Bigger Than Us! - Pastor Phillip Deas

Welcome to SC Church Podcast! We’re so glad you could join us. Today Pastor Phillip Deas shared with us his message:

“Bigger Than Us!"

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Wow, what an incredible, incredible morning we are already having here. And uh man, what what an awesome uh time we are in this uh mission series uh heading up to my good friend coming next week, Johannes Amritzer. It is going to be a fabulous Sunday. I encourage you, make plans to be here in the morning, make plans to be here in the evening. You will not regret it. And as we are in this mission series, last week Destiny was uh preaching here. And uh in this mission series, you know, a mission series is really a great idea because what it does is it really reorients us to this idea uh that, you know, missions is not found just in one local church, it's not found in the denomination. Uh, missions is really the reminder that this whole thing is bigger than us. It's a lot bigger than us. And so I want to spend the uh our moments together today talking about this topic of bigger than us. And when you look into your Bible, one thing's very interesting is that you're never going to find the word missions. It's not going to pop up in your Bible, but we get our word missions from uh the from the uh from the excuse me from the Latin word missio, which means to send. But the the Latin word to send, it actually comes from the Greek word in the Bible, apostolo. And what that means is to send forth with an official commission. So to send forth with an official commission, here's one of the trends that you will find in the Bible is that our God is a sending God. From the very beginning of scripture in Genesis, we see that God is a sending God. God sends Abraham from the place that he was into Canaan. God sends Moses, God is always sending people in, he's sending prophets to declare his truth and to declare his way and to declare his word. And when you get into the New Testament, we find that God is still ascending God because he sends his one and only Son from heaven to earth to live without sin, to go to a cross, to die not just for you, but to die as you, taking your sin upon himself. He goes into the grave only to be raised from the dead three days later, because the power that was in him was greater than the power of death. And when Jesus comes up out of the grave, he appears to his disciples, and this is what Jesus says in John chapter 20, verse 21. He he says, Peace be with you, as the father has sent me, I am sending you. The father sent me on a divine official commission, an apostello. He said, And as the father sent me, now I am sending you on a divine and official mission. I am sending you and I am giving you an apostello. Now we would say, okay, well, what is he sending us to do? Well, Matthew, another disciple of Jesus, he gives us uh this divine commission. We call it the Great Commission. It's found in Matthew chapter 28. He gives us a little more detail on what Jesus is sending us to do. And Jesus says, therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you, and be sure of this. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So Matthew just gives us a little clarification. John says he is sending us on an official commission, on a divine commission. Matthew says, Well, this is what he's actually sending us to do. He's sending us to declare the good news, to make disciples, to baptize people, to train them and teach them in the ways that Jesus has trained and taught us. And one of the most influential concepts of modern theology is found in the Latin phrase missio day, which means this, the mission of God. The mission of God. And this concept is so vitally important for us because it really challenges the way that we tend to think, and it really can change the way that we tend to think. And what it reminds us is this is that the church alone does not have a mission. Instead, God has a mission and he has invited the church to join it. It is the mission of God, it is the missio day. That God has a mission on the earth, and God has invited us, the body of Christ, the church of Jesus Christ, to be a part of his mission. Rest assured, the church is not inventing something, we are joining something. Because the mission of God, listen, it didn't start with us. The mission of God doesn't depend on us, and the mission of God is not going to end with us. That's why I choose this idea today that it is bigger than us, because this is God's big mission on the earth, and we just get the privilege of participating in it. And when we're thinking about a life of missions, we have to think about the apostle Paul. Paul says, my life, it has an assignment. There is a work that is attached to my life. And friends, I am convinced today that God never intended for us to simply exist. We are not here to be spectators. We are here to be participators. And if we are going to participate, I want to take a moment today and share with you three levels of living. Three levels of living. As human beings, we we don't move towards things that we can't see. Most people don't intentionally choose to stay where they are. They just haven't seen what is possible yet. And because they haven't seen what is possible in their life, in their faith, in their marriage, in their business, because they haven't seen what is possible, they tend to stay where they are. But whenever you begin to see a bigger possibility, whenever you begin to see a higher level of living, here's what it does: it changes how you think, it changes how you act, it changes how you respond. And so today, I don't want us to uh spend our time together of me trying to tell you something or me trying to even teach you something. I am here today because I want you to see something. I want you to see a bigger possibility in your life. Because here's what I believe. I believe whenever you see bigger, you can start to pursue better. And when you pursue better long enough, you will begin to live bigger. I want you to see that promo. When you see bigger, when you see more possibility, only then can you begin to pursue something better. And when you spend enough time, effort, and energy pursuing something better in your life, only then will you begin to live a bigger life. So let's take a look at these three levels of living real quick today. Level one is survival. And in level one, in survival, you ask yourself this question: how do I make it? It's the question that dominates level one. How do I make it? And everyone has been at this level at some point in their lives. This is where life becomes about getting through the day. Life becomes about paying the bills, managing the schedule, handling the stress. It's literally doing everything in your power just to keep your head above the water. And here's what we have to know is that sometimes survival is necessary, but please hear me, survival was never intended to be permanent. In life, you will have to survive if you want to eventually thrive. Every person you see today that is thriving in some area of their life, if they would look over their shoulder, there was a season of surviving that they walked through to get to their season of thriving over here. But the problem is that if you ever get stuck in just surviving, you will never move into the life that God intended for you to live because survival was never meant to be a permanent place. And actually, neuroscience backs up this idea. And neuroscience teaches us that one primary job of your brain is survival. There's a part of your brain called the amygdala, and the amygdala's main job is just to constantly and consistently scan for danger. Think of the amygdala like as your internal alarm system. It is constantly asking this question every day, all day. Is there anything here that could hurt me? That's it. All day, every day, it is constantly scanning. Is there anything here that could harm me? Is there anything here that could hurt me? Now, this was super important centuries ago, whenever humanity was consistently surrounded by known predators. But the problem is this is that the amygdala isn't its best at distinguishing between an actual physical threat and an emotional threat. Meaning that your brain has a really hard time knowing the difference between being chased by a lion and having a difficult conversation. It is hard for your brain to differentiate between staring down a grizzly bear and receiving a critical email or dealing with marriage conflict. Because your brain simply recognizes the threat and it prepares you to survive. And one of the ways that your brain does this is through this thing called attentional narrowing. And attentional narrowing is really simple. It just means this as stress goes up, attention goes in. Once again, which is really, really good if you run into the grizzly bear. Right? Because as the stress goes up, the attention goes in, and you're only concerned about the grizzly bear. Why? Because you don't need to be thinking about your meal prep for next week. When you're being chased by a lion, you don't need to be thinking about your five-year plan. When stress goes up, your attention goes in. But can you see the danger? Once again, really good when you're staring down the grizzly bear, not as good whenever you are dealing with the problems of life. When you're dealing with the social and the emotional issues, and then your your stress goes up, your attention goes in, and when your attention goes in, hear me, you stop thinking about the big picture. You stop thinking about purpose. And when your attention goes in, you stop thinking about other people. This is how you find yourself in stressful situations saying things to people that you love, coming back an hour later and go, I don't need how in the world, how did I even say that? Because in that moment you weren't thinking about the people around you. In that moment, you weren't thinking about the mission and the purpose of your life. In that moment, you weren't thinking about your legacy and what you were trying to create. In that moment, you felt like you were under threat, and and your brain went, okay, we have to defend ourselves. And it went into the survival, into this narrowing, this intentional narrowing. And so you weren't thinking about the big picture of your life and your family values and all of those things that you want to think about. You came in only to survive. And so you said things in that moment to protect yourself. And then we find ourselves fighting into this repetition, and we don't even know how our brain works and how our life works. And so then we think, ah, Lee, there's something wrong with me. And the only thing that's wrong with you is that you're human and you just don't know that you're human. Because this is what our brain does. So we need to understand how our brain works because it takes our attention off the things. And if I was just to give you a brief definition, a working definition for the word attention today, here's what I would tell you is that attention is the direction of your mind in the present moment. The direction of your mind in the present moment. This is why I always say this that whatever has your attention has you. Because whatever has the direction of your mind in the present moment is in control of your life. You can think of your attention as the steering wheel of your life. Whatever you are paying attention to is sitting behind the steering wheel because it will begin to shape your emotions and your thoughts and your decisions and your priorities. And whatever is shaping those things is doing what? Literally shaping your future. Isn't it interesting how many times in Scripture Jesus was constantly redirecting people's attention? Go to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7. You can read it for yourself. Jesus speaking to the people, and he says, Oh, you are so worried about what you are going to eat tomorrow. What does Jesus say? He says, Look at the birds. What is Jesus doing? Redirecting their attention. They're looking at their empty bowls. And Jesus says, Look at the birds. They don't plan, but yet they're always fed. Wow, look at that. Jesus, you have so much anxiety about what you're going to wear. Consider the lilies. Get your eyes off of your closet and get your eyes on the lilies. They are dressed in so much splendor. Jesus was constantly redirecting people's attention because he knows when there's stress and there's pressure and the anxiety, people choose, people tend to go in. And Jesus will say, No, you have to go out. The Old Testament has this exact same model. When there are problems and adversity and difficulty, what did the prophets always come and say to God's people in the Old Testament? Lift up your eyes. Lift up your eyes off of your enemy. Get your eyes on God. Lift your eyes up off of the famine and get your eyes on God. Lift your eyes off of your difficulty and get your eyes on God. God has been constantly trying to get people to shift their attention so that they don't go narrow, but they get bigger. Even the Apostle Paul, who wrote that verse in Acts that we read a moment ago in Colossians chapter 3, verse 1. He says, Hey, since we have been born again, since we have this new life in Christ, he says, set your mind on the realities of heaven. He says, think about the things of heaven and not the things of earth. They say, wait a minute. Is Paul trying to say, like, don't think about my kids and don't have a plan for the future? No, no, no. Here's what Paul's saying. If you don't intentionally think about heaven, you never will. And he's saying you have to intentionally get your eyes on something bigger, because here's what God knows throughout his word from Genesis to Revelation: purpose expands vision, but survival shrinks it. And whenever you are seeing the bigger picture and you are seeing the bigger purpose, your vision is going to expand. But when you find yourself in a survival mode, it shrinks your vision and it begins to narrow and get so small. If I was to ask you a question today, I would ask you this question. So what are we seeing today? What are we looking at? Where is our attention today? And maybe, maybe, maybe God wants to lift your eyes today. Maybe Jesus wants to shift your attention off of your worries and your anxieties, and he wants you to look at the birds and he wants you to consider the lilies. Maybe today you need to get your eyes off of the immediate problem and you need to think about the realities of heaven. God wants to lift your eyes so that you can see beyond the problems and you can catch a glimpse of his purpose so that your vision and your life will expand because there's one thing that the enemy does not want, and he does not want you to do that. He always wants your attention to narrow. He wants you to see the problem. He wants you to see the threat. And today you are here not by coincidence or accident, but you are here because God wants to lift up your head so that you can get your bigger picture and vision back. But once you do that, once you see, I don't want to live my life stuck here in the survival zone. I don't want to live my life just asking myself, how do I make it through today and this week and this season? I don't want to stay here. Then and only then can we move into level two living. And level two living is success. And in level two living success, this is the question we ask. We ask, how do I win? Level one, survival, how do I make it to level two success? How do I win? And can I tell you something today? There is absolutely nothing wrong with this question. How do I win? How do I win in my marriage? How do I win in parenting? How do I win in this life? How do I win in business? How do I win in my attitude? How do I win in my faith? There is nothing wrong with asking this question. In fact, I believe as believers that we should be asking ourselves this question more and more and more. Because I believe as Jesus followers that we should be pursuing excellence in everything we do. I believe that we should be working harder than anyone else on the planet. I believe that we should be developing our gifts and that we should be maximizing our opportunities because I don't believe that God is glorified by mediocrity. I don't believe that God is glorified by us just being average and ordinary. So I don't want you to hear me saying today that success is wrong. No, instead, this is what I want you to hear today. The problem isn't success. The problem is believing success is the finish line. The problem is not success. The problem is believing that success is the end all be all, that success is the final result, that success, that success is the finish line. Because today, listen, if anybody could teach us about success, it would be this guy in the Bible named Solomon. I mean, just think about this guy's resume for a moment. He was the king. Of Israel, unprecedented wealth. Historians say, I'm not talking about Christian historians, I'm talking about historians just out there, everybody, all cultures, all historians say the wealthiest person that ever lived, King Solomon, international influence, military strength, wisdom, power. If success could satisfy the human soul, Solomon would have been the happiest person to ever live on the face of the planet. Yet after attaining nearly every form of success imaginable, Solomon writes these words in Ecclesiastes. He says that everything is meaningless. It's like chasing the wind. After all of the victories and all of the success and all of the fame, he says it's meaningless. It's like chasing the wind. The man who had everything discovered that something was still missing. Which brings us to the question for each and every one of us: what does success look like for you? How do you define a successful life? I mean, seriously, if I slid you a blank piece of paper and I said, I want you to write down what you consider to be a successful life, what would you write down on that piece of paper? Income, influence, position, attitude, security, achievement? What would you write down? Look, it's it's it's not that any of these things are wrong. Hear me. The question is this, but are they enough? Are they enough? Is the lake house going to be enough? Is the boat going to be enough? Is that vacation, is it going to be enough? After you get everything that you want, the question still remains: are those things enough? You see, psychologists have now uh given a name to this thing that Solomon discovered 3,000 years ago. And psychologists called it hedonic adaptation. It's just a fancy phrase for a very simple reality, and it just simply means this that the things that we think will satisfy us permanently usually only satisfy us temporarily. The things that we are convinced that will satisfy us permanently, they only satisfy us temporarily. And we've all experienced this, right? I mean, like when you get that promotion, you're like, this is going to be it. If I get that promotion and we and we get the promotion or we get that new job and we are thrilled for a while, we get that new house that we've been wanting for years, and when we walk in, we are beyond excited, but just give it another year, and it's like, oh, okay. The baseboard still had to be cleaned, okay. You reach that goal that you were unsure that you would ever be able to reach. You get that rank that you didn't even know was possible, and you celebrate the victory for a while, and then something really strange happens. Your brain adjusts, your brain resets, your brain adapts, hedonic adaptation, and suddenly what used to feel extraordinary only feels ordinary. Then we're only left with one thing, and we are left with chasing the next promotion, chasing the next job, chasing the next purchase, chasing the next house, chasing the next breakthrough, chasing the next victory. It's like running on a treadmill. You are moving, but you are never actually arriving. Solomon might have not come up with the term hedonic adaptation, but he lived it. He lived it when he had got to the top of the top of the top, and then he asked himself, is this all there is? Is this it? All the power, all the money, all the fame, all the is this, is this really all there is to life? Can I give us all this simple reminder today that achievement creates excitement, but purpose creates fulfillment, and they are not the same thing? Achievement is very exciting. Don't get it twisted. No, when you achieve and you get recognized and you get a reward, and it is very exciting to achieve something a new job, a new promotion, a new house, and a new toy. Like, man, these are this is exciting. Achievement does create excitement, but purpose creates fulfillment, and they are not the same. Excitement will never turn into fulfillment. And almost every successful person that I've ever met, they started with this question of asking, like, how do I win? How do I win in this thing called life? How do I win? And once again, not a bad question. We need to ask ourselves this question. Paul actually pushes us in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and he says, we are all running a race. And if we are running this race, we need to run to win, right? He he he challenged us and pushes us to run to win in this thing called life. But listen, if that's where life stops, if success is the finish line, then we ask ourselves, how do we win? And then we find ourselves in the same place that Solomon did, asking ourselves this question. Is this it? Is this really all it is? Another thing? More stuff? Like, is this is this it? Another title, another promotion, another rant? Like, is this is this it? Is this all life is? No, we have to understand this that that this doesn't mean that success is failing you, because that's what people think. Well, success is gonna fail you. No, no, no. This doesn't mean that success is failing you, it means that success is revealing something important to you. Success hasn't failed you. If you find yourself right now at level two living, at a place like Solomon, like you've been chasing things and going after things, and you've been having success, you've been achieving a lot of things, and it's brought a level of excitement. But if you were honest, you would say, but there's a lack of fulfillment. If you find yourself in level two living, success has not failed you, success has revealed something important to you. And what it has revealed is this that your soul was designed for more than just achievement. You were designed for more than just achievement. You were designed for something that's bigger than us. Your soul was designed for more. Success is really good at answering the question, what can you achieve? Success is not very good at answering the question of why are you here. And that's where we always get why am I here? What is the point and the purpose of life? But remember what we said when you start to see bigger, you can start to pursue better. I would propose this question to you today. What if success isn't your destination? What if it's your preparation? What if success is not your destination, it's your preparation? Well, what if God blessed you with influence and resources and leadership, not simply so you could enjoy them, but so that you could deploy them? What if God blessed you with everything he's blessed you with, not just so that you could gain them, but so that you could give them? What if success, let's what if success isn't the end of the journey? But what if success is the platform to the next level? What if it's not the finish line? But what if it is the next step as we move from survival, how do I make it, into success in level two of how do I win? And then it pushes us into level three living, which is significance. And significance in level three asks this question: who wins because I'm alive? Who wins because I'm alive? Every part of the journey is important. We've already said everybody's gonna go through survival. There's nothing wrong with survival. Survival is an essential season for every single one of us. How do I make it? I've got to have a good answer for that question. Then I've got to start asking myself, how do I win? Because I'm not going to help somebody else win if I haven't learned how to win. So I have to get good at level two living. How do I win in these areas of my life? But then in significance, I start asking, who's winning because I'm here? Who's winning in this life because of me? Now we know there's something about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God has always worked upside down. And the upside down kingdom looks like this in Matthew 10, 39. It doesn't make sense to our logical minds when Jesus says, if you cling to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find it. That does make that does not make logical sense. It seems like if I want to hold on to something, the tighter I cling to it, the better I chant, better chance I have to hold on to it. But here Jesus says, no, no, no. If you actually hold on to it, you're actually going to lose it. But if you will actually let it go, only then will you be able to find it. The kingdom of God doesn't work like our logical brains work. And so if we want to live the abundant life, if we want to live in God's overflow, if that's the life that we that we want to live, we don't get to live that life by gripping harder. We get to live that life by actually letting go. Doesn't make sense. But it is God's way. Remember our framework. When you see bigger, you can start to pursue better. And when you pursue better long enough, you begin living bigger. And when you start living bigger, something incredible happens. Your life begins leaving an impact that outlives you. Legacy is not another level of living. Legacy is what significance becomes over time. When you live in significance so often and for so long, your life becomes a legacy. Legacy is not another level. Legacy is the result of choosing to live in significance. Asking yourself the question: who is winning today? Because I am here. Apostle Paul, that person we were talking about a moment ago, who wrote in Acts and then he wrote there in Colossians, and we've already referred to him. You know, he was a person who wasn't just surviving, although he went through a survival season. He wasn't just about success, although he was succeeding. And let me tell you, the Apostle Paul would let you know he was successful. I mean, you just got to read the book. Apostle Paul, he'll tell you how great he was. He'd be like, I mean, I was a bad man with Gemma. I mean, when it when it came, I was the Hebrew of Hebrews. I mean, he just goes ahead and he just uh I mean, he's just letting you know I am that guy, right? I mean, that's what he's saying. Like, I am him. That's what Paul is telling us, right? He's saying, I know how to succeed, but he didn't stop in survival. He didn't stop in success. Instead, Paul moved over here to level three living, which was significance. Because Paul spent his life going into places that had never heard the gospel and planting churches, making disciples. And then he would write letters to the churches that he started. And that's how we get so many of the letters in the New Testament in our Bible that we get so much of our theology from. They're just letters that Paul was writing to these churches, and we are benefiting from today. And when you hear that, you think, oh man, God must have just made it like smooth and easy for Paul. I mean, like, I mean, after all, right? I mean, he's planting churches, he's making disciples, he's writing letters. These letters are going in the Bible. Like it has to just be smooth sailing for Paul. And then you read 2 Corinthians chapter 11, and you realize it was anything but Paul says I was whipped 39 lashes five separate times. I was beaten with rods on three different occasions. I was stoned, and the only reason they stopped is they thought I was dead. He said, I've been shipwrecked and left out at sea all night long. He says, I have been rejected by my fellow believers and by the world. I have been mistreated by everyone. And when you read this, you say, what keeps a man like that? What keeps him going? What keeps him giving and serving? What keeps him? And it's found right there in the scripture that we read in Acts 20, 24, when he says this, my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me. Everybody say assigned. Yeah, he says, I've got to finish the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus, the work of telling others the good news about his wonderful grace. Paul had an assignment, he had an apostello, he had a divine commission. Paul understood the assignment. And here's what the assignment did for him: the assignment gave meaning to his sacrifice. The purpose gave perspective to his pain. And if you are wondering today, how do I get from living in level two, living in success? How do I win? And how do I stay in level three living? How do I get over here where people are winning because of me? You have to understand the bridge from level two to level three. And the bridge from success to significance is understanding the assignment, it's understanding the apostello, the divine official commission. And here's what I can tell you is that every single believer has an assignment. The assignment is not just for the apostle Paul. The assignment was not just for the apostles, the disciples. The assignment is not just for Johannes Amritzer, who will be here next week talking about festivals all over Africa and seeing thousands upon thousands saved and delivered and healed and miracle ministry. It's not just for that. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The Apostello, the divine official commission is for every single person who would choose to put their faith, hope, and trust in Jesus Christ. Every one of us that has received Jesus as Savior and Lord has also received a divine official commission from Almighty God. And there are three parts to this divine assignment that I want to share with you quickly, and somebody can come out and play the keys because it gives everybody confidence that I'm going to quit and you can go enjoy lunch. Because people are thinking, oh God, he's three points, and that was like 20 minutes ago. If he's got another three points right now, that's another 20 minutes. Like, oh my God, I gotta get home and get that roast out. You know, I mean, I'm just saying, no, no, no, no. This is this is quick, this is quick, this quick. But I want you to understand that there are three, there are three parts to your divine assignment. There, there are three parts to your apostello, the the the official and divine commission that every one of us have received as Jesus followers. There are three parts to it. And the three parts are this here, there, and everywhere. This is your assignment. You have an assignment here, you have an assignment there, you have an assignment everywhere. You say, what does that mean? Here means this. Who's close to you? You have an assignment to the people who are close to you. Your family, your friends, your coworkers. Living a life of mission just starts wherever your feet are. You don't have to be dreaming about Burundi when you live on Bunkham Road. You got a mission right here. Sometimes people overlook here because they're dreaming about everywhere. No, no, no, no. Mission always starts where you are. Your first mission is here. It's always family, it's always friends, it's your next door neighbor that you've been living to, living next to for 15 years. You you start right here. Why do you start here? Because that's typically where you're most comfortable. Comfortable in your here. But then there's the there. The the there is just asking yourself this where is God stretching me a little bit? It's just a little bit beyond my comfort zone. That's your there. Maybe it's going out on the streets next weekend in evangelism. Maybe it's deciding to serve here in kids' ministry. And you're thinking, I don't know about it. I don't know about serving in a kid. I've never served in the kids before, I've never served anywhere. But maybe that is your there. Maybe it's starting a small group here. Like, well, I don't know. I've never led anything like that before. Well, maybe that's your there. It's a little bit beyond your comfort, a little bit beyond your here. You're comfortable in your here, but your there is just a step beyond your here. And maybe today God is saying, okay, you have an assignment. Not just to your here, you have an assignment to your there. Be willing to step out of your here. Because God wants to do something in your there. And then you get to everywhere. The interesting thing about everywhere is that, and there are villages that you will never visit. There are people on the other side of the world that you will never meet. There are churches that you will never ever attend. But through prayer, generosity, and partnership, you can still participate. This is the beauty of the Church of Jesus Christ around the world is that we get to participate here, we get to participate there, and we get to participate everywhere. Because we have an official and a divine commission. We have an apostello. And let's remember when you see bigger, when you see bigger, you can start to pursue better. And when you pursue better long enough, what happens? You actually start to live bigger. And when you live bigger, you will eventually leave behind something bigger than yourself. Here's my prayer for every one of us today that we would faithfully serve those here, that we would courageously step into our there, and that together we would take the gospel. everywhere that we would take our official divine commission seriously and we would say God who is my here what is my there and what can I do in the everywhere remember this is not about us is bigger than us this is not our mission it's God's mission and God has invited us to join we have the privilege of participating in the Missio day the mission of God in the earth and you can do that here you can do that there and you get to do that everywhere for the glory and the purpose of Almighty God I want you to stand with me all over this place I want you to bow your head just for a moment just for a moment as we close today that your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed listen I'm not gonna ask you today to step out in an aisle I'm not gonna ask you today to come forward but right there where you are if you would just be honest and say Philip I'm I'm stuck in a survival season right now I'm not just passing through it I've been here longer than I needed to be here for whatever reason I say I've I've been asking myself that question just how do I make it how do I make it how do I make it and you say today today I I am ready to shift into the next level of living God created me for more than just making it day to day week to week month to month season to season God actually created me to win he created me for this level two living but but if you were honest right now right there where you are I'm not gonna ask you to come down front just right there where you are say Philip you are talking to me in in a certain area of my life I'm I'm stuck right now in survival mode I'm stuck in level one living if that's you come on just lift up your hand I want to pray for you just for a moment thank you thank you thank you you can put your hands down how many of you would say man I got into level two in some area of my life and I asked how do I win and I really started winning I mean I'm really doing well winning was so much fun I I just kept winning and kept winning and just kind of kept accumulating and kept enjoying and kept the excitement but now when I hear about Solomon I'm thinking yeah I've kind of felt that before is this is this is this it surely there's there's something more than this if today you say Philip I've in some area of my life I'm I'm I'm stuck in level two I know how to win in this area but I'm ready to move into level three and ask a different question. Not how do I win but who is winning because I'm here who am I helping to win if that's you today once again I'm not gonna ask you to come down but right there where you are just to acknowledge just for yourself just between you and God you say I I'm I'm I'm I've been hanging out too long in level two and I'm ready to move to level three in my life if that's you come on just lift up your hand right there where you're just lift up say I don't want to I don't want to get stuck in success. I don't want to get stuck in success thank you you can put your hands down and how many of you today in this room would just say Philip I want I want to I want to live in level three I realize that it it it's a progression in life and there's some areas where we're where we're in level three and some areas we're in level one this is not just linear and and all neat and hunky dory no no no no no there there are levels and life is complex and complicated and there may be some areas you're in level one and some areas you're level two and other areas you're level three but you would just say Philip I I want to live I might not even know exactly what it looks like but I want to live in significance. I want my life to be defined by helping other people win I want to live in significance so long that my life creates a legacy that outlives me. You might not have a blueprint to get there but you have a desire in your heart right now you might not know all the steps that you need to take to get to level three but you say Philip this is who I want to be I want to be a person that is defined by significance. If that's you and you are in this room I want you to hold up your hand right now say Phil that's what I want my life to be defined by I want to live a life of significance. I want other people to win in their marriage I want other people to win in their parenting I want other people to win in their businesses I want other people to win in their joy I want other people to win in their peace I want other people to win in their faith I want other people to win I want other people to win and living a life on mission I want other people to win and I want to help them do that. Come on with that hand lifted right now all over this place will you pray this prayer after me say dear heavenly father I know that I need you I need your love and your grace I need your power and forgiveness I believe you are who you say you are and you can do what you say you can do I am ready to live a life of significance I want other people to win because I'm here I don't want to live stuck in survival I don't want to live stuck in success I want my life to be defined by significance living a life that glorifies you that pushes other people towards their purpose and destiny father I thank you for every single person in this room that just prayed that prayer I thank you for every person that recognized that I've been in survival too long. I thank you for every person that just raised their hand and said man I got stuck in success I'm enjoying success and it was an essential part of my journey but I don't want to get locked into success I want to move into level three in every area of my life and I want my life to be defined by significance. I want to focus on my here I want to step into my there and I want to give and participate everywhere so that the gospel of Jesus Christ can reach my street my neighborhood my city my state my country and the entire world because of the apostello because the missio day the mission of God the official divine commission that God has given each and every one of us and we give you glory and God we declare that your name is great and you are greatly to be praised and your name will be preached and declared to the ends of the earth we thank you that we get to participate in it all thank you for including us in your great big mission in Jesus' name we pray. Come on if you believe that put your hands together today thank God I want you to go out this week and I want you to say where's my here where's my there and what am I gonna do next week to give and to participate in taking the gospel everywhere. Hey at North Point we do something every week I know y'all say a little uh uh you know a little blessing and I don't really know that blessing so today we're gonna do what we've done at North Point for a really long time and we're gonna shout the best is yet to come all right I'm gonna count to three and everybody at the top of their lungs is gonna shout the best is yet to come are you ready for that come on one two three the best is yet to come God bless you we'll see you next Sunday thank you for connecting with us today the first step to a new life in Christ is receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 54:25

If you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior repeat this prayer after me Jesus I believe you died on a cross and rose again for me. I ask that you come into my heart and be the Lord of my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen whether you committed your life to Jesus for the first time today or are already on your journey of faith we would love to stay connected with you. Please visit scchurch.com and follow scchurch on all social media platforms and remember the best is yet to come