WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:01.120 Good morning. 00:00:01.199 --> 00:00:03.520 If you're a student, you're dismissed to go with Ms. 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:05.040 Morgan or Mr. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:06.000 Weldon. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:09.279 Hello, Ellie. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:17.039 I'm happy that you're here. 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:18.559 I'm happy to be here. 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:21.280 Christopher, thank you, brother. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:24.160 That last song is a great thing. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:25.760 That's a great song. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:37.119 One of the men that impacted my life when I first became a Christian. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:44.240 43 years ago. 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:57.280 And I was looking for men who could help me know how to how to go. 00:00:57.759 --> 00:01:00.799 Where to go and you know, just how to do it. 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:06.640 I had not grown up around that kind of life. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:39.120 And uh one of the men that impacted me the most he would say to me often, he would say, Larry, the things that will change you for good the most you read the response difficulties in life. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:49.840 And I found that to be some pretty good advice. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:02:06.319 The things that will impact you the most change you the most the book you read, the responses you choose to have to problems and pain and the people you meet. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:13.039 And uh I met um a man, Chris Massoon and his wife, Jenny. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:17.520 Um I don't know, Chris 25 years ago. 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:19.520 I don't know, give or take. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:26.400 Uh and uh you know, I'm not gonna get into all what you do, I'll let them, I'll let them hear it from you. 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:38.080 But uh I asked Chris to come and share this morning with us a little bit about his ministry, but more than that, just about how to walk with the Lord Jesus, get to know him and follow him and serve him. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:44.800 And so uh I'm gonna ask him, Chris, if you'd come on up and uh share with us, I sure would be grateful. 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:45.520 Okay. 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:49.120 You need these benches, these shoes. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:10.319 Is this for me? 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:13.120 Okay. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:16.639 I got another timekeeper. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:18.479 She's sitting over there. 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:29.919 Well, he's he's asking me to do an impossible task today, and that is to share for half an hour. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:39.680 Um normally where we come from we can ramble on, no, not ramble on, but talk for hour and a half, two hours. 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:44.080 None of those people have watches. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:48.240 Well they do, but they don't care. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:51.840 And they all have cell phones. 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:57.840 Anyway, it's good to be here um and to share again after a long absence. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:08.879 Um, and I really want to say thank you to Larry and Sherry and the church for praying for us and for supporting us. 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:16.879 And uh it's always been good to know that Larry uh and Sherry are here in Memphis. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:27.199 They always send me, or Larry does, encouraging messages, um, scriptures or like a word or something that blesses me. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:32.480 And it's always great to know that in that way I know he's thinking about me. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:34.639 And that we're in touch. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:39.600 So for me, that's very special is to um know that. 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:56.160 And his mom told me this morning that she didn't recognize me because I had a beanie on, but um she said that she prayed with me, prayed for us this morning without knowing that we were coming. 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:00.560 And here we are, and so she says she prays for us often. 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:07.120 So we really do appreciate that when people pray for us because that's what makes the ministry. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:20.160 Um so my wife Jen is there, she is my life partner in missions and almost my director in many ways, and I'm really grateful to have a godly wife. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:23.360 Um, that really helps me in the ministry. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:40.000 Um, and um, but I would like to start this morning by just showing something visual uh so that it's not just words that you hear, but it's something that you see that's real, that's happening on the ground. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:43.519 Um so we're gonna look at, I think it's about uh how long? 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:44.079 Five minutes. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:46.079 It's a five-minute video. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:50.639 Um so please watch and then uh just absorb what you see. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:54.399 Um, but that's pretty much what we do uh on the ground. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.680 So uh might not be all of it, but it's part of it. 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:01.920 So let's just enjoy the video and then I'll share briefly from the word of God. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:02.720 Amen. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:04.079 Thank you. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:06.240 Thank you. 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:20.240 Okay, so there's lots of stories to tell, but I'm not gonna tell all the stories that I want to share from the word of God. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:28.160 Um, because I think what if if the word of God grips your heart, a testimony can be heard and forgotten. 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:38.480 But the word of God is something that we should be uh interested in and something that we really desire uh for it to uh impact our lives. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:07:15.600 And I want to just share briefly from um um 2 Timothy uh uh chapter 2, where Paul was talking to his disciple uh Timothy, who was uh um who was his protege and somebody that he had taken from a young age and he had brought up in the Lord, and now he was pastoring in Ephesus, and Timothy was somewhat discouraged, and Paul is giving him advice on what it's like to live in the Christ to live the Christian life. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:32.399 And uh sometimes for us to achieve what God wants us to do, and what God wants us to be is not easy, it's a real challenge, and it's that challenge that we must take up to grow spiritually and to grow the kingdom of God. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:49.439 But Paul speaks to uh Timothy in uh in chapter one, and he says, Therefore I remind you to keep ablaze the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of hands. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:57.439 And for God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound mind. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:17.519 So Paul was reminding Timothy that that gift that he had, whether it was by laying on of hands, it doesn't matter, that he had a gift that God that God wanted him to use, that God had bestowed upon him to make an impact for the gospel and for the kingdom. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:24.879 And the thing is that many of us through periods like COVID could have come slightly complacent. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:29.600 Um I know it was hard for us to get back into gear for two years. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:56.080 We sat, I sat at home, had the longest sabbatical I'd ever had in my life, felt very rested afterwards, but it was real tough to get going and to start all the planning when the doors opened and to really just pick up on the nations and to just continue that work, and I'm glad to say that I'm back in gear and I'm happy to be doing what I'm doing. 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:31.519 But but there is this time of complacency uh in our lives, um either through comfort or just through the lifestyle that we live, where we need to be reminded to stir up the gift that is in us, because the issue that we saw there is how many uh people groups that are still lost in Africa, how many, and I would say that the nominal church in in America is an unreached people group because they know all about church, but they know nothing about salvation. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:37.840 They know nothing about growing in Christ, it's just about attending church. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:57.120 And so there's people all around us where God wants to reveal himself, and and uh Paul continues in uh 2 Timothy 2, and he says, You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:09.679 So in Romans 5.10, we uh understand that the life of Christ that saved us, or the sacrifice that saved us, is also the life that keeps us. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:20.080 So God not only just saves us from our sin, but he also gives us his life that we can continue to do what he wants us to do. 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:20.879 Amen. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:24.159 So that's really important for us to understand. 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:29.039 So Paul is saying, be strong in the grace. 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:34.080 So there's grace for us to do that which God wants us to do. 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:49.600 And then he talks again about a child, and one of the pictures that we have of a disciple is that he was a child, or what Paul would term a child, somebody that he grew up in the Lord. 00:10:49.840 --> 00:11:03.840 And I want to ask the question: are you available or are you having someone directly impacting your life that's discipling you, that's ministering in your life? 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:08.240 Because for us to mature, it's not automatic. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:11.759 It doesn't automatically come from the church bench. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:26.639 Now I love the example of um of putting out a lot of um bottles in the front here without without caps on, and someone standing over there with a bucket of water. 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:29.039 And often preaching is like that. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:35.120 It's like somebody standing here with a bucket of water and he throws it out over the audience. 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:38.320 Now, everybody, a lot of people can get wet. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:48.559 But when they go out outside and they're out in the sun, out in life, dries off pretty quick, and often we forget about what we heard in the sermon. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:12:01.600 But when it comes to uh if we take on somebody as a disciple or we're building into their lives, it's more like taking that bucket and walking up to each bottle and filling it. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:19.039 And that's the way that we know how people are growing, is when we have that close contact and that close relationship with them because they begin to open up and to share their lives with you, and you're able to see them grow. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:32.480 So the first picture we have of a disciple is somebody that is somebody's child, or somebody that's being mentored by somebody or discipled by someone. 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:36.720 So the question is: are you discipling anybody? 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:39.840 Or are you being discipled by someone? 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:50.799 Because the goal of discipleship is one, is maturity, is that we all need to mature and become like Christ. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:51.679 Amen. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:53.679 So that's the goal. 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:56.879 So what happens when we become like Christ? 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:19.840 We do what Christ does, and we begin to multiply, we begin to bear fruit in our lives, and that fruit often impacts other people so that their lives change, and that they become disciple makers, and that they begin to build into the lives of other people. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:28.559 So uh Paul encourages him and he says, and what you have seen and heard from me in the presence of many witnesses. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:31.279 So Paul lived an open life. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:42.639 Some pastors, I'm not saying Larry, I know he's very open, but some people are aloof, and they don't want anybody to get really close to them. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:14:01.279 Well, as a servant of God, as a child of God, it should be one of our desires that people can get close to us, because that's when they can really see the power of God's work in the life of somebody, at work in the life of somebody. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:08.240 And that's when change takes place, because that's when transformation begins to happen. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:13.919 Because they see it in your life, they see it happening in your life. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:21.120 And so, as servants of God, as children of God, and I say servants because that is what we are. 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:32.320 Like a lot of people get hung up on being a child, you know, and calling God Daddy, like I've heard lots of people called God Daddy. 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:42.240 Well, he is, he is father, he is Abba, but you don't read much about the the apostles calling him daddy in the scriptures. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:45.840 They called him Lord most of the time. 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:50.240 So he is daddy, and uh and and that's very comforting. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:15:00.639 Um but Paul says the things that you've seen and heard from me in the presence of many, so he's living his life out in front of others. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:09.440 So Timothy was with him because otherwise he couldn't have seen or heard what Paul was talking about. 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:23.360 So it's a witness gospel that we have people with us that we can build into their lives and they can see in our lives so that they can grow. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:26.320 And yet it goes further than that. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:32.799 He says, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses commit to faithful men. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:40.559 So there's this growth that takes place that I'm supposed to begin working in somebody else's life. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:49.200 And it's a joy to see that multiplication at work when we realize how God uses us. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:54.559 Um and they will be able to teach others also. 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:03.279 So there's this fourth generation that started from Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and others also, people who could teach. 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:07.519 So people who teach are people who are really interested in the Word of God. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:16.240 You want to learn the Word of God, you want to master teaching that will help new converts grow. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.399 You want to, do you want to? 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:19.759 Is the question. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:24.080 Because it takes a little bit of work, as we're gonna see. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:37.519 Um and Paul begins using examples that are very, very clear in what it means to be a good disciple. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:42.720 So some people say it's seven pictures of a leader because Timothy was a leader. 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:51.200 Um old friend Herb Hodges used to say, seven pictures of a disciple maker or a disciple. 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:58.559 So the first picture was to be a child, somebody that um is growing up under somebody more mature than him. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:02.799 Now remember one thing there's no fully mature Christian. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:04.880 We're all maturing. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:12.640 So I might be a little bit ahead of some people in the maturing process, but they're still maturing. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:13.119 Why? 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:16.960 Because the goal is to become like Christ. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:20.640 And boy, that's a big reach. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:33.119 So on this side of heaven, we're just gonna keep on working at it until one day, in the twinkling of an eye, we will be like him, according to 1 Thessalonians. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:43.359 Um, and then Paul starts now with um talking about the discipline we need. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:49.599 And he says, share in the suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:54.640 So he likens the Christian life to that of a soldier. 00:17:55.759 --> 00:18:04.640 And I was a soldier for a brief time when I left high school in the Zimbabwe uh Redhesion, Zimbabwe Bush War. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:13.359 And if there was one thing that I understood about being a soldier, my life was not my own. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:19.440 And I couldn't do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:33.920 It's like if we had been in the bush and we came back on RR, and suddenly there was a mission, and they called you, and you two days into your RR, you just had to drop everything and go. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:56.880 So there was this life that was not my own, um, and that I didn't live to please myself, but the one that called me into the mission, and that's what what being a disciple is like is that we need to follow him and we need to serve him. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:06.240 And now we sometimes think, boy, that that that's really tough and that's really difficult. 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:11.680 Um, but the joy is if we lose our lives, we will find it. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:18.000 Because God is a fulfilling God, and God wants to fulfill us. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:25.759 And sometimes we're not as fulfilled as Christians because sometimes we're doing too much of our own thing. 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:27.839 Are you with me on this? 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:40.480 And um, and so God calls us to live in that fashion of a soldier, understanding that he is living, uh he's a man under orders. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:50.160 And uh to please a recruiter, no one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of everyday life. 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:56.720 Now we do live in this world, but sometimes we get entangled in the things of this world. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:00.480 And that takes our eyes off Christ. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:07.920 It it often leads us into things that we don't really want to be involved in, and so on. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:23.359 And so Paul is is helping Timothy, who is struggling, who needs to be encouraged, and he's saying, hey, if you want to be fulfilled, if you want to make an impact and keep making an impact, this is what you need to do. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:26.720 So he's giving him instructions. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:47.279 Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, now I don't know about any of you, but um I've watched athletes and I've watched them train and seen the effort and the amount of time and the discipline they put in because they want to win. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:54.240 Nobody runs a race or or trains for the hundred meters to come second. 00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:59.920 That's not your intentional goal, is to come second. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:01.759 It is to win. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:04.079 It is to win the prize. 00:21:04.319 --> 00:21:07.759 And that takes effort and that takes time. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:33.839 And one of the things that I found that takes effort and time was over the years to build a very broad curriculum so that when I go to the field, I can teach on leadership, I can teach on disciple making, I can teach on um basic doctrines that will help Christians stand, we can teach across the Bible, but it took time and effort. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:38.799 It didn't just happen, and it didn't mean me just reading from a book. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:47.680 Like I've seen some people when they uh do some teaching, they just have their notes in front of them and they just read like this. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:59.599 A friend of mine is a computer expert, and he's a tremendous whiz, and he was in Australia sorting out some companies' problems and giving them. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.799 Some new software to implement and everything. 00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:08.480 And he said, they said the previous guy that came just read from the book. 00:22:08.720 --> 00:22:10.559 Nobody learned a thing. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:15.599 Because he didn't know his subject. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:24.319 But my friend came, he never had a book, he just understood the program and he began to teach them. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:28.400 And he just turned that company upside down. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:39.279 And then everybody began to understand the program, how to implement it, and it began to uh have have the desired effect in the company. 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:41.920 And so it is with us. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:48.960 If we want to really make an impact, we really need to have discipline in our lives. 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:53.680 And people say, well, you know, it's not my gift. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:23:00.240 I'm sorry, but studying the word of God should be everybody's gift. 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:03.680 We're not all teachers that can dig into the word. 00:23:04.079 --> 00:23:12.640 But those guys who have dug into the word are the guys who give us the material to use to make an impact. 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:16.079 Are you interested in doing that? 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:19.039 That is the big question. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:20.240 Amen. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:34.640 So if we want to win the prize in any athletic event, we need to compete according to the rules. 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:42.160 And there's just some things that Psalm 1 tells us to meditate on the word day and night. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:48.000 That takes work. 00:23:49.279 --> 00:24:05.680 Now I'm not saying that you can never think about the kids or you can't think about what's happening at work, but there's a there's this underlying passion to implement the word of God in every aspect of your life. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:07.920 And that takes some focus, right? 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.039 Because it's so easy to be sidetracked. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:21.119 And then Paul goes on and he says, it is the hardworking farmer who ought to be the first to get a share of the crops. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:25.279 Now, I have friends who farm. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:30.480 And some, and depending on the season, it's night and day. 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:40.000 It's like they rarely work when they uh when they when they sow the seed is more than just sowing the seed. 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:49.920 Often we think about Jesus in the Jesus form throwing down the seed just as a as a demonstration. 00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:52.880 But actually, farming is kind of hectic. 00:24:53.119 --> 00:25:06.160 It's like the guys they they need to weed and they need to make sure that the ground is prepared when they plant the seed, and then there's the weeding and the chemicals and everything to make it grow. 00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:08.799 And uh come time harvest. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:20.160 Um just this incredible amount of work that takes place for the harvest to be there. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:28.960 And sometimes for us, we need to understand that, and Paul will tell that to us in a moment. 00:25:32.720 --> 00:26:12.480 So, you know, consider uh Paul is um talking about farming, and then he says something strange, and he throws it back in your lap or into Timothy's lap, and he says, Consider what I say, think about what I'm saying, because it takes thought for this thing to get down deep in your mind, that certain things are going to make an impact on our lives, and it's gonna bring definite change in the way that we do things and in the way that we uh move ahead with God. 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:18.000 He says, uh, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:32.799 And so if we think about it, it's like when Jesus taught the parables, the people didn't understand often because they didn't think about what they were hearing. 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:42.880 So Paul is like, in a way, saying, listen, guys, if if if you want this to become real in your life, you have to think about it. 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:49.759 You have to consider it seriously, and then the Lord will give you understanding. 00:26:50.400 --> 00:27:06.400 Because if we don't think about it and we don't consider it seriously, the Lord's not gonna reveal that to us, the Lord's not gonna open that up to us, and so we really need to trust the Lord. 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:16.480 Um, so that's I think five pictures so far, and then we have one here that we're all um familiar with. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:21.200 Um in 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:22.880 Be diligent. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:24.640 I'm gonna end here. 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:32.240 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed. 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:43.279 And I think there's many people that can't share the gospel, that there's many people that can't lay a basic foundation in the lives of others. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:46.799 They keep saying, well, let's go talk to the pastor. 00:27:47.759 --> 00:28:03.759 Actually, they should be talking to you and me, not the pastor, not the elder, not the deacon, but you who are equipped so that you can help others. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:14.160 Because some of us, I think, when we come down to basic knowledge and how to work with people and what to say to people, would be ashamed. 00:28:16.240 --> 00:28:26.880 And that's a little bit sad for us because Paul does say, and we do read this, be diligent to present yourselves approved to God. 00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:42.480 And if you go back to Romans 12, verse 1, it's the sacrifice that we make once and for all in our lives to God, a worker doesn't need to be ashamed, correctly handling the word of God. 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:51.599 So some of those thorny issues and some of those basic issues we need to wrestle with so that we can share them with the word of God. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:29:03.039 And it doesn't take long, it might take half an hour of your day to really just sit and focus, but on a consistent manner is to find some kind of curriculum. 00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:04.960 Like Dr. 00:29:05.119 --> 00:29:14.400 Adrian Rogers, Back to Basics, is an awesome tool that you can use to build into the lives of new converts. 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:17.680 But it's not going to help if you just read it to them. 00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:22.480 It's going to help if you know what it means and you can share it from the heart. 00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:25.599 And it's in you. 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:27.279 Are you with me? 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:30.799 And then the last picture is that of a vessel. 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:35.200 But I I've run out of time. 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:38.400 In fact, I think I'm two minutes over. 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:40.960 So I apologize for that. 00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:45.920 I'm not really, but anyway, let's pray. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:47.920 And then I'll hand over to Pastor Larry. 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:49.680 Father, thank you for your love. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:30:02.319 Thank you for your word that is just so amazing in encouraging us to get to know you and to get to know your word and to be vessels and to be used by you, Lord. 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:18.880 Help us to have that discipline in our lives that we would be able to make an impact, Father, in our families, in our communities, and even in other parts of the world. 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:22.240 And so we commit these things to you in Jesus' name. 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:23.200 Amen. 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:26.559 Thank you, brother. 00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:28.319 You did great. 00:30:28.640 --> 00:30:29.519 Thank you. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:52.079 Um right now I'm not doing a lot of funerals, but I have had seasons over the last forty-some odd years where I would do lots and lots of funerals, sometimes a couple a week. 00:30:54.079 --> 00:31:34.400 And one of the things that I would that I've learned about people in my culture, my little world, is that for many of us, I would be so bold as to say, for most of us, when people die, the goal is for you to die, and at the funeral, someone will say he was a good person. 00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:41.359 Oh Jim died, and he was a good person. 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:49.200 He was a good businessman, a good husband, a good dad, a good friend, a good citizen. 00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:51.920 That's the goal. 00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:56.559 And that is so often the goal. 00:31:57.920 --> 00:32:02.720 And that beats the fire out of your dying and people going, he was not good. 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:07.519 You know, that obviously I'd rather people say I was good than not good. 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:26.319 For the last twenty or twenty-five years being around CUS, he has impacted me by not that's not my goal anymore. 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:29.599 I don't want to die. 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:36.799 And for Shirley and Rainey and Teddy to say he was a good person. 00:32:40.319 --> 00:32:52.160 I'd like to die, and for them to say he impacted the world in his own little way. 00:32:53.519 --> 00:33:15.519 Not saying my way's your way or my way's Guss's way, but there's a difference in living your life, and the goal is I want to be good versus I want to live and leave the world better, different. 00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:22.720 I think that's such a different paradigm, that's such a different set of values. 00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:46.480 Um even if in my attempt to make it better, to make it different, I mess up a lot, I uh in some ways go backwards at times, but I lived my life and was put in the ground, or sprinkled in the river, is what I hope. 00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:57.039 Uh, but I lived my life and I was sprinkled in the river, and I left the world a little different, better. 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:03.039 That's how Cuss and Jenny are trying to live their lives. 00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:04.720 I promise you that. 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:09.679 And I really do, I want that to be the way I live my life. 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:11.920 I am trying to do that. 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:24.639 The jury's still out on how well that's going, but uh, but that's the that's my goal, and I think it's a worthy goal, and I'm grateful for you helping me see the difference. 00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:26.960 Thank you again. 00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:39.119 Um, we're gonna celebrate the Lord's Supper, and so I invite you to just take a moment and to consider Cusse's words. 00:34:41.119 --> 00:34:42.639 Are you a disciple? 00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:45.599 Not just do you believe in Jesus. 00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:47.039 I believe in Jesus. 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:48.559 How many of us believe in Jesus? 00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:55.760 Woo! But am I a disciple of Christ? 00:34:56.559 --> 00:35:00.320 Am I intentionally trying to follow Christ? 00:35:03.280 --> 00:35:12.400 And have I come to the place where I ought to transition from just being discipled, maybe it's time that I become a discipler. 00:35:13.679 --> 00:35:20.559 I start impacting people with good like people have impacted me with good. 00:35:22.639 --> 00:35:29.039 Maybe that's something God's wanting me to transition from to. 00:35:33.599 --> 00:35:36.239 Is that the calling that God has for our lives? 00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:39.760 And if it is, then it's a good calling. 00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:44.559 It's a calling worth considering, it's a calling worth embracing. 00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:51.280 And so maybe today God would like to deal with us specifically in that realm. 00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:53.840 When you're ready, you come. 00:35:54.079 --> 00:35:57.599 Uh Tim and Esther, y'all sit up front, so sorry. 00:35:57.760 --> 00:36:09.360 Y'all get called uh y'all sit when it when it when you're ready, you come, you take the bread, you take the the juice, and you eat, and you drink. 00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:15.039 Remember, remember that God loves you more than he loves life itself. 00:36:15.760 --> 00:36:28.480 He's committed to your good, he's at work in your life, and the plans that he has for you are plans of abundance and grace and peace and joy. 00:36:28.719 --> 00:36:30.480 And that gives us hope. 00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:33.840 And we should give him thanks for that. 00:36:34.159 --> 00:36:35.599 So you come when you're ready.