SPEAKER_01: Listen, our witness to the world is not that we love God.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people love God.
SPEAKER_01: Some people love God, and so I will think that the point is to prove it.
SPEAKER_01: That is not our witness to the world.
SPEAKER_01: Our witness to the world is that God loves us.
SPEAKER_01: That's your witness is to walk around believing that God loves you.
SPEAKER_01: All acts of serving start with a relationship.
SPEAKER_01: You serve based on your relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Who you serve will determine how you serve.
SPEAKER_00: At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on the road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message.
SPEAKER_01: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_01: My name is Bobby, and I am the pastor of high school ministry, missions and outreach ministry, and I forget what else, but there's more stuff coming.
SPEAKER_01: It just keeps coming.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, we're super glad to be here today.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk to you about serving the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We're all called to do that.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us are called to serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It's actually one of the benefits and one of the neat parts of being a believer, you get to play a part in the story that the leader of the whole universe and beyond thinks you should be a part of his plan.
SPEAKER_01: So it's incredible that we get to be a part of that and we should dive into learning what that means.
SPEAKER_01: We get the benefit and the privilege of playing out a story that the Lord wrote way before you and I got here.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to talk about that a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: One of the things that I love about our church is how missions-minded we are.
SPEAKER_01: I was telling our worship leader, Marcus, about, because he had to miss a couple of weeks because they were in Turkey.
SPEAKER_01: And that's actually a really cool deal to think that our, listen, I'm Southern.
SPEAKER_01: So our and our, it's the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm Southern, but I've lived here for 10 years, so now I start to hear it.
SPEAKER_01: Even my accent annoys me sometimes.
SPEAKER_01: But I can't do anything about it.
SPEAKER_01: Our children get to see us praying for people like Marcus when our worship leader has to be out because he's in Turkey serving.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you a couple of other people that are out serving today.
SPEAKER_01: We have an entire team of people that are in Rwanda right now.
SPEAKER_01: They're sharing the gospel, but they're also doing medical missions.
SPEAKER_01: And we need to be in prayer for them.
SPEAKER_01: One of the leaders, Chandler, has actually been given the privilege of writing some protocol for the medical missions in Rwanda.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible the fingerprint that she's being allowed to put on how the medical procedures work in Rwanda.
SPEAKER_01: That's coming out of our church.
SPEAKER_01: There's another group that's uh in Kenya right now working on building a school project.
SPEAKER_01: That's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: We have another group right now that is in Wales teaching, doing ministry.
SPEAKER_01: They've arrived there safely.
SPEAKER_01: We have a group that is in Guatemala right now as we speak.
SPEAKER_01: They arrived there safely and their luggage did not.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever done much in missions, you just roll with it.
SPEAKER_01: You just realize you always pack the true essentials in your carry-on bag because you know you could be using that for the entire time you're there.
SPEAKER_01: And then you guys remember us praying for the team that was headed uh to Iraq.
SPEAKER_01: And so we're gonna go right now and pray for uh all of our missionaries and send an extra prayer throughout the time that the Lord brings it to heart.
SPEAKER_01: Send an extra prayer up to Victor Marx and his whole team because that mission is a little more challenging, and they're facing some of those challenges even as we speak, and they desperately need their church praying for them while they're doing what they're doing.
SPEAKER_01: So let's go and let's pray to pray right now.
SPEAKER_01: Father God, we come to you right now with the strong arm of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: We pray that you reach down for all of these missionaries, Lord God.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we don't only pray for their safety, God, we pray for their success.
SPEAKER_01: You sent them on mission.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a task in front of them.
SPEAKER_01: That task cannot be done without you.
SPEAKER_01: That's the beautiful part of serving you, Lord, is we don't serve for you, we serve with you.
SPEAKER_01: And so, God, we pray that you be the leader of all these missions.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we pray that you be the way that all things will be accomplished.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, we know that all things work together for the good that those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: And every one of these people are going, God, because they're called according to your purpose.
SPEAKER_01: So we pray that you work your goodwill, put a barrier, a strong barrier of protection around these people, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Put courage in their hearts, put the Spirit of God act clearly, tangibly in their presence and go before them, go behind them.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name, amen.
SPEAKER_01: So every one of us is called to serve.
SPEAKER_01: All of us were called to serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But what does that look like?
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna take that scripture that we just read out of Matthew chapter 26.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna take one verse out of Matthew chapter 26, and we're gonna dive into that.
SPEAKER_01: So if you guys could just take your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 26.
SPEAKER_01: Look in verse 38.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, 39, sorry.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 39, it says, going a little further, he fell with his face to the ground and he prayed.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what he prayed.
SPEAKER_01: He prayed, Oh my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.
SPEAKER_01: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
SPEAKER_01: I want to look at that, and I just want to stay right here, and I want to break that scripture down for us because every one of us are called to serve.
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like?
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like for you and I?
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us are missionaries.
SPEAKER_01: And that's a paradigm shift, right?
SPEAKER_01: Missions is this thing that you raise money for, and then you go for a week, and then there's always a free day at the end.
SPEAKER_01: That's what missions in America is, and that's not what missions really is.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, I'm convinced that you don't have to go to be on mission.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us are on mission.
SPEAKER_01: What's your neighbor's name?
SPEAKER_01: What's your neighbor going through?
SPEAKER_01: I mean your literal neighbor, the one to the right or to the left of you in your cul-de-sac or on your street.
SPEAKER_01: What's your neighbor's name?
SPEAKER_01: Some of us don't know, do we?
SPEAKER_01: What are they going through?
SPEAKER_01: Most of us don't know.
SPEAKER_01: And what prayer request have they come to you with that you're praying for and you're checking in and saying, hey, how's that going?
SPEAKER_01: We don't know.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know because we have garage door openers and they're in our car.
SPEAKER_01: So all we have to do is we pull up in our car and we press the button, and we drive in and we press the button again, and then we go into the house.
SPEAKER_01: And most of us are not carrying properly the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So the scripture says, always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me tell you, that spins evangelism and puts it on its head.
SPEAKER_01: Because typically we're taught and we believe and we carry this culture with us that evangelism is us going to everybody and saying, hey, hey, hey, do you know Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Do you know Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: And actually, in that scripture, it doesn't work like that at all.
SPEAKER_01: It says, always be ready to give a reason.
SPEAKER_01: That says that people are coming to you and saying, hey, hey, hey, do you know Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Because you look like you have hope.
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, I know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Well, can you tell me about him?
SPEAKER_01: Always be ready to give a reason means that people are coming to you and asking, hey, where's this coming from?
SPEAKER_01: Why are you so different?
SPEAKER_01: Why are you not mad?
SPEAKER_01: Dude, you're like 50 years old, you look like you still enjoy marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, it's getting better.
SPEAKER_01: How is that possible?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I submitted myself to the Lord, and these great things are happening because I'm putting the Lord's principles into practice.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_01: Like, dude, you're like 50 years old.
SPEAKER_01: You still enjoy work.
SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, I do my work as unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow, you you know Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, people should be asking us that.
SPEAKER_01: We're all missionaries.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of us should be missionaries in our marketplace.
SPEAKER_01: Now I won't embarrass us by asking this question and asking for a response.
SPEAKER_01: This is rhetorical.
SPEAKER_01: When's the last time someone's asked you?
SPEAKER_01: Where do you get your hope from?
SPEAKER_01: When's the last time that's happened?
SPEAKER_01: When's the last time you led someone to the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: When has that happened?
SPEAKER_01: Well, I leave that up to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I get that.
SPEAKER_01: But when's the last time you've labored to see if God is doing some work in someone's life?
SPEAKER_01: We're all missionaries.
SPEAKER_01: And the best way to do that is to serve.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to look at this.
SPEAKER_01: So the scripture says, Oh my father, oh my father.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know that that's a groundbreaking statement?
SPEAKER_01: Do you know that that actually was almost blasphemy to speak like that?
SPEAKER_01: You know that when they decided to kill Jesus, it was for two reasons.
SPEAKER_01: One was because he healed on the Sabbath, and another because he had the audacity to call God his father.
SPEAKER_01: It's the first person to ever do it.
SPEAKER_01: No one had ever done it.
SPEAKER_01: No one had ever spoken in the first person calling God Father.
SPEAKER_01: It was this paradigm shift that it didn't sit well on their ears.
SPEAKER_01: They did not like that, the audacity to think that you could have that close of a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_01: That's blasphemy.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, our witness to the world is not that we love God.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people love God.
SPEAKER_01: Some people love God and fly buildings into planes to prove it.
SPEAKER_01: That is not our witness to the world.
SPEAKER_01: Our witness to the world is that God loves us.
SPEAKER_01: That's your witness is to walk around believing that God loves you.
SPEAKER_01: All acts of serving start with a relationship.
SPEAKER_01: You serve based on your relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Who you serve will determine how you serve.
SPEAKER_01: Let me explain.
SPEAKER_01: When my wife and I were much younger, we had our first kid.
SPEAKER_01: I decided we, before we had our first kid, I decided I should go to Bible college and actually get educated, and that didn't work out for me very well.
SPEAKER_01: So it was super hard to pay the bills, go to college, and uh work a job.
SPEAKER_01: I was working as a server in a restaurant, and uh I started out in this one restaurant, and it was a chain restaurant, and we weren't making any tips.
SPEAKER_01: I did not like our supervisor.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't have anything necessarily against him, but I just I didn't like him that much because he flirted with our female servers.
SPEAKER_01: He told everybody what to do, and he seemed like he leaned on the counter all the time.
SPEAKER_01: He was kind of a slob, and he talked about his days in college when he played football.
SPEAKER_01: That's what he did the whole time.
SPEAKER_01: And I finally had to leave that uh location and go to another location because the location I was in, no one was making money as tips.
SPEAKER_01: I thought, I if I just need beer money, this is a great job.
SPEAKER_01: But I actually have to have food money and house money and all of it, so I got to go somewhere else.
SPEAKER_01: So there was another restaurant across town, same company, same chain, but they were booming.
SPEAKER_01: They were making money.
SPEAKER_01: And the crazy thing was the first location was in a very affluent part of town.
SPEAKER_01: The second location was in a place that was known for, it was a rough part of town.
SPEAKER_01: It's called Lively Shively.
SPEAKER_01: If any of you are from Louisville, you know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01: But we got there and we were making money.
SPEAKER_01: But the boss was different.
SPEAKER_01: He was a different guy.
SPEAKER_01: His name was Butner Bell.
SPEAKER_01: He was African American, bald headed, ex uh military, just toe the line, probably 50, 60 years old, slim, fit.
SPEAKER_01: This is what I expect of everybody.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm telling you, the previous supervisor, I don't even know his name.
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you that guy's name.
SPEAKER_01: I could tell you his face, but I can't tell you his name.
SPEAKER_01: Butnell, I will never forget his name.
SPEAKER_01: The thing that was different about Butner Bell is I actually believed that he cared about me.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one time I sprained my ankle and I didn't have a choice.
SPEAKER_01: I had to work.
SPEAKER_01: So all these other younger guys just can call in.
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't call in.
SPEAKER_01: I had to work.
SPEAKER_01: And so Butner showed, Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Bell shows up to work with an ankle brace.
SPEAKER_01: And turns out he also played sports in college.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, but he just didn't brag about it.
SPEAKER_01: That day was in the past.
SPEAKER_01: And so he brought me some of his old ankle braces.
SPEAKER_01: And he brought me an ankle brace.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember one time he called me to the to his back office, and I thought I was going to be fired.
SPEAKER_01: For whatever reason, I'm always like paranoid about that stuff.
SPEAKER_01: So I thought, man, I'm in trouble because why would this supervisor call you into his office?
SPEAKER_01: So he calls me into his office and he has a bottle of wine on the desk, and uh, this is when I was firmly baptised.
SPEAKER_01: I never I didn't have any wine.
SPEAKER_01: So he has a bottle of wine on his desk, and he says, Hey, this is really good wine.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to take this home to your wife.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, For what?
SPEAKER_01: He said, just because.
SPEAKER_01: And we sat and we talked for I don't know how long, and he wanted to know how we were doing, how marriage was going, how uh Brooklyn was just born, and he wanted to know how that was going.
SPEAKER_01: And he would love on me.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one time because we lived in lively Shavely, we thought our home was being broken into.
SPEAKER_01: My wife called me, and there was somebody literally trying to get into our window.
SPEAKER_01: And so I have like pockets full of money because I haven't cashed out yet.
SPEAKER_01: And I go to uh uh Mr.
SPEAKER_01: Bell and I say, Hey, I I gotta go.
SPEAKER_01: My house is being broken into.
SPEAKER_01: My wife just he said, Go, go.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the other guy would have said, You gotta cash out.
SPEAKER_01: You can't leave here with money in your pocket.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Go, go, go, you gotta go.
SPEAKER_01: And so I get in the car, I speed over to the house.
SPEAKER_01: A guy literally is trying to get into my window, and I'm like, dude, what's up?
SPEAKER_01: And uh he's like, Oh, I knocked on the door, man, and nobody came to the door.
SPEAKER_01: My car's broke down, and I need some help with gas.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, You knocked on the door?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah, I could tell somebody's in there, but they didn't come to the door.
SPEAKER_01: I said, That's because they didn't want to talk to you.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the door is for.
SPEAKER_01: And I was pretty hot because he was trying to break into my house.
SPEAKER_01: And uh so I sent him on his way and I went back to work, and no problems.
SPEAKER_01: That relationship with Butner Bell dictated how everybody served.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we were making so much money.
SPEAKER_01: He was such a great guy that it didn't matter what table we were serving, we all were working for Butner Bell.
SPEAKER_01: We all wanted to please him.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus spent so much time with God.
SPEAKER_01: He spent so much time with the Lord because who you serve determines how you serve.
SPEAKER_01: And so some of you might say, Bobby, I don't even know where to start.
SPEAKER_01: Start by having a deep, good relationship with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So many of us want to work for God.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a victim to this.
SPEAKER_01: I want to work for God because I feel like if I can do enough, then somehow I get closer into his good graces.
SPEAKER_01: Somehow he loves me more.
SPEAKER_01: Somehow he'll overlook all the mess that I bring into the faith by being a mess.
SPEAKER_01: And so working for me for the Lord somehow makes me feel like I should finally be able to come into your presence.
SPEAKER_01: God says, Jesus says, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, not only did, well, I'll read it for you, and I'll do it quickly for the sake of time.
SPEAKER_01: John 5, 16, John chapter 5, verse 16 through 8.
SPEAKER_01: For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him because he had done all these things on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus answered them, My father has been working until now, and I have been working.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore the Jews sought to kill him more, sought more to kill him, because he is not only, he not only broke the Sabbath, but he also said that God was his father, making him equal with God.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't like that.
SPEAKER_01: But he not only said that, look in Matthew chapter 6, verse 6 through 9.
SPEAKER_01: But when you pray, go into your room, and when you shut your door, pray to your father, who is in the secret place.
SPEAKER_01: And your father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
SPEAKER_01: And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathens do, for they think they will be heard for their many words.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, do not be like them, for your father knows the things you have need of before you even ask him.
SPEAKER_01: In this manner, therefore, pray, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, Hey, it's not just me.
SPEAKER_01: You have that same relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Focus on your relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: Be honest with yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Who is God?
SPEAKER_01: Is he God?
SPEAKER_01: Is he Lord or is he father?
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, I wish I could say otherwise, but for me, right now, he's more often Lord than Father.
SPEAKER_01: And he's all of it.
SPEAKER_01: But when I pray, I typically say, Dear Lord, because I can understand that.
SPEAKER_01: But the notion that God is my father, that he loves me every bit as much as I love my kids, it's still hard for me to feel that way.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm trying to grow in that.
SPEAKER_01: Because the more you can grow in that, the more you have to offer the world.
SPEAKER_01: Because the world doesn't need your good deeds.
SPEAKER_01: The world doesn't need your service.
SPEAKER_01: They need your father.
SPEAKER_01: That's what's going to help them.
SPEAKER_01: That's their deep need, is to be introduced to people that actually believe that God is a father like a child to an earthly father.
SPEAKER_01: And he loves you every bit that much.
SPEAKER_01: It's really hard to believe.
SPEAKER_01: And when we start sharing that, it's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: So when you say, I don't know where to start.
SPEAKER_01: Start by growing in your relationship with God.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot earn his affection.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot.
SPEAKER_01: Grow in your relationship with the Lord and carry that around with you.
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't matter if you're changing tires or if you're in Tanzania building orphanages.
SPEAKER_01: If you're carrying that around, you're offering a great thing to the world.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'll tell you another.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know what it means to have an intimate relationship with God, it doesn't matter if you're changing tires or if you're building orphanages.
SPEAKER_01: Because you're not offering much to the world.
SPEAKER_01: People need the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my Father, all serving starts with a relationship.
SPEAKER_01: And the level of the relationship will determine how you serve.
SPEAKER_01: But he says, Oh my father, if it's possible.
SPEAKER_01: Do you not think that that does that not strike you as like, what?
SPEAKER_01: What did he just say?
SPEAKER_01: Isn't he God?
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't he know what's possible and what's not possible?
SPEAKER_01: Like, why is he asking?
SPEAKER_01: He's basically talking to himself, what's possible?
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, if it's possible, all acts of real serving involve surrender.
SPEAKER_01: You give up the right to make the call.
SPEAKER_01: You no longer say what's possible and what's not possible.
SPEAKER_01: You seek the Lord on what he wants to do.
SPEAKER_01: When I was serving at those restaurants, I never, ever, ever told the people what they were going to eat.
SPEAKER_01: They never placed an order, and I said, nah, nah, I'm not doing that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not doing that.
SPEAKER_01: That's going to take me way too much time.
SPEAKER_01: I got to make a salad and I got to go over here and again.
SPEAKER_01: Nah, we're not doing that.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what you're going to do.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to have a ham sandwich today.
SPEAKER_01: That's what you're going to have.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll be right back, and you're going to eat it and you're going to like it.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Why didn't I do that?
SPEAKER_01: Because I was the server.
SPEAKER_01: My only job was to take orders and to do the work.
SPEAKER_01: And to provide to the person that was ordering exactly what they're calling for, exactly what they're asking for.
SPEAKER_01: I was the server in the picture.
SPEAKER_01: And an attitude of understanding you're not the boss.
SPEAKER_01: We don't get to choose.
SPEAKER_01: We don't get to say.
SPEAKER_01: We don't get to say what we want to do.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus had this attitude.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 20, verse 27 through 28 says, And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.
SPEAKER_01: Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life freely as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter 2, verse 6 through 8.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus surrendered himself to the Lord, it says, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in the appearance of a man, he humbled himself and he became obedient to death, even death on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: You don't get to order.
SPEAKER_01: The server doesn't get to do that.
SPEAKER_01: God also calls us to this mentality.
SPEAKER_01: Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For you were bought with a price, and therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which is God's.
SPEAKER_01: Both of these, your body and your spirit.
SPEAKER_01: It's all God's.
SPEAKER_01: You don't get to say what you're going to do.
SPEAKER_01: You actually seek the Lord on what he wants to do.
SPEAKER_01: And you follow that because you have a faith that believes.
SPEAKER_01: If he said it, do it.
SPEAKER_01: If God says do that, then you do it.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what's best.
SPEAKER_01: All things work together for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: But you have to sit with the Lord and say, Lord, what are you wanting to do?
SPEAKER_01: Show me.
SPEAKER_01: Show me because I trust you.
SPEAKER_01: And I listen, the one thing that I told God I will never do, I'm never going to do this, is stand up in front of people and talk.
SPEAKER_01: I did.
SPEAKER_01: I told him I was going to be a basketball coach.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm going to be.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to preach.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, no, no, I'm not going to preach.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, okay, then, let's take a pause.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to be in timeout for a little while.
SPEAKER_01: And then when you decide that the person that made you gets to determine what you do, then we'll talk again.
SPEAKER_01: And he held me to that, and it took several months, but finally I broke and I said, I'll do whatever you want me to do.
SPEAKER_01: Just fine.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to make my life miserable, then make my life miserable.
SPEAKER_01: I think I played that verbatim.
SPEAKER_01: And here I am, and I haven't shut up since.
SPEAKER_01: So we follow the direction of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We follow the direction of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are wrestling right now with missions.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are wrestling right now with your calling.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are wrestling right now with your children and surrendering that to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I want to read for you something that I always found intriguing.
SPEAKER_01: Acts chapter 16, verse 6 through 10.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.
SPEAKER_01: It's not enough that you're just doing the work of God.
SPEAKER_01: You have to do it in the will of God.
SPEAKER_01: God Himself's forbidding them to preach in certain regions.
SPEAKER_01: That means he's the one calling the shot.
SPEAKER_01: He knows the big picture.
SPEAKER_01: And after they had come to Missa, they tried to go in to Bifhnia.
SPEAKER_01: Man, these are some hard words.
SPEAKER_01: But the Spirit did not permit them.
SPEAKER_01: So passing by Missa, they came to Troos.
SPEAKER_01: And a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
SPEAKER_01: A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us.
SPEAKER_01: Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.
SPEAKER_01: So he's trying to do the work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And the Spirit of God is stopping him from doing the work of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: One of the hard parts of merging a church is my church has already heard all of our stories.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're from the Chapel Hill side of the family, indulge me for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: I was driving down the road one night.
SPEAKER_01: It was late at night.
SPEAKER_01: I was the only teenager to work in a factory.
SPEAKER_01: Every other person there was a grown man providing for his family.
SPEAKER_01: And when I was 16, 17 years old, I was working in a factory in North Carolina.
SPEAKER_01: And so I was around all these grown men.
SPEAKER_01: I was driving home one night, and I got this strong sense from the Lord that said, go to Scott's house.
SPEAKER_01: You have to go to Scott's house.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'd only been at Scott's house one time.
SPEAKER_01: Scott was an ex-marine and he was not a nice guy.
SPEAKER_01: Go to Scott's house.
SPEAKER_01: You have to go to Scott's house.
SPEAKER_01: And I felt so strongly compelled by this that I turned my car around and I went to Scott's house.
SPEAKER_01: And when I got there, Scott was sitting in the middle of his living room.
SPEAKER_01: I knocked on the door.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Come in.
SPEAKER_01: I come in.
SPEAKER_01: And he has a joint in his hand and he has a gun in his hand.
SPEAKER_01: And I walk in and he said, I knew you were coming.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Dude, I didn't even know I was coming.
SPEAKER_01: And his wife had just left him, like just left him.
SPEAKER_01: And he was trying to get the courage up.
SPEAKER_01: And uh by the grace of God, I was able to take the gun from him, take that home with me.
SPEAKER_01: He cried.
SPEAKER_01: I talked to him more about the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He put his head in my chest and cried like a baby.
SPEAKER_01: And when he was done, he said, Listen, when you go back to work, if you tell anybody, I'll kill you.
SPEAKER_01: And I did not go back to work and share that because I believed him.
SPEAKER_01: God has a call.
SPEAKER_01: God says what he wants you to do.
SPEAKER_01: You are not God.
SPEAKER_01: You are not omnipresent.
SPEAKER_01: So when the Lord says, pack your bags, it's on.
SPEAKER_01: Pack your bags.
SPEAKER_01: You want to do it.
SPEAKER_01: You want to be a part of what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, if it's possible, meaning I'm not the one that gets to make that call.
SPEAKER_01: You make that call.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me.
SPEAKER_01: Let this cup pass from me.
SPEAKER_01: If it's possible, don't make me do it.
SPEAKER_01: What cup is he talking about?
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about death.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to die.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_01: Not all acts of serving are Instagram worthy.
SPEAKER_01: Do you hear me?
SPEAKER_01: If every mission you do is so super awesome that you can put it on social media and everybody else can look at that and say, man, I wish I could do that.
SPEAKER_01: You're probably not serving very much.
SPEAKER_01: You're probably not.
SPEAKER_01: Consider the fact that at least 11 out of the 12 disciples were martyred for their faith.
SPEAKER_01: I bet you none of them.
SPEAKER_01: Like the day before it was going to happen, I bet you none of them were like, yeah, dad, it's going down.
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: They were probably weeping and sweating and praying, God, please give me strength in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: And if we're not doing that, we're probably not serving much.
SPEAKER_01: And listen, again, I can't stress it enough.
SPEAKER_01: You do not have to go to Asia to live a life of serving in the way that the Lord called you to.
SPEAKER_01: But you should be doing some things that you don't want to do.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you have ever served in a restaurant?
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: You know what it means to choose a table and say, no, that's not my table, that's your table.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_01: When people come in and you know you're going to be worked to death and you're not getting any tip.
SPEAKER_01: You avoid those tables.
SPEAKER_01: When I was serving, everybody knew I was a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And you can always tell when Christian people come into the restaurant, and you know you're going to get a track at the end.
SPEAKER_01: It's true.
SPEAKER_01: I had a server one time throw a track in my face and tell me that doesn't pay the bills.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, dude, I didn't give you the track.
SPEAKER_01: So I would always have to look for the Christians and I would take that table.
SPEAKER_01: Because I was trying to protect the witness of the faith to the people I was trying to witness to.
SPEAKER_01: And it seemed like every time church people came in the door, the rest of the servers got mad at me.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, we don't get to choose what tables we serve.
SPEAKER_01: We don't get to, oh, I'll do that.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I am.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not serving that table.
SPEAKER_01: When you choose every table that you serve that's self-serving, you're doing that based on what you're gonna get out of it.
SPEAKER_01: But when you say, no, no, no, you're here and I'm gonna serve you, serving God means serving others.
SPEAKER_01: I used to serve Wutner Bell.
SPEAKER_01: He was my boss.
SPEAKER_01: But at the end of the day, I never brought food to his table ever.
SPEAKER_01: I always brought food to other people's table because I was serving him.
SPEAKER_01: And serving God means serving others.
SPEAKER_01: And when he says, let this cup pass from me, he's actually saying, I don't want to die.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me close with this.
SPEAKER_01: Who has something to drink?
SPEAKER_01: Anybody got something to drink?
SPEAKER_01: Is there anything in it?
SPEAKER_01: Let me see.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: There's not much in it, man.
SPEAKER_01: You know what that last 10% is.
SPEAKER_01: Do you care if I drink from this cup?
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Last 10%.
SPEAKER_01: So you guys are all thinking that's nasty.
SPEAKER_01: Like you don't even, you're just drinking out of somebody's cup, and that's kind of gross, and it is kind of gross.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he only has like this much left in the cup, and it's kind of gross.
SPEAKER_01: And then you're also asking, well, why would you ask her if you can drink from this cup?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me.
SPEAKER_01: Well, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: That's not Jesus' cup.
SPEAKER_01: And it's also not God's cup.
SPEAKER_01: So why are they talking about your cup?
SPEAKER_01: This is your nasty cup.
SPEAKER_01: The scripture says when he died, he died with your sin on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, God, I don't want to drink from their nasty cup.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't do anything wrong.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't take on sin.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't indulge in stealing.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't indulge in dishonesty.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't indulge in lust.
SPEAKER_01: That's nasty.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, you got to do it.
SPEAKER_01: There's no other possible way.
SPEAKER_01: You have to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And He did it.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't get to choose whose table we serve.
SPEAKER_01: So if you're always serving people that look like you, smell like you, laugh like you, joke like you, you're probably not serving in the way that God wants you to serve.
SPEAKER_01: Because God drank the vilest sinner's cup.
SPEAKER_01: And if we look around two years from now, three years from now, and we're still in a church where everybody looks like us, probably not serving at the capacity and at the level that God would serve.
SPEAKER_01: But if we'll say, Lord, we'll serve anywhere, we'll serve anybody.
SPEAKER_01: I'll drink from a homeless person's cup.
SPEAKER_01: I'll drink from a prisoner's cup.
SPEAKER_01: I'll drink from a cup of a woman that's been divorced five times.
SPEAKER_01: You just show me what cup I'm supposed to drink from, and I'll serve them.
SPEAKER_01: I'll drink from that cup.
SPEAKER_01: I'll close with this.
SPEAKER_01: There was a guy I used to know.
SPEAKER_01: I still know him, but we don't have a strong relationship.
SPEAKER_01: Just time has separated us.
SPEAKER_01: And I saw him a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01: He's a homeless guy.
SPEAKER_01: Sleeps in his car.
SPEAKER_01: He slept in his car for as long as I've known him.
SPEAKER_01: He's a hard worker, by the way.
SPEAKER_01: Cleans windows for a living.
SPEAKER_01: He's a hard worker, but he has some issues.
SPEAKER_01: And he has to sleep in his car.
SPEAKER_01: And I saw him one day, a couple weeks ago, and he looked at me and he said, Bobby, how you doing?
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Man, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I want you to know, Bobby, I pray for you every day.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Oh, that's sweet.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, man.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: And he looks at me and he says, and I want you to know I pray for your dad Alan every day.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, what?
SPEAKER_01: He said, and I want you to know I pray for your brother Chris every day.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to know that I pray for your brother James every day.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to know that I pray for your brother Alan every day.
SPEAKER_01: And he just started going down the line.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, oh man, this guy's not just faking it.
SPEAKER_01: He's for real doing it.
SPEAKER_01: One of the homeless people that we would pity when we see on the side of the road.
SPEAKER_01: He's really getting after it.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta learn, man, don't judge people by their cup.
SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Just serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Serve the Lord.
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