Pillars of The Church

Pastor Joey shares a message on the Pillars of The Church, on our 1 year anniversary celebration of being in our new building. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

But first, uh before I bring the word, it's a one-year celebration of being in this building. Can you just give God praise for that? That's an awesome thing. Man, uh I was telling somebody yesterday, I was like, there was a moment where we did not have any clue how this was gonna happen. I would just drive down the road praying. God, I don't know how you're gonna do this. And then I just like the Lord say, that's why it's a miracle. And so I just keep driving. I'm like, man, faith is wildly uncomfortable, right? And there's so many days I was driving, I didn't know how we were gonna do it. I'd shoot uh Pastor Adam a message, Pastor Sheila a message, like, oh man, I'm I don't have to say I'm freaking out, but I'm freaking out. And uh and God showed up, and here we are, and it's been an amazing blessing. And so we're gonna get into a word in just a few moments about what I believe are some pillars of the church, not just of this house, but of the church. But before we do that, there's a few testimonies we want to share really briefly with you just to celebrate this day and what it means to us. And we're gonna start off. Adam has something, and you're gonna take it from there. Thank you, sir.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

All right, so yeah, kicking it off here, I want to start by actually reading uh a letter that Pastor Joey wrote to the church, I think three weeks after we all merged together and became, as we were literally, I think, announcing that same Sunday we were gonna be called Hope City. All right, so this is a this is a letter. Some of you were there that day. How many of you were there early days over at Hurt Park Elementary? Raise your hand, a few of you. Oh, look at you guys. All right. Oh, geez, oh geez. This is a prophetic declaration. This is mission to restore identity, not give identity. This is a calling to see dreams released. This is a home for the wanderers. This is an embrace for the weary. This is tribe to the like-hearted, this is kingdom with a capital K. This is love on a maybe. This is purpose submitted to Jesus. This is unity that makes hell tremble. This is just the beginning. This is just the beginning. We were in a portable facility and we met that first Sunday in the parking lot because the doors were locked and the person that was supposed to let us in didn't let us in. We worshiped in the parking lot and it was like the beginning of February. So we were shaking in our boots, not in fear of the Lord, but because it was frigid. Okay. A couple, a couple days ago, maybe beginning of the week last week, or maybe Sunday, I was getting ready to go for a walk with my family, and uh I reached in the closet. And if you know me, you know I'm a hat guy. I'm a hat guy, got all kinds of hats. I try my best to rep Hope City anytime I can. I got that beautiful red, there is hope hat that starts a lot of conversations because they think that beautiful red hat is representing something that it ain't. It's representing Hope City. I got my black one too, which I also starts some conversations. Uh, but I reached in, I knew I was gonna be doing a little sweating, so I went for something a little older and I picked up the OG, talking about OGs, the original uh hat here. Now, some of you got the one that just says Hope City. Few of us picked up the one they said it looks like a walking billboard. That's what they said. And this is my favorite hat. And we got those five statements. Can you throw that up for us, those five statements, so you can see what's on my hat? Got that one. Is it working? There we go. Beautiful. Love on purpose. At some point, we shifted from love on maybe to love on purpose because we wanted to tie in our purpose to how we love, right? Kingdom with a capital K, unity that makes hell tremble, home for the wanderer, embrace for the weary. I've picked this hat up a lot of times and wore it a lot of times, but for some reason, probably because we're in this season of celebration as a church, when I picked it up, I thought, like it just hit me in the heart. This is the first time I've worn this hat and felt like we actually stepped fully into all these things. And I don't know, like it's been this process, this progression of getting to be the people that God laid on our hearts that we would be. But these are the kind of people that we want to be. And for the last year or so, you actually haven't heard us talk about them. The print around this, these terminologies have gone away. But in speaking with Pastor Joey this week, as he's been praying toward what's ahead for us, we just recommit that we want to be this kind of house. We want to be these kind of people. So I'm gonna read it again, and then we're gonna get a couple of other testimonies because I know I get to hold the mic often. So today I re-declare this is mission to restore identity, not give identity. This is a calling to see dreams released. This is a home for the wanderers and an embrace for the weary. This is tribe to the like-hearted, this is kingdom with a capital K. This is love on a maybe. This is purpose submitted to Jesus. This is unity that makes hell tremble. This is just the beginning. This is just the beginning. I have to believe that in faith, and it sure feels like it in my bones. I'm so thankful for all the work that God's been doing in this thing over the last six years. We celebrated our birthday a few months, like a month ago, a few weeks ago, and today we're celebrating one year in this house. Since we've been in this house, we've seen our serve team grow. I don't know what it is about uh having a place to put down roots, uh a roof over our heads that somehow, even through the bank, we kind of sort of own, right? But there have been people who have shifted from simply coming and simply receiving to stepping into service in this house. We've gone from in the 20s to well over 35 people on our serve team. You don't see it on Sunday, you see the five or six or seven that are on the stage, but there are so many people serving in kids, serving outside on your way in, serving on a rotation so that we can keep everybody in our serve teams healthy that make this thing happen. And so like God continues to move in this house because of uh the people who pour into it, right? The sacrifice of many. We've seen uh, and nobody likes to talk about dollar bills in the church, but can I just celebrate your generosity? Can I celebrate your faithfulness for a minute? Because we've seen the numbers that are coming in, the dollar bills that are coming in, grow over the last year since we've had this house and in lead up to this house, right? Because you guys jumped in on miracle moment offering. You guys, some of you, it was your first time ever stepping into the faithfulness of giving on a rhythm, not just a dollar here or a dollar there, but giving on a rhythm and giving in faithfulness. And in that process, we have seen God move. And I believe that anybody who would stand and give a testimony about how giving has opened the door to God move in their life, uh, would stand and give that kind of testimony. And actually, we got one today, my buddy Brian back here. He's in the very back. He is actually, you didn't know it, he's actually running sound right now. Do you know that? Yep, he's running sound. So Brian's gonna stand, Brian's gonna tell us now. Before Miracle Moment, Brian jumped in. He wasn't a part of that that jumped in at Miracle Moment. Many of you were that. Brian made the start a while before that, and he's like, I want to be the first to give testimony to the blessing of God in my commitment to him to give. So, Brian, however, you'd like to share that.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Thanks, sir. Good morning. Um hopefully this is kind of a pay it forward type testimony to this. Um, there was a time when uh Hope City wasn't Hope City, and we were three separate entities. And um we were meeting, I was with Joey and Ashley, and we were meeting uh like in a small group fashion. We were actually meeting in a in a couple's living room. And um I guess to go further back than that, I've I've been raised in the church. Uh, my mom and my dad who are here today, um, you know, uh we every time the doors open, you know, they were here, the kids were here, everything. You know, I I had the greatest um, you know, teachers growing up in the kids' church and things like that, people who were giving and you know, talked about giving and things like that, and it never registered with me. My parents, they've been faithful tithers as long as I can remember. It didn't register with me. Um, Joey did a couple of back-to-back sermons, back to back Sundays, about tithing and about giving. And I felt like that was talking to me. There's a lot of grown-ups in there, you know, people that were a little bit older than me, and who were probably givers. Who, you know, that this was just another sermon of them. I felt like it was talking to me. And then there was a couple who were there, and I was talking to them after uh I think it was after the second or third, and I said, Boy, I really feel this is this is for me. And they they come to me and they they wrote down, I'll never forget, they wrote down on a piece of paper this uh verse in Malachi that says I'm paraphrasing, of course, um, test the Lord with this. Now, of course, you know, you grow up in church, you know, don't test the Lord, you know. But they and I and I and I brought that up. I said, I thought somewhere it said, you know, you don't you're not supposed to test the Lord thy God. And they said, no, no, no. And they and they and they pulled it open and they showed me, test the Lord on this. And so I started doing it. And so it wasn't three weeks later, the economy was kind of in the toilet then. Um, it had been three years since I had gotten a raise at my job. I even I even gotten to the point where I just didn't even think to ask or even talk about it. And my boss called me one day and he says, Look, the economy is what it is. Um, we have, you know, I the effort that you give isn't unnoticed. I can't give you a raise, but I can give you a one-time bonus. I'm not kidding you, folks. After the taxes, the take-home pay for that was like paid for Collins braces, and I had sixty uh I had like within sixty dollars of that, right at the time I needed to pay for his braces to start that, that money came in. Otherwise, I was gonna have to go through a payment plan with the with the orthodontist, smile form. So guys, literally literally three weeks. So if I can if I can pass this along, thank you, Joey. Tim and Dawn, wherever you are, thank you. And I'm I want to pay that forward and and give you what they told me. Test the Lord with this. If you're not in there, you haven't, you you've you've been like me. It was, you know, I was probably in my late 30s, early 40s before I even started. Again, been in church my whole time. If you're convicted of this, Malachi, test the Lord on your tithing, and and you will see that. Now, yours will look different than mine, but you'll see it.

unknown 11:39

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Let's hear it for Brian. Let's hear for Brian. Thank you. Come with props and everything. I mean, geez. Well, for me, like my grandpa was the treasurer, so I had no choice. I learned the hard way. And then I learned the easy way because God did show up and he does that, he'll do that continuously. And you know, the whole idea is, and we don't give to get. That's that's not the heart in this, but it is God's heart that we put him to the test. I love that because that's the only place in scripture that we get a pass on don't test the Lord your God. It's very good stuff. So many of you have transitioned with us all these different places and all these different seasons. Uh, for us, one of the ministries that you don't get to see unless you're a parent is the fact that we have this budding, growing kids' ministry over to my left, your right, right? And we got a robust team of people that rotate in and out of that space and pour over the kids and lead the kids, everyone with their own unique personality and approach. Some of you have been a part of that kids' team and you're like, that's not for me. And there's a lot of people who say that is for me. It's challenging. It makes me want to pull my hair out. I'd probably drink too much if I wasn't a Christian after this, but but uh we have some really great things happening over there. Kids coming to faith, kids taking steps of faith, Bible verse challenges. I know that sounds old school, but the scripture says, Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. And I don't think putting a gift card on somebody who can do it is the wrong way when we know that when they walk away, they got it in their heart, right? That's the idea. I remember this guy named Danny Rippe used to give me a dollar, one dollar, every Sunday that I could come in with a verse memorized, just one. And I had to do a different verse. These guys get one verse a month, which I think is actually not just easier, but actually better because for a month they get opportunities to come in and say the same verse, and that's getting it in their heart. So I got a little testimony uh from Julia, kids director, my wife, uh, who is sharing a little bit about the blessing of this building because as you know, kids' ministry at the old building worked. We put the dollars into it, the effort into it, but we were sharing one room from like six weeks all the way to fourth grade. You can imagine the racket, you can imagine the dysfunction, uh, but they managed it great. Uh, she and she's serving today, so I read on her behalf. We joined with God in Miracle Moment, and he has touched each of our lives because of it. God has blessed us and is actively working in our kids' ministry. Owning this building has given us additional space for the children, along with enhanced safety. The area is open and welcoming, at least in comparison to what we had, filled with our serve teams and kids and the goodness of God. Kids team now have a wonderful environment where they engage the children in fun and point them to Jesus. That's our kids' ministry values. We give thanks to Jesus for this building and look forward to seeing the Lord continue to work at Hope City. Yeah. We continue to ask the Lord and believe the Lord that He's gonna continue working in the hearts and lives of kids. And we can call them the next generation all we want, but really they're the now generation. We got to pour into them now. We got to give them opportunity to serve now, just as soon as they're old enough to have a little responsibility, right? We got to give them our trust now, our investment now. And so many of you are doing that. Of course, your dollars go to it, the team goes to it, and we've enjoyed the process of seeing that ministry grow into the space to the point that even last week, right, when we were just a little fuller than we are this week, uh, we were over overflowing, right? So we're bumping up against wonderful problems. That's the thing. That's the thing. But some of you, many of you in this room today, didn't engage with Hope City until we got to this building. Yeah. A bunch of you. I'm looking around, I see a bunch of you who I didn't know before. And so it's really great to know you. Some of you we met in the process. We're talking about it, we're aiming for it. Some of you are part of that process. Thank you guys so much for that. But I've got a testimony one more before we hand it to Pastor Joey to break open the word this morning and then eventually lead us to baptisms. But Deblen is here with us today. I'm gonna sneak my way up the side over here, and Deblen's gonna share a little bit, just a testimony. I have no idea what she's gonna say, but she's gonna share just a touch, just a touch on the fact that she is uh blessed by our ministry because she never met us until we got here. Good morning.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

And I'm so bad with names. So, and I did just join the service team, and I am so excited. So when you greet me and I greet you, tell me your name. So I can remember these things. I tell all my girls, and I have a couple boys too, um that it on the farm my husband blesses heart, he's the best farmer ever. Um it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village, it takes a village to do everything, and that's what I see in this church. I see a village of people who are willing to love, give their hearts, stop and say hello, want to know how your day is, who call you or text you. It's a blessing. It is such a blessing. My one of my youngest girls just got a colt, her first colt. And I've been trying to tell her that one of the most important things is to give that little colt a lot of attention and lots of people and to get it um used to being around us. And and she said, Well, Uncle Dale feeds him every morning. And I said, Yeah, he does. And she said, And grandma, you come around and you give him treats, and I said, Yep. I said, 'cause it takes and my husband gives him hay, and I mean it takes a village to raise not just a family or a child, but a group, a loving church of people. And I love you all for that.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Thank you guys so much. Um, hey Adam, while you're back there, can you slip to the kids' class? I cannot preach this message in nine minutes. We were supposed to be done at 11. I don't have that kind of heat. All right, so give me an extra 10, maybe, and I'm sure you guys will hopefully do the same. So uh I want to talk really quickly, pillars. Pillars of the church. What does that mean? What is the church supposed to be about? Because I think over time you can kind of go if you've been in it your whole life. Maybe it's become monotonous to you, or maybe you're just now coming, you're trying to figure it out. But there's there's three things I want to look at, and these are in order of importance. Three pillars of the church. Worship God. That's our primary mission, is to glorify and worship God. Secondarily, equip the saints, and third, to reach the world. These these are the pillars of what the church, the body of Christ, not just Hope City, but the body of Christ is called to do. I want to read 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 4 and 5 to you really quick. This is on worshiping God. You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. I'm gonna read that again. You are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priest. Now listen, I don't know how many of you showed up to church today and realize that when you showed up as a follower of Jesus, you are already a priest. Like this is not in our mindset normally, especially in today's culture of church within the states, that you show up and you come to church as a priest. You are a priest, is what scripture is telling us right now. You are his holy priest. Check this out through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. I want to work through that really quickly. When I consider a service, and when we consider a service on a Sunday morning, this is in the context of us gathering together. My first consideration is not you. And and and because I love you, my first consideration cannot be you. My first consideration is God. Because as we show up, our purpose, our focus, our primary desire is to glorify and worship God. You with me on that? And here's what's happened in the past. The last 40 years, some of the most damaging work in the church has ever been done in the last 40 years, where it switched it to a model where we did this. And instead of saying uh uh we're worshiping God, we're equipping the saints, and then we're reaching the world, we went to invite people, equip the saints, and then worship God. But what happens is you're inviting them to a place where there's no presence because you've taken him out of the mix. You you so you have to then what you have to do is you have to curate an atmosphere that provides comfort, peace. You have to curate an atmosphere that helps people emotionally feel good so that they'll return. Because you don't have enough presence of God for that to draw them back. And then you have staffs and people that are burnt out and they get mad and they start church hopping because what's happened is uh over the last 40 years, the the church in America, we have converted people that are priests and made them consumers. And so what now happens is every church environment becomes one where we have to cultivate something that is so fresh, so alive, so so so wow-factored. That you will come back the next week. And then we have to top that the next year and the next year and the next year. We have to keep figuring out what is it that's going to draw you rather than saying, God, what can we do that will please you? Because we're priests, right? You're living stones. Now check this out. It says, He was the living stone, and verse 5, you are living stones. That is God's, that God is what? Building into his spiritual temple. If he's building something, that means living stones do what? They come together. You with me on that? There's not a living stone that's calling is to be isolated out in the field doing nothing. The body, the family, we come together because God is building living stones. And he's putting them together to make a temple, a spiritual temple that hosts his presence. Are you with me on that? So you needed to understand something that you are a living stone, and the enemy would like to isolate you and say you have no value in the family. But the reality is you are a stone that God wants to use to build something greater for his glory. You're a living stone. You're not isolated, you're not a brick off on the corner of the road. There are no lone stones. There are living stones that he is building his church with. So not only are you living stones, but I want to circle back to this. And I want to say this really quickly. When it says and you, you is plural in the Greek. So you need to understand, like we're talking to everybody. You all, y'all are living stones. What's more, y'all are his holy priests. What's the function of the priest? Function of the priest is to first minister to God. And you say, well, how do I minister to God? That's praising him, adoring him, glorifying him. The second function of the priest is then to minister to the people, to encourage, to exhort, to strengthen. Primary ministry of the priest is to bring a sacrifice. There was a song back in the day. Mike was our worship leader. Ashley's dad's here and her mom. We bring a sacrifice of praise into the house. Yep, yep. Of the Lord. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Right? Like, and that's how, but that was a song. We bring the sacrifice of praise. And praise is something that a priest brings as a sacrifice. So, so look at this. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. Another version says spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God. So that's a huge distinction. Because it's not a sacrifice that you just feel like bringing, it's what he's asking from you. We on the same page? Because if I'm here to create a service that curates your comfort, then we have to start facilitating things around your comfort and not his glory. But his glory requires things of us that are not comfortable. Same page? Right? Okay, let me just let me just say it like this. I'm all out of my notes right now. Um are some words that the Bible says about praise? Here's some words. Check this out, see how often you see this in a service. Okay? And let me ask this further: how often do you see this in your life if you're a Jesus follower? Barak is a Hebrew word. It means to kneel, to bless God, to bow down. Barak means to bow down or kneel before the Lord. It communicates that the Lord holds a place of importance and helps us remember just how great He is. That's found in Psalm 72. Halal, to be clear, to shine, to boast, to show, to rave. Check this out, to celebrate, to be my favorite one, clamorously foolish. This is what David did before the ark when it was coming in. And his wife is like, What a kind of king dances like that. You know what happened? David danced before the presence of the Lord coming back into the city. And you know what happened to the wife? She was struck barren. And the church looks more like the wife saying, Why are you dancing like that? Why are you being foolish like that? Am I wrong? Listen, how many times, if it would have happened today and somebody just starts shouting and just, woo, and just getting after it, like knowing that they are free from their sin. We talked about it last week. That Jesus was beat with the whip, that he was stabbed with the spear, that he was nailed to a cross because he loves you, so you don't have to spend eternity in hell. When you capture that, you're like, I don't care how I look, I don't care how I sound, but this is what he wants from me. And then how much of the church consider if you got free in that praise, how much of the church would say, Man, I just wish they would pipe down. And then you wonder why ministries are fruitless. It's because they're barren, because they've been mocking the praise given to God. I've only got a few minutes. Halal appears. You're like, well, Joey, that probably you're just using a one-time word. It's in 1 Chronicles 16 is the David reference, but it appears more than 110 times in the Old Testament. So what you have to do now is you have to create a theology to remove pieces of scripture so that you can curate a praise that makes you comfortable. You got to change the word to keep praising the way you want to. If you're not gonna do it. Shabbok. To shout loudly, to command. Psalm 47.1, come everyone, clap your hands, shout to God with a joyful praise. Of course, it isn't simply about being loud, but it's about focusing and worship on the Lord with your whole being. Shabbok. Are you doing this in the church? Are you doing this in your private life? If you're a Jesus follower. Now, if you're just searching, listen, I want to tell you something. I'm glad you're searching because you're gonna hear about what this is supposed to be, whether you've seen it or not. But Shabbat, another word, to heal, to sing praises, singing out of a spirit of spontaneity, spontaneously. You saw it this morning. It means to sing unrehearsed, unplanned praises to the Lord. It can include adding words to existing songs or even singing in the spirit to the Lord, driving down the road. It's just, you just start singing, God, I love you. It doesn't have to be on tune, it doesn't have to be in key, it doesn't have to be the next banger on the radio. You're singing a song that's spontaneously in the moment because you love the Lord. When's the last time you made up a song for God? You're like, well, I don't traditionally do that because it makes me feel weird even when I'm by myself. Well, again, what's happened is you've you've curated your comfort. Check this out. If you show up to church and you judge your church on how it makes you feel from week to week, you can be sure that you're showing up to worship. It's just not Jesus you're worshiping. You with me on that? You come to worship you because it revolves around you now. If the message is good enough, if the worship is is sounding right enough, if all these things, so it now revolves around me. And listen, praise has zero to do with what makes me feel comfortable, what makes me feel right. It's about my adoration and bringing a sacrifice as a holy priest to God. You with me on that? Todah, for those of you who are stressing about hands being raised, extending hands, acting out of thanksgiving for what has or will be done. Yada, extending hands vigorously. 2 Chronicles 20 has that, Psalm 22 has the other. So we have precedent for raising hands, we have precedence for waving our hands before God. You're like, you're like, oh crap, are we about to be that kind of church? Are we, are we, are we about to? Well, listen, I'm just gonna say it like this. If we're to be obedient, we will be. Right? Abraham brings a sacrifice fire. Elijah brings a sacrifice of fire. Over and over, you see a precedent. When there's an acceptable sacrifice, there's fire. The fire of God shows up. I wanna I wanna I wanna say it like this. If you're a priest and you don't see this fire, you're bringing a sacrifice not worthy of consuming. I want the fire of God in this church. I want the presence of God in my life. He will be faithful to consume a sacrifice that's acceptable. He'll be faithful to consume it. He'll be faithful to send his presence. But he's also faithful to not show up when you bring the weak stuff. I'm bringing a solemn praise. And you go home, you're like, man, just church just wasn't it today. I just wasn't feeling today. It's because you you showed up with zero sacrifice, zero, zero to put on the altar. What the mindset was entertain me, and I'm gonna pretend that I have listen, this is what you are, you're a Christian Buddhist. You want a spirituality that is on your terms, and so you claim Jesus is King, but then you manufacture a religion that helps you feel good about you. A priest brings a sacrifice. A sacrifice. There's a verse that that speaks to it. And it says the sacrifice is is the fruit of the lips that glorify his name. Man, like you can't follow Jesus and then be quiet in the praise. It doesn't, it doesn't. It's like a what's the word? It's oxymoron. It doesn't, it's like pretty ugly. It doesn't match up. Quiet Christian doesn't match up. Right? Is this cool? Because like I this is hitting me just as hard as it's hitting you. Okay. Because what what I want is I don't want some soft, weak sauce church that when the wind blows, we get nervous about life. I want a church that's so focused on God. Check this out. When the fire comes, it doesn't matter if somebody knows Jesus or doesn't know Jesus. They will know the presence of God when it moves. Right? So I'm not trying to say, hey, let's let's get this just the perfect environment where everybody feels warm fuzzies every week. No, I want the presence where the fire of God comes and we're all like, I can't get over how amazing he is. I can't get over how incredible he is. That he meets me and he loves me. And I'm not worshiping him to twist his arm to give me what I want. That's manipulation. I'm worshiping him because he's always worthy of my praise. So if I'm in a dry season, I praise him. If I'm in a season where it's fruitful, I praise him. If I'm in a season where I'm tired, I praise him. When I have a lot, I praise him. When I have a little, I praise him. Before I found out that we needed a roof, a few roof a couple weeks ago in the church, I was praising him. And then I saw that hole that was forming. I was like, that's not good. And then I felt like the Lord say, if I gave you the if I gave you the house, I'll take care of the roof. So listen, I'm letting the need be known. So I praise him. God, thank you. I don't know how you're gonna do this. 40,000, 50,000, like it's like that's what we got the estimates on. Like, I didn't know how we were gonna get the building, so for sure you got the roof taken care of. With me on that? Bathrooms are becoming an issue, right? As church grows, like two bathrooms suitable when there's a few. When it starts growing, you're like, uh-oh. So it's bathrooms, there's things needed in the house, but I'm like, God, I don't know how you're gonna do this, but I just know you're gonna do this. But even before it happens, I want to praise you because you're worthy of my praise. Cool. All right, so I got to get to pillar two. Holy smokes, I got three minutes to finish, two points. Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 13. Now, these are the gifts Christ, who gave it? Christ gave to the church. The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility, check this out, is to equip God's body to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such, check this out, unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son, that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Whew! That's straight fire. So there's a responsibility for me, and there's a responsibility in this house as we have been given gifts by who? By Jesus. Jesus gives these gifts. We're not searching for titles. We thank God that he gives gifts to his church to equip. Equip has this idea. This word is used in Matthew when they are mending the nets. The nets are broken and they're getting mended. Part of the ministry of this house, after we've worshiped God, it's to help mend the nets. Or there's even this scenario where it's putting bones back into place. Right? You ever seen anybody had a shoulder popped out? Equipping the saints is helping that arm get popped back into place so then it can function right. You are a part of the body. You might be an eye, you might be an ear, you might what whatever part of the body, because this is all part of Christ's body. We all function in a part, and every part is important. Let me read this to you. This is um this is going to be out of uh the message version because I like how it reads in 1 Corinthians 12, 25 and 26. The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church. Every part, check this out, dependent on every other part. It means somebody's dependent on you and you're dependent on them. The parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. Check this out. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into exuberance. We glorify God, we worship God, we equip the saints. We get bones popped back in the joint, we mend nets because your primary function in this house is as a priest to minister to God and then to minister to one another. Your primary gift is not keeping your seat warm. Your primary gift is not simply showing up. We show up because he puts living stones together and he's called us. Part of your primary purpose that you find as a as a as a believer and as a priest, part of your purpose is fulfilled when you come together. Another part of that purpose is fulfilled is as you're equipped and you function with the gifts God's given you to minister to the body. Pillar three. Reach the world. Acts 1.8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Ashley, you want to come up for me? I'm gonna read that one more time. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my what? My witnesses telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Jump to Romans chapter 10. Do we have that available? For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, but how can they call on him to be saved unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? This is why the scriptures say how beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news. You are Holy Spirit empowered and called by God, designated by him to be his witnesses to this world, to share the hope of his gospel to people who know no hope. If you cannot remember the last time you shared faith with somebody, we have to reassess what's going on in our heart because check this out. I heard a lot of people get really hyped when they found out there was a cookie company coming to this town. Crumble cookies coming. Oh my God. Woo! Have you tried their cookies? You spend $45 for a sugar cookie with frosting. It's the best. And you just tell everybody everywhere, ah, crumble cookie. Or how hard is it when you go to a restaurant, it was a good meal, you tell somebody else about it. Or my family, we went to a great movie the other week. The next day I was in the dentist's office. They're like, How are you doing? I saw a great movie last night. Oh, yeah, we've been thinking about it. Oh, you're gonna really enjoy that one. And you're just telling people. I didn't have to take a class to tell anybody how I felt about that movie. I didn't have to take a course, read a book on how to figure out how to share how that cookie tastes. I right, I didn't have to learn about plate flate flavor profiles. It's like, man, it was a good cookie. I don't know what's in a good cookie. It was a good movie. I don't know how they made it. It's just a good movie. I really enjoyed it. But here's what we do with with our faith. We're like, I better get enough education to figure out how I'm gonna share what God's done in my life. And you keep waiting until this magical mystical moment where now you have enough knowledge to share what God's done in your heart. When the reality is all you're doing is being a witness, when you see an accident, all you do is say, Yeah, that car was moving and that car hit it. So when you're a witness to Christ, you're saying, you know what? I was messed up in a lot of areas of my life. But the love of Jesus found me. He came for me. I was, it scripture says there was 99 sheep, and there was one missing, and he came for the one. He left the 99, and I was the one, and he came for me. I never knew that kind of love existed till it found me. And I just gotta let you know, man, he loves you the way that he loves me. And we keep saying, like, once I get enough knowledge, once I get enough information, then I can verbalize correctly to share the gospel. Listen, it's not your responsibility to save people, the Holy Spirit does that, the Holy Spirit works in the heart. It's your responsibility to tell people. Like, if you wait on me to be the evangelist to everybody in the Roanoke Valley, it's screwed. You're like, oh my gosh, the pastor just said a crazy word. Listen, sometimes we gotta wake up and just stop being like just fake with it. Like I'm thinking to myself, like, the only way this city gets reached is if each of us are witnesses to what we've encountered. You with me on that? Like the cross of Jesus Christ. Hey man, like do you know what he did? You just shared that, like, and they're like, Well, how do you know the Bible's real? If you don't know, if you don't listen, you don't have to have all the answers. Just be honest, like, man, that's a great question. I don't know. Let's study together and figure it out together. You don't have to have this curated, perfect, evangelistic effort to give everybody, just be a witness and then be honest. Oh, well, God's so good, why do bad things happen? That's a great question. I don't really have that all figured out. Let's search together and see. But instead of feeling like, man, I'm gonna look stupid, I'm gonna feel stupid, it's like, nah, man, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. So while I'm here, I'm telling everybody. I'm not gonna be some like just just just just weak sauce Christian that's never gonna mention him to anybody. I'll stop in a Walmart parking lot to pray for somebody if the Holy Spirit leads me to. I'm gonna stop in the hallway of my school if I see a friend that's crushed by anxiety. Let's pray together. I'm gonna stop in my workplace in the in the in the the what is it called where you eat? I don't the lunchroom, right? Like you got lunchrooms in your workplace, I don't know. The break room, that's the word. You're in the break room. You got the water bottle, the glug, glug, glugs when you empty it. You're in the right, you're you're you're in the room, and you're like, man, can I just be honest? Like, you you look like things are not good right now. Just seeing people where they are. Eyes open. Will it feel weird? Who freaking cares? That's the most insane. Like, I get it. Yeah, it feels weird when you start sharing your faith. Your words feel all jumble. You feel like you got a mouthful of marbles. You're like, you don't know if it's coherent or not. You're using, you're like, did I always speak old English? These and thou's? Like, what is happening right now? And your mind is spiraling. But do you know what's happening? The Holy Spirit is working in their heart as you're faithful to be the feet of those who bring good news. You're being faithful in it. You're not being perfect in it. You're just being faithful in it. So the call of our church, the pillars of our church, we're going to worship and glorify God. And listen, we're not trying to make an atmosphere that brings everybody the most easiest way. We're priests that say, oh, oh, will you like me to clap? So I'm going to clap. Can I tell you, back in the day before priests became consumers, I heard people that had no business clapping. They couldn't find the beat with a flashlight, right? Like they just like they couldn't, like they just couldn't find a beat. And they'd be clapping all off beat. Right? And you're like, oh man, but they clap because that's what God wanted. They clap. I knew one amazing woman of God. She clapped till she got off beat and she just raised her hand. She's like, she was self-aware. So you like me to clap, but you also like hands lifted up. So I'll give you either way. I'll give you what you want, God. I'm done, Adam. I'm done. We got two minutes. We're gonna run out to the to the baptismal. We're gonna glorify God. You got some people moving. It's okay. They're not leaving because they're mad. I'm gonna raise my hands. They're not doing that. They're going to serve. We're gonna glorify God. We're gonna equip. Hey, listen, and we're not using programs to equip, we're using relationships. We're gonna evangelize and we're not gonna use programs to evangelize. We're gonna do it as an overflow of the heart of worshipers. Because if I can't stop speaking about the goodness of God in his presence, I won't be able to stop speaking about the goodness of God in the presence of others. Right? You get around somebody that's been in CrossFit, you don't have to find out hard. Like be around them too long before they start telling you, oh, I've been doing CrossFit for years. Right? I just did like 38 burpees before I came here, right? Like what whatever you focus on the most, you share the most. With me on that? We're gonna be a church that glorifies God, equips the saints, and reaches this world. And we're gonna be unapologetic about all of it because it's what He's called us to do. Amen. We're also gonna be a church that's obedient. When it says to go into the world and baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We got people who have made a commitment and a recommitment. They're about to go out and do that. And so we're gonna pray blessing over them as we go out there. We're gonna celebrate with them, and then we're gonna celebrate together. Right? It's gonna be a time you don't have to leave, don't leave without prayer. If you need prayer, come and get it. But Lord, we thank you right now for those that are about to get baptized. We speak blessing over them, favor over them, life over them, and their journey with you as they walk with you. Lord, as whether it's a recommitment or a first-time step of faith, God, I thank you that they'd be richly blessed in their obedience. They would know that they are a part of the body, that you have purpose and plans for them. And Lord, may they be empowered by your Holy Spirit to be a witness. And Lord, I thank you, Lord, that you would release a blessing and a favor on them today, that they would always remember this day in Jesus' name. Lord, I pray over your sons and daughters in this place. May your face shine upon them. Bless them in their coming and they're going. They're lying down, they're rising up, be their front and their rear guard. Thank you, God, that we get to be the body that you want us to be. We submit to that. We commit to that. And Lord, we thank you that as we do, your fire comes. In Jesus' name we pray.