Digging Ditches P2

Pastor Zach Whitehead

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Well hey guys, welcome welcome to midweek. Um I do apologize about having tennis shoes on. Uh I had a had a I had a worn-out camo t-shirt on too. It looked like a bum. We were going to the cardiologist for a hand and uh got a phone call that her grandpa was in a really bad accident, so we hauled butt from there, turned around and went to Gonzales. Um so he is good. He every everything's good, absolute miracle. Um Lady blew through a light, doing like 70. Uh he was going on airlines, she was crossing over in Sorrento and like destroyed this passenger side of the car. And he has a mobility scooter, and uh the guy that the the guy that uh his truck got struck by the mobility scooter, he said it was just flying through the air and looked like a meteor coming down on the front of his truck. So um for for Papa to walk away from it. Um doctors like I've seen people not walk away from worse. Um absolute miracle. We're thankful for God's hand of protection on that. Um and so I saw we we drove we drove straight in because last time we came on Tuesday, uh Bat Drew's traffic decided it want to have it split personality and be on the bad side. And so it took almost two hours and 15 minutes. So we just we we just like uh he uh we made it to the kids at like five there in Grammar City, and then we just took off. So we made it a little early. I was like, oh good, I have time to go buy a shirt with a collar, but I was like, oh man, I look at my shoes. I was like, I look like a bum, so just ignore my feet. Um so uh what we talked a little bit about uh on last last midweek kind of just give you an idea of of where at least my head's at and my heart's at. Um, that Sundays, uh Sundays we're gonna talk about um biblical principle, but also uh re-centering and refocusing and and and and and shifting all of that uh from biblical perspective. And then we're explaining Tuesdays, like where does this go? So, you know, here's all these wonderful principles, wonderful ideas, but like how do you put that in practicality, right? A lot of times we hear we hear great great preaching, great teaching, and then it's like, okay, in the reality of things, how in the world do I do that? How does the church apply that? How do I apply that? And so the idea is just keep that in tandem. So what we talk about Sunday, in a sense, we'll talk about on Tuesday, not that I'm repurposing a sermon just for time's sake, but we're gonna talk about the practicality of things. And so uh we talked a little bit about it last week, kind of introduced the idea of digging the ditches. Um I read that that the that set of scriptures out of 2 Kings. If you could throw that up for me, I know you might have to get it for uh, but that's 2 Kings 3, 16 through 20. I didn't send you the scripture, I sent you the thing that had the scripture title on it. That's my bad. But um This is where Elijah is talking to the people, and he said, uh, thus saith the Lord, make the valley full of ditches. Wow, prophet, like that sounds why am I supposed to go dig ditches? And so he ex he keeps going, he says, For thus saith the Lord, you shall not see wind, uh, you neither shall see rain, and that valley shall be filled with water, uh, that ye may drink, both ye and your cattle. So you and your families are gonna be taken care of, but all that other stuff, because remember, they're an agricultural society. This is their wealth, this is their assets, this is how they live off of that, whether they eat the cattle or they trade the cattle, all that kind of stuff, your beasts. Everything's gonna be taken care of, is what God's saying. But the and this is but a light inside of the Lord, and he will deliver you the Moabites also into your hand, and you shall smite every fenced city, so every walled city, everything that you come up against, and every choice city, meaning not just the little tribal towns, but also the ones where there's great wealth, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all the wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stone. And then it came to pass in the morning, uh, when the meat offering was offered, and behold, there came the water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. So it seems kind of impractical first what the prophet says, right? But sometimes what God's asking us to do is by spiritual principle, but also biblical pattern, because you can go through scripture and dig this out a lot, that we prepare before God does the miracle. Like oftentimes we pray for miracles, we pray for growth, we pray for increase, we pray for all this stuff, but what God's answer in return probably isn't always the one we want. You know, we pray for expansion, we pray for growth, and we assume in our flow of thinking, you know, people are just gonna flow in the back door so they're standing room only. Would be great, but God has foresight to see if I send you all these people, can you contain all that? Can you taint all the problems and the issues that come with that? Not just what people have going on in the world, but God also thinks logistics. He thinks of everything. He's God, right? So this isn't just gonna be another Bible study, it's gonna be a conversation. There's gonna be some answering. Remember, last week, um, had you guys holler out some answers and might actually have some little workshoppy here and there. But over the next several months, uh, I don't know if it's that weeks, several months, we're just gonna go on the trip together and land. Um, I want Sunday mornings and Tuesday nights to work together. So again, Sunday is gonna answer what's God's heart, and we'll preach that that idea of looking through the lens of the Lamb, um, and then allow scripture to reshape how we see God ourselves and others. And then Tuesday will answer how do we prepare for what God wants us to do. So if Sunday's about revelation, Tuesday is gonna be about preparation, and if Sunday gives us conviction, Tuesday is gonna help us build channels for that conviction to flow into ministry. Does it make sense? And again, this is that foundational scripture from 2 Kings 3, 16. Um, you guys are probably gonna memorize this section of scripture by the time we're done with it, and that's good. We need to. Uh Israel needed water, and God could have simply sent rain, but instead he gave them a command. Make the valley full of ditches. And I don't know about you. I've dug, I uh I I've I've expanded ditches before, I've had to clean out ditches before, I've had to make them deeper, get junk out of them. I've also, you know, digging trenches for like conduit for houses and stuff. It's not fun work. And so I I can imagine, you know, it's one thing you have to like dig the conduit, uh, dig the ditch for the conduit, laying it so you can go and put up the poles so you can put up a new house, right? Like there's a I know this has to happen. It's not fun, and I'm gonna probably get a couple blisters and my calluses are gonna grow and I'm gonna be hot and sweaty. But at the end of it, I know the product that's gonna be there. I know, I know that's gonna, it's gonna be right where it needs to be. Everything's got the hookup and the house. Well, God gives us something different. He says, go, there's not a sign of rain, and go dig ditches. So you're gonna go dig a ditch and you're gonna get hot and sweaty, and you're gonna want the water that should theoretically flow in that ditch. But hey, guess what? It's not there yet. And um, to me, sometimes it's harder to work towards things that I can't see. I don't know about you, but sometimes it's harder to work towards those things. But the miracle wasn't just the water. Again, remember, miracles are about revelation. Miracles are about bringing something more. The miracle included the preparation. It's sliding down my face. That's what that noise is. The miracle was about the preparation. God expected faith before he gave provision. God expected faith. And remember, faith without, what does the Bible say? Faith without works. Sometimes it's a practical thing. Sometimes it is digging ditches, sometimes it's other things. Faith, uh, God expected faith before provision. So there had to be some buy-in. God's full well capable of fulfilling all of his promises. But oftentimes God asks us to do our part. Remember, that's what covenant is. A covenant is an agreement. And so whether it was a marriage covenant or a business covenant, it all kind of fell in the same lane. Those two parties had something to do together. That party at Party A had to fulfill their part, and party B had to fulfill their part. And even though in the Abraham the Abrahamic covenant, God took on both parts of it. That was about the dead of sin and all that other stuff. But he still asked Abraham to do things. He still, and so if he modeled that with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the way down the line, we still live in that same vein. God's going to ask us to do our part in it. So this is the big idea. We can't manufacture revival. That's a bunch of baloney. Um, what that is, if you manufacture revival, all you're doing is just really curating a big event. I don't want that. I don't think you want that either. I don't think God will, I definitely don't think God wants that. We can, we can we can do big events, and there's big events that happen all around in churches, not in churches, this, that, and other. And I don't think we just need another big event or just another, hey, that's the that's the thing, and another conference. Not that conferences are wrong, not that big events are bad. I think the purpose and intention of what happens afterwards is just as important. But here's what we always can do is that we can prepare the room for revival. We can prepare the room for increase and growth. God brings the water, always. God brings the water, but we dig the channels. God will bring the flow, God will bring the increase, God will bring all that stuff, but we have to be able to have the channels in place for that water to flow into, to direct to the right places, that stays a little bit longer here. So this part might be have to be a little bit deeper to get them prepared for whatever the next channel is as it moves on and forward. So let's talk about this for a little bit. We want to think about this. So here's the vision of the idea. Our church is the valley that talks about in the scripture, right? I'm just gonna run it parallel to 2 Kings. Okay, so there the prophet comes, they're in the valley, and so they have to, the valley is where the people live, that's where all the animals are, that's where the life, their livelihood is, and so our church is that valley. Just running it parallel. God's spirit is the living water, and the ditches are intentional channels, channel intentional channels we prepared for his work to flow. Healthy churches do not happen accidentally. I wish they did, because then it would make church growth a lot easier. But as our bodies too are really hard to cultivate health in, and it takes work and discipline and intentionality, churches are the same way. They're intentionally prepared. And so God asks asks again, he's asking the church, the valley, to prepare for the increase in the flow. So this is what I well, I kind of want to walk through it a little bit first so you get the idea of what I'm talking about. Um in my mind, and uh just in prayer, I kind of touched on these Sundays. So again, what happens Sunday? Reflect on these, just been on my heart and my spirit. I think there's six primary channels that we have to start establishing first. This will be where that inflow of water comes from. Okay. Um these aren't ministries, these are just going to be major channels of discipleship that healthy houses. We talked about these are the six, the the I think it was, yeah, it was six. These are six things that healthy houses um are composed of. It's the six things that we prayed for uh and over at altar call uh on Sunday. But these are the major channels in which discipleship flow through, and everything we build will fit underneath each of these. Um and so the first one, uh the first one's marriage. I I believe that healthy houses, and again, talking about not just houses like my house or your house, this house, this house is gonna have to be built on healthy marriages. If if if a marriage is the physical example and the visual illustration of what we have of what Christ's relationship to the church is, then this marriage, my marriage, has to reflect that. The marriages in the house have to reflect that. Because there's gonna be people coming here who don't have healthy marriages. There's gonna be people in here who come in struggling, their marriage might be on the brink of divorce, um, they're they they're home they may have an okay marriage, but their their home is is out of whack and out of order. But here's the thing healthy home strength in healthy churches. If there's healthy homes, it often reflects in the health of the church. So here's some questions to think about. What it would it look like if our church became known for healthy marriages? That would this wasn't just a place that you came to meet God, but it's a place you know that you could you could come in if you had problems, you had things going on in your world, you had issues in your marriage, might be on the rocks, and you were looking for an answer. What would happen if somebody was having a casual conversation with somebody else and they're saying, I don't know, I don't know if my husband still loves me, I don't know what's going on in my marriage, and you can answer, or somebody, because they heard by proxy say, I know a place that you can go, and they'll help you. What would that what would that look like? And and and so in saying that, so for that idea, we just have to start thinking, okay, if that's what we want to be known for, what should exist but currently doesn't. Not that we've failed in any manner of way, but now that we have now that we have a direction to say, okay, God, if you want this to be a healthy house, a marriage is a part of a healthy house, what do I need to do? First off, in my marriage, and then also what needs to be present in the house to help support that. Okay, that second channel, um, I would say would be children. Children, the kids that are not here, it's not babysitting. I don't, I am thankful for for for nurseries, I'm thankful for people who um who help with that. But again, these are those are future disciples. And discipleship uh at a biblical level started when they were little. I mean, what is Deuteronomy 6? We know we say, Hero is of the Lord our God is one. But as it continues and they talk about that more, they talk about telling the children day in and day out. They write on the doorpost their house and keep it as front lip between their eyes. And you know, you could read we keep going down the scripture. That was that's that discipleship started small. They would stand around, that would be their dinner table talk. That's what they would they would focus on. So, so Sunday school isn't the only one tributary, uh isn't the only tributary for it. So you got again start thinking questions for that, okay. If 50 new children came to church next Sunday, besides Kelly, probably having a small panic attack, what else would happen? And let's be real honest. That that I mean having having enough Sunday school teachers and helpers is just one part of a very complex issue. Just one part. Because you've got to think about where they're all gonna sit. Do we divide it up by certain age groups? How do we divide those age groups? What do we teach them? How do we assess where they're at in their walk with Christ? You see what I'm saying? There's there's so much. And when you think about those what those six channels are, and then what do we need to improve? What do we need to what do we need to start? What do we need to stop? What do we need to improve on all those things? Um, and so keep going down the channel list. The third one would be prodigals. We don't we don't need to just simply pray for prodigals, but we need to prepare pathways home. You hear me? We need to prepare pathways home. When when when Jesus spoke the parable of the prodigal son, there was intentionality of the father. If the father met the son at the gate, you have to also read what's not on the page. The father had to either be in proximity where he could see the son coming home. So either he was watching through the window or he was he was outside already waiting. And so we need to we have to make those pathways for for prodigals to come home, whatever their situation, whatever their circumstance, whatever they've done wrong, no matter how far they've strayed away from God, is that we make those pathways home. What does that look like? What is again, how do we assess where they're at? How do we assess what their needs are, um, both physically and spiritually? So um again, questions to think about what makes it easy for someone to return? What makes an easy pathway for someone to return? But also conversely, what makes it, what unintentionally makes it difficult? These are the kind of things that God, I really feel like God's trying to get us to wrap our minds around because again, this is the inflow where God sends the water. And if God sends the water, if he sends it in through marriages, if he sends it through children, if he sends it through prodigals, where does it go from there? Where does it direct? How do we make sure that it goes to the right place? How do we make sure that we have people along the way to take care of that? The next one I really believe is shepherds and leaders. Healthy churches just don't have shepherds, they multiply shepherds, they multiply leaders, they grow and develop leaders. Here's what I've I've I've I've found over, again, I know I'm not, I know I'm not I'm not very old, but what I've I've found over the years is oftentimes churches will pray for leaders to come into the church, which we should do, but very often God's answer is I've already given you what you need. Healthy leaders don't just show up all the time, okay? Oftentimes they have to be developed. And because because convert what what happens if they do show up, they don't know the heart of the house. They don't know our ways, they don't know what our intentionalities are, they don't know all that stuff. And so oftentimes the skills and the things they've learned take a while to adapt from where they're coming from, whether it's from you know a business or a corporate setting or another church, uh, a different church culture, they have to adapt to the house. But many times some of the best leaders I've ever seen are ones that are developed in the church, that are developed in the house, that maybe came through another channel, another way, that they came in because they were a prodigal or their marriage was on the rocks. But take someone who came in and their marriage was on the rocks and they were put, they they found the right path, they that we helped them find the right path in the right way through our church that eventually they became leaders in a marriage group. They became leaders that helped other marriages because we helped them find healing in their marriage. You see where you see where this is going? Some of the best leaders are kids who are who are raised in the church, who know from from uh whether their family entered, entered in, uh, entered into the body and and and found Christ somewhere along the way as they were growing up or they were born here. Um, some of the best leaders are the ones that are already in the house. And many people have talents, gifting abilities that God is simply waiting on my role, my role, but also other roles of leaders to call out. Jesus called out many talents in people. He spoke to many great things in people, and he's asking us to do the same. If we see kids that have musical aptitude, call it out. God put it in their heart. And so even if they're just in abandoned school, the same musical principles and theories apply to what we do here. Oftentimes being in band in school is one of the great best places to start. I know for me it helped me understand music theory a lot, and I've worked with a lot of other church musicians who don't know a lick about music theory, and you go to you go to ask them something, they're like, I don't know. That's just what we've always done, and always what I've been told. And so there again, there's there's there there's things that are in each and every one of us that God is wanting us to call out in others. Um if people have a super bubbly personality and connect with anybody, God's probably put that, God's put that in their heart for a reason to be redeemed for the kingdom. And you could go on and on and on and down the list, whether it's even if they're introverts and but super creative, even if they they can build anything, like all of that stuff, those are gifts from God, but it's our job and roles as leaders to call that out in people and help discipleship them into that. But then we practically have to think about what does that pathway look like? What do we how what do we have to do to intentionally start developing leaders? And so we ask them who's who's discipling people? Like who who's discipling people? And then how do we intentionally raise leaders and get them from one stage and step to another? Um, that that's the fourth fourth channel, the fifth channel. Um, this would be the church. And I know that sounds like, well, how can the church be the valley and the church? I probably need to come up with a better language for this one, but the church be the valley and this. This is what I'm talking about here. I need to find a better way to say it. But this is internal culture. So this channel is uh is internal culture, thinking things like prayer, worship, hospitality, uh, discipleship serving, the things that keep the church healthy, things that keep the uh people in the church. So what when when they walk in the when they walk in the when they pull up on the grounds, let's even let's not even get to the doors yet. When they pull up on the grounds, what do they feel? Has the camp has has the campus intentionally be covered in prayer? Have the services already been prayed over? Have have have we already set ourselves up in a way that there's a spirit of excellence that we don't we we feel like we're not you know having to rush around. Um, and that's what sometimes I think people mistake, especially in church culture, there's a difference in flowing in the spirit, and I think you guys know me by now. I am all for flowing in the spirit and listening to the voice of God. But God also honors the preparation that comes beforehand. Many times we can miss needs in serving because if we're trying to pull something together last minute, our vision locks in, right? Because we have to lock into what we need to do. And and but what's happening is if we're so locked into the task at hand because we we didn't prepare for whatever that reason might be, in our peripherals, we can miss what God is calling us to, and that's the people. We can miss addressing a need. We can miss someone who's you know looking for somewhere on campus. We can miss someone who looks like God is moving on their heart and that we can go talk to them and we can see what their need is and either point them in the right path or way, or take that moment right then and there because we've prepared to, and then we've got people that we've been discipling so they know what to do, so I can stop and pray for somebody. You see what I'm saying? It's not uh I we always want to flow in response to the spirit. We just want to have the agenda created first. So when we walk into this building, we're in the same mind, the same page, the same sense of unity. And when God moves and says, I want to deviate from the agenda, what happens is teams that are that all prepare together can feel that shift in the spirit and move towards it. Does that make sense? As you work together and as you grow and as you prepare together, you get to know how one department affects another department, one ministry intertwines with another ministry. Because remember, your body just just the this church body is just like your human body. Everything affects one another. And so. If the Sunday school has to pivot because there is that big influx, or we have a we have a big Sunday, we know in preparation that we've got to have this stuff taken care of. But then we walk in the doors, we expected an extra 50 kids because we're doing a kids' service, but it turns out that it's more. The other teams are prepared. And if somebody has to hop over and say, hey, all this stuff's taken care of, I'm gonna hop over and help you guys just watch kids today and be a kid wrangler. You know what? That's that's what God's looking for. And so we want to make that a part of our internal culture. Um the hospitality, man. We I know we always reference Chick-fil-A when it comes to hospitality, but having worked for Chick-fil-A, having worked for corporate and open, you know, open locations and stuff, uh hospitality is such a big deal. Like people will go back, and I'll be honest, I'm Chick-fil-A'd out in a sense, like the kids love it, my wife will eat it, but I work so much at Chick-fil-A when you eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it's kind of like you go there like, yay, a chicken sandwich. But I still I still enjoy going to because at least I know if I go, even if I'm not eating, I'm I'm gonna eat and you know, yeah, you pay a little bit more for it, but I'm not gonna be talked down to. I'm not gonna be you know, go up to the the the the desk and and be like what you want. You know what I'm saying? It's not Burger King, you know, uh it's not Popeyes where they'll throw the chicken at you, at least they'll, you know, and they'll say my pleasure. Um, but that's the same thing. We like God's people should be known for their hospitality, and so that should be an internal part of our culture. What does that look like? Um we want to make sure that we're intentional that nobody has to open the door themselves, you know, all that kind of stuff, bathrooms are clean. Like, think about it, people won't go back to places for the bathroom. God forbid. God forbid somebody not come back to our church because the bathroom's dirty. And what does that take preparation? Having a schedule of people so it's not the same same person always scrubbing the toilets. I don't know. I've I've I've scrubbed my fair share of church toilets and I will scrub these too. Um, but I'll take my turn in it with too, because we again, it's gonna be about people, everybody doing it together. Um so we have to think about that. What culture do people experience when they walk through the doors? Because this is what like people oftentimes, and they this is this is my this is kind of like my um background in um in marketing and branding and all that. Branding isn't just like the logo that's on something, right? Like your your iPhone, you know, everybody knows that the Apple logo is the Apple logo, right? But they expect uh you you expect a certain culture within the software, within the people when you go to the Apple store, right? Culture true and brand truly is about not the aesthetic of things, which I believe, and again, as a designer, I do appreciate, but it's the experience and the feeling around it. Not that we're gonna not that our heart would ever be to manufacture presents or manufacture anything fake in this place, but we want people to know when they walk in they are welcomed, they're loved, and that welcoming spirit and that loving spirit absolutely is genuine. And so the ultimate question is does that culture reflect the Lamb? Does that culture reflect God? Does that culture reflect his characteristics, his visions for his bride, his blueprints for what he's giving us here for Zachary? And then the last, the last channel is community. It's the community. So we don't we don't exist for ourselves, right? We exist for our city. This place is a safe place for our city. This place is a hospital for the broken. This place is a place where people can find healing, not just in their in their spirits, but in their bodies, in their mental health, in their marriages, that broken children that don't have uh don't have mothers and fathers at home can come and find spiritual mothers and fathers and direction for their life. This is a place where people can come in. And they may have been pushed out by every business and organization because they feel called to great things, but really what is happening is because they know that calling, uh what they'll find out eventually is that the calling is it is in Christ. This should be the house that identifies that. We exist for our city. God doesn't, God doesn't just build churches to build churches, but he builds beacons and lighthouses for specific places. Remember when Paul writes, he writes to the church at Corinth. He writes to the church at Ephesus, he writes to these churches. This is the way that that that that's that's that's that's the apostle, that's that's what part of what the the apostolic model is, is that you go to a place. And you have to remember that um before again being called to someone also calls you somewhere. So being called, first of all, yes, we're all called to Christ, but after that call, he calls us to a place. And if you call this place home, then that's what that call is. Whether you've realized it or not, you feel like you're called to God and you've stayed here and you've you feel like the Lord says this is your home, with him you with you listening to the word of God and the Spirit saying this is your home, that's what that call is. So now you you know you're called to somewhere. So here's what you have to start thinking questions and open-ended questions like if our church disappeared appeared, uh if our church disappeared tomorrow, if we had to lock the doors, sell the campus, um, and shut it down, what would our community notice? What impact would they would that notice in terms of spiritual needs and in terms of physical needs as well? Church is called to do both. What would what our community notice? And I know these are big questions. Again, I'm just trying to get your wheels turning, um, and hopefully they keep turning after you're out of here. Um, but here's here's my idea that how Sundays and Tuesdays work together. Sundays, again, we want to talk the biblical foundation. You know, all you in here, you guys are serving, you're already serving some capacity, serving in some way. So you have buy-in, you have skin in the game. You you've you you you've you've you're you're doing you're doing these things. As now, let's turn intentionality to it. Tuesday is gonna be diff Sunday will define that. So like this Sunday, um a talk about one of those channels. And so this Sunday we talk about marriages, and we're gonna re we're gonna re-look at that. What is that in that biblical model and perspective and re and define that? Then we're gonna start then well next Tuesday we'll talk about, all right, what does that look like if someone does walk in? And we'll talk about some of those passway things. And so then what happens from there is that leadership develops the ministry and the church lives out the mission. So what we're doing here is we're gonna start laying the foundation and get this machine working. So uh yeah, just yeah, we're gonna just ran through that. So um Sunday's marriage, if Sunday's message about marriage, Tuesday, what does that channel look like? What ministries are needed to support that, what systems, what what leaders are the right leaders for marriages? Um, and it's more than just like, well, you know, they've had a successful marriage, they've been married for 30 years, they've been married for 60 years. God will have the right people for it. Because somebody who's married for 30 years, their thing may not be working with other people's marriages. It's it again when when God calls you to do something for him, it's usually laid upon your heart. And so all the same people who enjoy working in in kids' ministry, which hear me in the right way, I've done before, and it's fun doing the action songs, and it's done doing the done fun doing all that stuff, kids ministry is not my jam. When I when I go and I have to, whenever I fill in a kids' ministry and do that, and and and we do that, I always filled in because there was a need, but that wasn't the thing that God had in my heart. Now, when it came to campus ministry in college, totally different story. I'd put my I'd I I didn't have to be asked. I'd put my blood, sweat, and tears into it. And and and that was the thing that just made me feel alive when I served in it. And so um God's gonna God does it, God, God works the same way with all of us. We'll do things because we're asked. I don't know about you, but I really haven't found anybody who's like came and like I just feel the Lord has called me to help stack chairs. That's just something we're all called to do, right? There's just gonna be things you we wish that somebody would call. I I feel like the Lord's called me to make sure these bathrooms are absolutely spotless. You know, that's just some of those things. Sometimes things have to be done, right? Sometimes things just have to be done at the house. I don't know what those chores are for you at the house. Like, I enjoy the dishes in a sense. Um, because like you can kind of like mind-numb out doing it, and you know, your mind can just tray and you can just think, but your hands are at work. Um, and so I have a lot of good thoughts while doing the dishes, um, like developing thoughts and stuff like that. But the the then there's other things, like I don't really enjoy washing clothes. I don't like flipping the clothes. I don't like when Angela asked me to go flip a load of clothes. I'm like, eh, I don't want to do that. But also don't like not having clothes. So you know what I mean? So it's the same here. There's gonna be things that we do in the house that may not be the funnest things, but God's gonna put it on people's heart. There's gonna be the right people there to help walk marriages out because they live, eat, and breathe, and live that. And there's gonna be the right people for kids and the right people for youth, and the right people uh to help prodigals and the right people to help with church culture and systems administration and think about that kind of stuff. Some of you are like, I don't like systems and all that. You know what? That's God because God probably didn't put it in your heart. And there's some of you who actually think in systems, God put that in your heart too. See, the body has all the needs. Again, it's just gonna be us calling that out. Excuse me. One of the biggest things that we've seen, oh, I've again just pattern uh that I've seen that church book, like many church books and write that is that we can't just stop at inspiration. It's like, man, sometimes we'll see and identify need. Oh man, we need something to help marriages in our church. What does that ministry look like? And then we have conversations and conversations, and we'll dream and dream and dream, which dreaming's good, don't get me wrong. But at some point, God's like, hey, would you get to the next step and actually slap some wheels on the vehicle and do something with it? But here's the but the the the other part of that is God's gonna eventually take care of it one way or another. And if you don't do it, God will find somebody that will. Not my word, biblical principle. I don't want him to find another church to do that. I don't want him to find another place to be the church to go to about your marriage, or know that they're gonna be safe with your children and care about your children's spiritual health and growth. I don't want, I don't, I don't want to, I want to be that house because that's what healthy houses are made of. And if we believe that we we sit on apostolic, we we we were built on apostolic doctrine and apostolic truth, and and I don't want them going anywhere else to make their marriage feel good, but them only getting part of what God has for them. Does it make sense? If we believe in the truth that we have, the truth isn't the only thing that's gonna just set people on the path of path of salvation. Because right, oftentimes we think about it, you know, we just we want to see them, we want to see them repent, and by God, they better get baptized in the name of Jesus and be filled with speaking, uh filled with the spirit, speaking in tongues. Absolutely. But like, bro, you forgot the four step. They gotta make it till the trumpet calls. And if their marriage is going to hell in a handbasket and the derby car's on fire with only one wheel left and everything's exploding, preaching the god preaching, preaching just that part of the gospel is not gonna help them. It's a it that the gospel is the good news. Like, there's gotta be good news that your marriage can make it, and that your kids' lives can turn around, and that prodigals can come home. And so we can't stop at inspiration. We've gonna, this is what we're doing. We're gonna start building the pathways, we're gonna start carving out those channels and those ditches. So as we move forward, you'll hear these words often. Water, that's God's work. So when we talk about the water coming in, that's God's work coming in. The valley is our church. The primary channel will be the major area of discipleship. We talked about those six, and you'll get you'll hear them very, very often. And so uh going from that major channel, we'll talk about tributaries. I'm just trying to just words with that. Those would be the individuals that support that. Like marriage ministry, the idea of marriage ministry, that's really big. Like, what even is marriage ministry? What do you do? Do you want to become the church that's known for a really good marriage conference? Maybe. But that's because you've effectively built systems and ways that actually can help people when they come in that conference, not just be an event church. And so when we talk about those channels, we've got to talk about the ways that flows in. Um, excavation, it's gonna be preparation, the overflow of those ditches. That's gonna be revival. I don't want to just build the ditches and just have a tiny little stream going through them because I don't think that's what God intended either. That's not what happened in 2 Kings. There was an overflow. And then a bottleneck is just what it is. Anything that's stopping up that tributary, that's stopping up that channel, that's stopping uh people from coming in. We want everyone on the same idea and the same language. And so some things to think about today. Um, which of the six channels feel strongest today? Like in our church, if we were to assess it right now, actually, let's do this. We got a couple minutes. Get your phones out or a piece of paper out. It's test time. There's no wrong answers. There's just the wrong answer is not answering, all right? So, so answer this, you may be number one. And honestly, if you want to text me them afterwards, that would be awesome because that that that helps me. You know the house. So, first thing, of the six channels that we talked today, so marriages, children, prodigals, leadership, uh, leadership development, we'll say we'll call the next one church cult. I need I need to change, I need to say that church culture, um, and community. So, yeah, I reach all that stuff. Which of those six channels is the strongest? Which of the six so those six channels excuse me, is the strongest? I'm about to cough. Answer that. I'm gonna cough. I've been running and gunning all day. I don't think I've actually drank any water today. So, uh number one, which of the six channels, in your opinion, feels the strongest today? You don't have to give me a reason why. Which of the which of the six channels feels the strongest? And then number two, I bet you can guess what it is. Which one feels the weakest? You don't have to give me an answer why either. Thank you so much. I went and looked in there the other day too, because that's where they used to be. But it's funny, that's what they uh find that's what happens. Once once like everybody finds out where the water stash is, you gotta move it. But then when you really need it, you think where the old stash is at. So trust me. One, which one feels the strongest, and then conversely, number two, which one feels the weakest? And again, those six are marriage, uh marriage, children, uh, prodigals, uh leadership, uh, church culture, um, and community. Okay. So three might take a little bit longer to answer, but what ministries already exist in each of those channels? And again, you may not know all of them, but what what what are ministries you know that uh exist under each of those channels? And again, maybe speak to the one that God uh of this main six channels, maybe speak to the one more that God you know God has laid on your heart. If God has laid on your heart to work with children or work with young people, then you're that channel that you flow in is going to be that that that that children channel, okay? So what exists in that channel? What are we doing now that helps feed that channel, the tributaries that come off of that? Youth ministry, Sunday school, what kind of events do we have, those kind of things, but um like back to school services, all the all the stuff that we've done. That's you see what I'm saying? That's that's kind of thing. So um in church culture, if you if you feel um that's that's that's something that God's calling you to help work with that and hospitality and and those kind of gifts are your gifts, then what's what's what are we doing, what are we doing well right there? I know, I know it's weird. I know, I know you probably don't like getting asked these questions, and usually if they do get asked, it's like in a one-on-one conversation. But hey, this is your house too. This is like the biggest thing, I think one of the biggest things that God has in my heart is like I want you guys to know you have buy-in at this house. It really would it'd be horrible to live at a house and have no say about the house, right? Um like my kids, uh ultimately, right? Like I guide my kids' lives and stuff, but there's things that we ask them and let them buy in the house. I mean, if they're gonna have a certain pet or a certain thing, then there's buy-in. Like I know you're gonna take care of it and do it. The same with their room, same with all that stuff. If you want certain things and you want to see certain things happen, um, if you want family nights to be a certain night, awesome. That just means either the night before or the the days preceding that you're taking care of your chores, the yard work and that stuff like that to happen. If you want to go on vacation, you want to do that stuff, then you gotta do your part in that too to make sure that all your responsibilities are taken care of. So the same with this house. God got if you again, God has called you to this house to be a uh and and and live in it and love it, then then you have buy-in too. So again, no offense taking these answers. Um, again, I'm I'm coming in taking a 30,000 foot view at everything. Um I don't I don't really intend on making a ton of crazy changes uh or anything like that in the beginning, because I just want to see where everything's at. I just kind of like, you know, checking the pulse. Okay. So three is what's already exists under each channel, okay? Um again, maybe not each channel, where you feel like God's called you to the most. In that same vein. Again, the opposite. What ministry should exist, but don't yet. So again, sticking with children. If we have Sunday school, we have a youth group, we have this other stuff that we uh that do. I know VBS didn't happen this year. And and you know, preceding circumstance, I think all you guys understand why. But what else beyond that do we need? Are we in the high school? Are we are we are we do we have do we have a connect point there? Do we have a neck connect point in the schools? What are those things that that that God has been speaking to you about that we don't have yet, that he's laying on your heart? Those are the things, again, it's in the house, and these are the kind of things that help define and find that vision in the house. So, in that in that channel that you feel like God has called you to, you know, what are we what are we doing for marriages right now? So again, that'd be three. But what should what what should exist for marriages, but doesn't it? Is there is there a practical date night in the year? We're intentional about that, and making it making a date night where we have facilitated child care? Um, and maybe have a have a weekend in the in the year that we focus on marriages and bring in a speaker. Um, what what are some things that God is laying in your heart that that that for that? Um what are things in our culture that we have, um, our church culture that we have that we we do great, but maybe where are some things that we're missing? Um are we are we good at getting guests in and greeting them? Are but how what are we doing to make sure that we're we're getting more connect points with them and following up with them and make sure that if they come in the doors, they're gonna stay in the doors. Again, no wrong answers, no hard feelings on any of this stuff, because God's showing you this stuff for a reason. If you see these kind of things, this points to where your giftings and callings are. And again, if God's laying on your heart, he wants you to do it. And again, my role in that is gonna be help facilitate that. Help, help, help guide where these tributaries are coming off those main channels, providing the resources needed, getting in the getting in the in the trench, digging it out with you, and then you know, just providing some great oversight for it. Oh, I'm already getting some answers. I like it. Um Steve, you know what it would be awesome. Could you throw like put my put my phone number on the screen so they could text it to me.

unknown 42:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:17

And then this is a big this is a big question. If God doubled our attendance in one year, so today being July whatever day it is, I don't even know what day it is, 7th. Um, I know it, I know it's at least a Tuesday, okay? Sometimes days but we're together with these kids. Um, if God doubled our attendance in one year, so if we revisited this conversation in one year on July 7th of 2027, what would be our biggest bottleneck? So out of everything, not just in that one channel that we've been talking about, just in your opinion, what would be the one thing that would be the most pervasive, most in your face, most clearly identifiable? This is the bottleneck. And then following that question, in those five questions, what we've talked about, where do you personally feel most burdened to help dig? Because remember, it's hard to dig in a place where you don't see the rain coming yet. But if there's a burden in your heart to lay the foundation, to carve it out, that I know that I'm working on this, that I'm working on this dream, I'm working on these plans, even if I'm not a planner, I'm working on this vision, I'm working on that, you can do all of that stuff, the not fun stuff, because you know when God sends the rain, that it's gonna be there, and your heart's gonna feel alive, your burden's gonna feel fulfilled, your calling is gonna feel like it's met because you help do that. So again, one, which of those channels feels the strongest today? Two, which is the weakest, three, what ministries in that one channel? Um already exist, what ministries uh should but don't yet. And number five, if God uh doubled our attendance in one year, what become our biggest bottleneck. And then six, and one of the most important ones, where do you personally feel burdened to help dig? Remember, before there was water, there were empty ditches, before there was provision, there was preparation. Before there was an abundance, there was obedience. We're gonna we're not trying to build programs. I I I'm I'm again I work I one of my giftings is administration but there's also there's there's not a need to build a program just to build a program for everything. We're gonna be effective and we're gonna prepare channels because God we believe that God intends to send living water. I I said it Sunday and I again it just resonates in my spirit. God's asking us to prepare a healthy house because he intends to fill it God is asking us to prepare a healthy house because he intends to fill it. And so again Tuesday will be the nitty gritty of what does it look like to have a healthy house? We're gonna be lifting up the couches and looking under at the dust bunnies and then evicting the dust bunnies. We're gonna look at we're gonna look at the things um that we're we need to remodel this part of the house we need to we need to we need to we need to do this that and that another in the house and again you have buy-in in this okay you have buy in in this this is your house too we believe that God intends to fill the house and so when he does we don't want we want we don't want that we don't want it running past us we want marriages strengthened we want children discipled we want prodigals welcomed home we want leaders multiplied we want the church culture to be strengthened and we want our community transformed at the end of the day by all of this because really what happens is if you think about it it's cyclical it's cyclical if we get if we if we work on these channels what happens is eventually the community hears about it and you have that community flow in because people feel like they're called to reach their community and they're just and you you you're you you're just little evangelists wherever you go new people come in and then okay now we have more marriages to heal more children to help more teens more prodigals but hey guess what? Because we've been behind the scenes working on the church culture and now we have places that God healed them to fulfill and then to step into their calling and what that looks like and then to be discipled and then we develop leaders out of them and then we send them back out and it's a cycle that's never ending and then and and as long as you're intentional with it and you're answering uh questions as they go along it doesn't break sometimes you got to just work on one spot more than another because you're gonna have an overflow in one spot but hey it's better to have an overflow than no flow. So um again to prepare a healthy we want to prepare a healthy house and I want you I want you I want you to be praying about that guys I'm I'm so serious. God I understand you want to prepare a healthy house because you want to intend it I mean because you intend to feel it so what what do I need to do in it? What is my part? And I'm telling you if you start at praying very specific prayers and asking God very specific questions he will open it up to you. You pray generic prayers you get generic answers you ask for you ask for very generic things you're gonna get very generic responses to them but when you start praying those specific things God reveal my purpose God reveal my talents my giftings my abilities God what is my part in this house what do you want me to do whether you've been in this house six weeks six years or sixty years God will reveal it to you you just got to ask him and so I just want to pray tonight and I just again I want to pray with an intentionality because I I'm I'm I'm with you I'm serious about building this thing because I I feel every time that I drive I I hate I honestly at this point like I don't just hate driving away now because of the drive home so funny story Sunday I got stuck almost got stuck on 110 um in that you guys already know where I'm talking about where like right there by Memorial Stadium in Fuquay Street where the water comes in with like in four minutes the water went up like six inches and we were like riding the curve out of there the electric vehicles were freaking out and sliding over and then yeah and then going around the corner I didn't realize that hit water held water too and we you know we hit that water so um I don't just hate I I don't I don't just I loathe the driving home because of that. I just I tell you right now our heart's here it was it was great to finally roll up and be like oh we're here we're on assignment and we're here um and that's part of the reason we prayed God I don't want to wait long to move a house again the leadership here has been fantastic never put a hard date on us we just kind of we kind of put the hard date on God and say God made it make it available as quickly as possible the right place for our house for of course for the needs of our family but also the right place to help facilitate these things within our home we want to open that and so um you know I'm I'm really looking forward to to to to being here um because that drive time's eliminated and I have more time to spend doing this stuff. I'm here with you I believe in this again there's my number on the screen um keep that um I'm not one of those those people those leaders those pastors that you can't call me um I I I I'll get I promise I'll get back to you um and and if I can't like answer the caller that in the minute I'll I'll text you letting you know what's up okay um but do please uh the things that we talked about and those questions send it to me again don't don't be afraid of reprisal don't be afraid of um that of anything like that because again you've you've been in this house you've got buy-in you've got skin in the game you understand you know um and God again I I'm I'm entering into this church culture I've been a friend of the house now that it's my house it's different so God I pray that you would continue to move and work like you've been working God we've had people that have wanted to make this church home even in the middle of a pastoral transition and God I believe that speaks to something about the heart of this house and what what these leaders and the the people in this room already already are doing. And so God I I don't think you're asking us to be intentional about things and prepare because you have this this this serious correction because we've been doing it all wrong no as God you see what our you see the purity and the intentions of our hearts and you want to be able to fulfill that and that you want to pour in people from this community to for so that their marriages would be healed that their children would be raised in the house of God that they would be discipled that prodigals find a place to come home that this place develops leaders not just to keep leaders in the house but send out to bless other churches to bless uh uh other nations and other states across across not just our country but also God across the world um that that this is this this would be a place that that that the church culture is just so enticing and so inviting that people want to be a part of it and when they find out that it's not it's not just a front it's who we are because it's who you are and God that this would be an epicenter of outreach for our community that every government office that every every every office and every facility and organization that fulfills the needs of our community know they can pick up the phone and ask us not just to pray but to be a part of of answering the needs to our community that's the kind of place that we want to be God so help us put the burden in our heart God be specific with it what channel do I do what channel do I need to be working in what ministry what tributary are you laying on my heart and God give me vision beyond my resource I don't want to do something on my own that it be my ministry or my project but God I want to have that big vision that scares me to to to even work towards an accomplishment but I want to walk in that because I know those things those are the God things those are the ones that people are going to look back and say only God could have done something like that. God you prepare you're asking us to prepare a healthy house because you intend to fill it so God help us to do that each and every day. In your name we pray and only if you agree with that say amen. Alright I mean do you agree with it and I'm gonna hold you to it um that's all I have tonight. Again this is going to be the flow of nights um you'll know Sunday what next Tuesday is about because we'll talk about that channel but again um even if you don't answer all five of the questions um you know send me something what you feel what you see what you know again no matter the time um and duration that you've been here but love you guys um and be safe on the way home and we'll see you Sunday