WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:01.461 Hey, what up? 00:00:01.461 --> 00:00:02.064 It's Mark Carter. 00:00:02.064 --> 00:00:03.327 I'm the pastor of Fierce Church. 00:00:03.327 --> 00:00:04.371 Welcome to our podcast. 00:00:04.371 --> 00:00:06.689 I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today. 00:00:06.689 --> 00:00:16.208 I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you. 00:00:16.208 --> 00:00:17.352 Enjoy the message. 00:00:17.352 --> 00:00:26.068 Sometimes you can't move forward unless you're willing to change. 00:00:26.068 --> 00:00:33.110 Sometimes you can't move forward or you can't progress unless you're willing to make some changes. 00:00:33.110 --> 00:00:36.968 That's what was happening in the lives of the Christians we're going to study today. 00:00:36.968 --> 00:00:38.820 They needed to make some changes. 00:00:38.820 --> 00:00:41.567 They had been in a season really of revival themselves. 00:00:42.090 --> 00:00:43.722 Many people are coming to know Jesus Christ. 00:00:43.722 --> 00:00:44.865 This is the early church. 00:00:44.865 --> 00:01:23.379 Thousands of people, as a matter of fact, have come to know Jesus Christ and yet, because the gospel is so powerful, because it crosses cultural boundaries, lots of different kinds of people are coming to know Jesus Christ and right as things are multiplying, right as things are moving forward, there comes a speed bump and it looks like things either need to change or they're all going to go wrong, because there starts to be tension between believers, and that's a new one that hasn't happened before, and it brings the question okay, jesus said the gospel was for everybody and it is going everywhere, but is it powerful enough to bring two divergent cultures? 00:01:23.379 --> 00:01:25.587 Even though they have a lot of similarities, they're still very different. 00:01:25.587 --> 00:01:30.391 Is it powerful enough to bring them together and override their differences? 00:01:30.391 --> 00:01:35.466 That is the question that is going to be asked the text is asking today and that's what we're going to be looking at. 00:01:36.721 --> 00:01:39.430 There were two groups of Christians that are in this story today. 00:01:39.430 --> 00:01:42.137 Okay, there are the Greek-speaking Jews. 00:01:42.137 --> 00:01:45.990 Okay, so they've come to know Jesus and they're part of the Greek culture. 00:01:45.990 --> 00:01:52.634 They've been around the Roman world and they've experienced all the customs of that realm. 00:01:52.634 --> 00:01:54.587 And then there's the Jewish Jews. 00:01:54.587 --> 00:01:54.968 We'll call them. 00:01:54.968 --> 00:01:57.188 They're the ones that speak Aramaic. 00:01:57.188 --> 00:01:58.743 They're the ones that stuck around Jerusalem. 00:01:58.743 --> 00:02:10.983 They've had their whole lives, they do Jewish things, they speak in Jewish ways and they're coming together now, folks from the they're called the Hellenists in the text. 00:02:10.983 --> 00:02:11.865 They're coming. 00:02:11.865 --> 00:02:15.112 They've probably come home to Jerusalem at some point, and what would often happen is people who are in the Greek culture. 00:02:15.112 --> 00:02:17.686 They would come back home to die in Jerusalem. 00:02:17.686 --> 00:02:26.170 So if perhaps, the husband died and then the wife is there but she doesn't have enough to sustain her the Jewish community, they would take care of those widows. 00:02:26.170 --> 00:02:30.966 Well, the Christians started doing this too, and as they did this, they began to notice some differences. 00:02:31.026 --> 00:02:52.808 Okay, well, there's all these Jews, these Hebrews, that we understand their culture, and then these folks are transporting their culture, and it's not necessarily mingling, we're not necessarily getting it right, and we who are handing out the money or the food to take care of everybody, we don't necessarily remember them, necessarily in the same ways that they want us to all the time, and what happens is they're really overlooking them. 00:02:52.808 --> 00:02:54.012 Ever felt overlooked? 00:02:54.012 --> 00:02:59.532 Ever felt like a little bit, like no, maybe no one's even trying to, but you feel forgotten. 00:02:59.532 --> 00:03:07.913 You feel like maybe somebody, they dismissed you or they didn't include you, or they didn't bother to remember, to remember you, or they heard you, but not really. 00:03:07.913 --> 00:03:09.526 They kind of weren't paying attention or whatever. 00:03:09.526 --> 00:03:14.526 And it's easy for our feelings to get hurt and that's a reality. 00:03:14.526 --> 00:03:19.365 People do overlook us, they do forget about us, and that can be hard. 00:03:19.365 --> 00:03:25.228 And there's also there's probably a negative response to that too, like there's probably a wise, you know we should engage about this. 00:03:25.228 --> 00:03:31.969 There's a negative response where we just start to complain and we just start to grumble, and that's what some of them did in our text today. 00:03:31.969 --> 00:03:34.996 So we're going to take a look at them and we're going to find out. 00:03:34.996 --> 00:03:39.991 Hey, can the body of Christ survive this potential difficulty? 00:03:39.991 --> 00:03:49.014 Relationally, chapter six, verse one Now, in those days, while the disciples were multiplying in number, okay, so things are going good, things are getting better and better and better. 00:03:49.014 --> 00:03:53.133 By the way, you may know or not, last weekend we had a record attendance. 00:03:53.133 --> 00:03:56.663 Our church right now is in a season of growth, so this is very germane to us. 00:03:57.125 --> 00:04:16.009 Right now, while the disciples were multiplying in number, there was grumbling from the Hellenists those are, the Greek-speaking Hebrews and against the Hebrews, the Aramaic-speaking Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food and they were getting sidetracked. 00:04:16.009 --> 00:04:18.033 They were getting distracted. 00:04:18.033 --> 00:04:30.511 See, something is wrong, something's happening wrong and the danger for you and I, because things go wrong for you and I, there's things that we feel left out of or we feel unincluded in, and then we can get focused on the drama we can get focused on. 00:04:30.511 --> 00:04:35.129 I'm having difficulty with this person and it can just become mind absorbing. 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:40.247 Anybody that ever happened to somebody Like you're in a bit of a conflict and you can't think about anything else. 00:04:40.247 --> 00:04:42.266 Like you're trying to get stuff done. 00:04:42.266 --> 00:04:48.983 It's like, yeah, my head keeps going back there. 00:04:48.983 --> 00:04:52.055 I remember years ago there was kind of an elder statesman that came to me in the church and I had been in a conflict with this particular person. 00:04:52.055 --> 00:04:57.742 It was really absorbing me and I was talking to them and others about it and he just pulled me aside he said hey, man, I love you so much. 00:04:57.742 --> 00:04:59.988 You know, I know that this feels heavy. 00:04:59.988 --> 00:05:01.232 I know this is a big deal. 00:05:01.232 --> 00:05:08.184 You've got a lot of other people here that need your help. 00:05:08.184 --> 00:05:10.449 You do not need to have your whole mind focused on this one thing. 00:05:10.449 --> 00:05:12.702 Like can you just trust God with this and move on? 00:05:12.702 --> 00:05:14.788 And sometimes that's what we need to hear. 00:05:14.788 --> 00:05:17.283 Someone needs to tell us this is a distraction, dude. 00:05:17.283 --> 00:05:19.608 Like, yeah, it's important, but it's also a distraction. 00:05:19.608 --> 00:05:21.139 Get back to the main thing. 00:05:21.139 --> 00:05:24.466 And that's what these folks needed to do was get back to the main thing. 00:05:24.505 --> 00:05:26.588 So the 12 summoned the 12, these apostles. 00:05:26.588 --> 00:05:36.713 They summoned the congregation of the disciples and said it is not pleasing to God for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. 00:05:36.713 --> 00:05:38.343 It is not pleasing. 00:05:38.343 --> 00:05:40.634 You hear that Like God wants everybody fed. 00:05:40.634 --> 00:05:44.384 God wants everybody, you know, to be taken care of and he wants everyone to get along. 00:05:44.384 --> 00:05:52.672 And yet they're saying hey, it's not pleasing to God for us to neglect God's word, even to do this, doling out of different things to different people. 00:05:52.812 --> 00:06:00.060 There's organizational difficulties, but even amidst the organizational difficulties, god says the priority is God's word, the priority is the message. 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:02.987 It's the message of Jesus, this is what's changing everybody. 00:06:02.987 --> 00:06:07.033 This is the antidote to the hell virus that is loose in the world. 00:06:07.033 --> 00:06:14.428 And so the apostles they just want to clarify hey guys, now remember, there's thousands of these disciples now, if the apostles are being called in, it's a big deal. 00:06:14.428 --> 00:06:16.648 It's creating quite a ruckus for them to have to come in. 00:06:16.648 --> 00:06:22.226 And they come in and essentially what they're saying is okay, we don't even want to have to come do this anymore. 00:06:22.226 --> 00:06:24.949 This is an organizational thing and we need some people to run it. 00:06:24.949 --> 00:06:26.752 It's important, but it's not the main thing. 00:06:26.752 --> 00:06:30.622 We need to keep doing the main thing, and that's what they do. 00:06:31.463 --> 00:06:43.225 Now I want you to notice something, because there's a value that is kind of like a value in our world, in this text, and that is this value of equity, because we would look at this and say, well, yeah, that is unfair, like, shouldn't they just? 00:06:43.225 --> 00:06:44.827 Shouldn't there be equity for everybody? 00:06:44.827 --> 00:06:46.932 Shouldn't everybody just get the exact same thing? 00:06:46.932 --> 00:06:54.901 Yes, but the way that we talk about equity is not necessarily the same as the way the Bible sees the universe. 00:06:54.901 --> 00:07:01.685 Okay, so, yes, people, we want to take care of people, we want to help people out, but remember some other things that are true about God's word. 00:07:01.685 --> 00:07:11.365 God's word says you, whoever you are, wherever you are on planet earth, you are here on purpose. 00:07:11.365 --> 00:07:15.401 You're right where you are on purpose, like God put you there, and when he put you there, he was asking you to be faithful with what you had, whatever you've got. 00:07:15.401 --> 00:07:22.826 Yes, there's people that have more than you, there's people that have less than you, but wherever you are, whatever you've got, you take your stuff and you be faithful to that right now. 00:07:22.826 --> 00:07:33.048 Now, as you're doing that, you're going to notice there's people that have less than you, and that is supposed to prick your heart, that is supposed to make you feel something for them. 00:07:33.048 --> 00:07:36.209 That is supposed to bring about the best of the kingdom. 00:07:36.209 --> 00:07:40.471 See, our world talks a lot about equity, but the Bible talks about kingdom. 00:07:40.471 --> 00:07:42.848 We've talked about this in the Applause of Heaven series a lot. 00:07:42.848 --> 00:07:44.141 The kingdom of God. 00:07:44.141 --> 00:07:47.891 See, the problem is not that they weren't equitable, it's that they weren't being kingdom. 00:07:47.891 --> 00:07:49.701 See the kingdom. 00:07:49.783 --> 00:07:51.947 People say, oh, this isn't right, I've got. 00:07:51.947 --> 00:07:53.132 Why do I have so much? 00:07:53.132 --> 00:07:54.846 I need to go help this. 00:07:54.846 --> 00:08:00.184 I need to pay attention to them, I'm concerned about them, I'm focused on them, but it's because I fear God. 00:08:00.184 --> 00:08:01.666 That's why I do it. 00:08:01.666 --> 00:08:04.271 That's who's changing my heart to care at all. 00:08:04.271 --> 00:08:05.353 It's not just for the. 00:08:05.353 --> 00:08:12.141 Sometimes our world throws up these incredible values and they say do equity for the sake of equity. 00:08:12.141 --> 00:08:15.052 No, do equity for the sake of the. 00:08:15.052 --> 00:08:16.677 Jesus Christ, who's transforming your heart. 00:08:16.677 --> 00:08:19.584 He's making you a new thing, he's making a living thing. 00:08:19.584 --> 00:08:21.588 So, care and do something. 00:08:21.588 --> 00:08:25.093 But that's very different than legislated. 00:08:25.093 --> 00:08:30.968 Everybody, let's force one another to serve some values that aren't really taking root in the heart. 00:08:30.968 --> 00:08:32.303 It's all about the heart. 00:08:32.303 --> 00:08:33.528 Somebody say amen. 00:08:33.528 --> 00:08:36.928 What we're saying is a kingdom problem needs a kingdom solution. 00:08:36.928 --> 00:08:40.388 A kingdom problem needs a kingdom solution. 00:08:41.751 --> 00:09:04.850 So verse 3, and this pleased the whole congregation they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip Prochorus man. 00:09:04.850 --> 00:09:06.011 I studied even how to say this. 00:09:06.011 --> 00:09:07.014 And Philip Prochorus man. 00:09:07.014 --> 00:09:11.500 I studied even how to say this Nicanor, timon, parmenas and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch. 00:09:11.500 --> 00:09:14.664 A proselyte means he first became a Jew and then became a Christian. 00:09:14.664 --> 00:09:20.493 So what he wants everyone to understand is these are all Greeks. 00:09:20.493 --> 00:09:21.053 These are all Greek folks. 00:09:21.053 --> 00:09:22.998 These are Greek names and they're Greeks because there was a sensitivity. 00:09:22.998 --> 00:09:24.179 It's the Greek folks that were being neglected. 00:09:24.179 --> 00:09:26.845 So let's put people in charge of it that would care the most about this. 00:09:26.845 --> 00:09:29.750 Let's put people in charge that are going to be concerned. 00:09:29.750 --> 00:09:30.452 They're going to feel it. 00:09:30.452 --> 00:09:31.356 Maybe others would overlook it. 00:09:31.356 --> 00:09:32.162 These guys will feel it. 00:09:33.025 --> 00:09:36.738 And the word of God kept spreading and the number of the disciples continued to multiply. 00:09:36.738 --> 00:09:37.620 We're back where we were. 00:09:37.620 --> 00:09:38.551 Now it's multiplying again. 00:09:38.551 --> 00:09:39.211 It was about to stop. 00:09:39.211 --> 00:09:44.759 Now it's multiplying Greatly in Jerusalem and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. 00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:46.120 It keeps increasing, increasing. 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:49.846 And they say the priest because in Luke 22, there was a lot of priests. 00:09:49.846 --> 00:09:51.592 That was recorded by Luke. 00:09:51.592 --> 00:09:56.312 The priests were attempting to put Jesus to death, but now the church keeps multiplying. 00:09:56.312 --> 00:10:01.537 They got back to what they're supposed to be doing and now even the folks that once opposed Jesus, wanting to kill him, now they're like. 00:10:01.958 --> 00:10:10.476 I think this Jesus thing is real, but nevertheless, the lesson remains sometimes we can't grow unless we're willing to change. 00:10:10.476 --> 00:10:12.701 You ever run into some brick walls. 00:10:12.701 --> 00:10:13.991 You ever run into some things in your life. 00:10:13.991 --> 00:10:18.081 It's like there's whatever I do, I can't seem to get out of this. 00:10:18.081 --> 00:10:19.955 I can't seem to get past this problem. 00:10:19.955 --> 00:10:23.451 There's some tension in my life and I can't seem to get around it. 00:10:23.451 --> 00:10:30.378 It may be I'm not saying always, but it may be you may not get around it until you decide it's time to change. 00:10:31.139 --> 00:10:34.673 I just want to encourage you today to be open to that, be open to change. 00:10:34.673 --> 00:10:41.980 Sometimes we can just so easily close down to anything else because we already figured out the best recipe, already figured out the best way, oh, maybe. 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:43.412 But then new problems came along. 00:10:43.412 --> 00:10:53.337 Now you have something else, now there's something new in the equation and God says let's be open to change, because sometimes you can't grow and you can't progress until you're willing to change. 00:10:53.337 --> 00:10:55.625 And so what's happening? 00:10:55.664 --> 00:10:58.716 Well, one, god is faithfully spreading his word, just like he said he would. 00:10:58.716 --> 00:11:10.304 Two, there is this dissension and division, and the gospel, in this text, has the power to override cultural diversity problems. 00:11:10.304 --> 00:11:11.432 You see that? 00:11:11.432 --> 00:11:14.904 See, it's easy in our time to say well, you know what. 00:11:14.904 --> 00:11:16.510 There's just too many differences. 00:11:16.510 --> 00:11:17.212 Let's just separate. 00:11:17.212 --> 00:11:19.139 You go your way and I'll go my way. 00:11:19.500 --> 00:11:25.692 And what we ought to do is look to God's word, because in God's word, the gospel is powerful enough it should be able to if we'll stick with it. 00:11:25.692 --> 00:11:30.842 The gospel is powerful enough to override even our sinful tendencies, if we're open, if we're humble. 00:11:30.842 --> 00:11:36.546 It's powerful enough to unite us in one body of Christ. 00:11:36.546 --> 00:11:37.528 Because why? 00:11:37.528 --> 00:11:38.311 What do you think You're thinking? 00:11:38.311 --> 00:11:41.839 Well, whatever happens, that's my brother and that's my sister. 00:11:41.839 --> 00:11:44.312 Whatever we disagree about, we're one in Christ. 00:11:44.312 --> 00:11:47.658 Man Like, we're the same family, we're going to the same place. 00:11:47.658 --> 00:11:49.442 We've got way more in common than we've got. 00:11:49.442 --> 00:11:54.475 That separates us, and so the gospel breaks through and has that power. 00:11:54.475 --> 00:12:04.953 But we're reminded, yeah, but just so you know for the future, neglecting God's word is a bad idea, and God doesn't want us to, even right here at the start, to forget that. 00:12:04.953 --> 00:12:05.996 I think it's really important. 00:12:05.996 --> 00:12:07.780 I think we need to own this as a church. 00:12:09.264 --> 00:12:18.453 The two crucial things, the two crucial things that are necessary for God's church to operate right and for it to continue to grow, is prayer and the word. 00:12:18.453 --> 00:12:19.336 That's what it is. 00:12:19.336 --> 00:12:22.241 It's not any program, it's not anything online. 00:12:22.241 --> 00:12:23.192 It's not anything. 00:12:23.192 --> 00:12:25.456 All it is is prayer and the word, and what it is. 00:12:25.456 --> 00:12:27.181 There's a preeminence to God's word. 00:12:27.181 --> 00:12:28.605 That's got to come first. 00:12:28.605 --> 00:12:36.711 Whatever else we do, whatever else we do, from here on out, guys, god's word has got to be the very most important thing that we ever do. 00:12:36.711 --> 00:12:37.912 It's God's word that gives life. 00:12:37.912 --> 00:12:45.162 It's God's word that focuses us on and opens us to and teaches us from Jesus himself, and so God's word. 00:12:45.162 --> 00:12:48.086 I mean we don't have anything else. 00:12:48.086 --> 00:12:49.955 We're not that entertaining. 00:12:49.955 --> 00:12:58.510 You guys are pretty good looking, but I'm not, you know, and so there's not much going on here other than what we've really got is God's word, and we've got to get God's word out. 00:12:58.510 --> 00:13:02.259 So, whatever else we do, we got to keep that primary. 00:13:02.701 --> 00:13:09.306 Now, I don't know if you know this, but every week, we take some of the video that's produced from this worship experience and we make other little videos. 00:13:09.306 --> 00:13:11.697 We call them bite-sized sermons and we put those online. 00:13:11.697 --> 00:13:18.799 And we put them online so you can share them with people, meaning this priority of sharing God's word is not just the church's priority. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:20.629 It's to be a priority for us. 00:13:20.629 --> 00:13:21.851 So I want to challenge you. 00:13:21.851 --> 00:13:24.857 If you didn't know about that, I think we've got an image of one of those bite-sized sermons up there. 00:13:24.857 --> 00:13:29.264 So someone in your life you go and you find that video. 00:13:29.264 --> 00:13:32.759 Someone in your life they're working on something Goals seems relevant. 00:13:32.759 --> 00:13:41.537 You say, hey, man, I was thinking about you and you send them that you don't have to put it on their wall necessarily, you can just text it to them. 00:13:41.537 --> 00:13:42.758 You could email it to them channel. 00:13:42.758 --> 00:13:44.780 And you looked at the playlist Bite Size Sermons. 00:13:44.780 --> 00:13:45.741 There's 52 of them right now. 00:13:46.243 --> 00:13:53.533 You would find something that is only about five minutes long that you could share one every week with some friend, because it's a different need that they might be feeling the tension of. 00:13:53.533 --> 00:13:57.230 And then you're sharing God's word and you could use anybody's stuff. 00:13:57.230 --> 00:13:58.211 You could do it at all. 00:13:58.211 --> 00:14:00.777 As long as it's God's word, it will be helpful. 00:14:00.777 --> 00:14:04.946 And what I want to point out is that it's our responsibility Now. 00:14:05.025 --> 00:14:07.832 God's word, god's word changes us. 00:14:07.832 --> 00:14:09.217 That's what happens. 00:14:09.217 --> 00:14:10.524 So we better get used to change. 00:14:10.524 --> 00:14:13.312 We can't be unwilling to change, because God's word is going to change us. 00:14:13.312 --> 00:14:17.702 But also God himself is going to change things. 00:14:17.702 --> 00:14:20.394 He's going to change people in your life. 00:14:20.394 --> 00:14:23.961 He's going to change structures in your life. 00:14:23.961 --> 00:14:26.008 He's going to change what happens in your life. 00:14:26.008 --> 00:14:26.630 He's going to change who in your life. 00:14:26.630 --> 00:14:27.261 He's going to change what happens in your life. 00:14:27.261 --> 00:14:31.520 He's going to change who gets to do what at different times. 00:14:31.520 --> 00:14:37.380 He's going to open up doors for you to do this for a little while and then close them, and then open up doors for you to do this for a little while and then close them. 00:14:37.380 --> 00:14:48.697 God gets to change and that's what he does, and then for these people, they've got a new problem and so they get new leaders and now they have a new change, a new system. 00:14:48.697 --> 00:14:50.758 A new thing is going on in their lives. 00:14:50.950 --> 00:14:52.616 We've had this happen in our church multiple times. 00:14:52.616 --> 00:14:53.890 How many? 00:14:53.890 --> 00:14:54.131 You know? 00:14:54.131 --> 00:14:55.697 Some of you were around during COVID. 00:14:55.697 --> 00:15:01.278 Dude, everything changed at COVID and, like we were informed right away, you are not equipped to minister during COVID. 00:15:01.278 --> 00:15:04.198 You got to, like, catch up quickly in order to be able to do this. 00:15:04.198 --> 00:15:08.057 But you guys know this You've got kids. 00:15:08.057 --> 00:15:10.374 We've got to change with our kids. 00:15:10.374 --> 00:15:17.755 Kids they start one way and you have a certain way you're doing stuff, but as they grow, dude, you've got to change what you're doing because they're changing. 00:15:17.755 --> 00:15:18.136 You know this as a. 00:15:18.136 --> 00:15:33.496 You know if you're married as a couple, you start a certain way and there's certain things that you do and maybe you want to keep doing a lot of those things, but some things have got to change, because you're just getting older and maybe you get wiser, but also different things go wrong or you've got to overcome certain obstacles, and that is just a fact of life. 00:15:33.496 --> 00:15:38.178 That is just going to happen, and so we're going to change as we grow. 00:15:38.769 --> 00:15:41.596 I bring this up also just to let everybody know. 00:15:41.596 --> 00:15:51.080 We as a church, as we've been praying and fasting, I mean, one of the things we're doing is saying God, how do you want us to change over the next 15 years? 00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:59.884 Or how do you want us to reapportion, or how do you want us to rethink about something, or is something going to happen in the world that you want us to just adjust in this way? 00:15:59.884 --> 00:16:01.448 And so we're thinking about that. 00:16:01.448 --> 00:16:02.110 We're praying about that. 00:16:02.110 --> 00:16:05.379 Today you're going to receive an email. 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:07.913 You can also go off the QR code that we're going to put on the screen. 00:16:08.235 --> 00:16:18.221 It's going to bring you to a survey and this is for you to go through and answer questions about our church that we've been asking during this month of prayer and fasting. 00:16:18.221 --> 00:16:19.083 Some things you're going to find. 00:16:19.083 --> 00:16:23.836 You're going to find a section about who are we supposed to be being. 00:16:23.836 --> 00:16:26.441 Who are we supposed to be being? 00:16:26.441 --> 00:16:30.235 I don't know if you know this, but churches have personality types, just like people do. 00:16:30.235 --> 00:16:47.666 There's a lot of different kinds, but the staff and the elders have whittled it down to just a few and we're asking you to go in and look at those and I'm going to describe them to you and you can tell us hey, this is how I experience this, and the reason we're doing that is because we're probably going to keep being who we've been most of the time, right, like you're not going to become a different person overnight. 00:16:47.666 --> 00:16:51.355 Whatever changes are coming for you, you're still going to be you, doing it. 00:16:51.355 --> 00:16:53.500 And so we want our church to weigh in. 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:57.360 Hey, here's who I think we are, because it might influence the things we do in the future. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:05.321 We probably want to work from skill sets, and so some of those things are what problems are we built to solve? 00:17:05.942 --> 00:17:08.412 One personality is called spiritual formation, meaning, these are churches. 00:17:08.412 --> 00:17:13.323 They really care about getting people to progress toward Jesus and grow. 00:17:13.323 --> 00:17:17.811 So you think about discipleship type stuff, you think about the Grove, you think about Bible classes. 00:17:17.811 --> 00:17:19.804 You think about prayer classes, you think about parenting classes. 00:17:19.804 --> 00:17:24.141 These churches, they want people to get more of it so they can have more Jesus. 00:17:24.141 --> 00:17:27.471 There's also a personality type of authentic community. 00:17:27.471 --> 00:17:36.000 These folks are very concerned that everyone feels like this is family, like I'm meeting people that know me and love me and I'm able to love and use my gifts. 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.316 But there's a transparency, there's a realness to it. 00:17:39.641 --> 00:17:46.221 Other churches have a specific people group that they're trying to reach, meaning God raised them up in the world just to reach this particular kind of person. 00:17:46.221 --> 00:17:51.357 They'll reach everybody else too, but for some reason there's a burden on their heart to reach this person. 00:17:51.357 --> 00:17:53.044 Have you experienced fierce like that in any way? 00:17:53.044 --> 00:17:55.310 What about spiritual refuge? 00:17:55.310 --> 00:17:56.032 Some have shared with me. 00:17:56.032 --> 00:17:58.480 You know fierce has kind of been a spiritual refuge for us. 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:07.684 Like we came out of some hard stuff and then we came here and some things were put back together by the spirit of God and so that could be part of our personality. 00:18:07.684 --> 00:18:10.779 Or maybe you might experience presence manifestation. 00:18:10.779 --> 00:18:12.798 That's churches with that personality. 00:18:12.798 --> 00:18:21.258 They very much care that people are encountering the presence of God and the sense that God is here and God is a real person and the spirit of God is someone you can walk and talk with. 00:18:21.258 --> 00:18:25.374 Now we're probably a combo of those, so don't feel like you got to just have one. 00:18:25.374 --> 00:18:28.863 Okay, just like you and I, we're combinations of different personality type things. 00:18:29.691 --> 00:18:32.359 But while you're taking that survey, do me a favor and pick your top two. 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:33.393 What are the two that you think? 00:18:33.393 --> 00:18:38.560 Yeah, but really this Like if I could only do one or two, what are those two? 00:18:38.560 --> 00:18:49.237 So that's one that we're doing, but there's also going to be questions about what is the story that God is writing through us over the next 15 years, given who we are. 00:18:49.237 --> 00:18:51.298 What is the story that he's writing? 00:18:51.298 --> 00:18:58.583 Here's some things that we've been talking about for the past few months, largely in response to the fasting that came before this and the fasting that's been happening now. 00:18:58.583 --> 00:19:00.403 Are we supposed to plant more churches? 00:19:00.403 --> 00:19:03.932 Yes, is that something you have felt as you print? 00:19:03.932 --> 00:19:05.896 Fast would be God's heart for us? 00:19:05.896 --> 00:19:07.932 Is that the story in the future that he wrote about us? 00:19:08.845 --> 00:19:15.778 We talked a lot about reaching Generation Z through lots of digital media like podcasts and videos and whatever else. 00:19:15.778 --> 00:19:23.699 Tech is invented, and to do a lot of that, we probably need to invest some kind of money in a broadcast studio to do that to the degree that we've been talking about. 00:19:23.699 --> 00:19:29.730 Or maybe are we supposed to think about we've talked about changing this building or adding this building over the years. 00:19:29.730 --> 00:19:34.953 Are we supposed to create more of a community life center where more of the community can come in and be with us? 00:19:34.953 --> 00:19:44.628 Maybe there's playgrounds, maybe there's an arcade, maybe there's other stuff, maybe there's a coffee shop, maybe there's just something that is more community focused, so it becomes a third space for the community. 00:19:44.709 --> 00:19:47.232 What do you think about that for your church? 00:19:47.232 --> 00:19:50.298 What about a life and leadership academy? 00:19:50.298 --> 00:19:51.839 Is there something about us? 00:19:51.839 --> 00:20:01.417 We've talked about training up people, not only in discipleship but then into leadership, so that they can use their be missional, missionary or vocational missionaries. 00:20:01.417 --> 00:20:07.334 Wherever it is they work, they're bringing the gospel, they're bringing Jesus, they're bringing those things into their real life. 00:20:07.334 --> 00:20:08.863 Or maybe it's a food pantry. 00:20:08.863 --> 00:20:11.190 Maybe there's something that God has been laying on your heart about? 00:20:11.190 --> 00:20:12.493 Hey, yeah, I think there's. 00:20:12.493 --> 00:20:20.567 While Gray's Lake is doing pretty well most of the time, there's people within 10 minutes that often have very deep need, and so we could be a resource for that. 00:20:20.567 --> 00:20:23.791 I don't know what God has been laying on your heart for the past few weeks. 00:20:23.791 --> 00:20:27.237 But if anything, feel free to take that survey and write that down. 00:20:28.198 --> 00:20:29.881 Can we see that QR code again, ellie? 00:20:29.881 --> 00:20:32.990 I just want to make sure everyone knows how to do this. 00:20:32.990 --> 00:20:34.615 Okay, see that fuzzy looking thing. 00:20:34.615 --> 00:20:36.834 Okay, if you don't know what this is, that's the QR code. 00:20:36.834 --> 00:20:47.769 You open up your camera and then you point the camera Don't take a picture Point the camera at it and then it'll bring up a little URL and then you can click on that URL and you'll go to the survey. 00:20:47.769 --> 00:20:50.876 If you can't do that for some reason, one you could probably ask somebody. 00:20:50.876 --> 00:20:54.932 But if you can't do that, you can also just go to our website, fiercechurch. 00:20:54.932 --> 00:20:57.116 There's a little 15-year vision tab. 00:20:57.116 --> 00:21:00.587 Click on that and on the next page you'll see the tab to go take the survey. 00:21:01.308 --> 00:21:02.630 Sound like a deal, guys? 00:21:02.630 --> 00:21:07.554 This is where, as a church, we come together and we say what is the Spirit of God saying among the people? 00:21:07.554 --> 00:21:08.275 Let's find out. 00:21:08.275 --> 00:21:08.955 Does that sound fun? 00:21:08.955 --> 00:21:10.257 Sounds fun to me. 00:21:10.257 --> 00:21:25.670 Now, whatever we do, whatever we do, whoever we are, whatever we do, god is going to require change, but the best changes are going to come about when we are deciding to change into the best version of the people we're supposed to be. 00:21:25.670 --> 00:21:26.490 Say that a little bit differently. 00:21:26.490 --> 00:21:27.571 Do you remember who they picked? 00:21:27.571 --> 00:21:36.441 They picked people of great reputation, full of the spirit and full of wisdom, whatever changes, whether it's here at church or in your life. 00:21:36.441 --> 00:21:44.075 How many think if you just added a whole bunch more spirit and a whole bunch more wisdom, that might go better than without it? 00:21:44.075 --> 00:21:45.317 You think that's possible? 00:21:45.317 --> 00:21:49.069 Well, I think so too, and so let's end the message talking about that. 00:21:50.452 --> 00:21:55.794 Now, when we talk about change, let's just remember we're not asking do you like all the changes? 00:21:55.794 --> 00:21:58.604 That's really not a profitable question. 00:21:58.604 --> 00:22:01.673 Necessarily, most of the time the question is not oh, do I like this change? 00:22:01.673 --> 00:22:04.107 Often, people ask that when there's a change, do I like this change? 00:22:04.107 --> 00:22:12.673 Hey, I care whether you like it or not, but the question you really ought to be asking is how is God inviting me to react to him in this change? 00:22:12.673 --> 00:22:14.867 How has he invited me to grow in this change? 00:22:14.867 --> 00:22:20.747 If God is forcing a change into my life and God does how is he asking me to grow as I go through this? 00:22:20.747 --> 00:22:23.573 One is your reputation. 00:22:23.573 --> 00:22:26.499 He can keep elevating that to go better and better. 00:22:28.046 --> 00:22:29.210 I want to speak to the discouraged people. 00:22:29.210 --> 00:22:35.230 Your reputation can change, the way people understand you can change. 00:22:35.230 --> 00:22:41.666 You might feel really bad about some things that went wrong or some things that got away from you and you just feel like everyone sees you a certain way. 00:22:41.666 --> 00:22:44.974 By the grace of God, it takes time, it doesn't just happen overnight. 00:22:44.974 --> 00:22:46.489 You got to kind of like earn it. 00:22:46.489 --> 00:22:47.996 But reputations can change. 00:22:48.458 --> 00:22:56.150 And I want to clarify we're not talking about you know, galatians 1.10 says that we're not to be people pleasers, because if we are, we're not even really servants of God. 00:22:56.150 --> 00:22:56.913 We're really serving them. 00:22:56.913 --> 00:22:58.624 We're not talking about people pleasing. 00:22:58.624 --> 00:23:07.307 We're talking about having a trustworthiness, having a sense of people think what they can predict, what they're going to get from us, and they think it's positive. 00:23:07.307 --> 00:23:17.307 So every time you and I fulfill our word to somebody, we put a little trust nickel in their trust bank and every time we don't fulfill a word we pull it out. 00:23:17.307 --> 00:23:26.397 Sometimes we've just done enough disappointing of people because we didn't complete our word, we didn't show up, we didn't do the thing we said we're going to do. 00:23:26.397 --> 00:23:28.125 If we wouldn't have said anything, it wouldn't have been a big deal. 00:23:28.125 --> 00:23:31.192 But we said we were going to do it and then we didn't. 00:23:31.192 --> 00:23:34.186 That's a reputation that you and I might have. 00:23:34.587 --> 00:23:37.634 God wants us to have the kind of reputation because of Jesus. 00:23:37.634 --> 00:23:39.286 Their yes is yes and their no is no. 00:23:39.286 --> 00:23:40.768 They're predictable people. 00:23:40.768 --> 00:23:41.930 They're predictable with not only their word. 00:23:41.930 --> 00:23:43.853 They're predictable with not only their word. 00:23:43.853 --> 00:23:44.473 They're predictable. 00:23:44.473 --> 00:23:45.876 You kind of get to know what they can do. 00:23:45.876 --> 00:24:01.471 See, it's interesting to me they picked the seven people that they picked, probably because, out of all those people they could have picked, they're like I think not only are these guys full of wisdom and full of the spirit, I think that they would be good at this Like there's something about them because they only put them in charge of that task. 00:24:01.471 --> 00:24:02.553 I don't know if you noticed that in the text. 00:24:02.553 --> 00:24:04.234 They put them in charge of that task. 00:24:04.234 --> 00:24:06.737 It wasn't like these folks were in charge of everything from there on out. 00:24:06.737 --> 00:24:10.240 They said these guys are going to be good at this, so let's put them in front of it. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:13.808 What that means is guys, what are you good at? 00:24:13.808 --> 00:24:15.894 You want a reputation for being good at that. 00:24:15.894 --> 00:24:21.309 Sometimes we want to be good at eight things that other people are good at, and we need to narrow that focus. 00:24:21.309 --> 00:24:25.315 Pick the three that you're good at, because that's probably what God wants you to do. 00:24:26.175 --> 00:24:30.448 And, as you're faithful meaning that you don't jump out there you don't say, hey, everybody, look at me, I can do this. 00:24:30.448 --> 00:24:34.605 Sometimes you have to inform people of that just to give them an understanding. 00:24:34.605 --> 00:24:40.053 But most of the time when we jump out and, oh, look at me, god is going to oppose that dude. 00:24:40.053 --> 00:24:41.294 That's self-promotion. 00:24:41.294 --> 00:24:45.940 He's going to say, great, go to the back of the table and I'll raise you up when I'm ready. 00:24:45.940 --> 00:24:52.112 You take the last place and I'll make sure you get where you're supposed to get. 00:24:52.112 --> 00:24:53.156 But that doesn't mean don't crush it right now. 00:24:53.156 --> 00:24:54.000 That doesn't mean don't be great at it. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:55.224 You should be great at it, dude. 00:24:55.224 --> 00:24:56.626 Rock it, crush it, do it. 00:24:56.626 --> 00:25:02.113 And as we do that, god will continue to give us favor with God and people. 00:25:02.113 --> 00:25:07.318 Not that we care about the favor of people, because we're not supposed to, but God can still use that as he used it with these folks. 00:25:08.599 --> 00:25:14.194 What would it be like if, over the next two, three years, god just really added to your reputation? 00:25:14.194 --> 00:25:21.507 People saw you as a person of integrity, they saw you as a person and I can always count on them, and even when something goes wrong, they'll tell you about it? 00:25:21.507 --> 00:25:28.599 What about spirit being understood as a person who's full of the spirit? 00:25:28.599 --> 00:25:32.032 Again, it's not for the praise of people, it's just for the profit of the kingdom. 00:25:32.032 --> 00:25:35.911 I love it that you don't have to be like a preacher in this text. 00:25:35.911 --> 00:25:37.074 They didn't pick any preachers. 00:25:37.074 --> 00:25:38.346 They didn't pick anybody. 00:25:38.346 --> 00:25:41.194 They were like well, because they're one of the leadership people, let's just pick them. 00:25:41.194 --> 00:25:44.067 They just picked people that were full of the spirit. 00:25:44.067 --> 00:25:46.429 I want to challenge leaders in the room, as you're looking for people. 00:25:46.429 --> 00:25:47.871 Make that at the top of your list. 00:25:48.550 --> 00:25:49.612 How full of the Spirit of God? 00:25:49.612 --> 00:25:58.259 That means how close Do you get the sense that they're close to him, that they're listening to him, that they care what he thinks, that they're being slowly transformed more and more like Jesus, like when they're around. 00:25:58.259 --> 00:25:59.221 Jesus is in the room. 00:25:59.221 --> 00:26:00.001 Because they care. 00:26:00.001 --> 00:26:04.596 They care what Jesus thinks, they're trying to get closer to him. 00:26:04.596 --> 00:26:06.042 They're full of the spirit. 00:26:06.284 --> 00:26:08.570 And when you're full of the spirit let me give you a hint it's not an emotional thing. 00:26:08.570 --> 00:26:09.885 When you're full of the spirit. 00:26:09.885 --> 00:26:12.833 Here's the proof, here's the way people can tell. 00:26:12.833 --> 00:26:23.509 It's because when you're around, it's easier and easier to be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. 00:26:23.509 --> 00:26:24.731 There's something about them. 00:26:24.731 --> 00:26:28.169 Jesus is ruling them deeper and more. 00:26:28.169 --> 00:26:32.946 And if you're growing in the Spirit, you're finding like I'm weirdly more patient right now. 00:26:32.946 --> 00:26:37.505 I don't know why this person is an absolute idiot and yet I have grace for them. 00:26:37.505 --> 00:26:38.465 I don't know why I love them. 00:26:38.465 --> 00:26:39.146 I don't know. 00:26:39.146 --> 00:26:39.667 I don't get it. 00:26:39.667 --> 00:26:42.672 That's because the Spirit of God is moving in you. 00:26:42.672 --> 00:26:47.176 You're close to the Spirit and he's giving you the love of God for that person. 00:26:47.176 --> 00:26:48.739 Amen. 00:26:50.080 --> 00:26:50.421 What do we do? 00:26:50.421 --> 00:26:52.029 Well, if we're going to have more of the Spirit, we've got to ask. 00:26:52.029 --> 00:26:54.691 You've got to ask Luke 11, 13. 00:26:54.691 --> 00:26:58.353 The Father gives more of the Spirit to those who ask. 00:26:58.353 --> 00:27:02.596 We have to abide Colossians 3, 16. 00:27:02.596 --> 00:27:04.548 We have to obey and we have to dude. 00:27:04.548 --> 00:27:05.090 We just have to. 00:27:05.090 --> 00:27:12.246