Unsexy Church
Unsexy Church
Season 3 Episode 02: Unpacking the Mission - Connecting People to a Thriving Life in Christ
Our mission at FBC Tampa centers on connecting people to a thriving life in Christ through intentional relationships and biblical teaching. We explore how this mission shapes everything we do as a church and how individual members can live it out daily.
• Mission statement serves as a filter for all church activities and ministries
• Thriving in Christ means glorifying God by doing what He's called us to do
• Connecting others requires both loving God passionately and loving others purposefully
• Relationships are the primary vehicle for connecting people to Christ
• Psalm 1 provides the framework: dig in (to God's Word), grow up (in Christ), branch out (bear fruit)
• Being intentional with both actions and words is essential for effective witness
• Avoid connecting people merely to church activities rather than to Christ Himself
• Every believer plays a role in the process – preparing soil, planting, watering, or harvesting
• There are only two paths – in Christ or apart from Christ – with no middle ground
Text us your questions or topic suggestions for future episodes of the Unsexy Church Podcast. Stay unsexy!
welcome back everyone to the unsexy church podcast, season three, episode two. How's it going, fellas? Good to see you, darren, good to see you, pastor bob. And we have mr producer extraordinaire, oh, jordan jocks, who's french. We're so glad that he's here. Oh, he's going to punch you for that. I am Belgian.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, same thing right?
Speaker 1:Nope, very sticky subject. I thought it was the same thing, nope.
Speaker 2:Good to have Jordan, though, right, it is good to have Jordan here.
Speaker 1:He's kind of our new media guru guy and he's doing a fantastic job.
Speaker 2:Incredible job, yeah, and he's doing a fantastic job. Incredible job, yeah, he really is Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1:It's been fun working with him and watching him wade into the worlds of media and making us look cool. Media and ministry how they go together. That's right. Jordan's got it down.
Speaker 2:So what's up, darren? How are you man?
Speaker 1:I'm doing good, doing good. I'm excited about things coming up. We got a lot of coming up at the FBC Tampa.
Speaker 2:Here at the church.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, right, we've got. First thing I want to talk about maybe is Thrive Magazine, something that Jordan does. What's Thrive about this time? Jordan, about our local missions. We have a lot of local mission partners yes, About our local mission efforts. Right, we're going to be partnering with one of our. We're going to be doing something with one of our partners. Speaking of this Friday over at the Baptist Manor right.
Speaker 1:We're going to be feeding them a meal and sharing the gospel with them, having conversations, just kind of loving on the people at the Baptist Manor this Friday. So if you haven't signed up for that, make sure you kind of make plans to be there. It's going to be fun.
Speaker 2:It's the third time we've done it now I think it's the third year in a row. Yeah, Third year.
Speaker 1:It's been a blast.
Speaker 2:And the Manor's, a 55-plus housing development that we love and have Great ministry field there.
Speaker 1:Definitely, definitely Sunday. Also. This coming Sunday is our First Steps. We do that every other month, bob. What's First?
Speaker 2:Steps, first Steps is really just an introduction to First Baptist Church. It's for folks that are interested in learning more about the church or becoming a member of the church, and it's our history, our theology, our ecclesiology, how we're structured, our mission, our vision, those kind of things Very cool.
Speaker 1:It's exactly what it says it is. It's exactly what it what it says it is. It's the first step to becoming a member at first Baptist church Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a fun time.
Speaker 2:It's always good to do it.
Speaker 1:Do it up in the loft, coolest room in the building right now. I think both temperature and vibe wise, right, I don't know. It was pretty close to chapel's, pretty cool. Yeah, that's true. Yep, yep, pretty cool as well. Also, man, I think this is one of the most exciting things right now Coming up September 14th we've got our churchwide family trivia night Trivia night, trivia night's coming up, potluck dinner.
Speaker 2:Four different. We're going old school, man Going old school.
Speaker 1:You want to talk?
Speaker 2:There's nothing unsexier than a potluck dinner.
Speaker 1:Man, I'm telling you, we've got four different categories.
Speaker 2:We've got Bible, a potluck or a trivia. Well, there may be many categories of potluck.
Speaker 1:Let me just say this this is an interesting observation, is an interesting um observation. Okay, potlucks in florida are much healthier than potlucks in missouri. I mean now, I mean you, you want to talk about like just some down home good uh, comfort food. Man, potluck in missouri is where where. But you know, that's probably why we don't live as long.
Speaker 2:So you're saying it's like a Cracker Barrel versus a fresh kitchen kind of thing. Exactly yeah, it's a little bougie here.
Speaker 1:It's a little bougie, I'm not sure. Yeah, I walk in. I'm not sure exactly what some of this stuff is. No, it's good, it's all good. We're going to have four different categories sports, bible, general knowledge and music. I believe I think Ben Block, our next-gen pastor, is going to be the emcee that night and I think he's going to have help from Olivia Talent, so I may run the production board and throw some different theme music in there occasionally but it's going to be a good time.
Speaker 1:It's going to be fun, so make sure you make plans to be here. That's at five o'clock Sunday night, september 14th.
Speaker 2:Up in the gym, right Up in the gym.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a great time. Speaking of trivia, I've got a trivia question. Oh boy, all right, so this goes back to the 1960s. Everyone's familiar with the Mission Impossible franchise, but most people these days are familiar with the movie franchise. Right, when you think of Mission Impossible, you think of Tom Cruise and how he does all of his own stunts and how he's so cool. Yeah, exactly, but what's iconic about that is, at the beginning of the TV series, there's a figure in the background that you can't tell it's really dark, they're dark, and this figure strikes a match and lights a fuse and through the whole opening scene credits, that fuse is running right. So my question is who lights the fuse in mission impossible, the tv show?
Speaker 2:okay, that tv show was mid 60s, 1966. I believe.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I was born in 69. Like so were you. Yeah, I was in a life you weren't even thought of, yet you weren't even a twinkle in your daddy's eye all right.
Speaker 2:So the and I and I have to admit I think I saw maybe the first movie of the movie franchise, right, I haven't seen any of them since. So I know nothing about the series, nor about this, these movies I will give you a a hint, it is not.
Speaker 1:it's not any of the main characters, even in the TV series, who lit the match. It was Bruce Geller, the creator of the Mission Impossible series, but he only did it for the first season. After that, peter Graves did it from season two onward.
Speaker 2:Was he the main character? He was the main character.
Speaker 1:He played Jim Phelps, the leader of the group. Right he's the. Ethan Hunt of the TV series. Basically, and I did not know that Did you know that? This is something I did not know and I should know, but I didn't they tried to reboot Mission Impossible in 1988. Do you even remember that?
Speaker 2:No, I was occupied in college at that point. I had so much other stuff going on I had no clue, even that they tried to bring it back.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:No, I didn't know that.
Speaker 1:So, and in 1988, peter Graves comes back reprising his role and he also is the one who lights the match in the reprise In the movie. I have no idea who lights the match. Do they light a match in?
Speaker 2:the movie.
Speaker 1:I think some of them, I don't know, I think they do, I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not sure. Speaking of impossible missions Smooth, this is great transition Great review. Segway Impossible missions. Right, we at FBC Tampa have a a mission statement, and that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about the mission statement of fbc tampa, the reason are you are you saying our mission's impossible. Oh, I'm gonna say, I will say it is seemingly impossible on our own.
Speaker 2:It's certainly on our own, it is right yes, but with god what? All things are possible. Things are there we go. That's right, that was smoother. See how we go. I got to help the music guy out every now and then.
Speaker 1:So we're going to talk about the mission of FBC Tampa. So, pastor Bob, what is our mission?
Speaker 2:statement, our mission statement, which everybody should know.
Speaker 1:Yes, Jordan, you know this right. Should we ask Jordan? Jordan knows it because he sees it on everything, he puts it on everything, he types it out numerous times a day, lots and lots and lots of times, or copies and pastes it Exactly.
Speaker 2:Either way. So our mission is simply connecting people to a thriving life in Christ.
Speaker 1:Connecting people to a thriving life in Christ. Very short, very succinct, but I just think there's a ton packed into that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you got to unpack it and that's part of what First Steps is. Is we unpack that mission statement, Go through the mission statement right?
Speaker 1:So, bob, for those I mean, and sometimes in my head, I think you know, and I think there are those out there why do we need a mission statement? Doesn't the church have a mission statement? Don't we have the Great Commission right? Jesus' last words to us, our first priority, you know, as some would say, why do we need anything other than the Bible? Why do we need to have this mission statement?
Speaker 2:Sure, no, I think mission statements are helpful because it just keeps us focused. It helps us to funnel our efforts and our work through a particular lens, which, of course, is scripture, which, of course, is the great commission. But just putting that down into a closer, smaller framework so that we can understand and everybody be on the same page, yeah, and it's helpful, I think, for all of us.
Speaker 1:Like I said, it's very succinct, but there's a lot in there, and so it helps us to keep all that stuff together. If you will, as we're walking through our own lives, as we're going about our day-to-day business, we can think through that statement and all that that entails. So where did this mission statement, where did it come from? How did we come? Because you had this before I got here. This was the mission statement before I arrived, almost seven years ago now.
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, I can't remember exactly when we implemented it, but it was through a long process of thinking, through praying, through how we can articulate what it is that we're trying to accomplish individually and corporately as a church. And so we began thinking through scripture, of course, starting at the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. But then John 10, 10, Jesus tells us I've come that you might have life and have it abundantly. That God doesn't just want us to survive, he wants us to thrive, right? So this is where this concept of thriving in a relationship with God comes from. And so he desires for us, he gives us life and he wants us to thrive in that life in him. So how do we describe what that looks like? So for a long time we talked about thriving here at the church.
Speaker 2:Right and Thrive was kind of our logo and our kind of our, but we really wanted to articulate that more clearly. What does it mean to thrive?
Speaker 1:Right, you can say thrive, but people and maybe we'll talk about that more here in a little bit yeah, yeah, what that means, what that looks like Exactly.
Speaker 2:So we started to unpack that a little bit and say, okay, well, when we tell somebody we want them to thrive in an abundant life with Christ, what does that look like? So 1 Corinthians 10, paul is talking to the church about whether they should eat meat that's been offered to idols or not, and we don't have that particular issue here at the church or in our culture. But the bottom line was whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. So a thriving life is one we begin to define as one that brings glory to God in whatever we do. Right, but then that's kind of vague either.
Speaker 1:Also, what does it mean? What does it?
Speaker 2:mean to bring glory. What does it mean to bring glorify? To glorify God. And so Jesus gives us a definition of bringing God glory in John 17 and in the what is truly the Lord's prayer, this, this high priestly prayer of Jesus, when he says Father, I've, I've glorified you by doing what you sent me to do. I've glorified you by doing what you sent me to do.
Speaker 1:So there's this definition of glorifying God by doing the things that he called us to do, but that's still, I mean, what is glorifying. Yeah, living in obedience.
Speaker 2:Right, right Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's still yeah. What does it mean to glorify?
Speaker 2:Sure, sure. So we always talk about glorifying in two aspects. You can either think about it as a microscope or a telescope, right? So a microscope takes something that's really small and makes it look bigger. It magnifies it which is what the word but far off and brings it closer. And so when we magnify God, when we glorify God, we're not taking something that's small and making it bigger. We're taking something that's enormously big but for most people is very far away. And so, as we live a thriving life in Christ, we are magnifying God in such that people see him in us and bring him closer so that they can see him more clearly. So that's where we begin to think about this concept of thriving. And how do you thrive? You thrive by bringing God glory. How do you do that? You magnify him in your life.
Speaker 1:By living obediently to him in front of others.
Speaker 2:right Sure Doing what he's called us to do, doing what he's called us to do, exactly.
Speaker 1:So let's just kind of take this statement, maybe just piece by piece a little bit. We've already talked about maybe what we'll maybe look a little closer at what a thriving life in Christ looks like. Sure, so the first part of that statement is connecting others, right? What does that mean? How do we connect others to this kind of a thriving life? What would that look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would go to the great commandment, matthew 22. What does it look like to magnify somebody to magnify God? Well, he tells us in Matthew 22,. He's it look like to magnify somebody to magnify God? Well, he tells us in Matthew 22,. He's asked.
Speaker 2:Jesus has asked what's the greatest commandment Of all the commandments? There's so many of them we think of 10, and we have a hard time remembering the 10 commandments. There were 613 that they had to try to remember. And this teacher came up to him and said Rabbi, which one is the most important man? I can't remember them all.
Speaker 2:And Jesus said you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength. And the second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So he says you get these two right. And this encapsulates all of the commandments, all of God's teaching Love God passionately, love people purposefully. You do these two things. You're magnifying God. So what does it look like to love God with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our soul, with all of our strength? And how can we love our neighbor as ourselves If you do these two things right. This is where you start to be obedient and this is where this connecting people comes from. Okay, connecting us living a thriving, connected life with God and then helping them to connect into that same relationship through demonstrating his love to them.
Speaker 1:Gotcha All right. So so connecting others to this thriving life is is obeying the second, the second greatest commandment, sure. You know really just loving others and we see that all through Christ's life. We see that demonstrated. The way that he demonstrates his love for us is by laying his life down for us, and we do that for our neighbors.
Speaker 1:We have the parable or the story of the good Samaritan who goes out of his way, messes up his own agenda and his own travel plans and crosses social borders, if you will, and ministers to someone he loves someone, yeah, and in doing so we're fulfilling the Great Commission right. So the.
Speaker 2:Great Commandment is how we fulfill the Great Commission. The Great Commission is all authority has been given to to me. Therefore, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all things. So it's how do you fulfill the Great Commission? You do so through the Great Commandment, Right.
Speaker 1:Loving God more than anything and loving others. Right, yep, exactly Right. Loving God more than anything and loving others. Right, yep, exactly. So how does our church, how do we connect? How do we? Maybe some tangible ways, or maybe some. Let's think about how we, as a church at FBC Tampa, how do we, as we go, connect to others? How are we loving people? What are ways? As we can talk about it on a corporate level and then maybe, at the end, we'll talk about it on an individual level, although they are very intertwined, sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think just basically. We always focus on every member of the church being a missionary outside the church and a minister within the church. So within the body of Christ, we're ministering to one another, we're building each other up, we are helping each other connect more closely to a walk with Christ, we're holding each other accountable, we're loving each other, we're encouraging each other, we're challenging each other, we're using our gifts not for our own glorification but to build up others for the glory of God. So within the church, we're ministering to one another. Outside the church, we're missionaries. We're taking that love and we're broadcasting it to the world and helping them to see our connection with Christ Again, this telescope thing bringing him closer, so that we might help them connect to a loving father.
Speaker 1:How is this different from, maybe, the common thought of come and see, you know, connecting others? I'm not saying it doesn't include that, it should include that, but there's more to it than just come to FBC and see right.
Speaker 2:What does that entail? Yeah, I mean, some would kind of differentiate this between an attractional model and a missional model. An attractional model says we want to be an attractive church. We want everybody to feel comfortable bringing their friends and family here so that once they hear, they hear about the gospel Right. Nothing wrong with that? No, absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's okay to be attractive, you should be. Maybe attractional is a different story, right, we can mess with that later.
Speaker 2:The other side of that is missional, where you're not asking people to come and see, you're taking and going and sharing. And I don't think it's an either, or I think it's a both and yeah, exactly, I think the church should be both. I think the church should be a place where people know if I bring my friends or family here, they're going to hear the gospel, they're going to be surrounded by genuine believers, but that shouldn't be the first time they hear the name Jesus. They shouldn't be the first time they hear about the gospel. They should have heard that from me before I ever bring them here. So it's not an either, or it's a both, and yeah, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 1:So we want to be about connecting others. I think, in connecting others to a thriving life in Christ Right, and I think it's important that we, kind of you, know what we connect them to is very important, and it's all relational right.
Speaker 2:So, it's relational outside. We're doing this through relationship. We're doing it through relationships within the church. So this connection is a relational connectionship. We want them to have a relationship with Christ, a thriving relationship with Christ, and the vehicle through that that God uses for that is the gospel that is demonstrated in our relationship with them and with one another.
Speaker 1:So I think it's important that we cultivate relationships with what the Bible even would consider outsiders those outside the faith right. How can we as individuals, as a church, how can we cultivate those kind of relationships?
Speaker 2:Well, I think we have to be intentional about it. It doesn't typically happen accidentally or incidentally I know I do.
Speaker 1:I mean I think literally almost all my friends are believers, you know and the nature of our work, the nature of what we do. I mean this. I have to be very intentional about getting around um unbelievers, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if we're, if we're not careful, a lot of us are that way now. So now some go to work and they're surrounded by unbelievers every day they're inundated with unbelievers Been there for sure.
Speaker 2:Exactly, they're around them all the time. But even then it has to be an intentionality of OK, I'm not just going to be a good friend, I'm not going to be a good neighbor, I'm going to be those things because I want them to know I am who I am because of what Christ has done for me. So an intentionality whether you're surrounded by unbelievers or believers, you have to be intentional to build relationships and it's not a bait and switch, it's not. I only want to have a relationship with you because of evangelism. I genuinely care about you, you're not my project Right.
Speaker 2:I genuinely care about you, so I want you to to to hear the best news you could possibly have. So I think it's important for us to just be thoughtful daily, look for those doors that God opens, these divine appointments where God brings people into our lives. Looking for those. But then also long term. You know, when my boys were younger, I would use their sports as my darling and I would use that at the ball field when I was coaching. It would be an opportunity to have an impact on families. So now I have to be. I don't have that, so I have to find other avenues to be a witness outside of the church.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so how can we? I mean, we all have different spheres of influence, right? So we just kind of think through those. How are we connecting with people in our daily routines and habits? Do we go to the same gas station? Or the same barber or the same whatever it is grocery store?
Speaker 1:Do we same coffee shop? Do we frequent these places enough where we can maybe start to form some kind of a relationship? And I think it's you use the word intentional and I think it's important that not only are we intentional about the way we treat others, but we're intentional about what we say. You know, I think it's very important. I've just so many, I've heard so many times right, you know, the way I live is my witness right and there's truth in that. I mean we should be living Christlike lives, winsome lives. We should not be wronging other people. We should be treating other people the way we want to be treated right.
Speaker 1:But that's not enough for someone to be saved right, and I think in our minds we play out these scenarios a lot. If I just live a good enough life in front of someone, they're just going to ask me what is it about you that. I want that and that man. That does happen, right, but more often than not that does not happen. I've got to figure out ways to be intentional with my words as well to help wet that whistle right, to help connect people.
Speaker 1:So I mean a mission statement, like you said. Like here at FBC Tampa, for instance, everything we do gets funneled through that mission statement. That mission statement Like if anyone comes to you or someone brings up an idea in staff meeting, the first thing that we say or think is what, how does?
Speaker 2:that help us accomplish the mission.
Speaker 1:Right, how does this help us connect others to a thriving life in Christ? Right, that's the first thing that we ask. And if it can't, if we can't and I think we can, you know we can, we can do lots of gymnastics and make almost anything do that right. But I think it's just helpful to make us think that way. Right, if we're going to spend money, that's the question that we always ask.
Speaker 1:How does this help us connect others to a thriving life in Christ? And so I think, for us on an individual level, I think that should hopefully filter down to us individually. How am I, if I do these things, whatever these things are, if I have these hobbies, I do these habits, whatever they're how is this going to help me connect others to a thriving life in Christ?
Speaker 2:Well, and I think that's where the role of the church comes in is to come alongside of us and help us to do those things. The role of the church is to help us in our discipleship, in our walk with Christ, and it is to equip us to do the works of the ministry. So how can the church come alongside the individuals and help connect people to a thriving life in Christ? Because the building doesn't do that. The building doesn't connect people to a thriving life in Christ. Because the building doesn't do that. The building doesn't connect anybody to a thriving life in Christ. Got to have one. The ministries don't do it, it's the people who are taking the message. And so when we think about that, then we begin to break that down here at the church and our logo is a tree growing by a stream of water, and we get that from Psalm 1, right, and I'm pretty sure you're probably going to ask me about Psalm 1 along here somewhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe I haven't. I don't know if we'll get there or not, but I've got it.
Speaker 2:Well, you asked where we got to this mission statement, and it really, if I'm honest, it ends up at Psalm 1, which the first six verses are just how blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and he shall be like a tree, firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, and it goes on. So our mission statement is really founded there, in Psalm 1, where we see this one who is blessed of God, who they meditate on the word of God every day, and then he draws this mental picture for us of a tree that is planted firmly by streams of water, which grows up and bears fruit. And so our vision comes out of our mission. Our mission is to connect people to a thriving life. How do we do that?
Speaker 2:Well, we do that as trees planted by streams of water. We believe that water is the word of God, the Holy Spirit of God, that encourages us, that equips us to grow up into Christ likeness, so that we can bear fruit for the kingdom of God. So we break that down into three things dig in, grow up, branch out. So, like you were saying, everything we do filters through our mission statement. It also filters through our vision. So dig in. When you think about a tree, you think about the roots. Roots grow down, they get nourishment. Roots grow down and they provide stability. And so we are digging into the word of God, into that streams of water which provide all that we need. And so we want to come alongside people and help them to dig into the word of God, understand how to study it, how to apply it for themselves through the power of the Holy Spirit. So everything we do kind of goes through this gospel-centric, bible-centric teaching. So we dig in.
Speaker 1:I think too. I mean, when you look at Psalm 1, that talks about the man who doesn't sit in the seat of scoffer, doesn't walk with mockers, you know, or with the wicked, and there's really only one man who's done that perfectly, sure, right, and that's Jesus. Psalm 1 is about Jesus, and so when we say rooted in the Word, we mean even rooted in the living Word Jesus Christ himself. Right, you have to have a relationship with Christ, and talking about what a thriving life looks like, this is an example of one, or a description of one the thriving life.
Speaker 2:the thriving life right.
Speaker 1:Exactly that we're to copy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that first verse is really. It's a clear digression. So there's walking, there's standing, there's sitting right. So you start to walk with the wrong people, then you start to hang out with the wrong people and then you're just kind of Then you stay there, then you just stay there, you just sit in the wrong spot.
Speaker 2:He said that's not who we want to be. We don't want to go down that path, but blessed is the one who does not do that. So he begins to tell us how we're blessed by telling us what not to do. And then he tells us what to do. Don't pursue the wisdom of this world, don't pursue the things of this world.
Speaker 1:Instead, delight in the law of the Lord and the word of God, Right so, delighting in his word, his written word, delighting in his son, Jesus, right. So part of, I think, us connecting people to a thriving life in Christ is showing the beauty of Jesus right, Showing people the beauty of the gospel, the way that we react to suffering in our own lives, the way that we react to being sinned against in our own life, the way that we handle adversity. And a couple sermons back you talked about we are either heading into the storm, in the middle of a storm, or coming out of a storm. And if you're coming out of a storm, guess what?
Speaker 2:Getting ready to head into another one. Right a storm and if you're coming out of a storm guess what?
Speaker 1:Getting ready to head into another one? Right, and so that's just the way we live in a broken creation. That's the way life is and how we handle ourselves in that. And what I mean is are we fearing God or are we fearing the storm? Right, and so the way that we handle ourselves around people when they're falling apart, and our life is not, and so we've got to be sure that our anchor, that our trust, is in Christ and in Christ alone. Right, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and we've got to show them that truth and authority comes from God's inerrant and infallible word, which points us to the word.
Speaker 1:Christ, which is the anchor.
Speaker 2:So we are unapologetic about preaching and teaching the word of God here. People don't need I say this all the time. People don't need my opinions on things. If you want my opinion, I'm happy to offer it. I got lots of opinions, but on Sunday mornings when I stand behind the pulpit, I'm not there to give my opinion about anything. I'm there to faithfully open up the word of God and do my best, through the power of the Holy Spirit and through study, to say this is what God's word says on these topics. Right, and every time it goes back to Christ because the whole thing is about him Exactly.
Speaker 1:Thinking about. It's interesting when you look at Psalm 1, there are two paths right Psalm 1, there are two paths right. There's the good path and the bad path, or the holy path and the wicked path.
Speaker 2:If you will right.
Speaker 1:What's interesting, I heard I think it was Alistair Begg teaching a long time ago, but he said something. I think he said there's no third path, there's no middle path, right, there's only in Christ and out of Christ. Those are the only two options. The only way to have a thriving life is to be in Christ, To be that tree planted by streams of water. And I think sometimes in American culture and American church, even I even find myself struggling with this. I mean, I know the truth, right, but in my heart I struggle with.
Speaker 1:You know, deep down, I think we all want to be universalists in a sense of like. You know, they're not so bad. My neighbor, he's a good guy, you know. He rolled my trash can up the driveway for me when I was gone. He watched my pets when I was gone, he helped me fix something. He would do anything for you. He's a good guy. Surely, he's not one of the wicked right and we, I think, want to believe that everyone's going to get in somehow, right, that's not what this psalm shows us. There's two paths. There's a wide way and a narrow way, and to have that thriving life it has to be only through Jesus Christ. That's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the standard isn't goodness, unfortunately Right, or fortunately yeah, spitting on perspective, right, right, the standard isn't goodness, it's holiness, it's perfection, and we can't accomplish that on our own. So we need Christ, we need him as the substitute, we need the grace that we can receive because God punished his son in our place.
Speaker 1:One thing I read this book. A long man, long time ago, called Good to Great. Man long time ago called Good to Great. What makes you know good companies, or what makes great companies stand out against good companies? You know the Coca-Colas that have been here forever and continue to succeed, and just one of the things that was brought up was just ruthless commitment to the mission, to the mission Right, and I think that's what we have to have in our lives, this ruthless commitment to the mission. But I find, even in ministry as someone who gets paid to do ministry I can be distracted. What are some of the dangers or distractions that we run across as we're trying to connect people to a thriving life?
Speaker 2:in Christ, doing good things instead of the most important thing, because most of the things that churches get distracted by aren't bad things. Ministries aren't bad things. Social justice isn't a bad thing. Helping people that are hurting none of those are bad things. But if those become the mission, then we've missed the point yeah, they have to be.
Speaker 1:Those are the vehicle. They're the means to share the gospel correct.
Speaker 2:But if we're not careful, they become the the main thing, the main thing. I was in the all-in yeah, I was in a.
Speaker 1:I worked for a trucking company. It was a logistics coordinator for a trucking company for a while and uh, one thing that our owner always, you know he would just drill into us. Most of what we did was move goods across the United States in 53-foot dry vans. We were trucking as a trucking company. Right, he said we are not in the trucking business, we are in the transportation business, and transportation is always changing. And so we had flatbeds, refrigeration you know, 53-foot drive-ins.
Speaker 1:We did intermodal stuff containers off ships onto trains, onto trucks Understanding that the main, our business, is transportation, not trucking. Trucking is the means, but transportation is the business. I think sometimes we can get even like. I met a deacon one time at previous church who just his understanding of evangelism was inviting people to church, which is a good thing, right, but it's not the thing. We want to invite people to church, but that's the means for them to hear the gospel. Absolutely, we have to be ready for them to hear the gospel and I think we can. I think it's important. You know, we talked about maybe what we connect people to, right, right, we, I think, at FBC Tampa, have a great community of people. Here. There are people that love each other, who care for each other, who minister to each other, and if we're not careful, sometimes I think we can connect people to the church, but they never get connected.
Speaker 1:How does that? What does that look? What are some of the dangers there?
Speaker 2:maybe the danger is you're giving false security. The danger is you're not accomplishing the mission that God sent you to. People aren't thriving in their walk with Christ. You're not connecting them to a thriving life in Christ. You're connecting them to, maybe, a thriving community, which is a good thing, but that's not going to get them to heaven. So it can be a vehicle to get them there, but you got to make sure that the you know. So any of these things like you're mentioning you know, doing, doing good works in our community.
Speaker 2:We should go out and do good works in our community as a vehicle to connect people to a thriving life in Christ.
Speaker 1:If we could just always have that mindset, as we're going to be at the manor this Friday. The temptation is to be super focused on the work and the job that we have to do to get the event done Right, when really the focus needs to be. How can I build a bridge with these folks to share the gospel with them? It's called the Baptist Manor, but I think the Baptists are probably the minority over there, right they are.
Speaker 1:There are a lot of folks over there who don't know Christ. I mean the majority. The vast majority of them don't know Christ.
Speaker 2:And to your point, we can go over there and do a great event on. Friday. We can feed some folks, we can spend some time with folks, we can have some fun with folks, we might even do a Bible study with some folks. But if we go over there and we're not representing Christ, we're not presenting Christ, we're not having the motivation and the intentionality of helping people come to a thriving life in Christ, then we can pat ourselves on the back all day long, but we haven't accomplished what God's called us to do.
Speaker 1:Right, right, and I think that's the thing In order to accomplish this mission yes, it's a corporate mission, it's what FBC Tampa is all about, but that only happens if we do this on the individual level.
Speaker 1:The FBC Tampa mission statement needs to be our mission statement. How can I, as an individual or as a family, connect others to a thriving life in Christ? And sometimes I think we think we have to share the gospel and they've got to accept them. Right then and there, right and man. Sometimes helping people connect to a thriving life in Christ is just helping them on the next step, absolutely Whatever that looks like right. Would they be open to a Bible study? Would they be open to coming to church or, if they have accepted Christ as Savior, trusted Him for salvation? Connecting people to a thriving life in Christ continues in the sense that we just help them take the next step.
Speaker 1:We show them how to study their Bible for themselves right. We help them get engaged in a core group where they can study the Bible with other believers who've walked the path maybe a little longer, and can help them. Anything maybe that I have not asked you about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so just to continue your point there, just as you think about planting seeds in the gospel. So somebody's got to prepare the soil, somebody's got to plant the seeds, somebody's got to water it Right, Somebody's got to pull the weeds around it, and then somebody gets to— Someone's going to get to harvest.
Speaker 1:It may not be you, but it's not.
Speaker 2:So how can, how can, individuals connect people to a thriving life in christ? Psalm 1 dig into the word of god, grow up into the image of christ, because as you dig into the word of god, you will become more like christ, which then leads us to bearing fruit for the kingdom of god. And bearing fruit doesn't necessarily mean being the harvester. Bearing the fruit just simply means representing Christ, letting people see Christ, hear Christ in your words and in your actions, so that you're bearing fruit for the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:And we're just called to be the indiscriminate seed sowers right and let God do what he's going to do through that, and his word never returns void, his gospel never returns void. That's right. And faith, you know we go on forever here, but faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of Christ. And so if we're not sharing that, that's the seed we have to be sowing Right the word of Christ.
Speaker 2:And it comes down to multiplication, right, instead of addition. You know, most churches that come see are additional churches, meaning come and see and they add a member here and there. They add a baptism here and there. A missional church, one that is sending the people out as missionaries, becomes a multiplying church where we're multiplying our influence when we all leave this place, recognizing this is the call not on our church, this is the call on me, this is the call on us as we go out.
Speaker 1:Very good. Well, man, thanks for listening. Jordan, thank you for being here.
Speaker 1:Yeah no problem, pastor Bob, good stuff today. We're so glad that you've joined us for the Unsexy Church Podcast. Just want to let you know that if you have questions for us, or maybe you have a question or a subject that you want us to answer or talk about, you can text us. I think it's in the description there. There's a little button you can push that says text us, or something like that. You guys can figure that out. You're much smarter than I am More techie than you are. For sure that doesn't take much. So just want to remind you to stay unsexy.
