 countries. And people were responding to these ads. They were about Jesus. And people have been having, by the way, dreams, and then seeing these ads and then meeting Jesus. And Brent said that they were talking to somebody who was responding to one of these ads, and he said, I can't become a Christian. I can't become a follower of Jesus because of what will happen in my family and to my family if I do. He said, There's so much danger, and even to me personally, he said, I can't become a Christian. But he said, Would it be okay if I just became a Christian for one day? Because he just wanted so much to connect with that life and that love. And there are people in our community that want to know Jesus. And that's what we're here for. To help people find and follow Jesus. That's why we're doing what we're doing. If we as a church will connect with this chain reaction, we're gonna see more baptisms. We're gonna see more transformed marriages, we're gonna see more kids realize who they are in Jesus and be shaped into these strong, resilient, passionate, lifelong followers of Jesus. That's what we're after, and we can't wait to be a part of it. One of the things that I uh I do want to ask you for is this. If you are a part of Westside, I want you to pray and process. We put something on your seat. And again, this is, I'm not trying to strong arm anybody into this, and this is not about pressure. And certainly, if if this is, if you're just kind of popping in here today, this is not in any way to guilt anybody into giving money. This is about going on a journey with the Holy Spirit, going on a journey with Jesus and asking him, how do you want us to be involved? I'll tell you how my wife and I've been processing this, and and uh we've as a couple, we've for a long time, as a family, we've always given, okay, through West Side. We've we I believe that I shouldn't ask anybody to do anything that I'm not willing to do first, as the pastor here. And so we've been processing like this. We we've been very involved in finances at West Side and giving, and our tithe, we've done so many of these things we've forgotten, we've lost track how many of these little initiatives or big initiatives we've done. But each time we've got involved, and so our giving has crept from a tithe, which is 10%, to to double that. And so we've just been consistently just as involved as we could, and that's been where we've been for the last few years, is just double tithing because we love it. We love what God is doing here, and we believe it. And we've also been blessed so much that we can't deny it. So when this thing came up, we're like, wow, what do we do now? Because we're sort of leveraged, you know, on that. And um, but God opened a new door for us, and so we've saw a path, and so we've made a faith-based commitment on this, and we're excited to be involved, not just with how we've been giving, but on top of that, to be a part of what's going on with the time is now. And so that's how we're processing it. And I'm just asking our church, will you process with me? In a couple of weeks, we're gonna have an opportunity to share our commitments together, and we're going to uh receive a one-time offering out of stocks or cash or however God has blessed us individually and leads us individually so we can kick this off strong. I'll tell you this our leaders are going first, and already we're a third of the way to that goal of$750,000, even before we've asked for the commitments. So that's been pretty exciting. And I want to encourage you that God is up to this chain reaction. But it's not for just a few people to carry. I'm asking everybody to be a part of it. And it's not about equal giving, it's about equal sacrifice. It's about each one of us having the opportunity to put our hands on eternity here and to be part of what God is doing, even if you don't think you have a lot to offer. The third thing I want you to see is that community reshapes mission. Community reshapes mission. When a community gets transformed and realizes that together we're sent into a space or a city or a world, a neighborhood, a school, a workplace, when a community realizes that we together have been sent and we've been transformed together, oh wow, the lights start to turn on. And that is, I think, what God wants to do in our world. When we realize we're together for a cause, we start to surrender things like time, things like comfort, preferences, ego, convenience, availability, forgiveness. It says in Romans chapter 12, bless those who persecute you. Don't curse them. Pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And then he throws this in. And don't think you know it all. Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you're honorable. And then he ends this section with this do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Such a good word, peace. So it's a word he's used in Romans already. He said, We have peace with God because of everything that Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. We have peace with God. And now he's saying, Now you can have peace with other people too. In fact, if you look at the whole arc of scripture, there's something that Jesus talks about, the kingdom of God, the reign of God. It's technically the peace of God. Some people call it the shalom, that's the Hebrew word for peace, the shalom of God. That's the characteristic that he's trying to create in the world. When Jesus goes, may your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. May your reign, may your peace, may your shalom be here like it is there. And Paul the Apostle is like, when you're sent, community that's been transformed, it reshapes your mission. And now all of a sudden, we are people who really do leave it better. We're people who really do make a difference. We're people who really do take the light with us, the love with us. Even when somebody comes against us, even when somebody talks evil about you, even when somebody lies about you or tries to manipulate your words, tries to tries to put you down, tries to oppose you. Paul's like, oh, you don't even need to engage with that. Like you are a difference maker, you're a peacemaker in the world. And I love what he says. He says, I'm gonna put you on a whole different path. Did you know? I was thinking about history and I was looking at all the like awakenings of history, and how an awakening would be like when God does extraordinary work in a time and place, which has happened in our country several times, in the world several times. And when you look back at those times, there's something in common. Every awakening in history started with surrendered people. People who asked, not this, what do I want from God? They stopped asking that, what do I want from God? They started asking instead, God, what do you want from me? God, what do you want from me? And when people come together with that attitude, I don't know, I think God finds it irresistible. I think he's like, I'm just gonna show up in the midst of that kind of group, which it seems like is what's going on here and now. And that's why we believe God has this in store for us. He says in Romans 12, 21, don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil with good. He's like, Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. That's it. That's our calling, that's our mission, that's our approach, that's our activity, that's the result of offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, is that now God's gonna use this to change the world. And it's absolutely fantastic. I believe he can do it with you and me. And I believe that he is ready to. But he won't do it without your invitation. So I'd love for you to bow your heads with me right now and just ask the Lord, what is it that you want from me? Lord, what do you want from me? God, what do you what are you asking for today from us? Because that living sacrifice is gonna look a little different from person to person here today. For some, it will be the giving up of a habit or a lifestyle that is in opposition to the teachings of Jesus. For some, it might mean finally going and making amends. For some, it might mean extending forgiveness when you've been wronged deeply. For some, it will mean releasing your grip on materialism. For some it will mean getting bold about your faith. For some it will mean finally opening your life to community. And for some, it's gonna mean opening your heart to Jesus for the very first time. And I believe in a room this size I know there's some here that you've never said yes to Jesus before. That you need to do that. You need to invite him in. That he's ready to give you forgiveness and peace and joy and his Holy Spirit to make you part of his family. He's ready, he's been ready, but he won't do it without your invitation. And so I want to invite you. If you've never said yes to Jesus, this is your time. Here's what he says he says, if anyone receives me, I'm gonna give them the power to become the children of God. And so, if you're ready, I want to I want to lead you in a prayer. And there's nothing magic about these words, but I'll tell you what, if if you'll pray to God right now, He'll hear you. He sees your heart, he knows you. So if you need some words to help, just tell him this in your mind and heart. Jesus, I give you my life. Thank you for saving me. I believe in you, your life, your death on the cross, and your resurrection. Forgive me of my sins. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, lead me and teach me to follow you. And I ask it in Jesus' name.