Speaker 1: Everybody's looking for the good life.
Speaker 1: And when we say the good life, everybody has their own definition of what that means, what that looks like, the location that they're in, the feelings that they feel, et cetera.
Speaker 1: But what is very common in the good life is that in the good life, whatever it looks like in your definition thing, you're happy.
Speaker 1: You're satisfied in the good life.
Speaker 1: There's not a lack of something in the good life.
Speaker 1: Things are good by definition.
Speaker 1: It's a, it's a good life.
Speaker 1: You're satisfied.
Speaker 1: And very much you are recognizing that there is enough.
Speaker 1: You have enough in your life.
Speaker 1: You have enough, you have enough resource, you have enough gifting, you have enough, whatever it is, respect you have enough of whatever it is that is needed for that particular moment.
Speaker 1: And you have enough of that.
Speaker 1: And so the world consistently pushes against this idea of enough, and it says, you need more in order to have enough, you need more stuff in order to have enough.
Speaker 1: That's just, that's the nature of our world today.
Speaker 1: Listen to the radio, listen, watch television, talk to people, the idea of what I'm getting next.
Speaker 1: What's the next thing on my to purchase list.
Speaker 1: It's almost as long.
Speaker 1: And in some cases, maybe longer than the, to do list.
Speaker 1: It's, it's, I'm looking for that little bit more and it may not be stuff.
Speaker 1: As far as tangible things, you might not be going to buy a new keyboard today, but it is, it might be enough as far as enough respect or enough honor or enough opportunity or enough of something else, whatever it may be that we're pursuing enough.
Speaker 1: In fact, a lot of life is spent pursuing enough of stuff,
Speaker 2: Enough of stuff, but enough is fleeting because
Speaker 1: To get to a particular place, you always see what could be more.
Speaker 1: You always see that next thing that you could have, that next thing that you could achieve.
Speaker 1: And so in this series we've been talking about what is enough, what's enough in order to be saved.
Speaker 1: What's good enough to be saved, how much is enough to be satisfied.
Speaker 1: And so, and so, as, as we've talked through it all, what we've come to the reality is that most of us can be satisfied with salvation and be thankful for our salvation.
Speaker 1: How many are thankful for salvation today?
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: We're thankful for salvation.
Speaker 1: And then, then we're, we're.
Speaker 1: We realize that we are comfortable.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful that I live a comfortable life.
Speaker 1: And then for the most part, there's, there's not a lot of uncomfortable things in my life.
Speaker 1: And I'm grateful for that, but most of us are not truly fulfilled or satisfied, just saved and just being comfortable.
Speaker 1: Most of us are not happy until we're making a difference.
Speaker 1: It's why so many of you showed up yesterday to pack these, these boxes and these baskets to make a difference in someone's life.
Speaker 1: Because we want our life to matter.
Speaker 1: We want our life to mean something.
Speaker 1: When it's all over that, when we leave, somebody looks back on our life and says that person made a difference for me, that person made a difference for our community.
Speaker 1: That person made a difference in the world.
Speaker 1: Today's question is that very thing, how good is good enough to make a difference?
Speaker 1: And there was a guy in scripture that we're going to talk about, who, who he, he made a difference.
Speaker 1: He wanted to make a difference.
Speaker 1: He worked hard to make a difference.
Speaker 1: In fact, his entire reason for being here was to make a difference and he succeeded.
Speaker 1: He succeeded, but it's interesting that from the very first moments of his conception, everything seemed to be set up for him to fail and making a difference.
Speaker 1: It didn't seem like he should've made a difference at all.
Speaker 1: See his mama wasn't married whenever she got pregnant, she was a spouse.
Speaker 1: She wasn't married.
Speaker 1: When people started asking who the father's identity was, things got super complicated.
Speaker 1: It was not easy to answer that question.
Speaker 1: In fact, when she, if she were to answer it truthfully, she might seem a little bit crazy.
Speaker 1: She'd certainly throw some doubt on the reality of what she was speaking the truth on what she was speaking.
Speaker 1: He was born in a out of the way town and a place to make a difference from it.
Speaker 1: Wasn't a place to get to move forward in from it wasn't really a place of upward mobility.
Speaker 1: Not a lot of people came from Nazareth that were well-known in the world.
Speaker 1: His stepfather was a carpenter, a tradesman who actually had come from another talent entirely.
Speaker 1: So he was a kind of a new comer to the area.
Speaker 1: These were so odd that upon his birth, just prior to his birth, his family was forced by the government to make a trip to his daddy's hometown.
Speaker 1: And everything was so packed out that he ended up being born in a barn.
Speaker 1: And his first bed was a food draw for the animals.
Speaker 1: Nothing about his entrance into the world, seemed set up to make a big difference.
Speaker 1: And yet he did make a great difference.
Speaker 1: Fact, no one has made a greater difference in the world than Jesus has.
Speaker 1: Jesus made a difference.
Speaker 1: He's called you and I to make a difference, but you may be really brilliant today.
Speaker 1: In fact, I think this is probably the most brilliant crowd I'll talk to all day long.
Speaker 1: And I will say that in every service, just FYI, just sit to be honest, but the, but you're brilliant.
Speaker 1: So you might be picking up on the fact that you are not named Jesus.
Speaker 1: You might be saying, yeah, Jesus came to make a difference and he did, but I'm not Jesus.
Speaker 1: And in fact, faster, Micah, you're not Jesus either just to let you know.
Speaker 1: And I would agree with you, but let's talk about what Jesus said.
Speaker 1: The scripture says in John chapter 14, verse number 12, our text for today says, I tell you the truth.
Speaker 1: Anyone who believes in me, Jesus is speaking here.
Speaker 1: Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done.
Speaker 1: And even greater works because I'm going to be with the father.
Speaker 3: So
Speaker 1: Jesus speaking.
Speaker 1: Now we cannot doubt the words of Jesus here.
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 1: And so Jesus is saying what I did.
Speaker 3: One who believes
Speaker 1: In me will be
Speaker 3: Okay, but he does not just leave it there.
Speaker 3: He says, and greater works than these will.
Speaker 3: They do.
Speaker 3: Now I've read the Bible and he did some pretty awesome things.
Speaker 3: He did some pretty big things.
Speaker 1: So you might say, well, what does he mean by greater works?
Speaker 1: Well, greater works could point to a couple of different things.
Speaker 1: It could point to greater miracles being done, but Jesus raised people from
Speaker 3: Dead.
Speaker 3: So that's a, I mean, that's hard to top
Speaker 1: From just coming up with a list of really big miracles to do.
Speaker 3: That'd be a big one probably
Speaker 1: Right up there near the top of the list.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: And so it could point to a greater miracles.
Speaker 1: It could point to a greater number of miracles because there's more people doing the miracles than just Jesus.
Speaker 1: Now Jesus lives in you lives in, you, lives in, you, lives in you.
Speaker 1: And so Jesus is doing a work through so many people that it becomes a greater number of miracles that are being done.
Speaker 1: It could be that there was a miracle of greater reach into more areas because there was more people traveling to different places.
Speaker 1: Jesus did not show up in America.
Speaker 3: Uh, I'm gonna leave that there.
Speaker 3: All of those are possibilities.
Speaker 1: And if you, if you said, I believe it's this, I would say, okay, that's a possibility.
Speaker 1: No problem.
Speaker 1: Here's, what's not a possibility.
Speaker 1: Jesus did leave.
Speaker 1: The possibility that believers would do less than he did.
Speaker 1: That's not a possibility.
Speaker 1: And so here's our big idea today.
Speaker 1: If you want to write this down, take a picture of the screen.
Speaker 1: Every believer is empowered to make a difference.
Speaker 1: Every believer from the tiniest believer to the biggest believer from the newest believer to the oldest believer, a believer is equipped and empowered to make a difference.
Speaker 1: Now, there is a statement, you know how sometimes around the church, if you haven't been around the church for long, you'll discover that there are these little sayings that we have around the church.
Speaker 1: And I call them Christian ease.
Speaker 1: It's it's, you know, if you know, then, you know, if you don't know, then you're confused and it doesn't necessarily always make sense.
Speaker 1: Uh, but in, in Christian circles, there are these phrases.
Speaker 1: And there's one that is said, and I think it is said far too often about far too many things, but it says, God, doesn't call the qualified.
Speaker 1: He qualifies the called now on his face.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I like it.
Speaker 1: It's, it's not, it's not incorrect, but it's often used to excuse a lack of qualification.
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, I'm not qualified to do this, but I'm going to jump in anyway and I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1: And God's going to qualify me because I jumped in.
Speaker 1: We've seen some people that do that in music.
Speaker 1: I'm not qualified to sing this, but God's going to qualify me and everybody in the world is praying for God, the qualify them.
Speaker 1: And they never seem to be qualified.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: You thought that too.
Speaker 1: That's not just me.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: So that does, that does happen.
Speaker 1: It's also a prone to self appointment and I've traveled a lot.
Speaker 1: I've been a lot of different places.
Speaker 1: And it's always interesting when someone comes up to me and says, hi, I'm apostle so-and-so I'm prophet so-and-so I'm pastor so-and-so I'm evangelist so-and-so I'm teacher.
Speaker 1: So-and-so I'm this and that.
Speaker 1: So-and-so.
Speaker 1: If you have to announce yourself consistently as something, then you may not be the thing that you're announcing yourself to be.
Speaker 1: I don't walk into my house and go, hello.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm the husband and father in this house on a regular basis.
Speaker 1: I just don't.
Speaker 1: And if you talk to me outside of my official capacity here, I'm unlikely to tell you I'm my name is Micah Sutton.
Speaker 1: You want to know why I say that?
Speaker 1: Because my name is Micah Sutton.
Speaker 1: This is not a soap box for me at all.
Speaker 1: I'm just, you know, but here's the problem in case of what we're talking about today, it's true.
Speaker 1: God doesn't call the qualified.
Speaker 1: He does qualify the cold.
Speaker 1: So while I have some reservation about the, the use of the term, the phrase consistently, sometimes it is absolutely right.
Speaker 1: And in this case, it is absolutely right, because God calls all people to repentance to receive his salvation.
Speaker 1: No one is exempt from the call of Christ to repentance and salvation through Christ.
Speaker 1: And so when you and I answer the call of Christ to be saved, we are called, but we are not qualified.
Speaker 1: We're not qualified to be saved.
Speaker 1: We don't meet the standard of salvation.
Speaker 1: If you look at my life, you're not going to discover, wow.
Speaker 1: He's such an awesome guy that he has the right to be saved.
Speaker 1: In fact, God better save him because of how awesome of a guy he is.
Speaker 1: That's not what you're going to find in my life.
Speaker 1: And I'm just going to suppose that that's true about your life.
Speaker 1: Well, we're not qualified.
Speaker 1: We are called, but when he, when we heed his call, two's be saved.
Speaker 1: When we say, I need you.
Speaker 1: We repent of our sin.
Speaker 1: We accept him as Lord and savior.
Speaker 1: Then he qualifies us.
Speaker 1: When he wraps us in his righteousness.
Speaker 1: Now we're qualified to be saved.
Speaker 1: We weren't on our own, but we are through him once saved you and I are called to be witnesses.
Speaker 1: We're called.
Speaker 1: We're not qualified to be witnesses of Christ.
Speaker 1: Jesus, the Lord and savior of God's power and God's privilege on earth.
Speaker 1: But he qualified you.
Speaker 1: He qualified by birthing a testimony out of your life.
Speaker 1: His goodness is testified of your, from your life, his grace, his testified from your life.
Speaker 1: And he gives you the word of reconciliation.
Speaker 1: He gives that to the believer.
Speaker 1: He qualifies you.
Speaker 1: As you step into him through faith, he qualifies you.
Speaker 1: He Keats called you and now he qualifies you.
Speaker 1: You were called.
Speaker 1: I was called to go and teach the gospel to every creature, to develop disciples in every single nation to baptize them into Christ.
Speaker 1: All of these things, every believer is called to every one of us is called to that.
Speaker 1: Are we qualified for that?
Speaker 1: Nope, no.
Speaker 1: We're not qualified for that.
Speaker 1: We're not qualified at all, but we're called to that.
Speaker 1: He qualifies us as we step into those things.
Speaker 1: He qualifies us by filling us with the Holy spirit who empowers you and I to do the things that are beyond us.
Speaker 1: So he's called us.
Speaker 1: We step in by faith and he qualifies us to fulfill the calling on our life.
Speaker 1: We're not qualified to do greater things than Jesus.
Speaker 1: No, we're not qualified to do that.
Speaker 1: Our inherent greatness is not greater than the inherent greatness of Christ.
Speaker 1: There's no way that that could be true.
Speaker 1: That is not true.
Speaker 1: We're not qualified to do greater things.
Speaker 1: But the one who is calling us to do greater things is also the one who qualifies us to do greater things.
Speaker 1: Praise God.
Speaker 1: And he's called every believer to do these works that he has done, and he will qualify you and I, for that purpose, can we say Amanda, that praise God.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about this just a little bit.
Speaker 1: I've got three thoughts for you.
Speaker 1: That might be shocking, but it is true three points.
Speaker 1: And that has thought number one, don't complicate it.
Speaker 3: We
Speaker 1: Often complicate the situation, trying to project what might be.
Speaker 3: And
Speaker 1: I somewhat blame television for this.
Speaker 3: When you think about,
Speaker 1: So superheroes on TV, superheroes always do these amazing,
Speaker 3: Crazy, big things.
Speaker 1: Always saving the world.
Speaker 1: The kids would be watching cartoons and I would hear the cartoon narrative.
Speaker 1: And it'd be like the whole world's future depends on this one, 12 year old kid.
Speaker 1: I know 12 year old kids that I pray that is never the hope of the world.
Speaker 1: I don't care if they have super powers, one minute, they're saving the world.
Speaker 1: Then they're like, Oh, wait a minute.
Speaker 1: I'm hungry.
Speaker 1: We have any pop tarts or something like that.
Speaker 1: No, they are the only hope for humanity.
Speaker 1: Somehow the entire solar system is dependent on this IRO to handle the problem.
Speaker 1: The hero never saves the cat.
Speaker 1: They never are.
Speaker 1: They never make a movie about the hero speaking and encouraging word to somebody and making their day a little bit better.
Speaker 1: No, that's not what they're talking about.
Speaker 1: They never helped somebody in the parking lot.
Speaker 1: And Superman helped somebody unload their groceries from the carriage into the car roll credits.
Speaker 3: That's never how that worked.
Speaker 1: Superman is probably an old hero now.
Speaker 1: Huh?
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 1: He's still the best.
Speaker 1: It's always grandiose, but it all, but excuse our perspective.
Speaker 1: So when we think about doing what Jesus did, it puts us into two categories.
Speaker 1: Category.
Speaker 1: Number one is the avoiders.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to call us the avoiders.
Speaker 1: There are two kinds of avoiders in my, in my thought process.
Speaker 1: First is the failures.
Speaker 1: They're focused on doing huge things and failed to gain traction on anything.
Speaker 1: I'm going to change the world.
Speaker 1: They have good intentions, but unreasonable expectations and goals.
Speaker 1: So it's a frustrating place to be because I want to do this thing, but because I won't focus on what's in my hand, I won't focus on what I can do.
Speaker 1: I'm focused on what is beyond me.
Speaker 1: Then, then I end up trying to do it and failing, trying to do it and failing, trying to do it and failing.
Speaker 1: And then there's the second group of avoiders and that's the freezers, the freezers they're so focused on what they cannot do, that they do not do what they can do.
Speaker 1: Hallelujah.
Speaker 1: Again, good intentions.
Speaker 1: None of these people are bad people.
Speaker 1: They're good people with good intentions.
Speaker 1: They want to do what's right.
Speaker 1: They want to make a difference, but they say, well, I can't raise the dead.
Speaker 1: I can't heal the sick.
Speaker 1: I can't save the universe.
Speaker 1: I can't walk on the water.
Speaker 1: So if I can't do those things,
Speaker 3: We,
Speaker 1: We see what we cannot do.
Speaker 1: And so we avoid, or, or instead we just do nothing at all.
Speaker 1: Now I say avoiders and why do I say avoiders?
Speaker 1: Because sometimes we adopt these mentalities and avoid action by attaching to grandiose things or conversely, attaching to impossibilities.
Speaker 1: And we can even put it in spiritual terms.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm called to reach the nations.
Speaker 1: If I had a dollar for every person who's ever told me that they were called to reach the nations, but had never witnessed to their neighbor about Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: I would be a wealthy man living in a very nice home in the mountains or somewhere, but God called me to Toledo, Ohio Sylvania specifically.
Speaker 1: And thank the Lord for that.
Speaker 3: Not fun this morning,
Speaker 1: But people always have, have, have told me for years, I'm called to reach the nations.
Speaker 1: I need you to show up for music.
Speaker 1: Oh, I can't do that because I'm called the reach.
Speaker 1: The nations that's bologna is a Greek word.
Speaker 1: It means, but it's easier to think about making a difference in somebody, in some other nation, in some other world it's someplace far from us someplace removed.
Speaker 1: It's easier to think about making a difference in the neighborhood versus making a difference in my house or making a difference across town versus making a difference on my street or making a difference in another nation versus making a difference right here in our community.
Speaker 1: Making a difference in someone else's church, not making a difference in my own faith family.
Speaker 1: And you might say, well, you're just being mean, no, I'm not being mean I'm not being mean at all because I think the intention behind it all is good.
Speaker 1: I think the intention behind it all is right, but I think it's a, I think it's a complication of what God has called us to do.
Speaker 1: And as he has made it easiest, easy for us to be in the second category of people.
Speaker 1: And instead of the avoiders, we fall into the category of the followers, the followers, people who focus on what Jesus did, and we make an inquiry, an increasing difference in the world around us.
Speaker 1: We're not focused on someplace else.
Speaker 1: We're focused on right here.
Speaker 1: We're focused on what Jesus did and following his examples.
Speaker 1: Jesus led by example and the followers live by the example that he has given us good intention followed by intentional action.
Speaker 1: Relying on God's direction.
Speaker 1: I didn't put that on the screen, but I probably should have given me say that again.
Speaker 1: If you're taking notes, it's good intentions followed by intentional action, relying on God's direction.
Speaker 1: Now we're about to break this down in the next two thoughts.
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to leave you hanging on that and thought number two, is this make a difference wherever you are, make a difference wherever you are.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter where you go.
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter what you do.
Speaker 1: If it's to the nations, then praise God that you're making a difference in the nations, but you will never make a difference in the nation before you make a smaller difference.
Speaker 1: First, a small difference builds upon itself and upon other small differences until suddenly you're making it a larger and larger and larger difference, a larger and larger difference.
Speaker 1: So make a difference wherever you are.
Speaker 1: Most people ask the question, how do I know what to do?
Speaker 1: Because even in a simplified format, it can still feel quite complicated sometimes to know what God's calling you to do in that particular moment.
Speaker 1: And I know people who are seeking the will of God, their entire life.
Speaker 1: And I don't, I hope that they don't die.
Speaker 1: Wondering if they ever knew the will of God, the will of God for your life is make a difference in the place that you're in.
Speaker 1: That's the will of God for your life.
Speaker 1: Here's two guiding statements, statement.
Speaker 1: Number one, do what you know is right today.
Speaker 1: So act on what you know, don't spend it so much time trying to figure out what you don't know that you act, act on what you do know.
Speaker 1: My uncle gave this, this word of wisdom to me many years ago, I was in, in Chicago and we were pastoring a church first pastor at first, the first church that we were the senior pastor of, we were planting the church in Chicago.
Speaker 1: And after about a year there, I called him one day and I said, how do you know what to do?
Speaker 1: Had, I don't know what to do.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to make, you know, 25,000 year plans, 10,000 year plans, 10 year plans.
Speaker 1: Five-year plans.
Speaker 1: How do I know what to do?
Speaker 1: And he said, Micah, sometimes just do what you know is right.
Speaker 1: Yay.
Speaker 1: I was like, Oh, I can do that.
Speaker 1: You can do that.
Speaker 1: Will of God for your life is to do what you know is right today.
Speaker 1: And secondly, do for one, what you wish you could do for all, be an answer to somebody else's prayer do for one person, what you wish you could do for all.
Speaker 1: People think about what Jesus did with every miracle, with every word, with every action Jesus did for one, what he desired to do for all of humanity.
Speaker 1: He gave sight to a blind man and he desired to open the eyes of humanity to who he was a savior.
Speaker 1: His whole goal was to bring sight to all people.
Speaker 1: He raised Lazarus one man from the dead and he desired to give life eternal to all who would believe in him.
Speaker 1: He's doing for one, what he's hoping and wanting and wishing to do for all.
Speaker 1: How about he healed the sick?
Speaker 1: Well by his stuff, stripes, we were healed.
Speaker 1: The scripture says in Isaiah and he he's desiring to bring hope for healing to the whole world he's doing for one, what he wants to do for all.
Speaker 1: He gave a great catch to our fishermen.
Speaker 1: In fact, a couple of times he did that one time.
Speaker 1: He almost sank the boat with the catch and he desires to be the provider for all of humanity.
Speaker 1: How about he cast out devils in someone's life several times through scripture and he desires to offer freedom to all of humanity from sin, from shame, from all oppression, possession, and any other kind of demonic activity.
Speaker 1: He desires that for all of humanity and he did it for one Jesus did for one what he wanted to do for all.
Speaker 1: So see the one and act with intentionality elevate the moment that you're in elevate the situation that you're in, elevate the condition of someone else's life through your prayer, through your words, to your, through your actions.
Speaker 1: It can be super simple.
Speaker 1: The other day, I, I was, we were at Costco and there was, you know, all of Toledo in Costco at the same time.
Speaker 1: And, and so I parked and I was coming back to the door and there was a, there was a, a parking spot that no that was empty.
Speaker 1: And this, this person, this gentleman started to pull into the parking spot and he stopped.
Speaker 1: And I happened to be walking by at the time.
Speaker 1: And I saw why he stopped.
Speaker 1: Somebody had left their cart in the middle of the parking spot.
Speaker 1: Now I learned moving here from Texas, that one of the Cardinal sins of the Midwest is to leave your cart somewhere, not in a cart return.
Speaker 3: I know
Speaker 1: I do not get it to be quite honest with you, but as you just heard, the only really good amen I've gotten today was on that statement right there In Texas.
Speaker 1: We just run over the cart with our truck anyway.
Speaker 3: [inaudible]
Speaker 1: But I saw that.
Speaker 1: And so, and so I went and I got the cart and I put it in the cart exchange cart, return thing.
Speaker 1: And then I just started walking into Costco.
Speaker 1: And I didn't think a thing about it.
Speaker 1: Didn't think another thing about it until this young man came running up next to me and he said, Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: He said, this is what I love about this country.
Speaker 1: I love that everywhere I go, I meet such nice people who will go out of their way to help you.
Speaker 1: I said, where are you from?
Speaker 1: He said, I'm from India.
Speaker 1: He said, I'm a student at university of Toledo.
Speaker 1: I said, man, that is awesome.
Speaker 1: So glad that you're here.
Speaker 1: So glad that you learning.
Speaker 1: He said, I love it.
Speaker 1: I've been in many countries and, and this is the only, this is the nicest country I've ever been in, in, and where people will stop.
Speaker 1: They'll ask you how you're doing the ask you what you need.
Speaker 1: They'll move carts for you.
Speaker 1: They'll do, people will do nice things for you in America.
Speaker 1: And I love America.
Speaker 1: And I said, man, I love America too.
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
Speaker 1: And then I think he wanted to go through Costco.
Speaker 3: [inaudible]
Speaker 1: I love America too, but I'm not sure like you right now.
Speaker 1: So go away.
Speaker 1: I did not say that.
Speaker 1: I was trying to elevate the moment.
Speaker 1: I said, I got to go find my wife and I did.
Speaker 1: She was in there and I was trying to still have a house when we were done with Costco.
Speaker 3: That's a joke.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: So you can move up.
Speaker 1: Uh, you might get a shopping companion, but you can move a cart for somebody and make a difference.
Speaker 1: How about this wiped down the vanity and a bathroom.
Speaker 3: Gentlemen
Speaker 1: Is the vanity have to be flooded like a Lake whenever we use it.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: That's another sermon, but just say saying, wipe it down.
Speaker 1: It's a small thing.
Speaker 1: Give a compliment to someone.
Speaker 1: Listen.
Speaker 1: When other people speak, don't just think about your response.
Speaker 1: Offer a personal prayer.
Speaker 1: I was so blessed the other day when I walked into the building and I saw one lady in our congregation, just standing in the middle of the four-year praying for another lady in our congregation.
Speaker 1: That's a win.
Speaker 1: I heard a testimony about a young man in our church that was at work and, and he, uh, he, he was at work and he saw a customer in a situation.
Speaker 1: He heard about a customer in a situation through their conversation.
Speaker 1: And he just said to him, Hey, can, would you mind stepping over in this room with me here for a moment the customer did so.
Speaker 1: And he said, listen, I don't want to make a deal about this, but I would just, can I pray for you in your situation?
Speaker 1: I believe God can help you.
Speaker 1: And that customer said, would you please?
Speaker 1: And he prayed for him right there.
Speaker 1: That is a moment of elevation in that second praise, the name of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Last one, I'll say on this as be nice In our world today.
Speaker 1: Sometimes that's the thing.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's a thing just to be nice.
Speaker 1: You don't have to say everything you feel about the situation, everything you think about the situation around it, make a difference where you are and you can't make a difference if you're going to be just like everybody else in the moment.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You were designed and created on purpose for a purpose.
Speaker 1: So stop thinking about what you would do if you were someone else, or if you were somewhere else, find opportunities to speak life, to elevate moments where you are and you will find what you're looking for.
Speaker 1: You will make a difference when you identify it, address it.
Speaker 1: The common question is then what if, what I bring to the table is not enough for the moment.
Speaker 1: And that's thought, number three, trust God to make the difference.
Speaker 1: Don't complicate it.
Speaker 1: Make a difference wherever you are and trust God to make the
Speaker 3: Difference,
Speaker 1: Do what you can.
Speaker 1: But you and I both know that there are moments in situations where, what you bring to the table.
Speaker 1: Isn't enough.
Speaker 1: Someone is so hopeless that they're suicidal and there's nothing you can seem to do in that moment.
Speaker 1: So broken that no doctor of any kind can fix the ailment that they're under.
Speaker 1: So afraid that if you were able to put the entire army of the United States of America around them, they still would not feel safe.
Speaker 1: There are those moments in life, and here's where you and I are different than Jesus.
Speaker 1: Jesus took five loaves and two fish and he broke it.
Speaker 1: He blessed it.
Speaker 1: He broke it and he gave it and he kept giving it until it was all given away.
Speaker 1: But, but he multiplied it over and over and over and over.
Speaker 1: And from that very small start, he ended up feeding thousands of people.
Speaker 1: You and I can't give thousands of people, food from five loaves and two fish by ourselves.
Speaker 1: He took two little and he made it more than enough.
Speaker 1: And he can take stuff that's too little and he can make it more than enough.
Speaker 1: He can, he can make that kind of difference.
Speaker 1: But you and I, we, we can't do that by ourselves.
Speaker 1: And so we moved towards avoidance because, because we, we know we can't.
Speaker 1: And so why, why even jump into those waters and be disappointed or jump into those waters and look like a fool and, and offer that prayer nothing happens or, or, or move into that moment and speak that word.
Speaker 1: And you don't know what exactly to say.
Speaker 1: So we move towards avoidance.
Speaker 1: We become grandiose.
Speaker 1: We say, well, I can't make a difference in this situation, but I'm called to make a difference in the nations where we start freezing and say, well, I'm just going to do nothing because more than anything, I don't want to make it worse than it is.
Speaker 1: We work hard to be enough.
Speaker 1: And we avoid areas where we don't feel like our enough can make a difference in a life.
Speaker 1: And here's the reality.
Speaker 1: You probably don't need to write this down because you're going to know it.
Speaker 1: The reality is that you are not enough to make a difference
Speaker 3: On your own.
Speaker 1: You're not enough.
Speaker 1: I'm not enough to make a difference on our own, but here's my question.
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you to raise your hands.
Speaker 1: If you are a believer in Christ Jesus today, would you raise your hand real quick?
Speaker 1: If you're a believer in Christ.
Speaker 1: Jesus,
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 1: For those that don't know if you're a believer in Christ, Jesus, I pray that by the end of this day, you will be.
Speaker 1: But Jesus said, the believer will be able to do more than what he did greater works than he did.
Speaker 1: And this is how he described it.
Speaker 1: John 14, 20.
Speaker 4: He said, when I am raised up to life again, you will know that I am in my father and you are in me.
Speaker 4: And I am in you.
Speaker 4: He said, when I am resurrected that you will know that I'm in the father, I'm in the father.
Speaker 4: I'm indivisible from the father.
Speaker 4: I am so wrapped in the father.
Speaker 4: He said the father and I are one.
Speaker 4: He said, I, you, you can't when you get me, you get the father.
Speaker 4: When you see me, you've seen the father.
Speaker 4: He said, he said, you can't, you can't pull me away from the father.
Speaker 4: And then he says that you are in me.
Speaker 4: It's the same language.
Speaker 4: It's the same terminology you are in me.
Speaker 4: But then he doubles up on it and he says, he never says on the father's in me.
Speaker 4: But he says, you're in me.
Speaker 4: And I am in you, Christie, can you come up here for a second?
Speaker 4: I know you're on, on stuff.
Speaker 4: I don't know what you can and can't leave, but you got to come quickly.
Speaker 4: Cause you're the only person I can do this with, but I'll be in weird.
Speaker 4: Christie's my wife.
Speaker 4: If you don't know, and this is how I picture what Jesus is saying.
Speaker 4: So he said, I am in my father.
Speaker 4: So you're the father right now.
Speaker 4: I know that's weird, but I'm Jesus.
Speaker 4: That's also weird.
Speaker 4: And so put your arms around me.
Speaker 4: You're in the father.
Speaker 4: He said, I'm in the father.
Speaker 4: So this is, this is how I picture that.
Speaker 4: I'm Jesus.
Speaker 4: She's the father.
Speaker 4: I am indivisible from the father.
Speaker 4: He's wrapped around Jesus like this.
Speaker 4: I mean just all in.
Speaker 4: And then he said, you're in me.
Speaker 4: So I'm I'm us now.
Speaker 4: I'm the believer.
Speaker 4: She's she's Jesus.
Speaker 4: You're Jesus.
Speaker 4: Oh, you can go this way.
Speaker 4: And so I'm the believer you're you're in me.
Speaker 4: Well, here's the pro.
Speaker 4: No, she's gotta be the believer.
Speaker 4: So she's the believer.
Speaker 4: Um, th this is not planned, but I think if I can make it, if I can speak English and make this work, it's going to, I hope it'll make the point.
Speaker 4: It's like this.
Speaker 4: So she's the believer.
Speaker 4: I'm Jesus.
Speaker 4: You're in me.
Speaker 4: Just like, just like Jesus is indivisible from the father.
Speaker 4: Suddenly we're indivisible from Jesus.
Speaker 4: But then he turns around and says, and I am in you.
Speaker 4: It's not just that we're wrapped in him.
Speaker 4: We're wrapped in him.
Speaker 4: And he's wrapped in us.
Speaker 4: It's like a double connection in the visible it's Christ in us.
Speaker 4: The hope of glory.
Speaker 4: And suddenly, suddenly he's saying, Hey, you're not by yourself.
Speaker 4: You'd never been by yourself.
Speaker 4: In fact, you can't be by yourself.
Speaker 4: You're indivisible from me.
Speaker 4: There's there's no, there's no change.
Speaker 4: It's no, no one can rip you out of my hands.
Speaker 4: Nobody can separate you from me.
Speaker 4: Life nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come.
Speaker 4: None of it can separate you from the love of God.
Speaker 4: Why?
Speaker 4: Because he is in you and you're in him.
Speaker 4: You're wrapped up in one another.
Speaker 4: Praise, the name of the Lord.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 4: So Jesus is saying to you and me, there's inseparable unity in God.
Speaker 4: For those who believe in him, when you act, God acts, when you speak, God speaks.
Speaker 4: When you work, God works.
Speaker 4: What you do, do what you can do.
Speaker 4: You know, it's not enough and trust God to make the difference.
Speaker 4: The good life is an unreachable goal from the perspective of human achievement, no matter what you achieve in this life, no matter how great you become in this world, no matter how good you try to be, there's always going to be issues.
Speaker 4: There's problems that arise.
Speaker 4: Oh man, there's a lack somewhere.
Speaker 4: There's failures.
Speaker 4: Often life is limited, but when God becomes the covering of your life and you're wrapped in him and he's wrapped in you, then you and I are able to live the good life.
Speaker 4: You live the good life through salvation and the empowering of the Holy spirit.
Speaker 4: Then you share the good life with others as God makes a difference through you.
Speaker 4: Maybe you've been an avoider today.
Speaker 4: In fact, I'm just going to ask you to bow your heads with me right now and close your eyes.
Speaker 4: Maybe you've been in an avoider maybe, or maybe you fall into the failure category in that you've always had such grandiose ideas about doing so many big, big things that you try to get it started.
Speaker 4: It's not that you don't try.
Speaker 4: It's just that it's so big that it, it never gets traction.
Speaker 4: If that's you, I've got hope for you.
Speaker 4: You're being, you are called and God has big stuff for you, but don't despise the day of small things and try to avoid the small successes, the small difference, and get that started in your life and allow it to build on itself.
Speaker 4: Or maybe you find yourself not as a freezer or a failure, but as a freezer focused so heavily on what you can't do, that you never do what you can.
Speaker 4: God's calling you to make a difference today.
Speaker 4: It can be scary, but you are not.
Speaker 4: If you're a believer, Jesus, this is in the father, the father and Jesus is you are in Jesus and Jesus is in you.
Speaker 4: It's an inseparable different inseparable that he's made with you.
Speaker 4: I want to encourage you right now to ask Holy spirit, what are you saying to me in this service?
Speaker 4: What are you calling me to?
Speaker 4: What difference are you calling me to make my eyes just be open Lord Jesus, to opportunity to make a difference in my neighbor's life and my friend's life.
Speaker 4: An opportunity hoard to make a difference in my community.
Speaker 4: Let me not shy away from a small difference in the hope of a bigger, different someday.
Speaker 4: But my step in lean in to the difference that I can make right now and trust you to make the, make the difference between what I can do and what I can do.
Speaker 4: That's where you shine.
Speaker 4: That's where you live.
Speaker 4: I'm praying that a difference will be made in kids' lives right now, which will be made and in family's lives right now, a difference will be made in neighborhoods and on streets and with neighbors and in your, in our community, Lord, we will do what we can and we will trust you to make up the difference with what we can in Jesus name.
Speaker 4: We pray and let everybody say amen.