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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
Not New, Just The Original
The finished work of Christ and the theology of inclusion represent the heart of the gospel, not a new teaching but the original message that dates back to the first century church.
• Jesus' declaration "it is finished" on the cross meant everything needed for our reconciliation with God was completed
• The wall of separation between people groups has been broken down by Christ himself, not by human effort
• Inclusion doesn't mean "anything goes" - it means "anyone can come" regardless of background
• We are not working to be accepted by God; we're working from a place of already being accepted
• The five-fold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers) exists to equip all believers for ministry
• Every Christian carries gifts and anointing, not just those in leadership positions
• True holiness comes from identity, not from performance or religious observance
• Righteousness is a gift received, not a status earned through good behavior
• The early church brought diverse people together in unity without erasing their differences
• If the gospel we preach doesn't sound like good news to broken people, it's not the true gospel
We're called to tear down walls, not rebuild them. Let's be a church that reflects Jesus by embracing those considered outcasts, restoring the rejected, and creating space for everyone at the table.
when we know people's out, I have a tendency to sometimes want to want to change the sermon up a little bit, simply because, you know, I feel like I want people to hear what we're saying. I want more people to be able to hear it, but I'm going to go on with it because I believe that the ones that's here this morning is maybe the ones that needs to really hear this. So we're going to go with it and I don't know if Ronnie's ever put the title up so far. It's not new, just original. Y'all have heard me say that so many times. I'm going to keep saying that we're adults. We don't get stuff after one time or two times of hearing it. We got to hear it over and over and over again in different ways and you'll see, I think, very clearly what I'm talking about with this title this morning, that we're not teaching anything new, and I'll explain to you a little later where some of this comes from, because there's a lot of people out there that think this is new because it's new to them. They've never heard it taught in a certain way that we, maybe we teach it. So it's a new teaching to them, but it's not new. We're not coming up with a new theology.
Speaker 1:So a couple of verses. I just want to start you off with most of these. Again, it's very familiar, but these are. These are the ones that's going to tie into what we're saying. John 19 and 30, we know that one. You ought to know that one by now. We talk about it all the time. Where Jesus is on the cross, he said it is finished, it is finished. That's a key verse. If I had to say okay, if somebody said what's the verse of your church, I would have to say it's John 19 and 30. It is finished. Your church, I would have to say it's John 19 and 30. It is finished.
Speaker 1:Ephesians 2. I want you to look at verse 13 and 14 and then we'll kind of get going with these. Ephesians 2. Verse 13 says but now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, listen to that. You who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he Himself is our peace. It's not the things around us, it's not the people around us. Sometimes it's the people around us that cause us to need more Jesus, because he's our peace. He Himself is our peace who has made both one and has broken listen to this part has broken down the middle wall of separation. We've got to be able to get.
Speaker 1:I'm giving you verses and a lot of these verses each Sunday that I give you. I guarantee you, if somebody will go back, use ChatGPT, go and take the last month of the services we've had and take every scripture out and put those scriptures in and say how do these scriptures correlate over the last month? I guarantee you it'll give you a pretty detailed answer as to how these all fit together, because even though they're the same verses, a lot of times we're showing that there's a theme right here. There's a theme in what we're teaching about finished work. There's a theme in what we're teaching about finished work. There's a theme in what we're teaching about understanding inclusion and there's something to say about the fact that we're not trying to keep people isolated. We're not trying to say we're over here and y'all are over there.
Speaker 1:The wall of separation has been removed and it's nothing that you did or I did or any other pastor did. It says right here for he himself is our peace. He made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. Jesus broke down this wall. It didn't have nothing to do with me and you. And in the last verse right here, galatians 3 and 28, a really good one there is neither no jew nor greek. Now you got to remember when this was obviously being spoken. I know we're not jews and we're not greek, okay, but you got to look at what what was being said here during that time period and how it relates to us today. There is neither jew nor greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in jesus christ. Now we can put that right here with us today as well. Okay, because we can easily sit here and I can turn this message around and I can say there's not a Baptist, there's not a Methodist, there's not a Catholic, there's not a church of God. There's all these different denominations that we've turned church into. Nothing wrong with them.
Speaker 1:But if we go back to what it really says in the Bible, why the separation between the Christian people that we've got to classify them and put them in different classes, in different denominations? Jesus didn't do that, but we do it today. And what does it do? That wall of separation that he brought down? We bring it back and build it back up. We are called at this church and I'm telling you that's part of my anointing is to break down walls of separation, is to break down denominational walls, break down any type of barriers that separate people and separate us from what God has called us to be and what he's called us to do. That's what we're here for. I believe that is what the Rock Worship Center was created to do. It started years ago. It didn't start just with us. It started in First Community Church. It started way back then but there was something the people that was coming in and teaching the things that we were learning, the people that I was connected to at that time and then it just progressed, year after year after year and we're called for a different purpose than just to have church on Sunday morning. So we've got to realize that.
Speaker 1:I've heard people say that the finished work and inclusion and I'm not saying people just right here at Alma, there's been some people in Alma that said it too, but I mean online. When you talk to people and I'm connected with other people who are finished work people, inclusion, theology, people and you can go on there and look at something they post and, man, I'm telling you, people will come on there and just eat them up. And so there's people that say that this finished work and inclusion message is very dangerous because it's a new teaching. I've heard people call it new age there is a new age teaching out there and this is not it. Okay, some people call it new age, there is a new age teaching out there, and this is not it. Some people say it's very deceiving to people, it's leading people away from the gospel, away from the truth. I've seen that and to those people I just say listen, just listen, that's all you've got to listen, just listen, that's all you got to do.
Speaker 1:Just listen to it. Don't be so closed-minded and shut off from everything else because we're stuck over here in tradition. And just listen, not forcing nobody to believe anything. But I believe that if you'll listen with an open mind and study, be a disciple. A disciple is one who has learned, he studies, he's disciplined. That's a disciple. There's a difference in somebody calling themselves a disciple and just saying I'm believe, I'm a believer in christ. Somebody who is a disciple will understand what we're talking about, because they're not just going to take my word for it and say, oh yeah, he's right. No, they're going to go and they're going to study it out. They're going to take it and they're going to break it down and they're going to look and study and say what does this really mean for us today?
Speaker 1:And it may not sound right because I've never heard this teaching before, but again, that does not make it new. It's new to you, but it's not new. It's not a new theology. This is going back to the original of what was said. This teaching is really ancient. It goes back a long way and, to be honest, it's pretty amazing. When you can talk to people and when you start understanding this, you'll be able to talk to them in a different way. And it's not a debate.
Speaker 1:But when I hear somebody say, oh, that's a new teaching, I say no, actually it's a really, really old teaching. Actually, what you're teaching is more new than what I'm teaching. And then when I go into saying, okay, well, do you know that? The hell, theology is only this old. Did you know that? The you know, the we're going to escape the rapture? Theology is only this old. I mean, it's only been around for 200 years. You're believing in a theology that has only been around 200 years and started from a 12-year-old girl. Stuff like that.
Speaker 1:That's not an attack on them, trying to look down on them. That's just saying be knowledgeable about what you're teaching. Be knowledgeable about what you're saying. That you stand on, understand where it comes from and when you start having these discussions and you can say don't call what I'm saying new, because I can date it all the way back to the first or second century because it's what they taught. Well, what you're teaching and what you're learning can only be dated back two to three hundred years. Big difference in that.
Speaker 1:And I'm just using that example because when people say new, new, new, it's not new and we can show that. And that's where we got to be able to get in the word and break it down and look at some of these timetables. Listen, if you've never studied church history, you don't have to become a historian, but it would do you good to study some church history and really figure out. And I would be willing to say that most people who are teaching from the pulpit today has not done a lot of deep study on church history. They've done deep study on certain things in their classes and things like that. But when I'm saying going back studying the history of the church, how it began, how it progressed, what kind of roadblocks it hit through the years, how it was influenced from other people, from other writing it makes us understand things a little bit better.
Speaker 1:So finished work and inclusion are actually, to me, it's the heart of the gospel. And I say to me I say that because I believe it's the heart of the gospel. But I can also take you into Scripture and show you that it's the heart of the gospel. But I can also take you into Scripture and show you that it's the heart of the gospel. So we're not teaching this to get people away from the gospel. The good news this is the good news Saying that it is finished is good news.
Speaker 1:Saying that everyone is included, no matter what you've been through, no matter what you've been through, no matter what you've experienced, is good news. Separation is not good, condemnation is not good. So if we want good news, you have to understand what finished work and what inclusion is. We've got to understand Jesus. He didn't start the work, he finished it. Okay, in John 19.30, again it says it is finished.
Speaker 1:When Jesus said it's finished, he meant exactly that there's only so many ways we can take that and break it down and study it out. He said Everything that I've come to do, every purpose that I was put here for, is absolutely done. Everything that you need to get back to who my Father called you to be and anointed you to be is finished. There's nothing left to add to it. There's no extra sacrifices that need to come with it. There's no more earning or working or striving. It's just simply resting and receiving. That's so hard. That's so hard for men to do. I said it the other day too Men's about working. We've got to be doing working. We're about. We got to be doing something. We got to feel good. We've got to actively be doing something. It's hard for us to just sit and rest and receive something, but that's what Jesus wants us to do.
Speaker 1:See, the cross didn't leave any loose ends, and I know people don't stand up and declare that. They don't stand up and say where the cross does not complete the cross. You know they don't use those words and that wording. But if you look at what's taught, come on, this is hard to say.
Speaker 1:If you look at what's taught, it's almost like what he did there is not complete. It's almost like what Jesus did on the cross is not sufficient, that we've got to do our part now to make it all come together like it should. That's a dangerous teaching. It's dangerous number one because it's not good news to people. Come together like it should. That's a dangerous teaching. It's dangerous number one because it's not good news to people, because it takes us into this performance mode that the more we do and the harder we work and the more we strive, the closer we get to God. And that's simply not the case. He's not going to love you any more tomorrow than he does today. Don't care how long you pray today and tonight, don't matter how many Hail Marys somebody does or how much money they give.
Speaker 1:Listen, if somebody dropped a $300,000 check off today and said build y'all's building, I would love that guy, but it's not going to make him any more righteous, because he done that Might make him a little bit more. You know, I might like him a little bit more, but in God's eyes it's not going to make him more righteous or more holy. What he's doing is not accomplishing is not getting him closer to heaven. Okay, we may put a little plaque somewhere and put his name on it, you know, yeah, but we just got to realize because, honestly, we teach these things and we confuse a lot of people with what we say. We teach these things and we confuse a lot of people with what we say.
Speaker 1:I say so often and I know I repeat a lot of this, but I want you to understand it where I'm coming from. With it You're not working to be accepted, you're working from the place of acceptance. I'm already accepted and I do the things I do because I'm already accepted and I know who I am. I'm not doing things because I'm trying to get Him to accept me. That's a totally different mentality. That's a performance mentality. It's kind of that if-then, if I do this, god will you love me a little more. If I do this, can I get closer to Him? And a lot of people feel like that. Let's be honest. That's why they work so hard, that's why they do so many things in the church and God bless them for doing those things People's needed in the church.
Speaker 1:But what's the attitude behind my work? Is it because I know who I am and I know what God's doing through me and I just want to continue doing what he's doing through me? Or is it because I'm trying to accomplish something. I'm not saying stop the work. I'm not telling anybody to go home and stop doing what you're doing. I'm just saying stop the work. I'm not telling anybody to go home and stop doing what you're doing. I'm just saying check the attitude, check the reasoning behind it, because it really does make a difference.
Speaker 1:We don't serve God to earn His love. We serve because we are already loved and if he is love and he lives on the inside of me, then that automatically and we're one joined together that no man can separate. I know we use that in the wedding most of the time, but that's not all. It's really not talking about that. Okay, it's. We're joined together as one. God is in me, I'm one with Him and he's love, he's in me. So therefore I am love and I do things simply out of who I am, not because I'm trying to be loved.
Speaker 1:Now, we do that in the flesh sometimes. Let's be real. We do things because we want acceptance from people. That's natural. We do that. You go and you look at the most men if you look at the love languages. Mine's affirmation I need that pat on the back. Men sometimes need that pat on the back, because that's the way we're created. We need somebody to see that our work was worth something. Okay, but in the Spirit it's already finished. I'm already accepted. I don't need to do something to affirm that God loves me.
Speaker 1:So there's a difference in the way we're created here on earth and what's already finished spiritually. And I think sometimes what happens is we take what we feel here on earth and the natural things that we go through and we begin to mix them with the spiritual and now we think what I feel on earth and what I do on earth that I have to do the same thing for the Father. And it's not the case. And that could be a teaching right there, because the same things that we believe on earth about ourselves and the same ways that we see ourselves on earth, all of a sudden we turn around and we put that same thing on God. He loves us. We don't have to try to get Him to prove it to us. We don't have to do anything to prove our love to Him. We are love, he is love, he is in us.
Speaker 1:So inclusion isn't and this is what I hate about church as a whole, because if you go back and you study the church history, and I'm not just talking about going back to the first and second century yeah, do that too but I'm talking about the trends that's come over the last 20, 30 years. You'll see things. There are certain trends that's come over the last 20, 30 years. You'll see things. There are certain trends that's come through and every church sort of just jumped on the bandwagon Because that was the going thing at the time. We've all done it, we're all guilty of it and that's why you see these churches start clicking up. They all have groups. Our spiritual father is Bishop Marlon Williamson. He's in Alabama, so we don't have the opportunity as much to connect as we would like to.
Speaker 1:But instead of clicks, let me say this circuit, we get on church circuit. But instead of cliques, let me say this Circuits, we get on church circuits. Certain denominational people get connected and they stay in this connection and this group over here will stay in this connection and this circuit. And basically, you have circuit pastors. You have pastors that will travel around to each other's churches and that's all they'll do is travel to those specific churches. And then when I come over here and preach, I got to let you come to my church and preach, and then we'll both get asked to go to this church and preach. But it's about eight to ten churches and you're just going around. You're just going around, you're just going around and you're getting paid at each one to come in and speak. But what are you speaking? You're speaking the same thing. The rest of them are, and I'm not saying that's all a bad thing, because if you've got a group of people even the ones we've learned a lot from Tommy and different ones Tommy's got certain people Everybody's not coming in into Legacy Church to preach, I can promise you.
Speaker 1:Everybody's not coming into this pulpit to preach. I'm very. I would love to bring some people in, but I'm very, very cautious about who's going to stand up here and speak. I'm guarded because I know what we're teaching and I want to bring somebody who is like-minded in the teaching and what we're saying. So inclusion isn't a trend. It's not one of these things that all of a sudden in 2025, everybody's going back to inclusion and everybody else is jumping on the bandwagon for a little while. Inclusion is actually the gospel. I'm going to show you this.
Speaker 1:In Ephesians 2 and 14, we read what God said he Himself is our peace, breaking down every dividing wall. Jesus broke down walls between Jews and Gentiles, men and women, rich and poor. It didn't matter. Jesus didn't care where you come from, he didn't care what you've been through. I mean, he went and talked to this lady at the well and he shouldn't have went over there by himself with her. That's what we would say today. Don't go meet that woman by yourself, you know, because we're cautious. Okay, jesus said y'all go on there. I got something I got to attend to and he went over there and he changed this lady's life and he loved on her. He just he loved on her. He didn't go up there and start pointing fingers in her face and saying do this and do that and repent. He just loved on her. She's the one who felt guilty and she's the one who started saying things, you know, because of the guilt and because of what she's been through, and he said call your husband and boom, it went from there. He didn't go up there addressing her in that way. He didn't go up there. He sat with sinners, he embraced the rejected, he restored the outcast.
Speaker 1:The gospel doesn't erase holiness. I get so tired of hearing people say that because you're preaching finished work. You're making people think that there's nothing that they have to do and they don't have to be holy and they don't have to be righteous and they don't have to be. And I turn right around and say no, no, no. The difference is you're trying to get people to be righteous, you're trying to convict people to be holy. I'm telling them they already are. Now live it out, come to an understanding.
Speaker 1:That God said you are righteous, I have given you the gift of righteousness. So what are you working for? Something that he already said I've given to you as a gift? And when that's brought up, there's not a whole lot you can say. Only thing you say is let me go back and read that verse. I mean, really, why are you working for something that he says I've given you the gift? I don't work for a gift. That's something that somebody gives me because they choose to. Now what I do with that gift is up to me. If you bring me a gift in here next Sunday, I can take it home with me or I can throw it in the trash on the way out. That'd be kind of mean, but I'm just saying I've got a choice to do that. I don't have to receive it and we've got a lot of people who do not receive the gift of righteousness. But we say it so often what's true of you is not always true to you. Just because you haven't received it does not change the fact that he gave it. I can give you a gift. If you throw it away, that's on you. It don't change the fact that I gave it to you Free of charge, without you doing anything to earn it.
Speaker 1:But we try to get people to work for it. We tell them they got to do this and they got to do that and they got to come to church so many Sundays in a row and they got to dress a certain way and they got to make sure you don't let anything ugly slip out of your mouth and all this stuff. And I'm not saying that's wrong. Yes, we want everybody to live good lives. But we want that stuff to happen because of my identity and because of who I am, not because I'm trying to be better. Let it happen from the inside out. Let the inside the identity of who I am, the identity of my righteousness, the identity that I am holy, all these things let that change the outside. But we got too many trying to change the outside, because the outside changes a little bit. Now I think I'm holy. It's an outward change. All we're saying is let it be an inside-out chain.
Speaker 1:Forget about that junk. Work on me. Work on becoming the man of God or the woman of God that God has called me to be. Understand my true identity in Christ. Understand that I am forgiven, I am redeemed, I am holy, I am redeemed. I am holy, I am righteous and there's nothing anybody in here can do to ever change that. And if I just receive it, if I just rest in that fact that it's already happened on the cross, it is a finished work and I receive it. Believe it.
Speaker 1:What's the word? Say, believe and confess? We're talking about salvation right here. A minute Believe and confess. Right, if I can just believe, get it in me, grab on to it and then confess. It means what? Just say the same thing. That means I can't walk around saying, oh, I'm such an ungodly person I can't believe I done that. No, you're righteous. You might have done something crazy that you shouldn't have done, but you are righteous. You are the righteousness of God, you are redeemed. Quit thinking and standing on all that junk in the past. You are redeemed and when you can begin to believe it and confess it and say it every day, even when you make a mistake, get yourself back up and say no, I am a child of God, I am not just an old sinner saved by grace, I have been forgiven. He went to the cross. He paid the price, not just for my sin, but for everything. He paid the price for it and I received this and I'm going to continue to speak it over myself. That is believing and confessing. That's salvation, salvation. That is believing and confessing. That's salvation.
Speaker 1:Didn't say nothing about coming up here and praying a prayer and letting me you know. You repeat after me. Didn't say nothing about you know, taking this oil right here and pouring it over your head when you get up here to wash away all that junk that you walked in with. Nothing wrong with this Ain't in with Nothing wrong with this. Ain't nothing in the world wrong with this. If y'all want to talk, come here and I'll throw it on you just to show you there's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 1:But listen, you know what this was used for. We call it anointing oil. Right, there was a time that it was used to anoint. Guess where the anointing's at now? It ain't in this bottle, it is on the inside of me. Nothing wrong with this as a ritual. Listen, if it makes you feel better, I will pour this over your head, but it's not necessary. It's not necessary. We can use it. We got it up here. This has been up here for eight years and you can see how much of it's been used. But why? Because the anointing is in every single one of you. The anointing that used to be in that bottle, in that oil, is now in your hand.
Speaker 1:You lay hands on the sick. You speak healing. He said by his stripes you are healed. So what do we do? We confess what he's already said. We're not praying over somebody and saying God, if it be your will, if they've been good enough this year, can you? No, you said it's already done.
Speaker 1:So I decree healing right now. I decree that everything in this body come into alignment with what you've already established from the cross. I decree healing. I'm not asking for healing. That may sound arrogant. I'm not asking for healing. I'm decreeing healing. I'm not asking for healing. That may sound arrogant. I'm not asking for healing, I'm decreeing healing.
Speaker 1:There's a difference. It says life and death lies in the power of your tongue. It matters how I say things. It ain't just what I say, it's how I say it. I'm not a beggar anymore. I'm not bringing somebody up here and beg God for their healing, I'm going to decree. It's already happened. And now, if they can come to terms with what's already occurred, we're to agree, god and you. Anything is possible. The impossibility lies right here, because we can't come to terms with it.
Speaker 1:We think if I get up here and cry enough, if I get up here and just beg enough, then I'm going to make God move. There ain't no amount of begging that you're going to do or crying that you're going to do that's going to make Him come down. Why? Because he's seated at the right hand of the Father. He is seated, not a place of laziness. Seated is a place of finished work and I can see him sometimes when I used to pray.
Speaker 1:Now that I look back at the way I used to pray and I used to be a beggar and I used to be a negotiator, I would say, god, if you'll just do this and I would make deals with God and I was so ignorant, then God would sometimes do things really just to get my attention, to show me that he loved me. It wasn't because I was negotiating with him. It's because he loved me and it was already done. I was negotiating with him it's because he loved me and it was already done to begin with and he just wanted to show it to me. But now I realize I'm not a beggar anymore because I don't have to beg for stuff I already have. You don't have to beg for something that's yours already. So when we come to terms with that and understand that it's already finished and I have to receive it now, the way I speak, that my language changes. It really does. I'm not. I'm not praying the same way that I used to pray. I'm not asking, I'm. My conversation with God is not the same as it used to be. And I'm telling you I've prayed things before and I've heard other people pray things and I've been like man that's arrogant. Who does he think he is? You know, I've told y'all the story, I won't go back into that.
Speaker 1:That guy that came out and prayed that time and he looked at that woman and he said do you believe I can heal you? And she said I believe God can heal me. He said go get in God's line, this is my line. And I was standing there and I looked and I said what did he just say? Who does this guy think he is? You know who the guy was. I ain't going to tell you that the guy was a man who understood his authority. The guy was a man who understood that the healing had already occurred. And if she couldn't believe that a man of God who had the power to lay hands on her and heal her, if she didn't believe that she was going to walk in the same way she walked, or walk out the same way she walked in, she was not going to receive it. And that's all he was saying. He said it a little rough, but that's what he was saying.
Speaker 1:And years later that hit me and I said that guy knew who he was. He knew exactly who he was. It wasn't arrogance, it wasn't anything else, it was I know who I am in Christ, and you've got to be able to receive what God's sending for me. It shocked me at the time, but I won't hang a lie. It shocked me at the time, but I ain't gonna lie.
Speaker 1:So Jesus broke down these walls between Jews and Gentiles, men and women, rich and poor. He sat with sinners. He embraced the rejected, he restored the outcast. Listen to all that. I'm gonna say it one more time. I want you to hear this. He broke down walls, he sat with sinners what we would consider sinners. He embraced the rejected and he restored the outcast, and the whole purpose for him being here was to be your example. So what are we doing? And I'm telling you a lot of the church ain't doing this. A lot of the church is rejecting. A lot of the church is saying get yourself cleaned up and then you can come in here and be a part of us. Huh, come on in, come the way you are, don't care what you're going through, what you've been through. Come. The gospel doesn't erase holiness. It reveals the heart of the Holy One.
Speaker 1:The one thing that people have trouble with with the finished work and inclusion teaching, is they think that you don't have to be holy anymore, that you just go out and live however you want to live, because it's finished. That's ignorance, and I don't mean that ignorance is simply not knowing. That's somebody that's hearing this teaching and truly not knowing what it really is, and because of their ignorance they're saying, oh, you're erasing holiness out of it. No, you're not. Inclusion does not mean anything goes. It means anyone can come. That's simply what it means. Anyone can come. Everybody is welcome. We're not lowering the standard. We're lifting people up to meet Jesus. We're just not closing them out until they get their stuff right and then saying you can come in. We're introducing them to Jesus in the midst of their trouble.
Speaker 1:When we treat inclusion as a trend, we risk making it conditional, performative or just surface level stuff. Y'all have heard me say that so many times. It's time to or just surface level stuff. Y'all have heard me say that so many times. It's time to get past the surface level. If you've been in church for any time above a month, there's surface level stuff that you know already. Every Christian knows it. I don't want surface level people. I want people who says I want to go deeper. I want to know what God's intent really was. I want to know what he's called me to. I want to know how I can be a kingdom ambassador and not just a church attender. I want to know what can I do to make an impact and to have influence. But if we treat it as a trend, it don't have that same effect, but when it's rooted in the gospel, the good news, it becomes transformative. We transform people's lives. It means creating space at the table, even when it's uncomfortable. It means I'm willing to do things and say things that may not align with most denominational teachings and I'm okay with that. I'm not going to get asked there much, but I'm okay with it Because I know what God's called us to. I know that he's put something in us to be a little bit different and that's okay. It means it's difficult for some people to grow on to this because it requires listening, it requires repenting and it requires reconciliationing and it requires reconciliation and those are things that you ought to say as a Christian is really easy to do. But it's not.
Speaker 1:Wednesday night when we was here, we was talking about some questions come up and all we were just discussing some things and somehow it came up about the five-fold ministry and I've taught before discussing some things. Somehow it came up about the five-fold ministry. I've taught before several Sundays on the five-fold ministry. I haven't done it in a while. I may start doing it a little bit more because I want people to see how the five-fold ministry aligns with what we're saying. So I was going to just touch on it a little bit this morning.
Speaker 1:Go to Ephesians 4, verse 11 through 13. Look at what it says. This is where the five-fold ministry teaching comes from. And for a while this five-fold ministry teaching was a trend as well. Churches were teaching it, and then more churches got on it and everybody taught it for a while and then it just stopped. It's a trend, like anything else. But right here in Ephesians 4, it says and he Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and some teachers.
Speaker 1:Here's the key to it. For what? For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry. Come on, pastor, do your work. No, you do your work. We have left it up to whoever's standing behind the pulpit to do all the work.
Speaker 1:I said a couple weeks ago it hit me years ago that one of the things that I should do as a pastor is to work my way out of a job. If you train people to understand the five-fold ministry, you work your way out of a job. Why? Because you train the people to do what primarily the pastors are doing today. That's the 21st century church. Put a pastor up. He pretty much does everything. That's not the way it should be.
Speaker 1:For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ here we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ here we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature. I love this part of the fullness of Christ. See, we got too many Christians just want a little bit of Him when things start to go wrong. Yeah, I'll take a little Jesus that we order Him up when something goes bad. But this is talking about the full measure of Him, the full power of what we're able to do if we had the fullness of Christ. And this only comes with the five-fold ministry.
Speaker 1:I summed it up what Ephesians 4 and 11 through 13 talk about here just in my own words these are gifts to equip people and build the body, to equip people and build the body. To equip people and build the body. Each one reflects how Jesus ministered while he was here on earth. Every one of these five. Jesus operated in all five of them and now these gifts have been shared with us. All five of these gifts are still those people that would get up here and they would debate me that the apostle died out of the Old Testament, the prophet died out with the Old Testament. That's what they'll tell you. There is no prophet today. There is no apostle today, and they could probably get away with saying that prophet today, there is no apostle today, and they could probably get away with saying that until they get an understanding of what apostle and prophet really is. But once you understand the true meaning of it and the true purpose of it, it's still active. It's still relevant today just as much as it was in the early church. That verse in 12, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. That's important.
Speaker 1:Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers these are not ranks or titles. They're gifts According to the Word. They are gifts. They're not ranks or titles. We use them as titles.
Speaker 1:I've made the joke sometimes. I can remember that we would see people, we would be at the other church and we'd be prophesying over people and we'd give them a word about their prophetic gift and man. Next week they'd have a business card with the name prophet on it. They took it so literally. I mean they jumped on that thing. We can all prophesy, we can all speak the word of God. God will share something with you to sometimes pray about, sometimes speak. But we can all prophesy, but we don't all have the gift to be a prophet and I'm probably going to get a little bit more teaching on this to you next few weeks or so. It's really important For their gifts to build the church up. And when I say build the church, I'm not talking about the building, I'm talking about the people To build up, the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry.
Speaker 1:God doesn't just anoint certain ones and that's sort of what being the mindset of the church. Certain ones was anointed as a pastor, certain ones was anointed to lead the congregation, you know. But when you get people operating in their true gifts and you get all five of these operating in one building in their true, I'm telling you the things that happen. Now there's people that can operate in many of them my true gift calling. I've said this many times as a teacher, but I'm operating as a pastor. I can prophesy the Word.
Speaker 1:So there's been times when people say, oh, he's operating as a prophet. It's no matter about the title, these are gifts and that's what we've got to see. God doesn't just anoint certain ones, he empowers everyone. It's not just that one person or a couple of people have the ability to do this. This means that the young person always struggling with anxiety, always struggling with depression, always going through something, can still be a prophet. That single mom can still be an evangelist. That man in the back who barely speaks and we know he's got a past, he can still be a teacher.
Speaker 1:It don't change the experiences, don't change the gift, but the experiences do sometimes blind us to the gift. It's there and I'm telling you, one of the most amazing things that you could ever be a part of is being in a true prophetic service where the prophetic anointing is just flowing and I say flowing because it really does. It's contagious. It stirs up the gift in people and you will see those people who had that prophetic gifting be down here and all of a sudden they'll just start to rise up. You can't help it. Something in you just starts to stir and that thing just comes up. That's why it's important to be involved in things that we're doing.
Speaker 1:When we're up here, people are at the front and we're praying over them. That's why we say sometimes hey, come up, lay your hands on this person, because a lot of times I'm telling you, I've seen it firsthand Somebody will come up from the very back, back in another church. They'll come up from the very back, they're quiet, they never say nothing, and as soon as they lay their hands on that person, man, they'll start prophesying. Something just comes out and then, when it does, you can't stop it, and that gift arises and we pray that so much over people, I pray that over people. So, lord, let the gift, let that gift just begin to arise in them. Whatever you've called them to, we're all gifted. We just got to come to an understanding of what is that gift. So in church we got to see there's no in Christ. There's no second class citizen. Galatians 3 and 28,. It says there's no Jew nor Greek. We read that you are all one in Christ.
Speaker 1:Think about this the early church must have looked like a mess. You had Jews, you had Gentiles, you had women, you had slaves, you had tax collectors. You had all these people who were outcasts, but they were part of it. But in that mess the glory of God showed up. Might be time for us to get messy again Instead of trying to have everything so perfect.
Speaker 1:God doesn't erase our differences. He brings unity through them. I've talked briefly about this before, but it's just something that kind of keeps coming back up and I think some people use it as a way to not step into who they are, because they say, well, I'm just so different, I'm not like that person, or I'm not like that person, or I'm not like that person, and it pushes them kind of back a little bit. But see, it's the differences that bring unity, because I'm not like you, You're not like me. We all have our gifts, we all have our strength, we all have our weaknesses, but it's when we come together. We all have our gifts, we all have our strength, we all have our weaknesses, but it's when we come together, it's where we strengthen each other. Why? Because I might have an area of weakness, but guess what, somebody else steps in and they're strong in that area, and you may have a weakness and all of a sudden I step in and I fill the void. So what we're doing is we're bringing a group of people who is totally different. Together, their strengths are coming together and we're building each other up.
Speaker 1:It's not about tearing each other down. It's not about looking at you trying to find where you messed up in your life. See, if I got a savior complex, then that's what I'll do, because I want to find where you messed up in your life. See, if I've got a Savior complex, then that's what I'll do, because I want to find out how bad you were so that I can save you. We just realized finished work, you're already saved. It takes the job out of my hands. I don't have to do it now. That is such a revelation to some people that I don't have to do it now. That is such a revelation to some people that I don't have to do Jesus' work for Him. There's a lot of people in the church that need to catch that revelation and it would change stuff. But God knows we all have differences and yet he still says you belong. He still says come. This is why we say that inclusion is not a new message. It's the original one that dates all the way back to the first century church.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to choose to align with Paul with what he said in Romans 1 and 16. I am not ashamed of the gospel. The gospel may not be what you think it is, because a lot of times when I preach something and I say that's the gospel, some people over there are saying that ain't the gospel, because it's not what they preached as the gospel. Their gospel is totally different, so it's not my. They preached as the gospel. Their gospel is totally different, so it's not my opinion versus your opinion.
Speaker 1:Let's go to the Word and see what the Word said. Is it good news? Come to me all who are weary. Let the little children come. I've come to seek and to save the lost Father. Forgive them, for they know not what they do. We're returning to what Jesus preached. We're going back to what Jesus said. If the gospel we preach doesn't sound like good news to the broken, it ain't the gospel. I'm just going to be bold enough to say that If the gospel we preach and what we are preaching, if we call it the gospel, but it is not good news to the one out there that's broken and beat down, it is not the gospel of Christ, because the gospel of Christ included everybody.
Speaker 1:In closing, let me ask you this Are you trying to finish what Jesus already finished. Have you been told at any time that you don't belong, that you're not good enough, you got too much of a path. You done fell too far, just don't know if there's any hope for you. Have you been told by someone else, or have you ever told someone else they don't belong? Have you ever looked through those same religious eyes and looked at somebody else and thought it just ain't there yet they're not good enough. I know what they've been through. I know what they're doing. I know what they're doing right now.
Speaker 1:We're going to continue here at this church, whether people like it or not. We are going to continue teaching a message that tears down walls and allows people to step into grace. And here's the thing I tied in the five-fold ministry today with this. We're going to do this and you are included in it. You are gifted, you are needed. One person can't do this. It'll start falling off sooner or later. If you're depending on me to do it all, you're going to see it start to slip.
Speaker 1:There's people right here, as many people as we're missing in this room today. I'll still say this there's people in this room right here that are called to an amazing ministry. Now when I say that we've always been taught oh ministry. Now when I say that we've always been taught, oh ministry pulpit, no, there might be. There might be somebody in here that's going to take over this pulpit.
Speaker 1:But I'm not just talking about a pulpit. I'm talking about loving people. I'm talking about going after people. I'm talking about reaching out to the ones that's down and out and just giving them the good news of the gospel and saying you are not left behind, you're included. What God, what His Son, did on the cross, it was for you as much as it was for any pastor standing in a pulpit. Paul's wife. The work is finished. The cross didn't just bring people to God, it brought people together.
Speaker 1:And we may have a small congregation, don't matter. Jesus took 12 men and flipped the world upside down. We don't need a hundred. I don't. You know how hard it is to manage a lot of people. If we could just get a. Just get the ones that God has called to be here and get them here, consistent and help them figure out their gift and say now go and do what he's called you to do. That's all it takes. We don't have to have 200 people in a congregation.
Speaker 1:Listen, some of the programs that some of the bigger churches have are great programs. I'm not knocking them. If we had 200 people in this congregation, guess what? We would have the same program, because you've got to. You've got to have something for the teens. You've got to have a youth group. You've got to have a vacation Bible school once a year. You've got to have a youth group. You've got to have a vacation Bible school once a year. You've got to have a women's group. You've got to have a men's group. You've got to have a young adults group. Those things are necessary in a bigger congregation.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I think we're blessed because we don't have to spend as much time on some of that stuff and we can just focus in on building each other up, because that stuff is good and it can be good. I'm not knocking any of that. I know somebody watches and says, oh, he's just a jealous pastor because he ain't got all that. No, I'm not. I'm not knocking it Because I know that if we had those numbers we would be doing it too and I'm honest enough to say that. But I also can look and say it's somewhat of a blessing that we're not there, because we have an opportunity to train up and prepare for there and then it'll run different. Everybody don't have that opportunity to do that. You can't do that when you got 150 people in your congregation. It's harder. But we have a chance to take the small group that we have and say, hey, let's get you to who you really are, let's build you up in that gifting, let's help you understand what you're gifted for and let's send you out to operate in that.
Speaker 1:Jesus focused on tearing down walls and tearing down barriers. Let's be careful that what we teach doesn't rebuild what Jesus already tore down, and I think that's where a lot of places are right now. Jesus went to a cross and he tore some stuff down and actually, before he even went to the cross, when he was walking on the earth, he would bring people together and he tore down barriers. You know they're walking through a wheat field and his disciples are just picking stuff. They're like wait, what are y'all doing? It's the Sabbath and I can picture Jesus. The Bible didn't say this, but I can picture Jesus turning around saying what is so crazy? Do you know who I am? I mean, he tore down all these religious walls and laws and everything else, he ripped them apart.
Speaker 1:And there's some churches that are striving so hard to erect them back up after Jesus paid the price to tear them down. I don't want to do that. I won't do that. We'll close the doors in this place while I do that, or y'all will be here without me. We will not build religion back up.
Speaker 1:Now it's so hard to say that because because when you say and make a comment like that, people automatically think yo, you're just going to be the radical that's kicking in doors. No, we're not. But we're going to teach the word of God and we're going to teach it not, but we're going to teach the Word of God and we're going to teach it in context. And we're going to teach the people who they are in Christ, and I don't care what they've been through. They are anointed. They have a gift on the inside of them and I don't care what they may be going through in their life right now, I won't hesitate to say come here, lay your hands on this person, pray with this person. Why? Because that's going to have a bigger impact on people than me or any other pastor going to do it.
Speaker 1:I've said it before this church is going to touch some of these communities that people don't go into, because we've got people who's called to go into those communities and we've already been there With our prayer group. We already went in there and it was well received, and we stood at some of the biggest crack houses in Bacon County and we prayed right there in the yard with them and the main man was right there and there was other people that was running off and then a few of them started easing back in. Why? Because the main one was there. See, sometimes it's just strategy. He said it this morning during his testimony when he was talking about that guy. He was the captain. The rest of them follow who A captain? I don't want all these right now. I want this one. Why? Because when you get this one changed, you get this one realizing who he is in Christ. The rest of them just kind of follow.
Speaker 1:Because a leader is a leader. I don't care. A leader is going to lead the right way and do really good at it, or he's going to lead in the wrong way and do really good at it, or he's going to lead in the wrong way and do really good at it Because he's a born leader, if you could ever get that leader and I can't tell you how many times when I was working in a prison of looking at these guys and saying, dude, if you could just take what you did, turn it around for good, man, you'd make all kind of money. Take the mindset that you had as a dealer and use it in a business a legit business, I mean really Because he was gifted in that area and some people may say, well, you're praising that. No, I'm praising the gift Because I met guys in that prison that was in there for 15, 20 years or longer.
Speaker 1:I had a couple of my rec crew that was in there for life. They were lifeers, some of the best guys you ever met in your life. They're in there. Yeah, they did something wrong. They didn't go there for being nice. They did something wrong at some point in their life but they changed. They can change. And when you start speaking identity into them and you start pushing them along, one of the I'll end with this. This always comes back to me. When you start pushing them along, one of the I'll end with this. This always comes back to me when I start talking about this One of the greatest guys that I met when I worked in the prison was a Muslim.
Speaker 1:I mean, he was all.
Speaker 1:He was sold out Islamic. He was on my. I was a recreation director at the time. He was on my rec crew, he was one of my guys on my crew and he would come in. I wasn't a pastor then, I was a youth pastor maybe.
Speaker 1:Then, I think, at the time and I just started really getting into the Word and understanding some stuff, and he would always come in. When he found out that I was a youth pastor He'd always come in and he'd do it jokingly. We got along good but he would come in and try to debate me a little bit, you know and everything. And I remember one day he walked in and I said let me ask you a question. He said, okay, I said Jesus, it says in the Bible. Because this guy knew the Bible backwards and front. There wasn't nothing I was going to. I wasn't fixing to debate him on the Bible Because I'd have been made to look like a fool. He knew it and I said you know the word? Well, what is the? Who is Jesus? And he just said it Because I knew he couldn't answer that. I knew he knew.
Speaker 1:But he couldn't answer that question without going against what he was saying, that Islam taught him to believe. He couldn't answer it because in Islam it was supposed to be just a prophet. Jesus was just another prophet. He wasn't the son of God, he wasn't the savior, he was just merely a prophet. And I said well, let's use yours then. He's just a prophet. I said he said I am the son of God.
Speaker 1:I said was he crazy? Was this dude just lost his mind crazy? He said no, no, he was a prophet. I said was he just like a lunatic? I mean, who would make those accusations about themselves? Was he a lunatic? No, well, you can't say that because he's a prophet. So really, the more we started talking, the more I started looking at the identity of Christ. You couldn't refute what Jesus had said. I couldn't debate him on Bible because he knew Bible a lot better than I did. I couldn't debate him on the Quran because he knew the Quran better than I did. I really didn't know any of it. I studied some of it because I wanted to know how to talk to him respectfully, but all I did was just said who's Jesus, who's Jesus? And when he really started thinking about that. He couldn't keep continuing to align with what he was believing when he truly knew who Jesus was. He was the Son of God, he was this, he was that. So either he was who he said he was or he was a liar and a lunatic. And he can't be a liar and a lunatic because, wow, we hold him to high esteem. So if he wasn't a liar, he wasn't a lunatic. The only other option is he was the truth. Yeah, he was the truth. So again, sometimes it's just introducing people to the truth.
Speaker 1:When we go out on the prayer groups, we don't all walk around holding the Bible, we're not fitting out Scripture after Scripture. Sometimes it's just building relationships. Sometimes it's just those guys saying they had the audacity to walk up here. Yeah, and we didn't put you down, we didn't talk about you, we didn't start throwing oil on you. We just loved on you and let you know who you are in Christ, regardless of what you're going through and what you're doing. We knew what you was doing. It wasn't no secret. Everybody in Bladen County knows what you're doing. They just ain't caught you yet.
Speaker 1:So that's what the gift's all about. We've got to figure out how to use these things in the right way, and we have that opportunity. You can stand to your feet seven minutes, though Ralph's going to stop at 12. Keep coming, guys. Keep. We're fixing to go into some stuff that's going to be life-changing for a lot of people. It really is, because when we start talking about the five-fold ministry and the gifts and the anointings that you carry, how do you operate in these, how do you function in these?
Speaker 1:That's where I believe the church is missing it at, because we've got too comfortable with just a man standing up behind a pulpit and everybody else just sitting there. We've got too comfortable with just a man standing up behind a pulpit and everybody else just sitting there. We've got too comfortable with that. I know everybody's not going to say that, because this is not my main salary. If it was my main salary, I probably couldn't stand up and say that. You know, I understand everybody's not going to see that. The same way, I'm not saying there's no need for pastors, but we also can't let the pastor be the only one understanding, leading and doing things. It's got to be up to everybody in here. You're all anointed, you're all called and gifted, so it's time that we figure out what that gift is and begin to walk in it, build up the entire body of Christ, not just this congregation or this church, the entire body.
Speaker 1:Let's pray, father. God, we thank you for your word, for what you're doing in this place. I thank you so much for the opportunities that we have here that sometimes we look at and we get frustrated, we get a little upset. But, father, you've given us an opportunity to build people up, to strengthen people, to help them realize who they are in Christ and what the gift is that you've given each one so that we can begin to individually work those gifts and build up the body of Christ. Father, I thank you for what you're doing. I thank you for every single person that's here right now, within the sound of my voice.
Speaker 1:I pray that you would just cause a connection to come today, father, we're not religious saying we have to be here. Have to be here because we think it's a sin if we don't. But I'm saying that we have to be here because there's got to be a connection, so that we can step into who we're called to be, so that we can learn what you want us to know about our identity in Christ. So I pray for every person that's here, father, for a deep connection to be so. I pray for every person that's here, father, for a deep connection to be established.
Speaker 1:I pray for the ones that's not here, father, for those prodigals that's been here and that's left for whatever reason. I pray for the return of those prodigals. I thank you, father, that we will accomplish the things in Bacon County that you've called for us to accomplish. We're not just any other church, we're not just another church, but you've been called us, you've anointed us, you've placed us in this city during this time for a specific reason and, father, it's time that we step into that role and step into that anointing of what you've called us to do. I thank you for every person that's here, father, and I pray for that connection and that relationship to even strengthen even more. And, father, we'll be careful to always give you the praise, honor and the glory for everything, in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.