Jet Fuel - Concord Conversations

Proximity To Jesus Does Not Guarantee Faith

• Concord Baptist Church • Episode 21

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0:00 | 49:40

We talk through Mark 6 and the shock of Jesus being rejected in His hometown, even while He teaches with authority. We name how comfort, familiarity, and people pleasing can dull faith, then we learn how to stay dependent on God and keep moving when rejection hits. 
• Jesus rejected in Nazareth and the danger of hometown blinders 
• proximity to Jesus not guaranteeing faith in Jesus 
• comfort limiting awareness and creating spiritual autopilot 
• praying for spiritual eyes and asking God to stretch us 
• gratitude when God moves and resisting complacency 
• unbelief as neglect and not turning to God daily 
• Jesus moving on to receptive places and staying on mission 
• the twelve sent two by two with authority 
• traveling light as a discipline of dependence on God 
• leadership development through teaching, modeling, and coaching 
• handling rejection, insecurity, and the pull of people pleasing 
• staying faithful amid preferences in worship and church life 
• three takeaways: familiarity dulling faith, deeper trust, willingness to be sent 


Welcome And Podcast Purpose

SPEAKER_01

Welcome to the Jet Fuel Podcast, a series of Concord conversations. In each episode, our lead pastor and a guest will sit down and dive a little deeper into what we learned as a church that week. These are honest, practical conversations to fuel your faith and help you live it out with purpose and consistency. Or, in other words, this is JetFuel for your soul. All right.

SPEAKER_04

Well, welcome back to JetFuel. What's up? Man, it's good to have you. I'm excited we're gonna get to be here and get a little fuel for everyday life. Thank you everybody for joining us again, man. Really appreciate the support. And uh you guys studying along. We love it when we get to hear from you guys. And one of the things that we keep hearing, Michael, is that uh they don't care so much about what I talk about. No, I'm just kidding. Uh, but they love the questions at the beginning, getting to know our staff and different things like that. So, Bree, hit us up with the question for today.

Time Travel Concert Debate

SPEAKER_00

All right. So the question today is if you could go back in time to see any band in concert ever, what band would it be?

SPEAKER_04

So wait a second. If we could go back in time, which is cool, number one, yeah, but then to see any band that we wanted, it could be current, but if we were gonna go back in time.

SPEAKER_00

So, like for example, I would go see Queen. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Technically are still a band, but Freddie Mercury is not their lead singer. So I would like to see Queen with Freddie as the lead singer.

SPEAKER_04

This is such a great question because Michael's here, because I'm sure there's gonna be some kind of incredible things. But I'm just gonna get out there and say it. I would not go to a single concert. If you were to give me front row seats and backstage passes to any concert in history, if there was a college football game on, I would not go. Like I just Michael, I just if like So what you're saying is the halftime show at the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_00

I turn it off.

SPEAKER_04

I I don't even watch it. Like, I really don't. See, here's the deal. I if I were in college, I would drive from college to like my grandma or my brother's house, something like that, several hours, never turn the radio on, drive in complete silence. It's about 13 hours to my brother's or in-laws' house in Texas from where we live. I could totally drive there and back 26 hours, never turn on a single thing of music.

SPEAKER_03

I love that for you.

SPEAKER_04

You love that for okay. I'm just saying, I I don't I guess I don't appreciate music. That's fine. That's fine. It's not that I'm anti-music, it's just that I don't really listen to it.

SPEAKER_03

Well, it's crazy because our our minds get wired so differently, you know, with perspectives, things we like, things that fulfill us, things that drain us or whatnot. So like because it actually makes me question like, does music like sometimes drain you? Oh, like if you have to because it put you put too much attention on it, you just want it to be going.

SPEAKER_00

So when we see you singing on Sunday morning, singing your heart out, we know it's really just because it's the Lord's music.

SPEAKER_04

Oh man, that's for the Lord. Yeah. I'm trying to be the lead worshipper and that. I just but honestly, I don't listen to a whole lot of music outside of our worship time in whatever. What about you though? Who's who are like the top iconic bands you would have liked to see in there?

SPEAKER_03

My first question would be does it have to be a single artist or could it be like a single concert moment?

SPEAKER_04

Because my immediate answer I think we got all kinds of freedom on this question.

SPEAKER_03

The immediate answer would be uh Woodstock in the 60s. Okay, I would want to go back to Because of the lineup of musicians and bands? Yes. I mean, and honestly, also just the history involved in that, like what made it explode, things like that. Um but also I'd love to see Jimi Hendrix play. Jimi Hendricks. I got a list of like guitarists I wish I could have seen play.

SPEAKER_04

Now, is it true because he was left-handed, right?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But when he was a kid couldn't afford a left-handed guitar, so he just turned it over and played it upside down. Is that true? So every chord he played, he played upside down on the fretboard. That's actually kind of awesome. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_03

But uh um that or I would go see the Michael Jackson halftime show. Yeah, I would love to see that.

SPEAKER_00

I would also love to see Michael Jackson.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Okay. Now, uh just so not everybody hates me right now, I'll have to give my wife's because my wife still talks about her favorite concert to this date. This probably 25, 30 years ago, she saw Tina Turner in concert, and she was like, it was the most incredible concert she had ever been to, like, mad respect for uh not just the music and the environment, but uh just her cardio. Lauren was like, dude, she crushed it the whole time she was up there. And actually, uh, my wife and daughter are headed to George Strait in a couple of weeks. And so nice. There is music in the family, just usually not in my car. Not in my car. So, well, uh, man, that's a great question, Bree. Just um you had the right person, Michael, here to answer. So he had some iconic iconic ones. Well, all right, y'all.

Mark 6 Nazareth Rejection

SPEAKER_04

Let's jump into Mark chapter six. I hope you guys have been loving just how we've taken this year and are walking through Mark. And there's times when I look at it, Michael, and I'm like, dude, we have been in Mark already forever. You know, we're 12 and 10. And we're just now starting chapter six. Yes. But it has a long way to go still, yeah. And I think our people are learning, and uh so many of them are still transcribing, doing that hard discipline. Some have have started, but they're they're learning, they're growing, they're asking questions. And um, but what's interesting about chapter six is it's almost like this in this movie scene, right? Like things have been building, you're getting power uh powerful parables and miracles and all this crowds, and then it is just tire squealing like to a halt uh when we get here.

SPEAKER_03

Well, it goes from powerful miracles to like immediate rejection.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. And it's one of the first times that we see it kind of on a grander scale, not just the religious elite. And so this is an interesting uh text, and I I love it because it it's really kind of telling, and especially for us in North Georgia, who may have some um easy ability to connect with this passage because so much of it happens in their hometown where Jesus is from in Nazareth. Um, and so let's uh jump in. If you've got your Bible, go to Mark chapter six. But Jesus goes back to Nazareth, his hometown, and he's teaching in a synagogue. People are amazed, uh, but not really in a good way.

SPEAKER_03

No, they're um part of it, and it's it's kind of funny because uh when I was reading uh through our plans for the episode and and also in in this passage, it reminds me of the office where they go into the show where you know Andy sings and the performance, and there was like, wait, this is my plumber. Oh, you know, and so like the lead roles as plumber. He's like, wait, what? He can do this? Well, that's kind of how it feels like it would be for the people in his hometown. It's like they go to the synagogue and Jesus is talking, they're like, Isn't this our carpenter? Yeah, what what's going on here? Why is this happening?

SPEAKER_04

That is that does put a lot of skin on it because if you think about it, the way we see Jesus, the way we understand Jesus and experience Jesus on this side of him coming. So much uh when we read scripture is hindsight's 2020, right? We look at the nation of Israel and we're like, what are you guys doing? Why how could you not see this? And um, you know, with the the people wandering in the desert, you're like, hey, just obey, just do. And here we have to think and put it in something really kind of uh rational for us and go, this was his hometown. These are the people that he grew up playing in the streets with the kids and you know, was working for uh his his father, maybe, and and he's got brothers and sisters running around, and it's just a hometown kid for them. I mean, uh, you gotta think when he comes back and he's got this this crowd and these followers and he's teaching this amazing way, it's gotta be complex for him. Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Well, and even Mark says it that they took offense at him for doing this, you know, which I think shows a significant thing, and this is what we want to talk about is not always does proximity to Jesus guarantee faith in Jesus.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and and just very specifically to these people, I love that point. Very specifically, they had kind of these hometown blinders on.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, very much so.

SPEAKER_04

I think about it like this. I don't know if you've been back to your high school reunion, my next big one coming up. Oh, it's a school. It's there every Christmas, baby. Every Christmas, Mother's Day, every Thanksgiving. Wow. I'm thinking we're gonna have to start this podcast over. I've already stepped in it twice with music and now uh high school reunions, but my next big one is 30 years. And uh looking back, I've never been back to one because you know I go back and go, hey, the hometown I grew up in and what God's done in my life now, you're just like, I I don't know that I would be recognizable to the people the way uh I lived and uh in high school and hear hear what God has done. And and Jesus, who didn't have a past to be ashamed of, but grew up in that town, uh, is the son of God, perfect in every way, uh, was the anointed one, the Messiah that was promised to come is now here uh and his hometown's not having it.

SPEAKER_03

No.

SPEAKER_04

They they want nothing to do with it. And the people who knew him the longest, um, they actually missed their opportunity to embrace that he was who he says he was, the living Son of God.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. That's crazy. Well, let's throw that to discussion break.

Familiarity Breeds Spiritual Blindness

SPEAKER_03

You know? Uh one, why um when we look at this, do we see that familiarity can sometimes lead to spiritual blindness when you're so used to something?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I mean, I think for me, uh I think comfort limits our awareness. Like when you get comfortable, Michael, I think sometimes we just kind of settle in and we stop putting our head on a swivel, we stop being aware of what's going on, and everything gets it. You know, uh when I first moved to North Georgia, I had to use my GPS to get around everywhere. These mountain roads, these back roads, these cut-throughs, things that had two names, it's this uh, you know, number and it's this town highway. And uh but when you get here uh and you you get in it and you get familiar, you just start driving and you know where to go and um and you stop having to use the directions, but you stop looking around, you just kind of turn it on autopilot. And I think sometimes when we get familiar in any situation, we turn on autopilot. We stop being intentional with our family, we stop being intentional with uh the way we live, the way we look for hurting people around us, the way even as a as in church, we we get real comfortable and we just assume, oh man, I'm not gonna uh you know, step up or serve or or challenge or change. I just it's just comfortable. And I think we lose the ability to see what God's doing when we get comfortable. And we can get blind spiritually just by being familiar with what we have and and not being challenged.

SPEAKER_03

Well, and it's crazy because you say that, like in in my mind, in so many ways works musically. That's just one passion I have. But one thing I've always been taught in music, you know, from people teaching me how to grow, how to be better at it as a musician, is the moment you stop listening, the moment you think you've got it figured out. Oh man. The moment you think you've got it figured out is the moment you're limiting what you can achieve. Oh man. So if I stop listening to different styles of music, if I stop listening to specific parts of music and how I can interpret that and how I can use that in my playing, the moment I stop doing that, I start limiting how I can perform.

SPEAKER_04

That is so good. I mean, I think about that, not just for music. And I I've never really thought about that with the case.

SPEAKER_03

Because you put yourself in a box. You limit yourself.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, you're a you're a craftsman, so you're constantly trying to develop your craft, stretch what you can do. I remember the other day I came in the worship center and you were working on your pedal board, and I was like, all right, well, what does this do? And you were like, well, this does this. And I was like, don't you just play the guitar and you're like, okay, there's a little more to it than that. And you were showing me all the buttons and knobs, and this does this. Um, you know, really stretch yourself. But I I think if we want to do a one-to-one crossover, I think many of us in our spiritual life are like that.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, we do that. We think we got God figured out.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and we stopped memorizing scripture. I mean, listen, those that are listening right now, when was the last time you memorized a scripture? I'm not talking about got familiar, I'm talking, wrote it on a card, put it on your lock screen, and memorized scripture and took yourself in a challenge. When was the last time we shared the gospel, went on a mission trip, served in an area that would stretch us? Um, and we can we can very easily stop working on pursuing Christ because we get comfortable. So I that that makes a whole whole lot of sense for sure.

SPEAKER_03

Um moving the next question is how do we guard ourselves from doing

Guarding Against Comfort And Complacency

SPEAKER_03

that?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I think number one, one of the things that I would ask our people to do is to pray for spiritual awareness. I think so many times we pray for our needs, the thing that we need immediately, the things that we can see. Um, but I think many times there are things that God is wanting to do, that God can do if we would just be aware and say, God, open our eyes to this. But I would say add that to your prayer list. God, give me spiritual eyes to see. And here's another one pray that God would stretch you. So many of us like to be familiar, we like to be comfortable, we like to have it all figured out. Hey, isn't this the carpenter's kid over here? Why would we listen to him? He's not been trained. He's not, and we we miss what God wants to do. I mean, this is the word of God teaching the word of God. Yeah, very much so, literally. And they they missed it. You know, I think about it like this when we become real comfortable, um, we get kind of numb even when we see it. I was doing a little research um because I've really been excited about what God's doing in Concord recently. You guys have seen this, um, uh, all the baptisms we've been having. Yeah. And uh And more to come. Yeah, and and it's no kind of flex, but I wanted to put some numbers behind it. The annual church profile and life way research, they said this the average Southern Baptist church sees somewhere between five and eight and a half baptisms per year, all right? Um, and twenty six to thirty-four percent. So let's just call it a third, all right? 30% of churches experience zero baptisms in a year. Wow. And so when we see over 20 in two months, that's not any kind of flex. That is literally a chance for us to go, God, you have been so good to allow us to see people who are getting to a point to say, I need the world to know that Jesus has changed my life. And we can get really comfortable and we see another baptism and we're like, you know, a little golf clap, you know. Oh man, that's amazing. You know, instead of celebrating man, I know that's why I love celebrating every time. I love it. But we we need to be grateful. So I think one of the things that will keep us from being comfortable, one, praying that God would give us spiritual eyes, asking that he would stretch us, but two, being grateful when he moves in our midst.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I I think that's something that these people missed instead of going, the word of God has come near. Like there is teaching like we've never heard before. Look at these crowds that are following. And instead of being grateful for what was there, they're like, man, this is just one of the kids from the town. I mean, we we've seen him grow up.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And and they really missed it because they got comfortable with what they thought they knew instead of what God was bringing to their doorstep in Christ.

SPEAKER_03

No, very much. So, and that actually leads like, what are the dangers of when we

Unbelief Limits What We Experience

SPEAKER_03

put God in the box? What are the dangers of when we come complacent? And it continues on in Mark, um, where it says here, like, he could do mighty, no mighty work there because of their unbelief. Isn't that wild? And it's not because of a lack of power, but because their lack of faith.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I I just think it's wild. Let me let me read that scripture so y'all can hear it again. It says, and he could do no miracles there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them, and he wondered or marveled at their unbelief. And I'm just like, it's not that he couldn't do it, but it's like that they lacked the faith. And what's crazy is they had already seen, maybe not Nazareth, maybe more like in Capernaum, but they had seen him calm the storm on the sea and the garrisons on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. He had healed a demonaic, and we see him even raise somebody from the dead, and then they get there and they're like, This is one of our kids.

SPEAKER_03

And you also think like you know that word traveled.

SPEAKER_04

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

You know, so like even with rumors or whatever was because there were people who wanted to meet Jesus just simply because they'd heard about him. Absolutely. And so I imagine how many people were in the synagogue that day with that mindset, oh, I want to meet this. Then they're like, What? No, that's our carpenter. That's not him.

SPEAKER_04

But unbelief doesn't limit who Jesus is, right? Like you gotta understand our unbelief doesn't limit who he is, but it does limit what we experience of him. Like when we re bring a lack of faith to the table, we're not gonna experience that, you know, fullness when we're just like, no. I mean, our our no is on the table before he even does anything. It's or a maybe is on the table. A maybe there you go. Um, and and then it says he marveled at their unbelief. Uh I want Jesus marveling at my life, but not for my unbelief. I want it to be for my faith, you know. I mean, just to think that the one that created them, the one that was present at creation, um, is marveling, going, I I'm I'm awestruck at how they have no faith. Yeah. I uh that is not struck but not in a good way. Yeah. It's wild. And and so let me ask you a question. So, what does unbelief actually look like in our everyday life? For somebody that's listening right now, what we talk about their unbelief. What does unbelief

Moving On After Rejection

SPEAKER_04

look like in our life?

SPEAKER_03

Um, the first thing that comes to my mind, um, and not to rephrase the question, but to kind of in a little ways, I don't know if it's as much unbelief as it is just lack of belief. Okay. Help me. When we we put God in this box, we think we got it all figured out. Well, I think that in then turn means we don't go to him near as often.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_03

We're like, oh, that's the part of my life where when I'm on Sundays, you know, I go and I pray and I do this, but then when Monday hits and, you know, crap hits a fan, whether it's at work or in your house, like we don't turn to God. It's just that lack of belief. It's not that God's right there and we're talking to him and we just don't believe he can do it. It's that we just don't turn to him.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Now you mentioned that, you know, people being in church on Sunday and they're hearing that and then they get to Monday and things change. And so why do you think it's possible? Like, how or why is it possible to be around truth and still not respond to it? Like, I mean, you gotta think about that. I mean, the Jesus had come to Nazareth, he's teaching there, and they're like, No, I'm not gonna believe it. And it and it he said he healed a few people, and then and we're gonna see moves on like their unbelief, like they were next to the truth. So, how can we as a church who strives to hold scripture and truth up? How can people be around truth and still not respond to it?

SPEAKER_03

I mean, I think it's the age old, but we're human, we're we have fleshly desires, and I think our pride gets the best of us most times because in order to respond and accept this truth Jesus is talking about, I have to say I'm not capable. I'm not able to do it.

SPEAKER_05

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

And it requires a lack of uh um or an awareness of um who we are and what we can do.

SPEAKER_04

Do you think there's any uh credence to the idea that maybe, you know, um some of it is volitional, like, hey, I'm not gonna believe this, and some of it is just that comfort that we talked about, and we get kind of calloused hard hearts and man, we can preach the word of God, we can praise the Lord, we can create environments where praise is lifted up to the Lord and people can just keep their arms crossed and their hands in their pocket and just be so uninterested in the the living word. I mean, very much so. You think some of it can just be an internal apathy and casualness to it? It's not kind of a I won't believe in it. It's just meh.

SPEAKER_03

Eh. Or they're not doing it like I want to do it. Or and I see that like in numerous ways. I mean, how many times do you know churches split because of carpet color, you know, or because of different things here and there? Like I think, yeah, it's a it's a pride thing in some ways, but sometimes it's also a surrender. Like I want to hold on to this preference or this idea that I have, and I don't want to let it go, whether it's a comfort, whether it's an an addiction, whether it's a a sin or whatever that is, sometimes we would rather hold on to that than just surrender it, let go, and let Jesus let God do whatever he wants through that.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, I think this is a good warning for all of us, myself included, but but for those that are listening who will be in a church service this weekend of going, hey, listen, if you're gonna come near to the word of God, open yourself up to let God's word work in you. I mean, don't don't let the hardness, the preference, the posture of your heart be, nah, I don't want that. Go, hey, listen, God, have your way in me. And I just think about these people in Nazareth. What could God have done there if they would have just been like, Lord, I trust you. This is the one. I mean, Jesus was teaching the same in Nazareth that I believe he was teaching in Capernaum, you know? Yeah. And going, all the work that God did there, and now in Nazareth, very little is done. He he healed a few people and then they move on.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, imagine the life change that could take place for people. I mean, Jesus was healing, raising the dead, healing so many people. And it just says, oh yeah, he healed a couple people that were sick. Yeah. But yet everywhere else he went, he healed numerous people, massive things.

SPEAKER_04

So well, one of the things we see is a transition that Jesus decides to move on from there. If they're not going to welcome it, move on. Even yeah, even in the rejection, he doesn't stop. He's still got a mission he's on. Well, he continues teaching other villages. So let me give a controversial take. I literally wrote this in my notes right here. Controversial take. This is going to be the thing that gets me in trouble here. All right. When Jesus moves on, I I wrote this. Sometimes you need to keep moving and get to people who are open and receptive. Now, I I think that's I think that's a little controversial because a lot of times, you know, we love people or we go, hey, we're here, we're trying to do ministry, we're trying to do this, and the people just won't have it. I think at some point there are people who are receptive, and you've got to go find those people as well. Jesus got there, they had unbelief, they were offended at him, he healed some people, and he says, All right, boys, let's go somewhere where there's going to be fruitful ministry. That sometimes there is a call to move on to a place where people are going to be receptive to ministry. If they are going to continue to push back, they're going to continue to say, we don't want that, we don't believe, we're not willing. That there are places that said, please come to us, please teach us, please help us, please show us how to get close to Jesus. And I think Jesus sees the opportunity and it's not there in Nazareth. It's going to be in other places. But I mean, uh it rejection doesn't always derail the mission, but it shouldn't derail ours either. And so um let's look at Jesus sending uh the

Sent Out Two By Two

SPEAKER_04

twelve. It says there's a shift, and and Jesus sends out the twelve. Look at this. Um, in uh the verses there, it says uh verse seven, and he summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs and gave them authority over the unclean spirits, and he instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey except a mere staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belt, but to wear sandals. Uh and he added, Don't put on two tunics.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, that's wild, right? Well, it's a very I mean you can see he's got a purpose, he's got a mission, he's got a plan. But let's unravel that a little bit, right? So he goes two by two, right? Yeah. Then his travel light, depend on God, no extroverbitions, no backup plans, no anything. I mean, in reality, it's just a call to trust and obedience. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Well, if we take a humorous look at this, well, you said travel light. So um my wife and I are leading one of our mission teams this summer, and one of the biggest controversies that we're having is getting people to travel light. You know, we're like, we're not checking bags, everything goes in a carry-on. I'm like, guys, I should have used this scripture. Yeah. No, no, no belts, no, no double tunics. We're just going take a t-shirt and some tennis shoes and uh let's let's get after it. And so uh I think that's awesome. But I do love there's this underlying

Developing Leaders The Jesus Way

SPEAKER_04

thing. I actually brought a book with me. Um, it's a book I've uh I read years and years ago. It's called Lead Develop Care. Uh of course, every book has its flaws and every book has its wins. And I've I've taken a couple of uh groups through this book, but it talks about leadership and that there's three aspects of it lead, develop, and care. The one that is so profound to me is develop. Um, because in there there's this um mantra that he uses to go if you want to develop leaders, uh, you need to do it in this way, to develop somebody you need to teach, you need to model, and you need to coach. And I love that because we see a little bit of that in Jesus here that he called early on in the book of Mark, he said he called those that he wanted to himself.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And then what he's done is he's taken them with him and he has taught them things. He's he's taught them, he's explained we know when he did the parable of the four soils, he pulls them and he teaches them what it means, explains it. Then he's modeling ministry, he's modeling healing, he's modeling um, you know, casting out demons and how to interact with people. Um, and then now he's gonna send them out and he's gonna have a chance to coach them up. You know, and so I've never thought of it like that. That's awesome. Yeah, Jesus didn't just turn these leaders out, he brought them with him, he showed them what to do, taught them how to do it, modeled it for them, and now he's given them all of the stuff. He's empowering the next generation of leaders. Yeah. And I think that's where so many established leaders get it wrong. They've been in charge so long that they have forgot to teach the next generation, model how to do it, and then give them an opportunity to lead and then coach them up on the side. Yeah. You know, and I think that's a beautiful way of leadership. And Jesus gets these guys and he goes, All right, boys, yeah. Y'all seen me do it. Here's my authority over these unclean spirits. Thanks. You guys go out. Y'all go in pairs, don't go by yourself.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Go together and y'all do this ministry, and Jesus empowers the next generation of leaders. That's what I love some about what I see in your leadership. And in some of you that don't know Michael as well. One of the things that he loves to do is to develop musicians and leaders. I can't tell you how many people that he coaches up and he'll pull them aside and work on. Uh look, I said I didn't like music, I know a couple of the terms. He teaches them on melodies and harmonies and, you know, he's he's programming and even with our student ministry, raising up um, you know, students and college age folks to lead in that environment. And leadership is not about the spotlight or the title, it's about taking those with you and empowering them and multiplying yourself. And I think we do a really, really good job of that in uh the music world within Concord, you know, uh developing, raising people up. And I I think we see Jesus do that. But yeah, Jesus sends them out with no safety net.

SPEAKER_03

With nothing. So let me ask a few questions about this.

Why Dependence On God Matters

SPEAKER_03

Why do you think there were no safety nets? Why do you think Jesus put limits on the disciples and what they took with them?

SPEAKER_04

Man, that's a great question. If I said I knew exactly why, what Jesus' motivation on that, I think I would be presuming upon scripture. But if I look at, you know, kind of the the narrative of it and what I can interpret from it, I think this he wants them to be dependent on him and trust the work that they're gonna do. Um, because uh, you know, if you can kind of do it yourself, if if you don't follow through, you've got your your escape plan, you've got all your stuff, you can be dependent on yourself. And I think when he sent them out, he really wanted their ministry to be solely dependent on God, not just in the success of the ministry, but the provision of the ministry, the care for that of going, Hey, I just want you to go and I want you to see God provide. And so I think some of that comes back to he told them not to take anything so it would mandate dependence on him.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So I think that's a big deal.

SPEAKER_03

If that's the case, what do you believe in in a the Christian's life is so important about dependence on God? Why does that make it so important for us to depend on? Well, I mean, it was important enough for Jesus to lay this out to develop that trait within the disciples. Why do you why why does it, whether biblically your own mind, why do you think that the dependence on God is?

SPEAKER_04

But I I think some of it is we just don't depend on God anymore. I mean, just where we're planted right now, we are in the top 1% of the world. I mean, if if poverty level in America is something like $20 something thousand dollars a year, uh that is greater than most of the people in the world earn. And I think we've gotten so much that we don't need God to make us whole. We can go to a doctor, we can get vitamins, supplements, protein shakes, this, that, and the other. We we've got our cars and our clothes, and it's more about what shoes do we want to wear today rather than we have shoes. I mean, even the Lord's Prayer, uh, there's probably been very few times over the course of our life where we've opened up our refrigerator and be like, Lord, provide you know, my daily bread. I'm sure some of us have gone through some really hard times and really lean times and been in in tough places, but I'm going, over the course of our life, we've become very dependent on ourselves. Not understanding that God's provided all these things, but yeah, I think for the Christian nowadays, it is one of those learned disciplines that we need to be very dependent on the Lord. Um, but if God is calling us to make an impact in our home or in our community, our work, our school, our team, our group of friends, wherever it is, I really think, Michael, I really think we need to pursue more dependence on him for that mission than we've got some kind of slick strategy or way to do it.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I think that's where some of the Western churches failed because it's all been about events and programming of come to this thing and we'll fix it for you, instead of going, no, I'm gonna have a real conversation. I'm gonna get vulnerable, I'm gonna put myself out there, I'm I'm gonna have the ability to get rejected. And I think dependence is is a missing part of our faith at a uh a many turns when it comes to ministry.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So, well, um, before we keep going in this conversation, Michael, let's take a quick break and check out another one of our ministry partners. Hope you guys enjoy.

Ministry Partner Highlight Stan Lloyd

SPEAKER_01

All right, hello everyone. We are here for another ministry highlight, and we have Mr. Stan Lloyd with us. Hello, St. Hey everyone. How are you? I'm good. So, Stan, you are normally much behind the scenes. So being in a on a microphone is not normal for you.

SPEAKER_02

No, it's not.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I will make this as short, as painless as possible. So let me ask you first question. You and your wonderful family have been at Concord for a very long time. So can you tell us how long have you been here at Concord? 42 years. 42 years. That's awesome. And so what I'm gonna ask what you do now, but what all have you done in your time at Concord?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I uh during my time at Concord, I currently am serving as a trustee and a deacon and part-time staff. Uh I have uh been an assistant teacher uh in uh several classes over the years, to include the one I'm in now. And uh I have kept children for 17 years.

SPEAKER_01

All right. Yes. Yeah. And how long have you and your amazing wife Joanne been married? Fifty-three years. Fifty-three years. And you were in the military? I was in the military. How long were you in the military? What branch were you in first? Signal corps, Army Signal Corps.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. And how long were you in the military? Twenty-nine years, seven months, and four days.

SPEAKER_05

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02

I had enough leave time to give me credit for 30 years.

SPEAKER_01

What was your favorite place that you were like posted?

SPEAKER_02

I actually enjoyed the I went on two exercises for 45 days each time in Egypt, and I actually enjoyed, I enjoyed that time because I'm kind of a history guy. Okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah. But as far as stationed, uh obviously Fort McPherson in Atlanta, I grew up in College Park. Okay. All right. So it's eight miles from home.

SPEAKER_01

There you go. Okay. So what tell everybody what you do now. I know you you and your wife co-lead a community group for us. Correct. You do other things and you volunteer, but what is your part-time staff job?

SPEAKER_02

I lock and unlock the church on Sundays and Wednesdays. Okay. And anytime that there's a church-wide event.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Okay. You are definitely underselling what you do. So if you when he says he locks and unlocks the church, this is not a joke. He will go through and make sure there every window is shut, every window is locked, all the lights are turned off, doors are locked, everything is checked. This building stays secure because of this man right here, and we are very, very thankful for that. You also very pretty often because staff um we'll just say staff doesn't do well turning alarms off when we come into the building. And so he will also get late-night phone calls when we've come by the church and we've set the alarm off, and security will then call Mr. Stan.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's I don't know that it's a good thing that I know most of the deputies uh in in the area. It's that they know my car. Yes. But uh yeah, it's two o'clock in the morning, though. Uh we do have uh I did not realize that the sensors are that sensitive. Oh yeah. But a spider crawling across one can set it off at 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_01

Well, okay. My last question for you, Stan. So we asked this question of everybody that comes on and does a ministry highlight. If you speaking to our church family, and maybe not necessarily for your position, but for if you had to say, hey, what is one this is one specific thing that I think that our church family can be praying for and about, what would you say?

SPEAKER_02

I think probably the greatest thing that we could pray for as a church is uh it's gonna be twofold. Okay. One, one for the the pastor and the staff, but also for unity and understanding with just because someone has a different opinion than you do, it doesn't mean that they're wrong or that you're wrong. Is that uh I I want to see us be more loving towards each other as a church. And we have been in the past, and I I hope we're getting there.

SPEAKER_01

That's good. Thank you, Stan. Stan, thank you so much. Uh you will never know how much our staff appreciates what you do, just for the encouragement that you are to all of us all the time. We thank you for that. We thank you for the work that you do. Your family is amazing, and that does it for this Ministry Highlight.

SPEAKER_03

So let's dive back in.

Shake The Dust Keep Going

SPEAKER_03

Uh responding to rejection, Mark 6.

SPEAKER_04

Oh man. Well, Jesus uh tells him something very interesting. Uh uh if a place doesn't receive you, shake the dust off your feet. That is so countercultural to how we we do ministry now.

SPEAKER_03

Jesus doesn't be like, all right, no, if they're mad at you, get mad at them. Like, no, no anger, no emotion involved, just simply you're on mission, just keep going.

SPEAKER_04

It makes me think of like the little uh dory fish or whatever. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. No matter what. But I do think that's an important thing uh to think about just as a church and and for those that listen, um, just in the ministry that God's called you to right now is going, it's about taking ground. It's about moving forward. What's the next uh hill that you're wanting to climb? I know for us, you know, we switched not in our mission, but in how we accomplished the mission. And we went from campuses to church planning, we did our first church plant, and now we're looking at what it would be to plant a church overseas uh with other churches. And so uh Jesus is going, hey, if it's not working here, find a new place that's fertile and ready to do ministry. And not everyone's gonna respond.

SPEAKER_03

No.

SPEAKER_04

Uh, not everybody's gonna get what you're trying to do, and and that's really okay.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Well, and this, like faithfulness for us in ministry, it's not measured by how many people accept it.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

It's measured by our obedience and continuing the work. I love that.

SPEAKER_04

So let me let's unpack this a little bit. Why? Because I think people's biggest fear is rejection. You know, your hometown, the place you're doing ministry, where you've been going over and over and over in Jesus, like if they don't accept it, move on. So why is rejection so hard when we're trying to live out our faith?

Handling Rejection And People Pleasing

SPEAKER_03

Well, I know what it is for me. Um, something that I've had to work over in my life. I think it comes down to insecurities. Um, we want to be accepted, especially by those that we love, especially by those that are around us all the time. Um, we want to be accepted. Um, I know for me, one of the hardest things I've had to work through in my life is being a people pleaser.

SPEAKER_05

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

I want people to accept me, I accept me. I want people to like me, you know. But the reality is, if that is my guiding light, if that is my what I stand on, I'll be completely distracted by what God's called me to do. I'm telling you. Because not everybody like Jesus, not everybody accepted Jesus. No, he ended up on a cross. Exactly. And so if if I base my life off of wanting people to accept me regardless of my faith, then that's gonna distract me from my faith. Whereas if I should be standing on what God calls me to do, there's gonna be people who don't like me.

SPEAKER_04

Man, that's a vulnerable deep cut if we think about it. I mean, because I think rejection is most people, even the people, Michael, let's be honest. Even the people that go, I don't care what people think about me, they really have some level of what they care about. That's some kind of armor, some kind of wall from some kind of rejection. But I like how you put it. You go, if that's my main ambition, my guiding light, the thing that I want most is to be accepted, to be approved, to be liked, um, I mean, you're gonna miss out on some of the things that God has called you to because it's not about acceptance, it's not about approval, it's not about being liked, it's about being faithful. Absolutely. It's about being obedient, it's about being steadfast. And man, I think for me, just as hearing you talk about that, I mean, that resonates with me too. That not everybody's gonna like you, not everybody's going to get behind what you're doing, but we have to be faithful to the king. And so that's a big deal. So how do we now, if we if we go down that road and we go, it's not about me being liked, not about me being accepted, that's not my main thing. Now, if God gives that, I'm gonna I'm gonna enjoy it, but not everybody's gonna like it. So, how do we stay faithful practically without becoming discouraged? Knowing that people are gonna reject us, people aren't gonna like us, how do we stay faithful without becoming discouraged that people aren't always throwing us a ticker-take parade when we walk into a room or try something new? How how do we keep from that?

SPEAKER_03

I think it's what we uh and and I don't know, this this is a collaboration. So look let me let me share this thought and you can pour in because I may not I'd have to think through this thought more to to give a specific answer. Um I think it's how we treasure fulfillment in our lives. Where do we allow certain things to fulfill us? So if we allow the acceptance piece to fulfill us, then we're gonna be very discouraged if we're staying true to what God's calling us to do. However, if we allow the Spirit to fill us when we accomplish God's mission, yes, these people who disagree or or shut us down or don't accept can be discouraging, because I'm not gonna lie, it still is, but you at least know what you're going after and your fulfillment comes from God when you're pursuing his mission and accomplishing his work.

SPEAKER_04

All right. Well, let me meddle a little bit. Are you okay with me meddling? All right. So I know this never happens, but if someone doesn't like a song you sing, all right, you know, somebody's not excited about the worship set, um, if they don't like the volume level, if they don't like we've got somebody wearing a hat on stage or something like that, how do you keep from being discouraged and stay faithful to the mission? Because you know, you've talked a little bit about people pleasing, but also the heart of a shepherd that's in you. You want everybody to enter into the presence of the Lord. So how do you keep the main thing, the main thing, understanding that when you have hundreds of people in a worship service that not everybody's gonna like the songs, the lyrics, the volumes, the dress code, the lights, the bass drum? How do you keep from being discouraged when you're trying to help hundreds of people at a time enter into the presence of the Lord with so many preferences? How do you stay faithful

Worship Preferences And Staying Faithful

SPEAKER_04

to the mission and not be overwhelmed with people going, it was too loud, it was too soft, there's too much of this, not enough of this, can you sing this song and not sing this song? How do you do that? Because I know I contribute to that sometimes, and I'm like, hey man, this needs to come down. Can we try this song? How do you go as a minister trying to get people into the presence of God? How do I not be discouraged from not everybody being on board with everything that we do in a worship set?

SPEAKER_03

I have a very lengthy answer. I'm gonna try to condense it a little bit. Um but uh I think first and foremost is intentionality. Okay. I think many times when we do things without intentionality, we can turn around and have lots of regret, we can double doubt, second guess ourselves. Um Yeah. So we when we do worship planning, um, it's not just me involved, it's actually sometimes a room of five to eight, sometimes even more people that we get together and we talk through a lot of people. Different age demographics, different men from seniors to some Hernan on staff is with it. A lot of our worship leaders from the platform are in it. Sometimes uh our people from our tech team are in it. Sometimes it's people who's not even in our worship team at all come and join and be a part of it. Okay. Um and uh for me, it's just to get different perspectives because you know, when and we always say this when we're on the platform looking out, we get one perspective. But when you're sitting in the crowd and you're Looking up, it's a completely different perspective.

SPEAKER_04

I'm gonna bet most of you guys did not know that. That when they plan the worship sets, when they do it, when y'all do it like weeks at a time, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Like in batch, we typically do it Monday after work when everyone gets off work, we meet.

SPEAKER_04

But he is using musicians, different age demographics, men, women, people that are not even on the team, production to help provide insight to intentionally plan. Because you said intentionality is one of the core things to make sure that you don't get discouraged, you go, we're being intentional in how we try to lead people. Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Um so you know, and it's more than just and one thing I tell the group all the time is like, if I had to, if my life depended on it and I had to create an entire year's worth of set list within an hour, I could do it. Because I mean, there's hundreds, if not millions, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of songs. Like I could throw a set list together in two seconds.

SPEAKER_04

None of which I would see in concert, right?

SPEAKER_03

Um the the reality is like we have a purpose and a moment. And it is what we talk about when we do a sermon planning, when we get manuscripts in early, like literally when we get your manuscripts in before, we read through your manuscript and the message, and then we plan our worship site. Dude, that is awesome. I'm learning out all kinds of stuff here. And so, like, that's one thing, intentionality. The reason I say that is because uh a mentor I had early on in ministry told me this. He said, regret is a choice because if you're not intentional, you're gonna have lots of regret regrets, regrets. So be intentional in your decision, what you're doing as a leader, so that when the bad comes with your decisions, you can choose to accept it. You know, if we do a song and, you know, we know it might be a little bit out there and it doesn't work. Okay, well, I can I've learned from that. I don't have to regret that. I don't have to let that weigh down on me. But when it comes to different things, such as preferences, you know, hey, whether we're not doing as much hymns or different things like that, or sometimes it's out there. Because I tell you what, complaints and worship are everything. I've literally on these same exact Sunday, and it wasn't here, it was at another church I was at. On the same Sunday, I had one complaint card that said the music was way too loud. And the same service, I had another complaint card that said it was way too quiet and it wasn't loud enough. They couldn't hear it. So, like it can, it can change all the differences. But for me, whenever someone comes to me, I always go to this, take every thought captive to the obedience of God's word. That's it. Did I follow what God was calling me to do? Was I haphazardly putting songs? Was I not aware of how our tech team was working, with volumes, with everything else? And so uh for me to keep it from being discouraging or throwing me off track would come down to if I didn't plan, if I didn't prepare, if I wasn't intentional with a lot of the things that we do, it would be very much distracting for me because I would want to change things to appease people. And and I think Paul says it best, and and I forget the specific reference, but he says, I'm here to glorify God. I'm not here to glorify man. Now, I want to meet people, engage people with where they are and where we are as a church. Um, but it honestly, realistically, you're never gonna please everybody.

SPEAKER_04

Trevor Burrus, Jr. Well, and and I think that's a a beautiful part of just the whole idea behind this passage is going, hey, we we do what we can for the ministry and and listen, if they're not with it, shake the dust and move on. And I think there's an intentionality of continuing the mission going. And one of the most important parts of you know, uh the local church gathering together is worship. And I'll tell you this, uh, I'm just so proud of so many of our people, um, whether they prefer things or not, but I see their hearts offering up to the Lord a praise. I mean, I can tell you there are some songs I can't close my eyes on because I don't know the lyrics, but I'm trying to learn and lean into that. So I appreciate what you do there.

SPEAKER_03

Well, it's learning and growing, but talking about intentionality, that's what Jesus was doing. He was sending them out with intentions so they know, hey, even if I get rejected, this is the path we're going on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And he's out there to seek and save the lost. And so disciples go out, they preach repentance, cast out demons, heal people. Uh Jesus is modeling, uh, now they've participated in it. It's it's a big deal. He has sent them out with powerful stuff that he has modeled for them. Well, now they're empowered.

SPEAKER_03

You know, you were saying he was teaching and coaching them, but the reality is he was doing it for us at the same time.

SPEAKER_04

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Because that same pattern, that same model applies to us today.

SPEAKER_04

That's it. Well, let's land

Three Takeaways And Closing

SPEAKER_04

this. Thank you all for being with us. So, Michael, give us uh from Mark 6, 1 through 13, three takeaways for Gen Field today.

SPEAKER_03

So, one, um, am I allowing familiarity, familiarity? That's a tough word to say familiarity or proximity to dole my faith. That's something for us all to consider. Um, second is this where is it in in my life is God calling me to trust him more deeply to give up?

SPEAKER_04

Man, think about that. Where is God asking you, listening right now, to trust him more deeply? That's a great thing to think about.

SPEAKER_03

And lastly, is this uh am I willing to be sent even if it's uncomfortable? Even if I got no backup plan. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Jesus was rejected and he just kept going, sharing, uh loving on people, doing that, and we're called to do the same. That's right, man. That's jet fuel. I don't know. I love it. I love it. All right. Well, we'll see you guys next time. Thanks for tuning in.