SPEAKER_01: This podcast is brought to you by Grant Parkway Baptist.
SPEAKER_01: Helping people to know, joy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandParkway.org.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes the best way to lead worship is by being the lead worshiper.
SPEAKER_02: That's what you've just experienced, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus, thank you for the freedom that is ours in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Lord, that uh we you you didn't just come to make bad people good people, more morally determined people.
SPEAKER_02: You came to spiritually dead people and brought us back to life.
SPEAKER_02: So when the alarm goes off inside of us, we're just gonna lean even further on those everlasting arms.
SPEAKER_02: In a world that is always changing, we're gonna build and bank our lives on that which is unchangeable.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's why we're gonna open up the Bible today.
SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna say what it says the way it says it, and we're gonna hold ourselves to the standard.
SPEAKER_02: As that great theologian Mike Tomlin says, the standard is the standard.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, we've lowered the standard so we have uncalled, unequipped men leading churches in America nowadays.
SPEAKER_02: So we just want to hold the standard back up and just say, here's where it is, boys.
SPEAKER_02: Put your big boy pants on.
SPEAKER_02: And if that's not you, then go sell insurance or give trips to the Holy Land or do whatever you can do.
SPEAKER_02: Called men can only do one thing.
SPEAKER_02: And thank you that we see a picture of that in the text today.
SPEAKER_02: God, let it be convicting and let that conviction start with me.
SPEAKER_02: Holy Spirit, illuminate the scriptures.
SPEAKER_02: Let it find a resting place in head and heart, and let it find expression in our hands this week.
SPEAKER_02: In Jesus' name, what everyone says, Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You can have a seat if you've got a Bible.
SPEAKER_02: I invite you to take it, open it up to the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest today, we're preaching and teaching through the book of Acts, and we're up to Acts chapter 17.
SPEAKER_02: Excuse me, Acts chapter 20.
SPEAKER_02: I'll start reading verse 17 to the end of the chapter, and I want to talk to you this morning about what you should expect from church leadership.
SPEAKER_02: What you should expect from church leadership.
SPEAKER_02: Now, when you say, What do you mean church leadership?
SPEAKER_02: I mean your church staff.
SPEAKER_02: We're at elder-led church.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not in charge of this church.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and the reason we're in elder-led church is that it's called the plurality of leadership, is that we don't see anywhere in the Bible where one church is any church in the Bible is led by one person.
SPEAKER_02: The scripture says in a multitude of counsel, there's wisdom.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so I have six bosses, they're called elders.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and and so when I say uh church leadership, I mean your staff and elders.
SPEAKER_02: So let me just ask this question.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a part of our staff here, or you're an elder here at this church, or you're in the elder development pipeline, would you stand up right now?
SPEAKER_02: See, we'll see.
SPEAKER_02: Some of them are gone.
SPEAKER_02: There we go.
SPEAKER_02: Just stand up, look around.
SPEAKER_02: These are the people that you should look at through the lens of what we're talking about today.
SPEAKER_02: Me included, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You should look at us.
SPEAKER_02: This should be the filter, the grid.
SPEAKER_02: You should check us out and kind of go, hey, do you do these things?
SPEAKER_02: Because if not, what are you doing in leadership?
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: All right, now you guys have a seat.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and you say, Well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02: Uh let me say this simple statement.
SPEAKER_02: Authority without responsibility means people will get abused spiritually.
SPEAKER_02: Authority.
SPEAKER_02: Anybody that leads a church and they're all about authority, well, because I said so, but they don't have this deep sense of responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: In that environment, people will get abused spiritually.
SPEAKER_02: And it's one thing about the Apostle Paul, he lived daily with a sense of his responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: He never played the authority cards.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, there's one time he kind of listed out his pedigree.
SPEAKER_02: These people were bragging, and he said, Oh, if you guys got things to boast about, I got a lot of things to boast about.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I went I went to the right schools, I was born in the right time to the right people.
SPEAKER_02: But he said this: he said, Listen, I want to be governed by my responsibility, not just play the authority.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_02: Because he he was it was so out of character, he said, I am talking like a madman here, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, because he was ruled by responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to say there's not many people that lead churches nowadays that are ruled by responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: They play the authority card.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the pastor.
SPEAKER_02: If I ever say to you in response to one of your questions, because I'm the pastor, I want you to slap me, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Seriously, stop blasting so hard, Lisa Deal.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, uh again, authority without responsibility means people will get abused spiritually.
SPEAKER_02: All right, let me just read the text, Acts chapter 20, verse 17.
SPEAKER_02: Let's think biblically about what you should expect in church leadership.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says this now for my leaders, he sent to Ephesus and he called the elders of the church to come and to him.
SPEAKER_02: And when they had come to him, he said to them, This is the leaders, the elders of the church, people that are giving oversight and wisdom and direction.
SPEAKER_02: He said, You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time.
SPEAKER_02: From the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to the Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city, but imprisonment and afflictions await me.
SPEAKER_02: But I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself, if only underline those two words, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
SPEAKER_02: And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
SPEAKER_02: Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock to which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
SPEAKER_02: I know that after my departure, fierce fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
SPEAKER_02: And from among your own cells will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease, night or day, to admonish everyone with tears.
SPEAKER_02: And now I commend you to the grace of the I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
SPEAKER_02: I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.
SPEAKER_02: You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who are with me.
SPEAKER_02: And all things I've shown you that by working hard, it's hard work, people.
SPEAKER_02: No cookie for the preacher that gets up and tells people how hard his week was.
SPEAKER_02: It's supposed to be hard.
SPEAKER_02: Come on, puddin.
SPEAKER_02: By working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive.
SPEAKER_02: And when he had said these things, he knelt down and he prayed with them all.
SPEAKER_02: And there was much weeping on the part, and they all embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful, most of all, because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again.
SPEAKER_02: And they accompanied him to this to the ship.
SPEAKER_02: Again, what you should expect from church leadership, there's actually eight things in the text I want to point to.
SPEAKER_02: And so I won't be able to go into a lot of detail, but I want to just point these things out.
SPEAKER_02: Number one, you should expect them to be knowable.
SPEAKER_02: You should expect them to be knowable.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, You yourselves know how I lived among you since I set foot in this country.
SPEAKER_02: Now, why is that a big deal?
SPEAKER_02: Because preachers sometimes can be competitive, jealous, they slander other preachers, they talk about other churches, they put them down to build themselves up.
SPEAKER_02: And this started way back in the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: Paul had come to this part of the country, preached the gospel, people responded.
SPEAKER_02: He went to another part of the country to preach the gospel over there, and other preachers and teachers came along and said, Hey, this Paul guy, he's not really sincere.
SPEAKER_02: He just says all this stuff.
SPEAKER_02: He says one thing and he does another.
SPEAKER_02: And Paul is not defensive, okay?
SPEAKER_02: He just says, Hey, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time.
SPEAKER_02: From the first day that I set foot in Asia, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You yourselves know.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't appeal to what he knows, he appeals to what they know.
SPEAKER_02: And he says, You know me.
SPEAKER_02: You should know the leadership of your church.
SPEAKER_02: One lady said to me, uh, before I came to pastor, I used to travel and preach uh all over the country.
SPEAKER_02: And I was in a church in the Metroplex or in the DFW area, and I said, Hey, so what's your pastor like?
SPEAKER_02: She goes, I couldn't tell you.
SPEAKER_02: He's kind of like the president.
SPEAKER_02: I recognize his picture when I see it, but I don't really know him.
SPEAKER_02: And I just thought, well, my spirit just kind of was like, oh, I don't think it should be that way.
SPEAKER_02: You should know the people that give leadership to your church.
SPEAKER_02: So, first of all, we should be knowable.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, the fosterers have come in, slandered Paul, and instead of being defensive and slandering them back, he simply says, You know how I lived.
SPEAKER_02: Here are these two words among you.
SPEAKER_02: We are to be among you.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we are to have dinner in your home by Marcy and I had dinner with a couple of church uh on Friday night, and it was great.
SPEAKER_02: We walked in, sat down in the kitchen, she was cooking, it wasn't quite ready.
SPEAKER_02: She picked the baby up, handed it to my wife.
SPEAKER_02: My wife played with the baby a little bit, handed the baby to me.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, this is awesome because this is what it means to be among them.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, before we left that night, one of their they have a four-year-old and a two-year-old boy, and then a six-month-old girl.
SPEAKER_02: I just remembered thinking, I'm glad I'm in the empty nest stage, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Because man, the boy's like, I got a rock climbing wall in my room.
SPEAKER_02: I was like, shut your entire mouth.
SPEAKER_02: And he ripped his shirt off and went upstairs and showed me.
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, I am so jealous right now.
SPEAKER_02: The dude has a rock climbing wall in his bedroom and a horizontal bar.
SPEAKER_02: And I was just kind of like, I need to call my mom and tell her I was depleted as a child, okay?
SPEAKER_02: But this is just this is what it means to be among people, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We're not up on the shelf, these people that can't be touched, that can't be talked to.
SPEAKER_02: No, you got to be knowable.
SPEAKER_02: Secondly, you gotta be a servant.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 19.
SPEAKER_02: After he says, You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews.
SPEAKER_02: So you're not just knowable.
SPEAKER_02: You the reason you know them is that they live among you and they get this, they're not your servant.
SPEAKER_02: A lot of church members are kind of like, Yeah, you're my servant, Pastor.
SPEAKER_02: You gotta do what I want.
SPEAKER_02: Pastor, can you come cut my grass?
SPEAKER_02: Hey, Pastor, can you come do it?
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the thing: all of us that are in leadership, we don't, we're not servants of the people.
SPEAKER_02: We serve the people, but we serve the Lord in serving and pastoring and leading our people.
SPEAKER_02: This puts our work in the proper context.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_02: If we understand we are serving the Lord, we do what we do.
SPEAKER_02: Caleb Miller is gonna walk across the parking lot here in a few minutes and he leads our bridge ministry, fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, and there will be a hundred of them in there.
SPEAKER_02: Uh it was so funny on Wednesday night, somebody thought, Sanctuary, oh, that's Clyde Clyde.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_02: And they walked in that sanctuary over there.
SPEAKER_02: They grabbed the door and opened it and they shut it quickly and said, That's not what I was looking for.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Yeah, that's a cesspool of hormones you don't want in there.
SPEAKER_02: He's over in the new sanctuary, and they were like, Whoof! And I was like, Yeah, his name's Caleb, pray for him, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Does a great job of leading that very uh strategic and important ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but but what puts his work in proper context is not what he gets from you, but it is in serving you, he is serving the Lord by serving you.
SPEAKER_02: Because if not, if if all of us don't embrace that, then we begin to kind of require something back from you in exchange for what we do.
SPEAKER_02: And I just say to that, no, we serve the Lord, that is our pleasure, and that is enough.
SPEAKER_02: Now, in this process of serving the Lord, you should expect from us humility, tears, and trials.
SPEAKER_02: And we should expect from ourselves that we're gonna have some humbling experiences, we're gonna have uh some experiences that just did break your heart, just tears and trials.
SPEAKER_02: And you say, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_02: Because if you're not careful, if you don't realize that you're serving the Lord, when the trials come, you will quit.
SPEAKER_02: You will quit.
SPEAKER_02: You'll just say, This isn't fair, I deserve better.
SPEAKER_02: Just think back about three or four years to COVID.
SPEAKER_02: That's what happens.
SPEAKER_02: You realize that coming out of COVID, there was a there was like an 18-month period where 200 pastors a month were quitting.
SPEAKER_02: And one of them called me and said, Hey, I just man, I'm just I'm just fried emotionally, I'm just give out, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: And and and I'm a compassionate person, okay.
SPEAKER_02: Let me just say that right now.
SPEAKER_02: I love everybody, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I don't like everybody, but I love everybody.
SPEAKER_02: And what I do not like the most is pastors that think that it's a privilege, and everybody, see, here's the thing: it's not like here's the pyramid, the pastor's up here, and everybody should serve him.
SPEAKER_02: No, Jesus inverted the pyramid, the pastor's down here, and you serve everybody.
SPEAKER_02: So this we're an acquaintance, we're not really free.
SPEAKER_02: We're quaint.
SPEAKER_02: He called me and said, Hey, I just I just wanted to pick your brain.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody said, Hey, call McClendon.
SPEAKER_02: Anyone that calls me by my last name doesn't really know me, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We're not on the 10th grade JV football team.
SPEAKER_02: And so the guy called me and said, Hey, bro, I'm like, we're not bros, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I just, man, I'm just emotionally spent and my mental health is uh, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: And this pastoral church of about 300 people.
SPEAKER_02: He said, we hadn't been able to meet, and people have been calling me and blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: And I just think it's time for me just to just to pursue uh uh another line of work.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, So you're quitting.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I just this is revealed to me that this isn't my gig.
SPEAKER_02: This this is not a gig.
SPEAKER_02: This never was a gig.
SPEAKER_02: So you're quitting because you were never called.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, come on, McClendon.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, come on, me.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says the giftings and callings of God are irrevocable, okay?
SPEAKER_02: It's not COVID's not just picking on you, it's hard for everybody, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, I mean, uh, they starts giving me all the statistics and about emotional health and mental health, and but we got all that going on here.
SPEAKER_02: But let me just let me just reframe this for you.
SPEAKER_02: At the time your people need you the most, you're going to quit.
SPEAKER_02: And into the phone, I said, please do.
SPEAKER_02: I think the church will be better if we could just weed out people like you.
SPEAKER_02: What a jerk, right?
SPEAKER_02: I'm just like, you're quitting.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Well, my wife's dad owns a company, and I've always had that as a fallback plan.
SPEAKER_02: And then I wanted to go through the phone and physically hurt this person.
SPEAKER_02: And if you're visiting today, I'm a nice man, okay?
SPEAKER_02: I buy fundraiser junk from your kids.
SPEAKER_02: My favorite is Jack Collier, who said, Hey, if you could give me a donation right now, I could cut you in on some candy because I win a gift card and some candy.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, you a little con man up in here, Jack Collier.
SPEAKER_02: And then I got distracted and didn't make a donation, but Jack, I got you.
SPEAKER_02: See me after church, I'll hook you up.
SPEAKER_02: And just, hey, you gotta be a servant.
SPEAKER_02: You're not serving the people, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, yes, you serve the people, but in the right context, what you're doing is you're serving the Lord, okay?
SPEAKER_02: So you gotta be knowable, you gotta be a servant, and then thirdly, you gotta be honest.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse 20 what he says.
SPEAKER_02: He says, Serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 20, it's still one sentence, okay?
SPEAKER_02: How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying to both Jews and the Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It's that part in verse 20, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public, anything that was profitable.
SPEAKER_02: I did not shrink back from that.
SPEAKER_02: And you say, Why do you mean honest?
SPEAKER_02: Why should church leadership be honest?
SPEAKER_02: Because lying is not just telling people things that aren't true, lying is also not telling people things that are true.
SPEAKER_02: And it happens in pulpits all over America all the time.
SPEAKER_02: We kind of shave the rough edges off of the word of God because we don't want to offend.
SPEAKER_02: And believe it or not, none of us here wants to offend, okay?
SPEAKER_02: But we hear this consistently here at our church.
SPEAKER_02: And it's this quote, I've never heard this before.
SPEAKER_02: And this is not people who just stumbled in off the street.
SPEAKER_02: These are people that have been in church their whole life.
SPEAKER_02: I've never heard this before.
SPEAKER_02: And when I hear that, I just get a little sad because I'm like, hey, people that should have been teaching you the whole counsel of God's word, the whole gospel, have been holding back and just teaching and preaching and cherry-picking the parts that are palatable.
SPEAKER_02: And the Bible warns us about this, but we didn't listen, okay?
SPEAKER_02: It warns us back in 2 Timothy chapter 4.
SPEAKER_02: He says, For the time is coming when people not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and they will turn away from listening to the truth and they'll wander off in a bunch of myths, like the shack.
SPEAKER_02: A man came to my house, a friend of mine brought a friend of his to my house, and and he was referring to God as Papa and Papa and Papa, like he was like having like warm milk with a teddy bear or something.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, What's with the papa?
SPEAKER_02: Um, and he said, Oh, the shack.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you haven't you haven't seen the shack?
SPEAKER_02: You didn't read the shack?
SPEAKER_02: No, I don't get my theology from fictional books.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Oh, but you know, I just think that really captures it.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say no.
SPEAKER_02: And then it was just awkward because for the next hour and a half, he called God Papa.
SPEAKER_02: He was like, mmm, uh chummy for me.
SPEAKER_02: And yes, I I I believe in being intimate with God, but I also believe that he's a consuming fire.
SPEAKER_02: Uh now, when the Bible says right there in 2 Timothy 4, he says, people not endure sound teaching, it's not talking about the teacher or their style of teaching, it's not talking style, it's talking substance.
SPEAKER_02: It's about what's being taught, the body of work, this information that's being conveyed, these core beliefs, what the Bible refers to as doctrine.
SPEAKER_02: Matter of fact, if you have an NIV version of the Bible, it says the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine.
SPEAKER_02: And beloved, that time is upon us and has been for years, and the church is asleep in the light because you got preachers that stand up and don't preach the whole counsel of God's word.
SPEAKER_02: And then you get somebody who does, and they come off as like mean or something.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, don't be mad at us.
SPEAKER_02: Go back to the people that pastored you as a kid and say, Hey, why did you tell me everything that was in the Bible?
SPEAKER_02: Why did you just beat the same drum over and over and over again?
SPEAKER_02: And I don't have a holistic view of God, and I sure don't have a holistic understanding of the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: Doctrine is the first casualty of church conformity to the culture.
SPEAKER_02: This happened like 10 days ago.
SPEAKER_02: Someone said, Hey, what are you doing at Grand Parkway?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Well, I'm the lead pastor.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, what do you?
SPEAKER_02: I hear great things.
SPEAKER_02: What are you doing over there?
SPEAKER_02: I said, Oh, we just try to we preach the gospel and we put a big emphasis on pastoring our people, being with our people.
SPEAKER_02: And the guy says, as most people do, that's it.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that's it.
SPEAKER_02: We didn't go to a church growth seminar and get some formula.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, So what do you mean you preach the gospel?
SPEAKER_02: We just preach expositorily, it's not sexy, it's not cool.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but we think that's how you nourish the faith of a congregation over the long haul.
SPEAKER_02: And the guy said, Man, people don't want to hear that.
SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry you were asking me a question.
SPEAKER_02: I was answering, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.
SPEAKER_02: But he said, People don't want to hear that.
SPEAKER_02: They want they want you to speak to their felt needs, Neil.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02: Well, he said, This is how they know the Bible's relevant when the Bible kind of speaks to their needs.
SPEAKER_02: And I said, Um, I'm gonna beg to differ on that.
SPEAKER_02: I think what happens is we produce people who are very clear on what they feel and very ignorant about what the Bible actually says.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't think that's loving people, I think that's actually hating them.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Well, I'm just telling you, man, I don't know how long you've been doing that.
SPEAKER_02: 18 years.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Well, I just I mean, nobody does that anymore.
SPEAKER_02: I said, I, and that makes me sad.
SPEAKER_02: I don't feel like, yeah, we're great.
SPEAKER_02: I just feel like, why have we lost our confidence in God's word and have so much confidence in everything else?
SPEAKER_02: So you gotta be honest.
SPEAKER_02: I I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable.
SPEAKER_02: That means Ian Weber, you can't get out there and go, oh well, my kids don't want to hear this.
SPEAKER_02: Annie, you can't, Annie Fairley, you you can't get out there and go, well, you know, these kids are just in the tenth grade.
SPEAKER_02: It's never too young to start learning good theology.
SPEAKER_02: It's just never.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, he's talking about being among them, Ian's wife and daughter out of town.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't have dinner plans.
SPEAKER_02: Could somebody have Ian to your house or take him to dinner tonight?
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna be otherwise, he's gonna be in his apartment thinking, nobody knows the trouble I've seen.
SPEAKER_02: He just say, hey, Ian, we want you to be among us, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Come to our house, see how we live.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe hand him a baby, he misses his.
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh yeah, honest.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the fourth thing: spirit-led.
SPEAKER_02: Spirit led.
SPEAKER_02: He says that he gets to the end of verse 21, and he says this in verse 22, and now, behold, there's a couple times when Paul says, and now, behold.
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like he's changing the subject, and he says, And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Here's this next part, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: I why are you going to Jerusalem if you don't know what you're going to do there?
SPEAKER_02: What's going to happen?
SPEAKER_02: Because I am constrained by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: This is what I mean when you expect your church leadership to be spirit-led, to be constrained.
SPEAKER_02: Constrained is a hard word for us to grasp because we don't use it this way very often.
SPEAKER_02: But basically, it refers to being under the influence of.
SPEAKER_02: Constrained by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Under the influence of, what do you mean under the influence of?
SPEAKER_02: One of the translations of that word constrained, other places in the New Testament, is the word wind.
SPEAKER_02: Constrained by the wind.
SPEAKER_02: Constrained by something I couldn't see, and it's hard for me to explain, but I know it's happening, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Because it is on me and it is moving me towards Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_02: I am constrained by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what's going to happen to me there.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine men waking your wife up tomorrow?
SPEAKER_02: Let us imagine your husband waking you up and saying, Hey, we're going to Detroit.
SPEAKER_02: What are we going to Detroit for?
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, but the Holy Spirit said, Go to Detroit.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, you enjoy yourself.
SPEAKER_02: I ain't going.
SPEAKER_02: No, he's constrained by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: To be constrained is not to be forced against your will, it's to be propelled by the wind.
SPEAKER_02: It reminds me of what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John chapter 3.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is talking to this guy named Nicodemus, uh, who comes to, he's very religious.
SPEAKER_02: He comes to Jesus at night because you want people to see that, hey, I'm religious, but I don't have a relationship.
SPEAKER_02: Uh he comes to Jesus at night and he starts a conversation.
SPEAKER_02: And in that conversation, I mean, he's like, Rabbi, we can tell that you're a teacher because no one can do the things you do if God weren't with him.
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus just, I'm not here to be complimented, bro.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, hey, marvel not that you must be born again.
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, how can a man enter a second time into his mother's womb go in this conversation about what does it mean to be born again?
SPEAKER_02: And in that conversation, Jesus said, This do not marvel that I say to you, you must be born again.
SPEAKER_02: The wind blows wherever it wishes.
SPEAKER_02: You hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
SPEAKER_02: So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Do you hear that?
SPEAKER_02: The wind blows wherever it wishes.
SPEAKER_02: You hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
SPEAKER_02: So it is with everyone who's born of the spirit.
SPEAKER_02: The next time someone asks you, hey, what's it like to be a Christian?
SPEAKER_02: Just say, it's like the wind.
SPEAKER_02: It's like the wind.
SPEAKER_02: You hear it sound, you don't know where it comes from, where it's going.
SPEAKER_02: Because the Bible says this is how leaders in your church, and by the way, Christians should be constrained by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just math, it's music, okay?
SPEAKER_02: You should be constrained.
SPEAKER_02: This is what I mean by being spirit-led.
SPEAKER_02: Fifthly, you should be to put a start by this one because you'd be like, I don't get that.
SPEAKER_02: You should expect us to be if only people.
SPEAKER_02: If only people.
SPEAKER_02: You're like, what do you mean, if only people?
SPEAKER_02: And now, behold, verse 22, I'm going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me, except the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.
SPEAKER_02: But, verse 24, I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself.
SPEAKER_02: If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
SPEAKER_02: You should expect your church leadership to be if-only people.
SPEAKER_02: You have to be clear about what your pastor and your elders, what they say is their if only, because if only this is happening, then they're content and they're satisfied, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Notice that Paul's if only was.
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't his life or his comfort.
SPEAKER_02: He said, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that God has given me.
SPEAKER_02: Don't confuse the two.
SPEAKER_02: The guy that called me during COVID and said, I think I'm gonna quit, go work for my father-in-law.
SPEAKER_02: I say, okay, if that's what you need to do, oh well, you know, this is just hard.
SPEAKER_02: I didn't sign on for this.
SPEAKER_02: So let me guess, you just signed on to be listened to every Sunday?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, bro, I'm not getting to preach, and I just miss preaching.
SPEAKER_02: And I think I'm gonna take it as a sign.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, oh see, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_02: Some people's if only is very small.
SPEAKER_02: If only this happens.
SPEAKER_02: If your if only is very small, then your life will be very small.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, if only.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to Jerusalem constrained by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit testifies to me that affliction and hardships await me.
SPEAKER_02: But here's the only thing that matters: if only I may finish, if I may finish my course and the ministry.
SPEAKER_02: My course, this is my personality, my gifts, my responsibility being lived out, the ministry, I don't own that.
SPEAKER_02: I was called to that.
SPEAKER_02: I submit to that, I surrender to that.
SPEAKER_02: You gotta be, we gotta be if only people.
SPEAKER_02: If only this happens, because once you understand someone's if only, then and only then can you make sense of their life.
SPEAKER_02: If your if only is, I hope specs is open.
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be hard for you.
SPEAKER_02: If uh students, if your if-only is, oh, if only he notices me and hits me back on social media, that's a lot of power to give to a boy or a girl, guys.
SPEAKER_02: If only we are to be the leaders of your church, should be if-only people.
SPEAKER_02: Number six, you should be kingdom-driven.
SPEAKER_02: Kingdom-driven, you say, verse 25, and now behold, I know that none of you none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see me again.
SPEAKER_02: People in the Bible, they proclaim the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: They didn't talk about their church.
SPEAKER_02: Somebody sent me a service of a church, their Easter service, and they said, Could you evaluate this and give us some feedback?
SPEAKER_02: We're considering attending here.
SPEAKER_02: It's in another part of the state.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but we have a weird feeling, we don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_02: And I watched it and it was brutal.
SPEAKER_02: And it was here's why it was brutal.
SPEAKER_02: It was 38 minutes of self-promotion, of videos of people talking about how the church has changed their life and how this has changed their life, and this has changed their life, and this ministry changed their life.
SPEAKER_02: And there were four videos chalked through there in Easter.
SPEAKER_02: Easter is about Jesus and the resurrection, not your church.
SPEAKER_02: It's not a captive audience for a church commercial, is what I wrote back.
SPEAKER_02: And they said, you know what?
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: That helped name it for us because we were like, why are we bothered?
SPEAKER_02: This is slick and smooth and high tag, but why do I walk out bothered?
SPEAKER_02: I bet you walked out hungry too.
SPEAKER_02: They're like, Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Well, kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: It went about proclaiming the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: We proclaim the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: We never get tired of it because it's always coming.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, Jesus said, the disciples said, teach us how to pray.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Pray this way.
SPEAKER_02: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
SPEAKER_02: When the kingdom comes, God's will is getting done.
SPEAKER_02: One of our if only's here is, hey, it is the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: Is this expressing the kingdom?
SPEAKER_02: Or are we just trying to build our little kingdoms?
SPEAKER_02: No, we're here to lay our lives down for the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: You should hear us talk about the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: You should see us labor for the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: And here's why.
SPEAKER_02: The kingdom of God is the only thing that's going to outlast everything.
SPEAKER_02: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_02: The kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus preached the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: He did not talk about church, he preached the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: People said to me, Hey, you should you should promote your church more.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, that's my people's responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: I say that behind your back, I'll say it to your face.
SPEAKER_02: They said, What do you mean your people's responsibility?
SPEAKER_02: Listen, there's a place in Jacksonboro, Texas called Herd's Hamburgers.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't have a website.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: Businessmen come from Abilene to Fort Worth to do business.
SPEAKER_02: They drive up there and go to Herds and get a hamburger.
SPEAKER_02: It's been there for years, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Some days you'll stand in line forever.
SPEAKER_02: Here's why.
SPEAKER_02: I think churches grow the same way a good hamburger joint grows.
SPEAKER_02: People eat there and they enjoy the meal and they tell their friends about it.
SPEAKER_02: And that's what I tell people.
SPEAKER_02: I said, that's my people's responsibility.
SPEAKER_02: They talk to their people in their circles of influence.
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Well, what are you guys about?
SPEAKER_02: We're about the kingdom and the king.
SPEAKER_02: We love those two things.
SPEAKER_02: When I say the kingdom of God is the only thing that's going to outlast everything, here's where I mean.
SPEAKER_02: That's not an original idea.
SPEAKER_02: I stole that right from Matthew 24.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is talking to these people about how it's all going to go down in the end, and they get a little nervous and like, hey, hey, can you tell us when this is going to happen so we can plan accordingly?
SPEAKER_02: And he says this as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, Tell us, when will these things be?
SPEAKER_02: And what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age?
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus answered them, See that no one leads you astray.
SPEAKER_02: For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray.
SPEAKER_02: And you'll hear wars and rumors of wars.
SPEAKER_02: Watch the news lately.
SPEAKER_02: See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
SPEAKER_02: For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there'll be famines and earthquakes in various places, and all these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 9.
SPEAKER_02: Then they will deliver you up.
SPEAKER_02: See, it's not personal yet.
SPEAKER_02: It's just out there in public.
SPEAKER_02: Now it gets personal.
SPEAKER_02: Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
SPEAKER_02: And then many will fall away.
SPEAKER_02: Many will fall away.
SPEAKER_02: It's called deconstructing their faith.
SPEAKER_02: No, it's the faith, it's not your faith.
SPEAKER_02: If you can take out parts of it, it's your faith.
SPEAKER_02: If it stands alone, it's the faith, the historic biblical Christian faith.
SPEAKER_02: And many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.
SPEAKER_02: Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
SPEAKER_02: And because lawlessness will be increased, you ever look around and just think, man, does anybody follow the law?
SPEAKER_02: Because lawlessness will be increased, love of many will grow cold.
SPEAKER_02: They just get disillusioned.
SPEAKER_02: What's the use of loving God in a world full of people that hate him?
SPEAKER_02: The love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
SPEAKER_02: And this gospel of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: This is the kingdom gospel.
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't lie to you and say, hey, if you just pray this prayer, you're going to prosper and be rich and not have any problems.
SPEAKER_02: Those people are the ones that are getting exposed now.
SPEAKER_02: These famous TV preachers that you watch on Sunday night.
SPEAKER_02: I had lunch with a friend at Herouska's in Ellinger on Friday.
SPEAKER_02: He goes, He's from Austin.
SPEAKER_02: He said, You want to meet Horuskus?
SPEAKER_02: Does a wild bear sleep in the woods?
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I do.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Man, there's like five like famous pastors in the Dallas Fort Worth area have all had to resign because of moral failings.
SPEAKER_02: I think the first problem is not moral failings.
SPEAKER_02: I think the first problem is famous pastor.
SPEAKER_02: Just be faithful.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you, some of you think, man, God maybe called me into ministry.
SPEAKER_02: What's that lie?
SPEAKER_02: Just be faithful, and the rest will sort itself out.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, hey, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.
SPEAKER_02: And then the end will come.
SPEAKER_02: See, we're about the kingdom.
SPEAKER_02: We proclaim the kingdom because the kingdom is the only thing that's going to outlast everything.
SPEAKER_02: It's going to outlast people quitting.
SPEAKER_02: It's going to outlast these preachers that say one thing and live another.
SPEAKER_02: It's going to outlast the next controversy, the controversy after that.
SPEAKER_02: The kingdom of God is so indestructible that Jesus let little kids play with it.
SPEAKER_02: Say there's one who wants to play with it right now.
SPEAKER_02: Here's the seventh thing: gospel intentionality.
SPEAKER_02: What do you mean, gospel intentionality?
SPEAKER_02: Here's what I mean.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 26, therefore I testify to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
SPEAKER_02: I am innocent of the blood of all.
SPEAKER_02: How could he say that?
SPEAKER_02: Because he was intentional with the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: He was intentional.
SPEAKER_02: He called people to consider the claims of Christianity.
SPEAKER_02: He said, Hey, forsake everything else for it and subject everything in your life to it.
SPEAKER_02: This is why he could say, I am innocent of the blood of all.
SPEAKER_02: Now, why can he why can he say I'm innocent of the blood of all?
SPEAKER_02: And what's the blood got to do with anything?
SPEAKER_02: We'll get to that in just a minute.
SPEAKER_02: He could say, I'm innocent of the blood of all.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because how do you shrink back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God's word?
SPEAKER_02: Now, I want us to look at a piece of Old Testament scripture.
SPEAKER_02: Helps us grasp what Paul is saying when he says, I am innocent of the blood of all.
SPEAKER_02: You got to go way back to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 33, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Ezekiel 33, because this is how soberly they took the responsibility of sharing the gospel with unbelievers.
SPEAKER_02: This is what God's word says in Ezekiel 33.
SPEAKER_02: He's trying to give an analogy that they the Christians are like watchmen on the wall.
SPEAKER_02: And when you see trouble coming, you got to sound the trumpet.
SPEAKER_02: And if you sound the trumpet and people are like, nah, I don't believe that, bro.
SPEAKER_02: I'm agnostic.
SPEAKER_02: They're going to die, but their blood will be on their hands.
SPEAKER_02: But if you see the trouble coming, hear me now, Christian.
SPEAKER_02: If you see the trouble coming and you go, oh honey, get the kids in the suburban.
SPEAKER_02: We're going to move out in the country on our 40 acres that our families owned.
SPEAKER_02: We're going to build a little Christian compound with two other Christian families, and we're going to have a shared vegetable garden.
SPEAKER_02: And these people can all go to hell.
SPEAKER_02: It won't be good for you.
SPEAKER_02: That's Christian escapism.
SPEAKER_02: My question is simply this: how do you live out to one another's when you just live in isolation?
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says like this in Ezekiel, the word of the Lord came to me, Son of Man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring sword upon the land and the people of the land take a man from among them and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet, does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
SPEAKER_02: He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning.
SPEAKER_02: His blood shall be upon himself.
SPEAKER_02: But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 6 But if the watchman, that's you and me, Christians, sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned.
SPEAKER_02: And the sword comes and takes any one of them.
SPEAKER_02: That person is taken away in his iniquity, his sin, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.
SPEAKER_02: So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.
SPEAKER_02: Makes me think of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14.
SPEAKER_02: He just asks a simple question.
SPEAKER_02: He says, If the trumpet makes an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?
SPEAKER_02: Is your life making a distinct sound these days?
SPEAKER_02: Or is it indistinct?
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to rock the boat.
SPEAKER_02: I don't want people to think I'm some kind of a crazy Jesus person.
SPEAKER_02: See, when you when the trumpet makes an indistinct sound, no one's helped by that.
SPEAKER_02: No one gets ready for what's coming.
SPEAKER_02: See, this is what I mean when I say that Paul was he he practiced gospel intentionality.
SPEAKER_02: We you should expect us to engage you in spiritual conversations and just say, hey, tell me where you are with the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Has that ever happened for you?
SPEAKER_02: Is that something you're still considering?
SPEAKER_02: Here's the last thing.
SPEAKER_02: You still with me?
SPEAKER_02: I know it's Labor Day.
SPEAKER_02: I'm supposed to talk about the beauty of not working or something like that.
SPEAKER_02: Materially content.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I I originally, when I when I studied and wrote, I stopped at verse 31.
SPEAKER_02: And a couple days ago, the Holy Spirit was like, Hello.
SPEAKER_02: There's more meat on the bone here, Skippy.
SPEAKER_02: So I just want to start reading verse 33.
SPEAKER_02: Look at what it says.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says, I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.
SPEAKER_02: You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.
SPEAKER_02: And all things I've shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: How he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
SPEAKER_02: Materially content means that we're not greedy for gain.
SPEAKER_02: We're not peddling the word of God for profit.
SPEAKER_02: We're men and women who work hard.
SPEAKER_02: We're content with what we have.
SPEAKER_02: We're not always greedy for more.
SPEAKER_02: We don't have a file where we put a list of our accomplishments, and then in our annual review, we go to our executive pastor Wade and say, Hey, Wade, here's my list of things I did, my successes.
SPEAKER_02: I'd like to talk about my salary.
SPEAKER_02: No, that's what the world does.
SPEAKER_02: You should expect all of us in leadership just to be content people materialistically.
SPEAKER_02: Not not poverty, simplicity.
SPEAKER_02: The Bible says it like this in 1 Timothy chapter 6, and I'll be done.
SPEAKER_02: He says, but godliness with contentment is great gain.
SPEAKER_02: You should look at us and go, man, that guy's content.
SPEAKER_02: He should see us with our wives or with our husbands and go, man, there's not another person in the world for that for that person.
SPEAKER_02: He's so content with his marriage.
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02: Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world.
SPEAKER_02: But if we have food and clothing with these, we'll be content.
SPEAKER_02: See how reductionistic the Bible is?
SPEAKER_02: If we have food or clothing, I was watching TV yesterday, trying to watch college baseball, like I mean college football like a good Christian should.
SPEAKER_02: And every other commercial was a big Labor Day sale.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what I'm saying, folks.
SPEAKER_02: We live in a culture that markets discontent.
SPEAKER_02: We have food and clothing, with these we'll be content.
SPEAKER_02: But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, and into it many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
SPEAKER_02: For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
SPEAKER_02: It's not money.
SPEAKER_02: Money's not the root of all evil.
SPEAKER_02: The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.
SPEAKER_02: There are preachers, there are prosperity preachers on TV that love money and they see the gospel or whatever they call the gospel as a means to get more of it.
SPEAKER_02: It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
SPEAKER_02: Now I share all this today.
SPEAKER_02: I know it's kind of like, hey, bro, come on.
SPEAKER_02: There's no Sunday school.
SPEAKER_02: We're going to brunch.
SPEAKER_02: Lighten up.
SPEAKER_02: I share this today because this is what everyone of you should expect from the leadership of your church.
SPEAKER_02: If you're visiting today, if you're watching on the internet, you should go, okay, I should expect this from my church.
SPEAKER_02: If you're part of this church, then this is what you should expect from me and everybody that stood earlier and said, Hey, I'm a part of the staff here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm part of the elder leadership team.
SPEAKER_02: This is what you should expect from us.
SPEAKER_02: And what hopefully, here's what I want us, I want us to, I want you to go, oh, that's the standard.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I now know how to look at you guys, you men and women.
SPEAKER_02: But here's the other thing I want you to understand from the Bible, okay?
SPEAKER_02: Uh the Bible's very clear, and I'm and and I'm and I'm done.
SPEAKER_02: Uh we've got to flip this now.
SPEAKER_02: Leadership has expectations of the people.
SPEAKER_02: And that's all we ever talk about.
SPEAKER_02: But you should have expectations of us.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: Say amen.
SPEAKER_02: You don't be mean-spirited, don't be like, oh, Ian, are you servant?
SPEAKER_02: How'd you serve this week?
SPEAKER_02: No, but you should just look at us through a biblical lens.
SPEAKER_02: Because that's what Paul did.
SPEAKER_02: These these elders at the at the church at Ephesus.
SPEAKER_02: And here's here's here's I I wrote in the margin of my Bible, this is how you leave a church.
SPEAKER_02: These people got around him and they wept over him.
SPEAKER_02: And here's why they wept.
SPEAKER_02: We're never gonna see this guy again.
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, man, we're gonna miss this guy.
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine missing somebody that much?
SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine missing a preacher that much?
SPEAKER_02: Instead of bring up the seminary, give us another, and we got all the soap out of this guy.
SPEAKER_02: We need somebody between 35 and 40 that's got 2.4 kids in a minivan.
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: Because Paul lived out what he believed.
SPEAKER_02: We don't just have expectations of you.
SPEAKER_02: You should have expectations of us.
SPEAKER_02: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: Say amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest today, you just relax.
SPEAKER_02: We like to teach the Bible and give you some space to think about it.
SPEAKER_02: Some questions come up on the screen, that's just for your consideration.
SPEAKER_02: We'll talk about those in our community groups when they meet.
SPEAKER_02: Feel free to take a picture.
SPEAKER_02: Just take a minute just to be still.
SPEAKER_02: A lot on the plate today, and that's okay.
SPEAKER_02: It's a good weekend, have a good meal, and then go to the next meal.
SPEAKER_02: And digest this and think about it.
SPEAKER_02: Churches have got to stop using people to accomplish their goals.
SPEAKER_02: They should be serving you.
SPEAKER_02: They should be live among you.
SPEAKER_02: You should know them.
SPEAKER_02: Let's think about these things for just a minute.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, I want to just uh say out loud the most helpful part of 1 Timothy 6 for me to consider is a simple sentence that says, if we have food and clothing, with that we'll be content.
SPEAKER_02: That means anything above that, I have a lot to be grateful for.
SPEAKER_02: It's very humbling.
SPEAKER_02: So Lord, thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_02: And it it puts the onus on church leadership.
SPEAKER_02: We we gotta be men and women that that traffic in these truths.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm thankful that we are.
SPEAKER_02: And so, Lord, uh, we we don't want to get it twisted.
SPEAKER_02: This is not about us, this is about you.
SPEAKER_02: You've been good to this place for a long time, and we're humbled by your presence and the way you provide it.
SPEAKER_02: And so we say, lead on, good shepherd.
SPEAKER_02: We want to be a church, not just leadership and people, but we want to be a church as a whole that is constrained by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: We'll do whatever you say to do, and we'll not do anything you say not to do.
SPEAKER_02: This is our understanding of how it works.
SPEAKER_02: This is what brings you glory, and that's therefore that's what we want to do.
SPEAKER_02: We're not we're not here to compete with a bunch of other churches in our town.
SPEAKER_02: We bless all of them in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: We pray for their leadership in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: We want to be constrained, men and women.
SPEAKER_02: So thank you for that in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_02: What everyone said.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: If you're our guest, let me say thanks for being here.
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh I know it's a big deal to find a church that's a fit for you and your family.
SPEAKER_02: We let people move at your own pace.
SPEAKER_02: When you're ready to let us know you're here, if you just text welcome to that number on the screen behind me, uh that that's all we ask of you.
SPEAKER_02: We'll shoot you back a text.
SPEAKER_02: We want to help you take the next step in your spiritual journey.
SPEAKER_02: If our church is a part of that, we would love that.
SPEAKER_02: We'll answer any questions you can have.
SPEAKER_02: One thing one thing about being knowable, we're not defensive.
SPEAKER_02: You can ask us anything.
SPEAKER_02: Uh uh, does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you you can speak of asking some of our pastors be available down front as soon as you're dismissed here in a minute.
SPEAKER_02: If you got any questions, you can come up and ask us.
SPEAKER_02: If we can pray for you, we'd love to do that, okay?
SPEAKER_02: We got things going on in life for church.
SPEAKER_02: We'll make you aware of that by way of our video announcements.
SPEAKER_02: So check out the screens this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our community groups begin meeting on September 15th.
SPEAKER_00: This environment is where our people most regularly feel known and cared for.
SPEAKER_00: This is also where we consistently love one another with our spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_00: These become the people who celebrate your wins and are there for you on your hardest days.
SPEAKER_00: Most of them meet on the first and third Sunday of the month where we digest the sermon through directed questions.
SPEAKER_00: There's child care available at the church for children up to third grade.
SPEAKER_00: To find a group that's convenient for you, we have a map of our group locations on our website.
SPEAKER_00: Scroll down and you'll find a description of each group there.
SPEAKER_00: There are four brand new groups starting this year.
SPEAKER_00: Contact me, Blake at Grandparkway.org, to get you connected to a group.
SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I appreciate your attention this morning.
SPEAKER_02: I owe you about four minutes.
SPEAKER_02: I'll give it back to you next Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: I just, there's nobody I'm harder on than leadership.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, because I believe what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_02: It says that judgment begins with the house of God.
SPEAKER_02: That's not just you, that that's us as well.
SPEAKER_02: And so, anyway, would I conclude our service with a spoken blessing?
SPEAKER_02: So, if you would stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_02: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_02: And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance, an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
SPEAKER_02: That's you, beloved, if you're a Christ Father.
SPEAKER_02: You're sanctified.
SPEAKER_02: You're set apart.
SPEAKER_02: You're not better than, but you're set apart for.
SPEAKER_02: Get out of here and give yourselves what God set you apart for.
SPEAKER_02: In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Bless you.