WEBVTT 00:00:04.830 --> 00:00:06.953 Welcome to the Lone Star Church podcast. 00:00:06.953 --> 00:00:15.050 Pastors CF and Nicole Rady are here to share the Word of God with you each week, helping you grasp the fullness of God's plan for your life. 00:00:15.050 --> 00:00:17.908 We hope you'll be blessed by this week's message. 00:00:17.908 --> 00:00:24.009 If you live in Northwest Missouri or Southern Iowa, we invite you to join us in person on a Sunday morning. 00:00:24.009 --> 00:00:31.469 For more information about us, visit our website at lonestarchurchorg or find us on Facebook, instagram or YouTube. 00:00:35.841 --> 00:00:43.430 But talking about vision and the importance of having vision, and I'll let Nicole share some of the things she talked about. 00:00:43.430 --> 00:00:47.802 She shared some study, but just the importance of vision. 00:00:47.802 --> 00:00:52.482 I want to read to you real quick a couple verses and then I'll let Nicole kind of share some things. 00:00:52.482 --> 00:01:02.728 Let me know, you never learn anything, just hearing something once, right, and so often we always go back. 00:01:03.371 --> 00:01:17.912 Remember when you went to kindergarten, right, or preschool I didn't go to preschool, but kindergarten, and it probably shows I didn't go preschool but you go and you're learning your letters right, and you get to the first letter of the alphabet, a, right. 00:01:17.912 --> 00:01:23.507 A is for apple, right, that's almost everyone, doesn't matter how old you are, that's how you learn. 00:01:23.507 --> 00:01:38.186 A is for apple, and so they didn't just go the next day to b, right, you spend some time on a and then then you get to b and then you right, you go through the alphabet, and so the same thing with learning anything right, even scripturally, biblically. 00:01:38.186 --> 00:01:43.605 Uh, you, you need to hear something more than once, and so we want to just kind of go back over some things. 00:01:43.605 --> 00:01:46.992 So let me share a couple of scriptures we shared with you last week. 00:01:47.974 --> 00:01:54.891 Habakkuk 2.2 the Lord answered and told Habakkuk write the vision, make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it? 00:01:54.891 --> 00:02:01.033 So we said there's an important of number one seeking God for vision and then writing that vision down. 00:02:01.033 --> 00:02:02.260 And that's why we were able. 00:02:02.260 --> 00:02:03.343 We had some notebooks. 00:02:03.343 --> 00:02:07.227 If you weren't here last week, we can get you a little notebook if we still have some of those. 00:02:07.227 --> 00:02:07.808 I think we do. 00:02:07.808 --> 00:02:09.509 If not, we'll order more. 00:02:10.471 --> 00:02:24.885 But the importance of writing down the vision that God gives you, not just so that you can run with it, but so the next generation and others can take that vision and go, and the importance of having goals in your life In Proverbs 29.18, and the importance of having goals in your life. 00:02:24.885 --> 00:02:31.533 In Proverbs 29.18, it says when there is no vision, the people perish, but happy is he that keeps hope. 00:02:31.533 --> 00:02:34.195 You have to have goals, you have to have vision. 00:02:34.195 --> 00:02:39.998 Otherwise and we talked about this a few weeks ago you won't have a new year, you'll just have another year. 00:02:39.998 --> 00:02:49.174 There's got to be a goal, there's got to be a vision, and Nicole found all kinds of really great research that proves what the Bible has already told us about that. 00:02:49.254 --> 00:02:52.581 Yeah, so I'm listening to another pastor. 00:02:52.581 --> 00:03:00.480 I kind of dug around and looked online about different researches that people had done at universities. 00:03:00.480 --> 00:03:02.262 One in particular was a Virginia Tech professor by the name of David Cole. 00:03:02.262 --> 00:03:13.330 One in particular was a Virginia Tech professor by the name of David Cole researched, he said, people who regularly write their goals earn nine times more money than people who don't. 00:03:13.330 --> 00:03:18.094 So all you young people in the room write that down. 00:03:18.094 --> 00:03:21.437 All you older people in the room write that down. 00:03:21.437 --> 00:03:28.165 People who regularly write their goals earn nine times more money than people who don't. 00:03:28.165 --> 00:03:32.334 He also went on to say 80% of Americans don't have goals. 00:03:32.334 --> 00:03:38.784 16% of Americans had goals but didn't write them down. 00:03:38.784 --> 00:03:43.288 3% of Americans had goals and wrote them down. 00:03:43.288 --> 00:03:54.812 And then 1% of Americans had goals, wrote them down, revisited them repeatedly over the year, and the average of that 1% had a net worth of a million dollars. 00:03:54.812 --> 00:03:57.848 So what does that tell us? 00:03:57.848 --> 00:04:04.493 It tells us that people who don't understand biblical principles are taking biblical principles. 00:04:04.493 --> 00:04:10.256 Or maybe they're aware of it, I don't know, but let's just assume that they're not aware. 00:04:10.256 --> 00:04:13.645 They're taking biblical principles and they're applying them to their life. 00:04:13.645 --> 00:04:16.959 At least the 1% is, and it's working for them. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:19.064 So what does also that tell us? 00:04:19.064 --> 00:04:20.447 The word of God works. 00:04:20.447 --> 00:04:23.151 The word of God works. 00:04:23.151 --> 00:04:24.935 It works if you do it. 00:04:24.935 --> 00:04:32.709 So again, to go back to what Pastor CF was saying in Habakkuk and in Proverbs, write the goals down. 00:04:33.108 --> 00:04:36.901 When you have a vision for your life, you're able to run. 00:04:36.901 --> 00:04:43.024 Have you ever felt like in your life, or asked yourself this question what am I here for? 00:04:43.024 --> 00:04:44.226 Or what am I called to do? 00:04:44.226 --> 00:04:54.742 What, what, what is what am I supposed to do? 00:04:54.742 --> 00:04:57.252 Um, or maybe moms, you get to the end of raising your children and you're like, what am I going to do now? 00:04:57.252 --> 00:04:57.552 Like what am I? 00:04:57.552 --> 00:05:00.382 I've devoted all my time and my energy towards my children. 00:05:00.382 --> 00:05:01.985 What is my life now? 00:05:01.985 --> 00:05:07.463 God has a vision for you and also God has a vision for you for every season of your life. 00:05:08.745 --> 00:05:12.413 The problem isn't that there isn't a goal or a vision for you. 00:05:12.413 --> 00:05:15.391 The problem is is that we don't take the time to get quiet. 00:05:15.391 --> 00:05:23.512 A lot of the times we don't take the time to get quiet and listen to him and then implement the things that he's told us to do. 00:05:23.512 --> 00:05:24.483 Write them down. 00:05:24.483 --> 00:05:28.625 It's simple Go back, revisit them, we pray over them. 00:05:28.625 --> 00:05:31.290 We talked about that, pastor C. 00:05:31.290 --> 00:05:33.002 I've mentioned about the little booklets. 00:05:33.002 --> 00:05:34.805 At the last week we gave out. 00:05:34.805 --> 00:05:35.767 We do have. 00:05:35.767 --> 00:05:37.031 We have more coming. 00:05:37.031 --> 00:05:37.793 We ran out. 00:05:37.793 --> 00:05:43.031 Jennifer Doolittle wasn't able to be with us this morning, so I believe that she has them. 00:05:43.031 --> 00:05:47.144 We will have more for you next week that we will get them to you if you weren't able to get one. 00:05:47.144 --> 00:06:00.425 But writing things down, keeping that little book with you, constantly going back over things, making sure that whatever you hear from heaven, you're writing, you're adding to it. 00:06:00.425 --> 00:06:04.182 We kind of gave you a little list it just real quick. 00:06:04.564 --> 00:06:11.338 And so what Nicole talked about it kind of leads into so if I want a vision, I've got to get the vision from God. 00:06:11.338 --> 00:06:13.444 So I need to seek after God to get the vision. 00:06:13.444 --> 00:06:15.649 And I think it's important. 00:06:15.649 --> 00:06:30.684 There are a lot of people, a lot of Christians, born-again people, that have no idea that they're supposed to seek after that, have no idea that they're supposed to seek after that right. 00:06:30.684 --> 00:06:32.788 They know God is all-knowing and that God is the creator and he has this but number one. 00:06:32.788 --> 00:06:34.752 They don't know how to seek after him to get it. 00:06:34.752 --> 00:06:38.714 And so I look at my own life, and so I was born again as a teenager. 00:06:38.714 --> 00:06:40.963 So I was a Christian born again. 00:06:40.963 --> 00:06:46.201 And yet when I graduated high school, I had no idea what I was supposed to do with the rest of my life. 00:06:46.201 --> 00:06:48.165 Zero idea. 00:06:48.165 --> 00:06:53.846 It's why it's important and we'll spend some time this year at some point talking about how to be led by the Spirit of God. 00:06:53.846 --> 00:06:54.848 We'll go over some things. 00:06:54.848 --> 00:06:56.312 But I had no idea. 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:57.101 So what did I do? 00:06:57.101 --> 00:06:58.766 I went to college, went to University of Missouri. 00:06:58.766 --> 00:07:01.663 The reason I went there is because I thought it was expected of me. 00:07:01.663 --> 00:07:04.367 I had two older brothers who both went to college. 00:07:04.367 --> 00:07:06.031 Kevin went to Northwest Kent, went to Mizzou. 00:07:06.031 --> 00:07:08.134 I had an older sister, ramona She'd went to Mizzou. 00:07:08.134 --> 00:07:11.127 I had nine classmates that were all going to Mizzou. 00:07:11.127 --> 00:07:15.346 So I just thought I'm just going to go to Mizzou, I'll just go to Mizzou, I'll just go to college. 00:07:15.346 --> 00:07:24.134 And so I went and I floundered, right I mean, there were times of success, but on the inside I'm like I don't know what I'm supposed to do. 00:07:24.134 --> 00:07:27.696 My major was undecided for most of my time there. 00:07:27.696 --> 00:07:32.098 I finally ended up picking a major and doing some things, but I struggled. 00:07:32.737 --> 00:07:34.939 I told this story first service and I think it bears repeating. 00:07:34.939 --> 00:07:40.651 I'll never forget one night I lived in a fraternity house just right on the edge of campus. 00:07:40.651 --> 00:07:52.483 One night I had been studying, which was unusual for me, but I'd been studying at the library and I was walking home by myself across campus and as I'm going up a sidewalk it's on white campus, just past Memorial Union. 00:07:52.483 --> 00:07:55.351 I'm walking in between buildings and I hear something. 00:07:55.351 --> 00:08:01.269 I'm like boy, that sounds like someone, and so I pause and I hear it again. 00:08:01.269 --> 00:08:03.968 It was a faint cry for help and it was coming from my left man. 00:08:03.968 --> 00:08:04.370 I can picture it. 00:08:04.370 --> 00:08:05.939 It was a faint cry for help and it was coming from my left man. 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:06.661 I can picture it. 00:08:06.661 --> 00:08:10.670 There was a big pine tree and I walked around that pine tree. 00:08:10.670 --> 00:08:14.649 And here I'm probably 19, maybe 20 years old. 00:08:15.430 --> 00:08:20.084 I walked around that pine tree and there was a man who was back there, a professor who had fallen. 00:08:20.084 --> 00:08:26.762 He was disabled, he used crutches to walk and he'd fallen down and he couldn't get up. 00:08:26.762 --> 00:08:27.504 And so I said, sir, can I help you? 00:08:27.504 --> 00:08:28.267 And he said, oh, please. 00:08:28.267 --> 00:08:37.312 And so I helped him up and helped him to his car, and then I picked up my bag and got back on the sidewalk and walked back home. 00:08:37.312 --> 00:08:52.524 I didn't know it because I didn't have the knowledge that I have now, but in my spirit God was trying to tell me something, and in my spirit I heard these words, and again, I didn't know it then, but I know it now. 00:08:52.524 --> 00:08:55.672 God said you're called to help people. 00:08:55.672 --> 00:08:58.445 Right, that's general. 00:08:58.445 --> 00:09:13.022 But it was something that, looking back, that started to guide me and direct me, to get me onto the, the road to end up at Rhema and to get trained to marry Nicole and to move back to Bethany, where God led us, and to come pastor here. 00:09:13.763 --> 00:09:19.845 But I think so often, right, I was struggling and so many people struggle in life because they don't understand vision. 00:09:19.845 --> 00:09:22.660 They don't understand I need to get that vision from God right. 00:09:22.660 --> 00:09:23.764 You know people. 00:09:23.764 --> 00:09:26.985 They kick around from job to job and place to place and they move and they're doing different things. 00:09:26.985 --> 00:09:31.250 Or maybe they've been in one place for a long time, but they're miserable in that place. 00:09:31.250 --> 00:09:35.028 That's why it's so important that you seek after God and get that vision right. 00:09:35.107 --> 00:09:36.010 Set goals for your life. 00:09:36.010 --> 00:09:37.725 What do I want to accomplish? 00:09:37.725 --> 00:09:40.428 And don't just set them, but have an understanding. 00:09:40.428 --> 00:09:42.129 Okay, god, these are my goals. 00:09:42.129 --> 00:09:43.331 This is the vision I've got for you. 00:09:43.331 --> 00:09:46.013 Maybe it's just something on the inside of you like this is my goal. 00:09:46.013 --> 00:09:47.134 Well then, seek God. 00:09:47.134 --> 00:09:48.715 How do I reach that goal? 00:09:48.715 --> 00:09:50.336 I mean, you're going to have to do that. 00:09:50.336 --> 00:09:52.457 You can't just sit and be like, okay, this is it. 00:09:52.457 --> 00:09:55.667 Okay, god, just drop it on me, right? 00:09:55.667 --> 00:10:06.142 Nicole and I have talked about we talked about last week a lot of people. 00:10:06.142 --> 00:10:07.366 Their goal for a new year is to get healthier, lose weight. 00:10:07.366 --> 00:10:08.291 I know that doesn't happen just by praying. 00:10:08.291 --> 00:10:09.596 You don't burn enough calories praying to lose weight, right? 00:10:09.596 --> 00:10:10.178 Unless you're a really hard. 00:10:10.178 --> 00:10:12.725 Nicole's a hard prayer. 00:10:12.904 --> 00:10:13.667 I've tried. 00:10:13.667 --> 00:10:15.770 Take the calories out of this lemon pound cake. 00:10:15.770 --> 00:10:17.621 Thank you, Kim Andrews, but it doesn't work. 00:10:19.225 --> 00:10:20.307 You have made that prayer before. 00:10:20.307 --> 00:10:21.750 It does not work. 00:10:21.750 --> 00:10:24.302 You've corrected me, but you know. 00:10:24.302 --> 00:10:25.687 So you get it. 00:10:25.687 --> 00:10:30.231 But there's got to be some implementation and it's not just doing it on your own, it's it's got. 00:10:30.231 --> 00:10:31.582 Show me how to do it. 00:10:31.582 --> 00:10:35.032 How many know there's a way to do things and there's a way to do things easier. 00:10:35.700 --> 00:10:39.566 So we, we kind of talked about, we gave you some ideas for your booklet. 00:10:39.566 --> 00:10:41.528 You know your little booklet that we handed out. 00:10:41.528 --> 00:10:43.552 I brought my own last week with. 00:10:43.552 --> 00:10:56.668 I had tabs on it and I labeled those tabs like very, very specific Um, and one of them I had said that I started with like me, or like what, what do I want people to say about me? 00:10:57.610 --> 00:11:00.682 Or um, and you know, answer that question honestly. 00:11:00.682 --> 00:11:03.226 Um, not, what do people say about me? 00:11:03.226 --> 00:11:04.610 What do I want them to say? 00:11:04.610 --> 00:11:10.246 It's a vision, it's a goal, um, or or here's the, here's a really good one. 00:11:10.246 --> 00:11:11.730 I just I thought about what. 00:11:11.730 --> 00:11:15.486 What do I want my life to look like at the end of 2025? 00:11:15.486 --> 00:11:18.413 How much money do I want saved in the bank? 00:11:18.413 --> 00:11:19.640 Things like that. 00:11:19.640 --> 00:11:20.481 That's important. 00:11:20.481 --> 00:11:26.070 Um, what do I want my health to look like at the end of 2025? 00:11:26.070 --> 00:11:30.821 Um, look, you know what do. 00:11:30.821 --> 00:11:35.090 What do I want my relationships to look like at the end of 2025? 00:11:35.730 --> 00:11:48.149 Those can be goals, the, and I think sometimes we don't think that those things are as important or that maybe they're not goals, that maybe God doesn't really think are valuable, but they're extremely valuable. 00:11:48.149 --> 00:11:54.046 Um, we serve a God that's so big and he cares about every part of your life. 00:11:54.046 --> 00:11:59.125 It does not bother him If you write down extremely specific goals. 00:11:59.125 --> 00:12:03.461 In fact, he, he longs for it, and so that was our encouragement last week. 00:12:03.461 --> 00:12:16.539 You know you can have financial goals, you can have health goals, you can have relationship goals, but categorize them and be very, very specific. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:23.412 And then also, one thing that we focused on was that, within those goals, once you write them down, don't just write them down and forget about them for the rest of the year. 00:12:23.412 --> 00:12:43.205 Go back and revisit them, look at them, pray over them, and I guarantee you this that as you do that, if you do that weekly or even once a month I recommend weekly, but if you only do it once a month God will give you more to add to that. 00:12:43.205 --> 00:12:45.471 He'll add to whatever the vision is. 00:12:45.471 --> 00:12:50.188 It's not going to be just one thing and you're like okay, that's it, he's going to add to it and it's going to grow in your heart. 00:12:50.721 --> 00:12:53.379 And the revisiting is so important, right? 00:12:53.379 --> 00:13:02.144 Which is why it's important to write it down, because the going back to look at it, it keeps it in the front of your mind, it keeps it out ahead of you. 00:13:02.144 --> 00:13:04.907 Because it's easy to forget things, right, it's easy. 00:13:04.907 --> 00:13:07.570 All of a sudden it's June and you're like oh yeah. 00:13:08.149 --> 00:13:10.432 I was going to do this this year. 00:13:10.432 --> 00:13:12.134 I was going to read a book this year. 00:13:12.134 --> 00:13:27.162 I was going to read three books this year and you're like, oh, I'll get to that, right. 00:13:27.162 --> 00:13:29.428 But when you're looking at things right, how many of you feel like you do things better if there's a list? 00:13:29.428 --> 00:13:33.542 I use the calendar on my phone to keep me on track with things and Nicole and I share a calendar, so we'll put things in that are going on in our life. 00:13:33.542 --> 00:13:37.111 And then it's like, okay, we're doing this this day and we're doing this this day. 00:13:39.076 --> 00:13:43.745 An unplanned life is an unorganized life, is a life in disarray. 00:13:43.745 --> 00:13:46.570 It's a life really of chaos. 00:13:46.570 --> 00:13:51.081 You can live in your early 20s in a bit of chaos. 00:13:51.081 --> 00:13:53.105 You get to be older. 00:13:53.105 --> 00:13:55.476 That doesn't work very well anymore. 00:13:55.476 --> 00:14:00.707 You need plans, you need goals, you need vision and there's great success for that. 00:14:00.707 --> 00:14:07.778 And there's great success for that. 00:14:07.778 --> 00:14:08.221 Amen, praise the Lord. 00:14:08.221 --> 00:14:08.864 Okay, so we're going to move on. 00:14:08.884 --> 00:14:09.285 We really sought God. 00:14:09.285 --> 00:14:11.294 When someone asked, they said if someone asks you, what is Lone Star Church about? 00:14:11.294 --> 00:14:14.163 We wanted to be able to answer that. 00:14:14.163 --> 00:14:18.618 And it's not just, oh, we go to church on Sundays, or oh, we believe in the Bible or this. 00:14:18.618 --> 00:14:20.741 All those things are true. 00:14:20.741 --> 00:14:27.985 So we came up in Seeking God with these four things and we have it on t-shirts, we have it on printed materials, we have it on a slide. 00:14:27.985 --> 00:14:35.087 You see, every Sunday it's on our sign, it's on our website and it's these four things reach, connect, grow and impact. 00:14:35.087 --> 00:14:44.129 And we talk about it in our grow class, next steps class, and so those are the four things reach, connect, grow and impact. 00:14:44.129 --> 00:14:49.077 So we're going to go over each of those things. 00:14:49.077 --> 00:14:51.163 We'll go over two of them, the first two today, just for time's sake. 00:14:51.163 --> 00:14:58.202 The first one is the most important as far as, if we are ranking them, it's definitely number one on the list and it's to reach the lost. 00:14:58.202 --> 00:15:05.996 That is what God has called us In 2 Peter 3.9,. 00:15:06.017 --> 00:15:07.379 Listen to what God said through Peter in 2 Peter 3.9. 00:15:07.379 --> 00:15:10.205 It says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. 00:15:10.205 --> 00:15:11.749 As some count slackness, I know. 00:15:11.749 --> 00:15:15.263 If God promised it, god is going to make sure it comes to pass. 00:15:15.263 --> 00:15:18.496 He says he's long-suffering or patient towards us. 00:15:18.496 --> 00:15:21.621 Now look at the last part here of 2 Peter 3.9. 00:15:21.621 --> 00:15:24.626 It says God is not willing. 00:15:24.626 --> 00:15:25.687 So what's that? 00:15:25.687 --> 00:15:26.690 Tell us it's God's will. 00:15:26.690 --> 00:15:31.506 God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 00:15:31.506 --> 00:15:34.725 So what is the will of God for everyone's life on this earth? 00:15:34.725 --> 00:15:37.984 To get saved, to get born again. 00:15:37.984 --> 00:15:42.763 That is God's will for every person on this earth, not necessarily to be a member of Lone Star Church. 00:15:42.763 --> 00:15:46.365 It's to get born again, amen. 00:15:46.365 --> 00:15:50.184 And so God's will is for everyone to be born again. 00:15:50.184 --> 00:15:50.878 Well, guess what? 00:15:50.878 --> 00:15:53.315 People don't just get born again by accident. 00:15:53.315 --> 00:16:01.566 It happens for a reason, and that's because the church is doing its job, which goes to Mark, chapter 16, the Great Commission. 00:16:01.566 --> 00:16:03.524 So listen to this Mark 16, 15. 00:16:03.524 --> 00:16:05.113 Amen. 00:16:05.113 --> 00:16:06.778 You ever heard of the Great Commission before? 00:16:06.778 --> 00:16:15.143 The Great Commission is in the end of the Gospels, but I like the one here at the end of Mark in Mark 16, 15. 00:16:17.307 --> 00:16:18.328 Jesus, this is Jesus. 00:16:18.328 --> 00:16:23.605 So this is after his death, burial and resurrection, before he leaves to ascend on high into heaven. 00:16:23.605 --> 00:16:24.868 Jesus said that. 00:16:25.336 --> 00:16:28.765 How many believe the last words of Jesus are probably pretty important. 00:16:28.765 --> 00:16:41.384 Jesus said lots of things and everything he said was important, but these last words, he's giving these last commands what I need you to do before I leave this earth, jesus says I want you to go into all the world. 00:16:41.384 --> 00:16:44.621 You hear that and how many know? 00:16:44.621 --> 00:16:46.458 You hear that and you're like I can't do that. 00:16:46.458 --> 00:16:51.423 I like it here in America, or I like it here in Missouri, or I like it right, I can't go into all the world. 00:16:51.423 --> 00:16:54.475 We're going to dissect that here just a little bit. 00:16:54.475 --> 00:16:59.121 But God says go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, right. 00:16:59.121 --> 00:17:00.104 And so we know. 00:17:00.104 --> 00:17:03.187 The next tells us those who believe shall be saved, those who believe not shall be damned. 00:17:03.528 --> 00:17:12.895 But but the important thing is, the first thing we're supposed to do is reach people with the gospel, and I think sometimes we take for granted that everyone just knows what the gospel is. 00:17:12.895 --> 00:17:16.845 If you grew up in church, you know what the gospel, what the word gospel means. 00:17:16.845 --> 00:17:19.837 If, if you didn't, you may not know, uh, what it. 00:17:19.837 --> 00:17:22.804 But gospel means Amen. 00:17:22.804 --> 00:17:24.426 And the good news is this. 00:17:24.426 --> 00:17:25.509 So listen to this. 00:17:26.377 --> 00:17:28.064 These are actual scriptures in the Bible. 00:17:28.064 --> 00:17:32.344 This scripture says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 00:17:32.344 --> 00:17:33.446 I love y'all. 00:17:33.446 --> 00:17:35.180 Everyone, you're good people. 00:17:35.180 --> 00:17:36.684 How do you know? 00:17:36.684 --> 00:17:39.703 Good people still go to hell. 00:17:39.703 --> 00:17:42.741 Good people still go to hell. 00:17:42.741 --> 00:17:46.807 Being a good person does not get you into heaven, amen. 00:17:47.476 --> 00:17:52.761 And so the good news is this All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 00:17:52.761 --> 00:17:56.726 Another scripture says these words the wages of sin is death. 00:17:56.726 --> 00:18:01.943 Death is not just dying, death is eternal separation from God. 00:18:01.943 --> 00:18:05.286 It's eternal damnation in hell, amen. 00:18:05.286 --> 00:18:09.544 And so guess what, if those were the only two scriptures in the Bible? 00:18:09.544 --> 00:18:13.063 All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. 00:18:13.063 --> 00:18:16.701 If those were the only two scriptures in the Bible, we'd all be in trouble, right? 00:18:16.701 --> 00:18:17.284 Why? 00:18:17.284 --> 00:18:19.777 Because everyone sinned and everyone's going to die and go to hell. 00:18:19.777 --> 00:18:21.421 That would be horrible. 00:18:21.500 --> 00:18:23.566 But those aren't the only two scriptures in the Bible. 00:18:23.566 --> 00:18:26.613 We know that God sent Jesus to redeem us from the curse. 00:18:26.613 --> 00:18:31.884 God sent Jesus, and Jesus took our sin upon himself so we might have life eternal through God. 00:18:31.884 --> 00:18:34.881 Right that if we believe in our heart, confess with our mouth, we shall be saved. 00:18:34.881 --> 00:18:44.898 Right, jesus is our Savior, and so the most important thing we have to do is reach people, and the good news is this right, you ever had anyone come up to you sometimes? 00:18:44.898 --> 00:18:46.804 Right, maybe you have a mechanic or a doctor? 00:18:46.804 --> 00:18:48.296 Right, you never want to hear this from the doctor? 00:18:48.296 --> 00:18:50.741 I got some bad news and some good news, right? 00:18:50.761 --> 00:18:50.922 You ever? 00:18:50.942 --> 00:18:51.242 have. 00:18:51.242 --> 00:18:52.807 Right, one of your kids come. 00:18:52.807 --> 00:18:55.622 I got Dad, I got some bad news and some good news. 00:18:55.622 --> 00:18:59.877 Right, and it just becomes guess what? 00:18:59.877 --> 00:19:05.402 If you want to tell someone about the gospel, just walk up to them and say can I tell you about something? 00:19:05.402 --> 00:19:07.490 How many of you know? 00:19:07.490 --> 00:19:09.999 If you just walk up to someone and say, can I talk to you about Jesus Christ? 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:10.621 Most people are going. 00:19:10.621 --> 00:19:11.825 I don't want to hear about Jesus Christ. 00:19:11.825 --> 00:19:13.336 Right, they're not saying, but just go. 00:19:13.336 --> 00:19:14.417 Hey, can I tell you some news? 00:19:14.417 --> 00:19:15.799 Okay, what do you got? 00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:17.542 Well, I got some bad news and some good news. 00:19:17.542 --> 00:19:20.906 Okay, hit me with it. 00:19:20.906 --> 00:19:21.688 What are you going to give me? 00:19:21.688 --> 00:19:22.829 Let me give you the bad news first. 00:19:22.829 --> 00:19:26.000 You're a sinner and you're going to go to hell. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:31.201 Bad news, right, I just delivered some bad news. 00:19:31.201 --> 00:19:36.202 Just do that, knock on some doors and do that, but say hey, I got some good news. 00:19:36.202 --> 00:19:39.904 Jesus paid the price, took your sin upon himself. 00:19:39.904 --> 00:19:44.919 You don't have to go to hell, you can go to heaven and live with God forever, eternally in heaven. 00:19:44.919 --> 00:19:46.342 That's the good news. 00:19:46.342 --> 00:19:47.325 Well, how hard do I? 00:19:47.325 --> 00:19:48.234 You don't have to do any work. 00:19:48.234 --> 00:19:53.775 All you have to do is believe that Jesus did what he said he'd do Amen, and so that's the good news. 00:19:53.815 --> 00:20:00.565 So when we talk about go, preach the gospel, right, it's go, tell people the good news to everyone. 00:20:00.565 --> 00:20:05.498 And when we say go into all the world, it's not just globally we're supposed to go. 00:20:05.498 --> 00:20:13.445 Not everyone is called to be a missionary in China, but not everyone's called to go everywhere, although we as a church listen to this, so listen to what we do. 00:20:13.445 --> 00:20:15.799 We don't just reach here in Northwest Missouri and Southern Iowa. 00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:21.080 We have a radio broadcast that goes out on CAN every single week that reaches thousands of people. 00:20:21.080 --> 00:20:23.306 We have a live stream that reaches people. 00:20:23.306 --> 00:20:24.288 We have a podcast. 00:20:24.328 --> 00:20:28.159 We have, obviously, the ministry of this church and what we do through this church and outreaches. 00:20:28.159 --> 00:20:32.737 But we also, as a church, sow into ministries that are reaching around the globe. 00:20:32.737 --> 00:20:36.665 We have missionaries, the Hadabals, who are in Beirut, lebanon. 00:20:36.665 --> 00:20:39.660 We support Rhema, and Rhema goes all over the world. 00:20:39.660 --> 00:20:54.982 They have over 200 schools now worldwide training up people to preach the gospel, and then obviously also pastors, mark and Trina Hankins, who have television, podcasts, books, and they travel all over the world as well. 00:20:54.982 --> 00:21:01.347 And so we are, through Lone Star, reaching the world, but it's also reaching your world. 00:21:02.194 --> 00:21:04.083 Yeah, so I mentioned this in first service, that going into all the world, but it's also reaching your world. 00:21:04.083 --> 00:21:17.047 Yeah, so I mentioned this in first service, that you know going into all the world, you know you can like there is a global aspect to it and we support missionaries who do that but you could also say it like this go into your world. 00:21:17.047 --> 00:21:18.657 Each of you have a little mission field. 00:21:18.657 --> 00:21:20.042 It's your world, and what that means is you have a level of influence. 00:21:20.042 --> 00:21:22.351 The people that you're called to reach You're not called to reach every single of you have a little mission field. 00:21:22.351 --> 00:21:24.218 It's your world, and what that means is you have a level of influence. 00:21:24.218 --> 00:21:25.703 The people that you're called to reach. 00:21:25.703 --> 00:21:30.521 You're not called to reach every single person on this earth, but you're called to reach somebody. 00:21:30.521 --> 00:21:40.099 You're called to have influence, and whether that means you sow into their life financially, you sow into their life with your words, you love on them, you do things for them. 00:21:40.099 --> 00:21:43.183 You know the Lord shows you what you, what you're called to do. 00:21:43.183 --> 00:21:46.608 But there is a group of people that you're called to have influence. 00:21:46.608 --> 00:21:49.442 It could be at work, it could be at your school, it could be wherever. 00:21:49.442 --> 00:21:51.769 Wherever you're called to be at. 00:21:51.769 --> 00:21:54.941 You just have to go with the thought. 00:21:54.941 --> 00:21:57.608 I will be intentional about my influence. 00:21:57.608 --> 00:22:01.902 I will not take it lightly because there are people dying and going to hell. 00:22:02.644 --> 00:22:08.126 I remember one time brother Hagen tells a story, or told a story about a man that he knew he was supposed to. 00:22:08.126 --> 00:22:13.436 He was called to go minister to and he ignored the uh, he ignored the prompting in his heart to go do it. 00:22:13.436 --> 00:22:15.843 That man ended up dying and the Lord talked to him. 00:22:15.843 --> 00:22:18.076 He said that man went to hell because you didn't go talk to him. 00:22:18.076 --> 00:22:21.784 I'm like that'll mess with you. 00:22:21.784 --> 00:22:25.069 And he said it took him about three days to get over the guilt. 00:22:25.069 --> 00:22:29.624 And then he went on to say that'll never happen again, like I'll never ignore that. 00:22:29.624 --> 00:22:39.359 So there are people waiting for your voice, there are people waiting for your influence and you know there's just something about when you pour yourself out. 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:41.759 It just does something to you, it helps you. 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:47.790 When you know you've helped somebody, there's a sense of like man. 00:22:47.790 --> 00:22:51.221 Thank you, jesus, that I got to do that for somebody. 00:22:51.221 --> 00:22:52.875 Thank you, lord, for using me. 00:22:52.875 --> 00:22:53.438 It helps you. 00:22:53.952 --> 00:22:55.029 Reach, connect, grow and impact. 00:22:55.029 --> 00:22:56.272 So reach is the first thing. 00:22:56.272 --> 00:23:00.753 The next thing and the final thing today we're going to talk about is connect right. 00:23:00.753 --> 00:23:13.694 So that was so important to Nicole and I that we knew Lone Star was to be a gathering place, a place where people will gather to worship God, to hear the Word, but gather together to connect with each other right. 00:23:13.694 --> 00:23:22.737 We don't want everyone to walk in those doors, sit down in the pew and then just walk back out, get in your car and leave and you don't even know anyone. 00:23:22.737 --> 00:23:24.816 There's got to be connection. 00:23:25.851 --> 00:23:29.857 If there was one person who ever walked this earth that could have done life on his own, who was it? 00:23:29.857 --> 00:23:31.059 Jesus? 00:23:31.059 --> 00:23:31.941 But did he? 00:23:31.941 --> 00:23:33.845 No, he didn't. 00:23:33.845 --> 00:23:35.994 He chose people to have life with. 00:23:35.994 --> 00:23:39.492 He had the 12, the disciples, he had the 70. 00:23:39.492 --> 00:23:42.920 He had the multitudes, those around him. 00:23:42.920 --> 00:23:43.622 He had friends. 00:23:43.622 --> 00:23:44.871 How many know Jesus had friends? 00:23:44.871 --> 00:23:47.923 Lazarus, who was raised from the dead, was a friend of Jesus. 00:23:47.923 --> 00:23:51.654 He wasn't one of the 12 disciples, but he was still a friend of Jesus. 00:23:52.175 --> 00:23:53.317 You should have friends. 00:23:53.317 --> 00:23:55.262 I know God wants you to have friends. 00:23:55.262 --> 00:23:55.931 You're not alone. 00:23:55.931 --> 00:23:57.054 I'm just a lone wolf. 00:23:57.054 --> 00:23:59.862 You know there are a lot of people, especially probably men, that go. 00:23:59.862 --> 00:24:01.356 I'm just called to be a lone wolf. 00:24:01.356 --> 00:24:03.226 I don't need anybody, I'm a lone wolf. 00:24:03.226 --> 00:24:05.271 I mean, you know what happens to lone wolves they die. 00:24:05.271 --> 00:24:07.974 Successful wolves do what. 00:24:07.974 --> 00:24:08.955 They live in a pack. 00:24:08.955 --> 00:24:12.740 Right, they have others around them, lions. 00:24:12.740 --> 00:24:14.182 You see the king of the jungle. 00:24:14.182 --> 00:24:15.865 You're like man, he is the king of the jungle. 00:24:15.865 --> 00:24:16.465 Guess what? 00:24:16.465 --> 00:24:18.134 They have a pride of lions. 00:24:18.134 --> 00:24:19.157 They live there. 00:24:19.157 --> 00:24:20.040 Well, guess what? 00:24:20.040 --> 00:24:22.398 If you're by yourself, you're in trouble. 00:24:22.398 --> 00:24:24.435 So there's got to be connection. 00:24:24.435 --> 00:24:30.458 So we know God has called Lone Star to do a few things with connection To number one connect people with God. 00:24:35.549 --> 00:24:37.619 It's our job, through preaching of the Word and teaching the Word, to connect you to heaven. 00:24:37.619 --> 00:24:39.589 Right, we want you to have a connection to heaven, not just a connection to Nicole and I. 00:24:39.589 --> 00:24:42.756 Right, we're not your priests, we're your pastors. 00:24:42.756 --> 00:24:45.423 Right, you don't have to come to us to get to God. 00:24:45.423 --> 00:24:49.659 We want to tell you this is how you can connect to God at your house. 00:24:49.659 --> 00:24:54.958 Right, that's what pastors, we're leaders of this flock, but we're not your connection to God. 00:24:54.958 --> 00:25:02.011 Jesus is your connection to God. 00:25:02.011 --> 00:25:02.692 You can connect directly to him. 00:25:02.692 --> 00:25:03.955 So we want to connect you with God. 00:25:03.955 --> 00:25:06.480 We also want to connect you with your destiny. 00:25:06.500 --> 00:25:09.395 There's so many times Nicole and I have talked about people in this church and it's not bad. 00:25:09.395 --> 00:25:13.336 We're not gossiping about you when we talk about you, but we talk about you. 00:25:13.336 --> 00:25:13.837 We're like man. 00:25:13.837 --> 00:25:16.191 We see this in that person, man. 00:25:16.191 --> 00:25:17.634 We see a gift in that person. 00:25:17.634 --> 00:25:21.791 I know God will allow your pastors this is why it's important to have a pastor. 00:25:21.791 --> 00:25:26.310 God will allow your pastors to see a gift in you that maybe you've never seen in yourself. 00:25:26.310 --> 00:25:32.111 And then what we talk about and what we pray about God, how can we draw that out of that person? 00:25:32.571 --> 00:25:39.311 But I know what it feels like when people, when things were drawn out of me. 00:25:39.311 --> 00:25:53.917 Whenever Pastor CF came to me I don't know, it was like six years ago or so and he was like, hey, I was talking with Pastor Caleb and we think, you know, we've got a strong, you've got a strong women's group in your church. 00:25:53.917 --> 00:25:59.480 We think it'd be really good to have a women's conference, and so he's going to talk to Aaron, cody and Alicia about coming and doing it. 00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:00.532 And I was like what? 00:26:00.532 --> 00:26:02.357 What? 00:26:02.357 --> 00:26:03.540 No, you're not. 00:26:03.829 --> 00:26:07.114 In fact I'd already planned it behind her back and I was like no, you're not. 00:26:08.950 --> 00:26:14.698