REWIND
The podcast "REWIND" features a collection of past sermons from Organic Church. Each episode takes listeners on a journey through the teachings and messages delivered during previous worship services. The content is a retrospective look at the spiritual guidance and insights shared by Pastor Michael and visiting guests!
Listeners can expect to revisit powerful sermons, meaningful scriptures, and impactful messages that have been shared in the past. The podcast aims to provide a convenient and accessible way for the church community and new audiences to engage with the timeless wisdom and spiritual teachings presented during earlier sermons.
Whether it's a reflection on a particular theme, a series of teachings, or a selection of sermons covering various topics, "REWIND" offers an opportunity for individuals to deepen their understanding of the faith and find inspiration in the timeless messages.
The podcast may also include commentary or reflections on the historical context of each sermon and how it continues to resonate with the present-day congregation.
REWIND
Aim Small, Miss Small (March 16, 2025)
Have you ever found yourself shrinking your spiritual gifts just to make others comfortable? That's exactly what Pastor Michael challenges in this powerful message about breaking free from small-minded thinking.
With humor and nostalgic references to $750 DVD players from 1997, Pastor Michael weaves a profound truth: "Don't stay small because they think small." He unpacks how our thinking literally shapes our spiritual reality, and when we allow ourselves to be defined by others' limited expectations, we inevitably fall short of God's design for our lives.
Drawing from scripture passages like Isaiah 54:2-3 ("Enlarge your house... for you will soon be bursting at the seams") and 2 Timothy 1:7 ("God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity"), Pastor Michael exposes how fear-based thinking keeps believers trapped in comfort zones when God is calling them to expand their territory. He confronts the dangerous attachment to nostalgia that keeps churches looking backward instead of forward, making it impossible to effectively minister to today's broken world.
This message will challenge you to examine what vision God has placed in your heart that seems too ambitious or uncomfortable. What would happen if you stopped shrinking that vision to match others' expectations and instead allowed it to grow to the size God intended?
Ready to break free from small thinking? This message will equip you to recognize and reject the lies that have kept you playing small when God has called you to something greater. Share this episode with someone who needs to be reminded that God's plan for them is bigger than their current circumstances.
So we're going to talk through what just happened a little bit, mainly because when we did announcements this morning, you guys were super flat right. It was rough in this place this morning and I went back to the sound booth and I said, lord, whatever you're going to do, just do it, I'm not going to worry about it, right? So I was back there minding my own business, just minding my own business, and Lizzie comes over to me and she goes Pastor Mike, just minding my own business, and Lizzie comes over to me and she goes Pastor Michael, do you feel like there's something that's just stopping the spirit from moving? I went, yeah, I said I'm waiting for Holly to turn around and like, come on now. The next thing I know Holly's standing there tugging at the side of my shirt. I'm like see Lord, I knew you were going to do it. See Lord, I knew that you were going to do it. So I hope you guys are excited, as I am, for what God is doing, because I'm going to tell you it wouldn't have started so slow if it wasn't going to be so great.
Speaker 1:Amen, amen, because I'm going to tell you that God is preparing us. I want you to look around and notice how empty this place is today compared to last week. I don't know what attendance was last week exactly, but we were pretty close to 100 last week. It's light this week, right, but God knew who needed to be here today. Amen, god knows who's going to listen to this later on too. Amen, all right. So here's what I want to start with. I want to start with a little game. Okay, young adults who are in our group chat you're going to know how this message got started, okay, and if you're a young adult who's not in our group chat and you want to be, hey, just hit us up. We'd love to add you because it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:We talk about lots of crazy stuff, specifically nostalgia, right, because nostalgia is really what we thrive on, because it makes us not feel so old. Amen. I mean, some of you guys were around when you were counting with abacuses, around when you were counting with abacuses, right, roger, linda, that wasn't me, linda, that wasn't me, it was not me, listen. So nostalgia when we start thinking about old-timey things, it starts to get us excited about where we've come in life. Our best friends visited us on a whim the other night. We had no idea they were coming. They just showed up at our house. Jenny and Marcus were there, we were hanging out, we were chatting, and somebody knocks on the door and Alyssa and I both look at each other like why is somebody at our house at like eight o'clock at night, right, because normal people know that's bedtime. Yeah Well, and that was my first thought. It was Beth. Like I must have missed a call and Beth had shown up. So I peeked through the door and I see the husband standing there and I open the door and they've got all of their kids and they just pour in and then they scatter like cockroaches. They've never been to this house before. But the next thing, you know, the kids are all just gone and we started reminiscing about where we had been in life and the first house that they remember us living in and all of the things and how far we've come. Life somehow is attached to nostalgia and joy is attached to nostalgia. Amen.
Speaker 1:How many of you remember your first DVD player? That's been a minute, right, okay? Does anybody know what year the DVD player was released in the United States of America In the 90s? Anybody remember what year? 1997. Yeah, but 97 doesn't even feel like that long ago, does it? It's been a minute, y'all, it's been a minute. Try an 8-track. Yeah, okay. So DVD players were released in 1997.
Speaker 1:Does anybody know how much a DVD player costs in the United States in 1997? Probably over $100. Yeah, that's a great guess. It is in fact, over $100. Anybody else? Yeah, so this is a general price. This would be the MSRP, because I thought that you know if you get it at Walmart versus Kmart or wherever.
Speaker 1:Oh, these things weren't at Goodwill back then. They came out in March of 1997. They were $749. You can buy a DVD player and they were this big right, this wide, this thick, and the little slot was just a tiny little thing. Right in the middle they had a remote that was like this long. It took four hands to use it. Now you can buy one on Amazon for $20. The remote is this big for it and you can get it in two days. That was top of the line technology back then, right?
Speaker 1:So do any of us remember getting our first DVD player? Yeah, did anybody remember how much they paid for their first one? No, okay. So my first one. I'll never forget it as long as I live. My first one came as a Christmas gift for my parents. Now, I don't know what year I got it. I'm guessing it was long after 1997 because, let's be honest with each other, they were spending $750 on one gift. My parents bought me a DVD player. I remember getting it an old tube TV to boot. Like we got the TV, I got the DVD player and I got two DVDs with it. I'll never forget that as long as I live. Matter of fact, I still own both of those DVDs because there's something about the nostalgia attached to those discs that I can't give up. Now there's going to come a time when we can't even watch those anymore. Amen, because we stream it digitally. The first two DVDs that I got and we are getting to a point here I promise we're getting somewhere.
Speaker 1:The Grinch with Jim Carrey. You guys like that one? Let's argue that. Whether or not that is the best Grinch movie hands down. Let's argue that. Whether or not that is the best Grinch movie hands down, it is, tina. I don't care what you say it is. Now here's the deal. Why is it the best Grinch movie to me? There's nostalgia attached to it and there is joy in that. Now, don't get me wrong. I like the original cartoon as well, because I remember watching that as a kid growing up. Don't give me none of that lame crap they're making today. Right, because I want the Grinch story, right. And now the new ones are all kinds of crazy and I don't really fully understand them. Amen, okay, the other movie that I got, this is gonna. Maybe we might pass judgment on my parents for this. Okay, because I was a child, maybe preteen.
Speaker 1:The Patriot with Mel Gibson, the Patriot with Mel Gibson it was a little gory for a child slash preteen, right? Do you guys remember that movie? It's a little on the brutal side. I watched it many years later on television, like back when cable was a thing and you actually watch TV, tv. And there's a lot of blood in that movie and they turned it brown to make it look like mud so that it wouldn't be so gory and graphic for television. My parents bought that for me as a kid.
Speaker 1:Folks, that's probably not a great decision. You watched it in school. Even better, even better. But here's what I realized. I went back and I just did some napkin math. Do you know what that $750 would be today? In today's money? $1,450. That's a lot of money, would any of us pay $1,450 for new technology today? How many of you have an iPhone 16? Yes, exactly, but we don't know we do it. Why don't we know? We do it Because we make payments on it. Right, we're not going to get into Financial Peace University folks. I want to, but we're not going to.
Speaker 1:The fact is that the older you get, the more you lean into the nostalgia and you don't need the new and fun and fancy and flashy things, right? Listen, I've gotten to the point where I'm almost too old to use my own cell phone, and I hate to say that because I'm starting to get up there with Roger. Right, I know where mine's at and I can find my glasses, but my phone will do things I will never use it for. My wife makes fun of me. I got three. I don't have my phone with me. I got three cameras on the back of my phone, right? How many of your phones are like that? I have like 42 pictures in my phone and most of them are of either Pokemon cards that I'm selling or Elvis jumpsuits. Ask me how many pictures of my kids I have on my phone. The answer is zero. I don't use my phone and I don't take pictures with my phone at all, it's just not something I've ever done. And so I have this fancy thing that's supposed to do. You give me a Polaroid and I'd be just as happy. That bad boy just pops right out and now I've got something physical I can hold.
Speaker 1:How many of us are starting to feel that way that whenever we want to get something, we want something physical that we can hold? How many of our kids play Roblox or Fortnite or any of those stupid games, right? And they want you to buy Robux and whatever the Fortnite dollars are. I don't even know what those are. V-bucks, there we go. Holly even knew, so that means grandma's been suckered into it a time or two.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing that money, once you've spent it, is gone forever. And what do they have to show for it? Nothing. And my kids are like well, I could sell my Fortnite account for a lot of money right now because I have these skins that nobody else has, I said until they stop supporting the game, and then it's worthless Because you can't ever use it again, right? How many of you had like a 1995 Windows PC, right? Okay, thank you. Everybody else was like 1995, what's that Windows 95 PC. Hook that thing up today and try to use it. It's not worth anything, unless you've got an old game that you want to install on it. That PC is useless today, right, and that's what happens to technology. So we are somehow attached to the nostalgia. So here's what I want to talk about, all of that. To say this all right, we get to this point.
Speaker 1:There was a line and, by the way, I've memorized both of those movies Hate, hate, hate, double hate, loathe. Entirely right, we get that way when we watch something so many times. I watched the Patriot and the Grinch so many times because movies were $30. I didn't have my own money to go to Walmart and buy a movie. So I watched those two nonstop. And there was a line in the Patriot that always struck me in such a way that I've just always thought about it. It's one of those lines that you just like it runs through your head.
Speaker 1:And at the beginning of the movie, mel Gibson's character is teaching his son how to shoot a gun and he says to him aim small, miss small, aim small, miss small. Now in that moment the son is learning how to shoot a gun. He has no idea what he's coming up to. And the next thing, you know, he finds himself fighting in a war and he repeats to himself in that war aim small, miss small, aim small, miss small, aim small, miss small. And when I was sitting down and I was thinking about this message, it came to me and this is going to hurt for a second. Okay, aim small, miss small.
Speaker 1:And then God said to me but don't stay small because they think small. God said to me but don't stay small because they think small. Don't stay small because they think. What does that mean to you See, aim small, miss small is easy. If I aim short, I'm going to miss the shot, right.
Speaker 1:But why should I stay small? Because they think small? What does that mean? It means that if you have decided that you are going to be complacent with what other people think about you, you will always fall short of what God has in store for your life. He never wanted us to be complacent. He did not design us to sit in a seat and do nothing. He designed us to grow the kingdom, to be forever on the move for the mission of growing the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Amen, that's all he's ever called us. It's the only thing he asks of us, that is the great commission, to love one another like he loved the church. This should be simple, but we've made it complicated. And why have we made it complicated? This should be simple, but we've made it complicated. And why have we made it complicated? Because we hold on to the nostalgia of what the church has always been.
Speaker 1:Right Now, I'll tell you that I'm not a fan of megachurches because I don't think the pastors can really know their people. Now, done right, done right. I'm sure there's successful models where they have lots of people who manage lots of groups of people. I'll be honest, this church gets to 150 people. I'm not going to be able to minister to every one of those on a personal level right Now. I'm not going to say I don't want that because I want the kingdom of God to grow. I'm not worried about organic church growing, right, I just want the kingdom to grow. If it grows here, wonderful, I'm excited about that.
Speaker 1:Look at last week there was almost nowhere to sit last week. Amen, come to the Lenten service. In two weeks there will be nowhere to sit in here. Last year we were dragging chairs in at the last minute because we filled up so quickly. God is going to do something great, whether it's here or somewhere else. Amen.
Speaker 1:Last week at Bethel they seat a hundred people and they were dragging up chairs, folding chairs, from the basement. Whenever I walked in, I ended up standing for most of the service back towards the back, because there was simply nowhere to sit. God is on the move. God is on the move. This isn't about us, really. So I mean, there were people everywhere Like we were stacked on top of each other, like it was crazy, and Pastor John Stevens said hey, if anybody sees the fire marshal, just keep him busy for a minute so we can all sneak out the side door, because we were definitely breaking fire code at that point. But God had something planned for that night.
Speaker 1:Amen and man, were we excited to be part of that, to be represented in body here, our people who showed up, and then to be represented in the word through Pastor Holly. That was amazing. It was such a great feeling to be able to be there. But we were that church, that group of people, that body of people. We were not attached to the nostalgia of our own church in that moment. Yes, if you want to see it, you're going to want to be here early. Um, we were not attached to the nostalgia of our own church.
Speaker 1:Listen, they sang songs that I was like, man, this is weird, so did I, but it was such a change from what we do. They were singing old camp songs, right, and it was wonderful in them. I'm standing in the back singing. I'm like I didn't even know. I knew this song Because God was doing something in that place, but I wasn't holding on to what this church was supposed, what would have been doing, right? I didn't go in there with a closed mind going, oh well, they aren't going to do worship like us, right? How many of you have been to those things at a Presbyterian church where they do call and response Holy smokes, right. But let me tell you, god has placed us there for a reason he wants us to see and experience what the body is doing. Amen, okay, off topic, got to get back on here.
Speaker 1:Come on, don't stay small because they think small, right, don't stay small. You cannot be small because the people around you think small, right. What does think small mean? They keep you in a box, right? If I said to Pastor Holly you know, pastor Holly, when you pray for people, you make the people sitting in the congregation uncomfortable. Or if I said no, no, no, I don't want you to get the billow out, because if you do that it's going to make some people uncomfortable. Where's Holly going to end up? Small? Now, she's a strong person and she can process that. But still, at some point, when people are telling you that nonstop, you start to lose confidence in what God has called you to do. You start to think about man. If that's true, should I not pray for people anymore? And then you find yourself in Walmart knowing that you're supposed to pray for somebody, and then you don't do it. And then you know you've got that guilt that you're carrying. Listen, I won't be small, because the people around me think small. Amen, okay, all right.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to talk about some scripture to back this up. Okay, we're going to go to Proverbs 23.7. We're going to jump around a lot, so write them down. You can go there if you move fast, but we are going to jump quite a bit. We're going to read this one twice. We're going to read this in New Living Translations and we're going to read it in King James Version, proverbs 23.7. They Well, that seems like a weird scripture to try to back that up. So let's read it in the King James Version. It says but his heart is not with thee.
Speaker 1:That passage of scripture suggests that our thoughts shape our reality, right? So if my thoughts are that, praying for people, I was like who's blowing me? Kisses, the baby was eating. I was like, ooh. It suggests that our thoughts shape our reality. So if we believe that we are small, we will only ever operate small, right? So if your thoughts are well, prayer doesn't change my life, you won't pray. If you don't believe that having hands laid on you is going to make a difference in your life, then you will never come forward for a healing and you will sit there and think well, that's not for me. Amen, all right, matthew 25, that's not for me. Amen, all right, matthew 25. It's 24 and 26.
Speaker 1:Now, we've already covered this one. We're going to cover it again. Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn't plant and gathering crops you didn't cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is we're going to stop there? I guess I apparently didn't plan that one out all the way.
Speaker 1:All right, the passage warns against fear-based thinking. Right, I was afraid that you would punish me if I X, right? So now we're thinking small because we're afraid of everything that happens in our lives. Well, if I X, we'll talk about tithing on this one. If I give 10%, will I be able to pay my gas bill? If I give 10%, what would happen if I need extra groceries? We already know we can't out give God. We already know it. So why do we operate in fear all of the time? We operate in fear because we think small. We're only focused on the thing that is in front of us and not the world that is around us. See, we aren't kingdom-minded anymore, we're fleshly-minded, and we're so obsessed and worried about the things of the flesh that we can't get past and get into the spirit.
Speaker 1:Some of you are like Pastor Michael. I pray every day, Do you, though, when you go to God, do you say to God Lord, whatever it is, let your will be done. Or do you say, lord, I really just need a new car today, right? Are we asking for selfish desires? Are we saying, god, here I am, use me Right. You ever found yourself praying against somebody? Woo-hoo, lord, have mercy, all right. Hebrews 5.12. You have been believers so long that now you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God's word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.
Speaker 1:Small-mindedness limits spiritual growth Amen. Mindedness limits spiritual growth Amen. So when I sit in my seat and I think, well, I'm offended because I know he's talking about me. I'm upset because I think he's. I think somebody told him something that I said listen, shut up. It's not about you, right? If you're feeling that way, that's called conviction, right, and what that means is you probably need to be at the altar praying for your heart set right, because the spiritual condition of your heart is a little bit on the hard side, and maybe you don't know that. Maybe I'm telling you that for the first time. That's okay, don't be upset about it.
Speaker 1:Sometimes we don't allow ourselves to be pliable to the things that God would want to have happen in our lives. Sometimes we want to put ourselves into that small thinking box so that we don't have to. Is it really 1021 or 1121? Oh guys, I'm sorry, can we go a little bit late. Can you give me five minutes, are you guys? Okay? If you have to leave, that's fine, I understand, but I can't stop, okay, all right, what was that? What were we on just now? Hebrews, I've got like a bunch more guys, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Isaiah 54, 2 through 3. Oh, listen, listen, listen. Enlarge your house, build an addition, spread out your home and spare no expense. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Let me tell you that doesn't just mean the storehouse, that means your own house. Right, we should be expanding our footprint. Why? Because if we expand our footprint, god's footprint gets bigger. Right, let me tell you that we cannot continue to be little-minded about the big things that God is doing today. Amen, for you will soon be bursting at the seam.
Speaker 1:Do you remember what I said about this place last week? There wasn't a seat left in here. Listen, we cannot continue to think small. We have got to start thinking much larger than anything that's happening today. Look around, there's lots of empty seats today.
Speaker 1:Right, that's okay, because you guys are the ones who need to hear it. Why do you need to hear it? Because you're the ones that should be behind the vision. Those other people are the ones who are visiting. Right, they're the ones that we're trying to love into the kingdom.
Speaker 1:But if you're sitting here week in and week out, you should be catching a vision. Right, you should be going, lord, have mercy, lord. Have mercy, lord. Whatever it is that you would have happen in our house, let it happen quickly. Let it happen quickly because we want to love the people who can't be loved anywhere else, and I'm going to tell you we love a lot of people that would not be loved anywhere else. I'm one of those people. I'm a lot to deal with. Right, you send me over to Denison Foursquare. Pastor Rod's going to be like Pastor Michael, you're going to have to go somewhere. Right, pastor Michael, I love you, but, man, you just need to take it down a notch, pastor, but listen, john Stevenson said last week at the Lenten service she was a quiet little thing until she wasn't, and that was the truth.
Speaker 1:I don't know what happened. I was sitting in the front row and I was, like you could tell she was a little bit nervous. That's fair Bunch of people she's never met Some people that she's met in past ministry, and she's sitting there and she just had this little bit of a shake to her hand while she was talking and I'm like, lord, just give her peace, give her strength. God, lord, just keep moving. And I'm sitting next to John Stevenson, who I know can hear me, and I'm okay with that. And then all of a sudden, boom, there she is. Everybody's hair blew back for a second. They were all.
Speaker 1:But you know what? God did something in that place, right. But see, we can't continue to think small, because if we think small, there will never be growth. Listen when your pastor say to you hey, you really need to move into or you need to try, or you should do this, isn't us saying we want you to serve here. We're saying God is telling us that you need to move, right, god is saying let's go, because if we continue to think small, we will continue to live small. Amen, okay, where's my? Is that right?
Speaker 1:I always get nervous now when I do the first and seconds because I'm like did I screw that one up? I did figure out what I did, though that was my bullet point. One that was and I read it that way four times. That was embarrassing. Anyhow, after I realized that I was good, for God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but power, love and self-discipline. Hallelujah, thank you, jesus.
Speaker 1:Fear keeps people thinking small, right, if I'm afraid I won't do, if I fear I can't have you ever said, oh, I can't do that, right, oh, I no, I can't do that. I could never do that I can't. I remember Tina Bober told me she couldn't be on council and then all of a sudden she was. She needed to pray about it and when she realized that she didn't have to be perfect to have that seat, right, that's what matters. If we operate in fear, we will never be good enough to do what it is that God has called us to do.
Speaker 1:Amen, all right, what was that? It was Isaiah. No, that was Timothy. It was second Timothy. All right, jeremiah 29, 11.
Speaker 1:Oh, for I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Come on church. If we can't get excited about the fact that God has already ordained our footsteps today, amen, listen, I don't have to think small because God has already seen it. Amen, he's already done it, he's already got it in plan.
Speaker 1:Listen, here's what I believe. I believe that God is going to have somebody write this church a check. I don't know who it is yet. Tanya, I'm looking at you. No, I'm just kidding, but I know that something big is going to happen here Now. Here's the thing that I'm not sitting. I'm not sitting on my hands, pretending like it doesn't take some work on my part too. Right Like I. If I don't go out and tell people about who Jesus Christ is and about the building that I serve in, how will they ever know that we're here? How will they know where to write the check? Right? They got to know whose name to put on the top of that check. Amen. And so that is part of the mission that God has put me on to continue to grow this building right. That's why I'm here. He's placed me here for such a time as this, right Now. Listen, we built a brand new sanctuary off the back of the building and he could strike me dead the next day. That might be the only plan he's got for me, I don't know, but I'm going to fulfill whatever vision he has put into my brain. Amen, amen.
Speaker 1:Okay, where are we at now? Jeremiah 29 11. Thank you, romans 12 2. Thank you, romans 12.2. Right, like we're just hitting them all right. But this is the point is this is all reaffirming what we already know about who God is.
Speaker 1:I'm not giving you scripture you've never read before, right? We've all seen these before. It says don't copy the behaviors and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Are we catching on yet, folks? This is about the way that we think. If we think small, we stay small. God has never designed us to be that way. Alright, that was Romans 12 2, ephesians 3 20. Now, all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish indefinitely more than we might ask or think.
Speaker 1:Listen, I walked in here this morning, tired, right, and I said Lord, I'm going to need you to give me a little extra boost. He said have a coffee. And then I said no, lord, that's not what I mean. And he said don't you worry, I've got you and I know that every time I step into the pulpit, he's got me. I never worry about myself, I worry about allowing him to work through me. But see, if I think small and I make it about me, I will always be small and it will always be about me, amen. And then what do you gain from that? Nothing, except for the world. And I don't think any of us want that. Matthew 17, 20.
Speaker 1:You don't have enough faith, jesus told them. I tell you the truth if you had faith, even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to the mountain move from here to there. And it would move. Nothing would be impossible. The lack of faith in who God is limits our thinking. Amen, we all say. Well, I don't think I could really move a mountain If you believed you could. You could, because that's what the Bible says, right, and we talk about. Well, I have my own Goliaths. You're right, you do. But I'm going to tell you, if a big enough giant walked up to you, you could slay it in the mighty name of Jesus. In the mighty name of Jesus, you can do anything. Right, it sounds crazy, but it's true. It can be done. But you limit our faith in God.
Speaker 1:We think small, so we are small. We act small. We talk small. Okay, 2 Corinthians 9.6. Remember this a farmer who plants only a few seeds will grow a small crop, but the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. What we put in determines what we get out. That's a basic concept, right? If you think big, you receive big. If you think small, you receive. You guys already got this. Why am I even up here? I'm up here because today you get it. You leave this place and it's gone, right, and we start putting God back in the box and we start thinking small again.
Speaker 1:All right, 1 Corinthians 3, 1 and 2. Is that right? What did I give you? Or did I just skip that one? Well then the Lord says we're skipping it.
Speaker 1:The next one you have is James 1. Is that right? Okay, but when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Amen, your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything that they do. Amen Again.
Speaker 1:This is an easy concept. We cannot be split between the world and our relationship with Christ. I have to live in this world, my flesh has to live in this world, but my spirit wants nothing to do with it. My spirit wants to live in harmony with God, right, and that means knowing who he is and having faith big enough to know that he will do all things. Amen. Okay, what was that? That was James. Philippians 3, 13 and 14.
Speaker 1:No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. Oh, that hurts the nostalgia, right, doesn't it? Stop thinking about the things of the past and look forward to the things ahead. I press on and reach the end of the race and receive a heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. See, when we live in the nostalgia of what the church has always been and what it should always, listen. The new, the new age church doesn't have it all figured out, but neither did the other church, right, the church has grown and developed because that's what God has called us to do, amen.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you something. You go to a Methodist church that's still stuck in its 1887 ways and it feels like you're in the 18, like you got to put on your prairie dress, and you know what I mean. Right, I'm not saying anything bad about the Methodists, but I'm saying that there are denominations, there are churches, there are bodies of believers who don't think that the church should move forward. I'm going to tell you something I cannot look back. I have to look forward, because if I'm looking back, I'm missing what God wants to do. Right, because back then they weren't serving drug addicts like we are today. Back then they weren't serving prostitutes like we are today. Right, the church has to be a place where everybody can come, walk through the door and feel welcome. I don't know how we do it. I haven't figured it out yet, because if I had, this place would be full every Sunday. But let me tell you, he's given it to us a little bit at a time and we're going to keep working on it and we're going to figure it out. But we're not going to look back on the things that the church used to do. Amen. We've got a foundation. We know that Jesus Christ is the base of all things that we do. We look to him and only to him. Amen.
Speaker 1:John 10.10. The thief's purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. What does that mean? That means that if we think big, we receive big. If we think small, we receive small. I do not want to be in relationship with the devil because he's going to kill, steal and destroy every good thing in my life. That's what he's going to take.
Speaker 1:And can I tell you something? When you speak it out loud, that's when he takes it right. Whenever you say well, you know what. My wife and I have a rule in our house, and this is not a joke, I'm going to share this with you guys. Like, if you want marriage advice, this is tip number one. Okay, don't ever use the word divorce.
Speaker 1:If I walk up to my wife and I say to her I want a divorce, you know what she's going to say Done, whether that breaks her heart or not, whether that rips her insides out or not, because if I've said it and that's what I want, then there is no love in that relationship. Right, that we are not equally yoked and man has pulled apart what God has brought together. Amen, that is not. It's not a joke. Now don't get me wrong. If she, like, goes to McDonald's and gets something for the kids and doesn't get anything for me, I'm going to tell her well, I'm going to keep that up. That's, that's divorcing grounds and things like that. But we know that there's a never in an argument. Would I ever leave the house and tell my wife I'm just, I'm going to file for a divorce? I would never, ever, and I know that if I did that, I know where I'm going to be Divorce court right, because in the heat of the moment I will think small. I will think small and I will not receive what God has put.
Speaker 1:Listen, life is hard, folks, and it doesn't get easier. The more you know Jesus, the harder life seems to get right. The closer in relationship you come with him, the harder life becomes. Because if it were easy, if it were easy, then the enemy wouldn't exist at all. Right, because he wouldn't have a hope. He listens to the things that you speak out loud, he hears the words that you say and then he runs with it. You know what I'm not worthy of serving. I'm not worthy, I'm not capable, I'm not whatever. You're right Now. You're not, because the enemy has taken that and it's taking root in your life. It is taking root in your life, all right.
Speaker 1:The last one Deuteronomy 1, 6 and 7. It says when we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord, our God, said to us you have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on. Go to the hill country and to the Amorites and all of the neighboring regions the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western foothills, the Negev and the coastal plain. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon and all the way to the great Euphrates River. Think small, be small. If you stay in one place forever, you will never experience what God has for you.
Speaker 1:I have an Amish friend. I'm going to share this story and it's a little bit. It might feel emotional or chaotic, but in the Amish community a lot of times the girls are very naive to what happens in the world around them because they have a very close family right. And I have a girl who works for me. She's a wonderful girl. I've met all of her sisters. I've met her family. I used to take them back and forth to work and recently her youngest sister got a job at a small grocery store and while she was working there, a girl convinced her that her family was abusive. Now I'm not part of their family. I don't know if that's true or not, but do you know what she convinced her to do Move to Indiana. This girl's 16 years old, because at 14, they're considered adults, they're done with school, they're making a decision to become part of the Amish church, so this girl who convinced her to leave helps her pack up and moves her to Indiana.
Speaker 1:Now this is all in the cover of darkness. The family is not aware of what's happening and just one morning she's gone and they've tried to reason with her and they've tried to explain to her that this is not safe for you. Now she's part of a non-denominational church and she believes that she should be spreading the gospel to all of the corners of the earth. But the problem is that all sounds good on the surface, but they're doing this to more Amish girls in other communities where they're taking them from their families. What does that sound like to you? A cult? It sounds very dangerous, doesn't it? And the unfortunate part is is you can't change that mindset once somebody's gotten that foothold.
Speaker 1:Think small, live small. Now I ask pretty regularly how's your sister? Have you heard from her? And we pray for that sister regularly, just that she would be able to see what's happening and that she would be able to break away and come home. That's scary, right? That could happen to any one of us and any one of our children at any given time. Because that's how the enemy works, right? He will guise what it is that you're doing with something that looks shiny and looks fruitful and looks healthy and happy, until you get there and you realize, oh boy, oh boy, shouldn't have been there, shouldn't have done that. All right, don't stay small because they think small. If you stay in places where people don't understand you, then you will eventually shrink your gift to a size that they can stand. Amen.
Speaker 1:I'm not shrinking my gift for any of you. I'm not. You don't like it, that's okay. I don't need you to like it, but I need you to know that God has ordained that and if that's what he's calling for me, then I am going to do it. You will find yourself trapped in anxiety and depression and stress, stress all because you have allowed yourself to be told that you are small. Can you imagine having so much Jesus inside of you that you feel like you're going to burst, and yet you can't let it out because you're afraid of what people will think? Not me, not me. I'm not going to be that way. If you are not, I'm not shrinking my vision because you can't catch up. God has ordained the footsteps of this pastor, this body, this building and because he has said it, I know that he will. Amen, because he has said it, I know that he will. I will not reduce our footprint. I will not slow down the change that God has called and put into my heart just because we might not feel comfortable doing it. It's not about comfort, it's about growing the kingdom. Amen, let's pray together.
Speaker 1:Father, I thank you for a mighty move of the Spirit in your house today. Father, I pray that you just continue to speak into the hearts of the people who are here and allow them to live big for you, jesus, that as we are continuing to move to the future of what God has ordained, father, allow us to be in one accord. Allow us to pray in unison that your vision may come to pass. Father, not that we will get what we want, but that your vision will come to pass. Father, your plan B is greater than our plan A and we never want to slow you down. We want to stand in agreement in all of the things that you do.
Speaker 1:Father, I thank you for this body of believers who continues to pour into this house. Father, I thank you for those in leadership as they help to make hard decisions for the benefit of your kingdom. Lord, continue to lead us, guide us, direct us, put us on the path that is narrow, so that we can focus our eyes on you and never look back. Father, the nostalgia in our hearts is just that. It's nostalgia. It doesn't change who you are. Lord, I thank you and I praise you. I give you all the honor and glory in the mighty name of Jesus, and the church says amen. Love you guys. We'll see you Wednesday night.