SPEAKER_01: This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_01: For more information on our church, please visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: How are we doing today?
SPEAKER_00: You good?
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you.
SPEAKER_00: We're finishing a three-part series where we've been talking about our core values a couple weeks ago, which our core values are simply intimacy with God, community uh with others, and now today I'll talk about ministry that matters.
SPEAKER_00: Ministry that matters.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, what do you mean when you say ministry that matters?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me just say it like this.
SPEAKER_00: The church can do a lot of things that really don't aren't going to matter in eternity.
SPEAKER_00: When you get to the promised land, you'll look back and you'll kind of go, why did we do that?
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And so we want to be a part of.
SPEAKER_00: We're not a perfect church.
SPEAKER_00: If we were, I couldn't be the pastor.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: I heard that over there.
SPEAKER_00: Uh somebody went, uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00: Uh by the way, because I spilled coffee on myself between the services.
SPEAKER_00: See, because I'm not, not only I'm not perfect, I'm not coordinated.
SPEAKER_00: You ever get you ever get your clothes in the cleaner and you think I'm gonna get two or three wearings out of that before I have to take it back?
SPEAKER_00: Broke the little purple tab off of this morning, spilled coffee on it two hours later.
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, uh, we talk about ministry that matters.
SPEAKER_00: We just want to be a part of doing and being something that's gonna matter, not just in this life, but in the life to come.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus talks about that, and he gave us some kind of some fixed points to orient ourselves around.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 10, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
SPEAKER_00: Go your way.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
SPEAKER_00: Carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house, and if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him, but if not, it will return to you, and remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages.
SPEAKER_00: Do not go from house to house.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you, heal the sick in it, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you.
SPEAKER_00: But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we will wipe off against you.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.
SPEAKER_00: I tell I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
SPEAKER_00: Woe to you, Chlorizine, woe to you, Beth Seda, for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
SPEAKER_00: But it would be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
SPEAKER_00: And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven?
SPEAKER_00: You shall be brought down to Hades.
SPEAKER_00: The one who hears you, hears me.
SPEAKER_00: The one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.
SPEAKER_00: And the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: When we talk about ministry that matters, there's basically three things that Jesus kind of says, hey, it involves this, it involves evangelism, it involves the kingdom, and it involves joy.
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk to you briefly about those three things this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: What do we mean when we say evangelism?
SPEAKER_00: For us here at Grand Parkway, evangelism is the works of Jesus and the words of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If all we do is tell people about Jesus, but we don't demonstrate, we don't do the things that Jesus would do, then our evangelism and our share in the gospel or our our whatever you call it, uh, it has no meaning in people's lives because they want to see that this has been affected.
SPEAKER_00: This has kind of somehow changed who we are and how we operate, how we spend money, how we spend our spare time and what we do.
SPEAKER_00: There's three things I don't want you to miss that I think kind of you kind of hang flesh on.
SPEAKER_00: First thing is that they're sent.
SPEAKER_00: They're sent, you and I are sent.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 2, what Jesus says to them.
SPEAKER_00: He says, and he sent them, and he said to them, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest field.
SPEAKER_00: Then he says, Go your way.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just stop right there.
SPEAKER_00: When he says, Behold, what he's basically saying is, hey, don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: Look, I understand the context into which I am sending you.
SPEAKER_00: He says, check it out, guys.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the deal.
SPEAKER_00: I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.
SPEAKER_00: And you've got to, those 72 people standing there, those 72 guys were probably like, no, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't sign up for do you have dental insurance?
SPEAKER_00: Hang on, what?
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Wait.
SPEAKER_00: See, see, here's what makes whatever circumstance you find yourself in bearable is that you're sent there.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'm sending you out.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I'm sending you out as lambs among the wolves.
SPEAKER_00: He understood that.
SPEAKER_00: Have you any idea in your mind what wolves do to lambs?
SPEAKER_00: You say, well, why would he do that?
SPEAKER_00: Because when he sends you, he goes with you.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he would do that.
SPEAKER_00: And so here's the reality, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to find yourself, and I'm going to find myself in circumstances that don't feel good, that don't feel stimulating, that aren't always kind of, uh, that doesn't mean that God's not there.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, when I first became, well, I was a Christian, the first four or five years I was a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: I was trying to find a church that I thought just takes the Bible seriously.
SPEAKER_00: And it was so hard because the church growth thing had just started and everyone was just kind of going, hey, we're gonna, and I remember going to a church and and and the doors opened up back here, and like ten people, five from that side and five from that side, and they all had on black slacks and black skirts and jewel tone tops and microphones, and they say, Oh, and they had hand motions.
SPEAKER_00: And it was choreographed.
SPEAKER_00: And then someone would back up and someone would step up and talk a little bit, and they'd do their little thing.
SPEAKER_00: And they'd step back, and I was just kind of like, you know, listen, when the transmission dropped out of my car on the side of the road, no one was standing there going with hand motions.
SPEAKER_00: And now you are up the creek without a paddle.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot afford this.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember having deep thoughts as a young Christian, like, why does the church not seem to understand what real life is like?
SPEAKER_00: You guys are inviting me into that.
SPEAKER_00: That's not real.
SPEAKER_00: No one has it that all together.
SPEAKER_00: I can't even drink without spilling it on myself.
SPEAKER_00: This is like Ken and Barbie up here.
SPEAKER_00: And then it dawned on me, and I realized something this past week.
SPEAKER_00: I was reading and I read, a man named Richard Stearns, by the way, wrote a book called The Hole in Our Gospel that everyone should read.
SPEAKER_00: Great book.
SPEAKER_00: But I read it, well, I wasn't reading this book, I was reading this article that he had written, and they were interviewing him.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, Richard Stearns, he was a CEO of Linux China, and he left that to become the president of World Vision.
SPEAKER_00: And so they were asking him about the church, and I thought he had a great quote.
SPEAKER_00: I want to share it with you.
SPEAKER_00: He said the predicament of the American church is that we live in a kind of magic kingdom, like going to Disneyland.
SPEAKER_00: You buy your ticket, and once you're inside the gates, everything you experience is controlled.
SPEAKER_00: The rides, the food, the shows are all there to entertain and amuse you.
SPEAKER_00: All you have to do is be there and observe.
SPEAKER_00: As Christians, we too are tempted to see our world that way.
SPEAKER_00: We start thinking that our job is to invite a few fortunate others into the theme park away from the troubles outside.
SPEAKER_00: But our job isn't to increase the attendance at Disneyland, it is to tear down the walls and transform the world outside.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus so believed that he looked at these 72 and said, I'm sending you out because I do not believe your mission is to increase the attendance at Disneyland.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sending you out as lambs among wolves.
SPEAKER_00: And those wacko people were like, rock and roll.
SPEAKER_00: Sign me up.
SPEAKER_00: See, being sent, knowing that you are somewhere and it's God's idea, is a great place to be.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the second reason why, because not only are you sent, see, see, evangelism, doing the gospel is not just I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm here and it's not my idea, but secondly, I'm provided for.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: He says, carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.
SPEAKER_00: You ever read things in the Bible and think, I don't know what they mean, no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what, and I could go into all that and tell you, well, the biblical background for that is blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'd rather do, men.
SPEAKER_00: Men, it would be like you going home and telling your wife, we're going on a vacation next week, we're going to Cancun for a week, and I don't want you to pack anything.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need makeup, you don't need anything.
SPEAKER_00: Just come on, let's go.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know what it's like in your house.
SPEAKER_00: But if I told my kids, like right now, we go to my in-laws every December for a week after Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: I hang out, I fix stuff, I joke around a lot about it, but it's so cathartic for me.
SPEAKER_00: I just love it.
SPEAKER_00: But if I'm, I mean, my wife and kids start packing three weeks before we leave.
SPEAKER_00: And my kids pack their whole, they pack stuffed animals.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, no, we don't need those.
SPEAKER_00: We don't need those.
SPEAKER_00: I've got to have these.
SPEAKER_00: Madison, you're 14.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need those anymore.
SPEAKER_00: But they just come up the hallway with wheeled suitcases.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it takes a day to get there and a day to come back.
SPEAKER_00: We're there three days, and they got wheeled suitcases full of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, and my wife's like, oh babe, it's no big deal.
SPEAKER_00: You ain't gotta load it and unload it.
SPEAKER_00: It's a big deal.
SPEAKER_00: And so this next time we go out of town, I'm gonna tell them take nothing for your journey.
SPEAKER_00: No knapsack, no money bag, no.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine how much confidence your wife would not have in you if you start driving to the airport and she said, Where are the tickets?
SPEAKER_00: Tickets?
SPEAKER_00: We don't need those thinking tickets.
SPEAKER_00: I put the tickets where I keep the badges.
SPEAKER_00: That's where they are.
SPEAKER_00: She'd be like, Are you crazy?
SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna drive?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how much I mean, we need to fill up?
SPEAKER_00: I ain't got no money.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, she would be on the side of the road beating you with an umbrella.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I just told my kid, hey, we're not packing anything, they'd be like, Dan, dude, we're not going.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what makes it bearable.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, hey, don't pack anything.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, what he's saying is, I got this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm Jehovah Jirah, the Lord God who provides.
SPEAKER_00: Unless you go where I tell you to do and do what I tell you to do when you get there, how else are you gonna know what I'm capable of?
SPEAKER_00: See, there's a real sufficient Jesus just beyond the realm of what you think is possible.
SPEAKER_00: Real sufficient Jesus out there.
SPEAKER_00: Third thing, Jesus says to these people.
SPEAKER_00: See, evangelism is not just hanging stuff on people's door, giving them little bucklets.
SPEAKER_00: Third thing, he says, you're representatives.
SPEAKER_00: Look, look, just you say, Well, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: Two things I want you to see.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, look at verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: He says the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into circle this little word, his harvest.
SPEAKER_00: It's not my harvest.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to try to make something happen.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to get in conversations with an agenda and think, okay, well, I'm gonna say this, and then they're gonna say that, and then I'm gonna just kind of.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: God's in charge of this whole enterprise.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Well, I don't know what you mean.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: Sink your teeth into this.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, look at right there in the Bible in Luke 10.
SPEAKER_00: The one who hears you, hears me.
SPEAKER_00: No pressure there.
SPEAKER_00: Is this in red in your Bible?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, Listen, you I so trust you to represent me that whoever hears you, hears me.
SPEAKER_00: So use as much profanity as you think I would use.
SPEAKER_00: Uh-oh.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_00: We don't hit a speed bump up in here.
SPEAKER_00: Please hold on to the bar.
SPEAKER_00: The ride is about to depart.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, tell as many off-color jokes tomorrow at work as you think Jesus would tell.
SPEAKER_00: Because when people hear you, they hear him.
SPEAKER_00: No pressure.
SPEAKER_00: When people, some of y'all are kind of like, do you just go around having awkward conversations with people?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: I had a conversation a while back with a girl at the Starbucks, not far from here.
SPEAKER_00: That way, next to a major highway, a couple doors down from Chile in an ATT store.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of in that general vicinity.
SPEAKER_00: And basically we got I I was reading or something in there, and she started asking me questions, the baristas, they're called, um, and and and we just got talking, and I just think, okay, God, I I don't I don't have like a like a glossary of terms.
SPEAKER_00: What am I gonna say?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, if you come to the point and you know for sure if you died tonight, you'd go to heaven?
SPEAKER_00: And if you did and you stood before God and God said, Why should I let you in?
SPEAKER_00: What what would you tell him?
SPEAKER_00: You really think God's that stupid?
SPEAKER_00: It's like God, oh, you're here?
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't expecting you.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, why should I let you in?
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna huff and puff and blow the door down?
SPEAKER_00: Well, my name is Benigamantoya, you killed my father, prepared to die.
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we make it sound like it's that willy-nilly, like, well, if you snuck up on Jesus, but instead, look at this.
SPEAKER_00: Here, here's what here's the point I'm trying to make.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this, okay?
SPEAKER_00: It's not, you and I have got to stop waiting for permission from the world to let the kingdom come out.
SPEAKER_00: You you you can't just wait.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 16, because look, hear this, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: You come from a long line of authority.
SPEAKER_00: You are descendants of authority, you're not people of permission.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, he says, the one who hears you hears me, and you think, wow.
SPEAKER_00: And the one who rejects you rejects me.
SPEAKER_00: So you can, because you represent him, you can be rejected.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've been told where to go in more languages than I'll ever speak.
SPEAKER_00: And the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.
SPEAKER_00: See, there's you, and then behind you, there's Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Behind Jesus is Father God.
SPEAKER_00: That's a law.
SPEAKER_00: You're descendants of authority.
SPEAKER_00: Stop waiting on permission.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you're his representatives.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, I'm sending you out as lambs among wolves.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, don't take anything for your journey.
SPEAKER_00: We're going on a seven-day carnival cruise, so hopefully they won't hit rocks this time, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But don't pack makeup.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, tell your wife, we're gonna take a family portrait on the vacation, too, where you don't have any luggage or makeup.
SPEAKER_00: And just watch all the Here's the point.
SPEAKER_00: There are things in the Bible that when you really understand them, they sound crazy.
SPEAKER_00: But what makes it possible?
SPEAKER_00: He sent you.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm standing up there in a Starbucks, and the ladies like, well, you don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just I just came on church a long time ago.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just and I just said, I hey, I don't want to hear all this.
SPEAKER_00: We ain't gotta get into this.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing that you've done that God cannot and will not forgive.
SPEAKER_00: That's all you need to know today.
SPEAKER_00: And all the other baristas, which is a great name.
SPEAKER_00: I want to change my title from lead pastor to lead barista.
SPEAKER_00: It sounds sexy and exotic and Italian.
SPEAKER_00: So that's my new title.
SPEAKER_00: You call me the lead barista.
SPEAKER_00: She said, what some of the girls like, well, you don't know what she's done.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I don't know what she's done.
SPEAKER_00: I ain't gotta know what she's done.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are all squawking about.
SPEAKER_00: You're judging her, you're judging her.
SPEAKER_00: I can't judge her.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to judge her, and I don't know what she's done.
SPEAKER_00: That's why.
SPEAKER_00: So, how can you say that you know there's nothing she's done that God wouldn't forgive?
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to know what she's done.
SPEAKER_00: I just have to know God.
SPEAKER_00: And good news today, I do.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's circumstantial.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm talking about is certain.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta get the drive-through.
SPEAKER_00: I gotta get back to work.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, give me the headphone.
SPEAKER_00: Let me work the drive-thru.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: I'm available.
SPEAKER_00: Just want you to know that.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing Jesus says, he says, number one, ministry that matters is about evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, uh don't turn to Galatians 5, 6.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love.
SPEAKER_00: If your faith doesn't tangibly express itself in love, you don't have faith.
SPEAKER_00: You just have a bunch of tradition.
SPEAKER_00: You have the religious habit of doing the same thing every Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: That's our tradition.
SPEAKER_00: But faith that expresses itself through love, that's Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the only thing that matters.
SPEAKER_00: Second thing Jesus says, he says it's about the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: I told y'all, I didn't get to preach to you last week.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get it this week.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9, look what he says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, this is wacko.
SPEAKER_00: He says, whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you.
SPEAKER_00: Heal the sick in it, and say to them, the kingdom of God of God has come near to you.
SPEAKER_00: Look at me, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Translation, Jesus says, here's the only thing that's gonna explain what just happened.
SPEAKER_00: You just healed the sick.
SPEAKER_00: Don't start selling green prosperity handkerchiefs on TV late at night.
SPEAKER_00: Don't sell some kooky miracle spring water like those goofballs on TV that make everybody think we're crazy.
SPEAKER_00: No, you just smile.
SPEAKER_00: Look, it's in quotes.
SPEAKER_00: He expects you to say it.
SPEAKER_00: Is it not in quotes in your Bible?
SPEAKER_00: After verse 9, he says, Heal the sick in it and say to them, quote, the kingdom of God has come to you.
SPEAKER_00: End quote.
SPEAKER_00: Is it not in quotes in your Bible?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever seen anybody get that excited about quotes in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Y'all are like, please, Hammer, don't hurt us.
SPEAKER_00: It's in quotes because he expects you to say it.
SPEAKER_00: He expects you to do and say some things that can only be explained by saying, Hey, heal the sick and it say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you.
SPEAKER_00: But whenever you enter a town, they do not receive you.
SPEAKER_00: Go into its streets and say, Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, when they don't receive you, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, know this that the kingdom of God is come near.
SPEAKER_00: I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why does Jesus say that?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says be more bear for Sodom.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all, yeah, get them.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, Sodom wasn't destroyed because of homosexuality.
SPEAKER_00: They were destroyed because they were not hospitable.
SPEAKER_00: That's why, if you read it in the Bible, promise you it's in there.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus, then he lists all these other towns.
SPEAKER_00: You kind of want it's like Jesus goes like like Neil.
SPEAKER_00: He just goes off on some rabbit trail.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, is he coming back to that Starbucks?
SPEAKER_00: What happened?
SPEAKER_00: I need closure.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus starts talking about all these cities because he says, verse 13, woe to you, Corusine, woe to you, Beth say.
SPEAKER_00: What he's saying is, hey, hey, Sodom, it wasn't, I mean, homosexuality was a sin, and that was part, but hey, they were not hospitable.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't receive the kingdom when it came.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: It's only gonna get more and more and more costly to not receive the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So if they receive you, and if you you you you pray and you heal the sick, and you say, hey, no cookie for me.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God has come near to you.
SPEAKER_00: If they don't receive you, say, okay, but the kingdom of God came near to you.
SPEAKER_00: And like these other Yahoos and these other towns, you didn't get it either.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus goes on.
SPEAKER_00: But let me just say two things you got to understand about the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, you gotta notice that the kingdom of God is unaffected by, it's not determined by or limited because of people's response.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is so indestructible, Jesus let little kids play with it.
SPEAKER_00: He just, what are they gonna do?
SPEAKER_00: Break it now.
SPEAKER_00: You're probably thinking, uh, what is the kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: Great question.
SPEAKER_00: That's the second thing I want you to know.
SPEAKER_00: We need to understand what Jesus means when he talks about the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the definition we use for that.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is the realm within which what God wants done gets done.
SPEAKER_00: When we talk about the kingdom of God, it's not going outside and trying to catch clouds, it's just standing in the rain and getting soaking wet and living your life so as you've got to explain to somebody where you've been and how you got this way.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, let me give you some application that I want you to, because people, every once in a while, people say, Well, Pastor, I uh that was a great sermon, but I wish you would give me some application so I'd know what to do with it.
SPEAKER_00: I don't do application a whole lot because that's not my job.
SPEAKER_00: That's the Holy Spirit's job.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't think the Holy Spirit tells 500 people to do the same thing every Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes when I'm preaching to you, the Holy Spirit says to me, Hey, fat head, you go home and mow your neighbor Jerry's yard.
SPEAKER_00: He's got throat cancer, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And he's gonna try to mow his yard this week, and you're not gonna go ask him, you're just gonna go do it because I told you.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Lord, I don't want to rob him of a privilege of mowing his yard.
SPEAKER_00: Because the longer you're a Christian, the more you can justify doing nothing.
SPEAKER_00: That's jacked up.
SPEAKER_00: And God's like, You want me to pull the world over and whip you right here?
SPEAKER_00: No, please, Hammer, don't hurt me.
SPEAKER_00: I got it.
SPEAKER_00: When I say the So here's the application, okay?
SPEAKER_00: Do something between now and next Sunday that can only be explained by you saying to the person, you did it two or four, the kingdom of God has come near to you.
SPEAKER_00: Fair enough.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to introduce a friend of mine.
SPEAKER_00: I have a prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna ask him, Isaac, would you come up here?
SPEAKER_00: Because I want you to join me in praying for this prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: This is my friend Isaac, because by the way, at this point in the first service, my friend Alton, who some people call gator, we gave Alton uh a Ford Explorer sport track vehicle because he needed the vehicle.
SPEAKER_00: And my friend Isaac here needs a vehicle.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac, come up here just for a second.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all say hi to Isaac.
unknown: Hi.
SPEAKER_00: Come here, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: Here, this is yours.
SPEAKER_00: Hold up like you're eating an ice cream cone and talking to that.
SPEAKER_00: Come over in the lie, you good-looking devil, you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, now, how long have you been coming to this church?
SPEAKER_01: Since September.
SPEAKER_00: Since September.
SPEAKER_00: And you don't know this about Isaac, but Isaac lives about 40 minutes from here, 45 minutes from here, something like that.
SPEAKER_00: And so some of you cry, baby, it's 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: Suck it up.
SPEAKER_00: You've been in America too long.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what you don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac has a job for working for a commercial air conditioning company, don't you, Isaac?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you do.
SPEAKER_00: And so Isaac gets up every day and has to ride the bus because he doesn't have a vehicle.
SPEAKER_00: And how long do you ride the bus every day?
SPEAKER_00: Round trip to work and back home.
SPEAKER_00: How long does it take?
SPEAKER_01: Between four and six hours.
SPEAKER_00: You've ridden a city bus lately.
SPEAKER_00: That's it has to make a bunch of stops to downtown and then you've got to catch it out to Northwest Houston.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Isaac and I have been praying because tell them a story about your mom and the guy that gave them the car.
SPEAKER_00: They don't know this.
SPEAKER_00: See, they just come to drink my coffee and sit on my chairs, Isaac.
SPEAKER_00: They don't understand what a beautiful soul you are.
SPEAKER_00: So tell them what happened to your mom when you were a little kid.
SPEAKER_01: When I was a little boy, my mother was a widow.
SPEAKER_01: She never remarried.
SPEAKER_01: And we lived in the country, probably 30, 40 miles from our from our church.
SPEAKER_01: She had a little Toyota station wagon.
SPEAKER_01: And we had that was the only form of transportation we had on our little farm.
SPEAKER_01: And I remember our station wagon, the transmission went out.
SPEAKER_01: Take a chance my mother always informed me and put me in the know of what God does by showing me how he works.
SPEAKER_01: She prayed and asked me to join her, which I didn't have much to say.
SPEAKER_01: I was a little boy.
SPEAKER_01: And the neighbor man who hated me because I rode my bicycle past his house all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you like kids, period.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you like my mother either because she was a widow.
SPEAKER_01: But he came down and gave her a car that next week.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I don't know why I'm doing this.
SPEAKER_01: I know I have to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And it took three days.
SPEAKER_01: I know what God does.
SPEAKER_01: He's done it for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: And so Isaac and I have been talking and we've been praying, and I told these people, Isaac, I said, here's the application, here's where you put feet on the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, is it do something in the next seven days, between now and next Sunday, uh, that you're going to be explained by saying, hey, the kingdom of God has come near to you.
SPEAKER_00: So you don't know.
SPEAKER_00: But the kind of people you go to church with, I sent out an email a while back and said, or just a week ago, and said, hey, you know, our friend Alton needs a vehicle.
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, hey, mother, I said, pray about whatever you want to give, and we'll all just pony up some money.
SPEAKER_00: And so the first service, we gave Alton a little Ford Explorer sport track vehicle.
SPEAKER_00: And said, Alton, there you go, buddy.
SPEAKER_00: But what Isaac doesn't know is Isaac thinks he's up here sharing a prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look up on the screen up here, Isaac, because this today the kingdom of God has come to you.
SPEAKER_00: That's yours.
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, listen, that is a, I think it's a 2002 PT cruiser.
SPEAKER_00: It's got a sunroofed.
SPEAKER_00: You can tip that lid when you're rolling to work.
SPEAKER_00: You can bump that system, a little old school LL Cool J or something.
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, but but uh we wanted to give it to you today, but it's coming from Dallas and it won't be here till tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: And so it'll be waiting for you for next Sunday, or I'll drive it over to your place.
SPEAKER_00: You have to ride that stinking city bus.
SPEAKER_00: Uh and here's what we'll do.
SPEAKER_00: We did the same thing for Alton because this church is so full of generous people, and we just we don't want to talk, we want to do, we want to be able to say, hey, today the kingdom of God has come near to you, and people not go, huh?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna we'll pay the first six months liability insurance policy on it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll get it all checked out, but it's great, it's been well maintained, we've got maintenance records, and if that doesn't work and you need like a truck, let me know and we'll get a truck.
SPEAKER_00: Because listen, my dad owns a cattle on a thousand heels.
SPEAKER_00: And whenever I need something, he sells a cow and just sends me the money.
SPEAKER_00: And so when you were riding, when you were riding your bike as a little kid, God knew this day would come, and he knew you'd be a part of this church, and we talk about ministry that matters, and because you matter to us, we're gonna help you, and so we'll be blessed you.
SPEAKER_00: It'll be here tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get all the paperwork done, and you'll have you some wheels.
unknown: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: You're welcome.
SPEAKER_00: Bless you.
SPEAKER_00: Love you.
SPEAKER_00: Here you go.
SPEAKER_00: Now, by the way, there's your Bible community up there on the rail.
SPEAKER_00: Go back to class.
SPEAKER_00: Be warmed and filled, may you have cattle on all your heels.
SPEAKER_00: Now I got a question for you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just about done.
SPEAKER_00: We've been here long enough.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't that just make you want to clog?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, don't you just hee?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you just and that's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: You say, well, why do you say that?
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this, and we'll be done.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: See, the third part of the when the kingdom comes, it's always joy.
SPEAKER_00: That's why y'all to know.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody stopped me in the first service and said, Hey, I got your email.
SPEAKER_00: What are we what are we doing?
SPEAKER_00: Just wait.
SPEAKER_00: Whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_00: Is it going to be good or bad?
SPEAKER_00: It's always good when the kingdom comes.
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: Smells like Galilee in here right now.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: The 72 returned with joy.
SPEAKER_00: Of course they returned with joy.
SPEAKER_00: Isaac returning to his class now with joy.
SPEAKER_00: Riding the stinking bus.
SPEAKER_00: Saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: You hear what just happened?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they came back because God's people have an innate ability to rejoice about the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_00: That the 72 came back and said, Oh Lord, even the demons were subject to us in your name.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, Huh, checkmate, I saw Satan falling like lightning from the heavens.
SPEAKER_00: All right, you win.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just about done.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, hey, what you're looking for cannot be found in your experiences.
SPEAKER_00: Unchurch in America, unplug the lights and the lasers and the smoke machines and all that stuff and just get back to the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Get back to doing and being and saying things that can only be explained by saying, hey, hey, the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Today the kingdom of God came near you.
SPEAKER_00: And they came, they said, Well, you know, and that wasn't enough.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus went on and said, Behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, circle that word, underline it in red, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this.
SPEAKER_00: Don't rejoice that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And see, and here's all I want to say: a continual rediscovery of the amazing nature of God's grace is the fuel for the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: A continual read, never outgrow the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Never outgrow the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Why?
SPEAKER_00: I say things here, and my fear is that some things I say, y'all think, oh, he's being funny or he's just being overstated or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not.
SPEAKER_00: Like one of the things that I say that y'all send me emails that go, oh, Pastor, you shouldn't say that.
SPEAKER_00: And I write you back every time and say, I'm not going to stop.
SPEAKER_00: Not because I'm stubborn, but here's the thing that bothers some of you.
SPEAKER_00: Because you are committed to being glory robbers and taking some credit for your salvation.
SPEAKER_00: But I tell you all the time, and I haven't told you in at least three Sundays, so let me tell you again that myself and all of you should be burning in hell right now.
SPEAKER_00: Just by nature, you're born that crooked and by choice that depraved.
SPEAKER_00: But, and here's what I mean when I say a continual rediscovery of the amazing nature of God's grace is the fuel for the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: And unless you embrace that, you'll never be passionate about the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody is passionate about a gospel that holds no wonder.
SPEAKER_00: That it's just information.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I prayed a prayer when I was 12, and come on, dude, shut up.
SPEAKER_00: It's 12.06.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go eat.
SPEAKER_00: I could suggest to some of you that you've been eating your whole life and you still hadn't tasted how good this is.
SPEAKER_00: Just to continually rediscover the amazing nature of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: That's the fuel.
SPEAKER_00: That's the well that never runs dry.
SPEAKER_00: That's the spring of life welling up to eternal life inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: And so this morning, when I got up, I just meditated on Isaac Watts.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody know who Isaac Watts is?
SPEAKER_00: He's a great hymn writer.
SPEAKER_00: Wrote great hymns.
SPEAKER_00: One of the ones he sang, he wrote, is entitled No More My God.
SPEAKER_00: And so this morning when I was shaving, I was just singing in the mirror.
SPEAKER_00: No more my God.
SPEAKER_00: I boast no more of all the duties I have done.
SPEAKER_00: I quit the hopes I held before to trust the merit of thy son.
SPEAKER_00: What that means in old English Isaac Watts, 1700 and something, is that there's nothing, God, that I can do that can make me right with you.
SPEAKER_00: The only answer to unrighteousness is righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And so he made him who knew no sin to become sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so I was ashaving.
SPEAKER_00: I was just singing.
SPEAKER_00: I quit the hopes I held before and trust the merits of thy son.
SPEAKER_00: No more, my God, no more my God, no more my God.
SPEAKER_00: I boast no more.
SPEAKER_00: You say, Well, I'm not a singer, I don't get that.
SPEAKER_00: Neither am I.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't you glad?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this will help you.
SPEAKER_00: Charles Spurgeon, the old English preacher, he said this if there be one stitch in the celestial garment of our righteousness, which we are to insert ourselves, then we are lost.
SPEAKER_00: That's sobering, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: If there's one stitch, one stitch that you can point to.
SPEAKER_00: What he's saying, don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: You can point to and say, I did that.
SPEAKER_00: That ain't the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, Well, you know, I don't know what you're saying.
SPEAKER_00: Are you one of those?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just a man that wants to just continually rediscover the amazing nature of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: It's fuel for the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: And so this week, see, there's a plentitude of sources.
SPEAKER_00: This week, American Idol Come On.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like to watch people sing.
SPEAKER_00: I did that at youth camp all the time and called a talent show.
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to go back to that.
SPEAKER_00: But they get there, and my wife was recording it because her and we watch, and I don't mind.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like I'm a spiritual person because I don't watch it, and they're in spiritual person because they do.
SPEAKER_00: My wife has a woman crush on Steven Tyler, so she watches it.
SPEAKER_00: And she says this.
SPEAKER_00: This is what she says.
SPEAKER_00: I'm praying for him.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever, lady.
SPEAKER_00: Pull this flag in and place jingle bells.
SPEAKER_00: He's like a little midget, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: He's like five foot three, like a little nymph fly.
SPEAKER_00: You could bait him and fly fish with him.
SPEAKER_00: And he wears feathered earrings.
SPEAKER_00: And they tell the story, and then they go along there, and it started off with some guy from Houston.
SPEAKER_00: They were in Houston, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: There's some crazy people in our city.
SPEAKER_00: Oh man.
SPEAKER_00: And they got to the very end, and some kid walked in that was born without ears.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody see this?
SPEAKER_00: And I just found myself, I was like, uh-uh, I can't go.
SPEAKER_00: I felt just welling up in me.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, What are you doing?
SPEAKER_00: He goes, I'm a worship leader.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, brace yourself.
SPEAKER_00: I went right to the little mom's breathing.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're fixed to give birth to the kingdom right here.
SPEAKER_00: Because Steven Tyler doesn't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He's a good guy, and he can sing dream on, dream on.
SPEAKER_00: And people like my wife think that's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for her.
SPEAKER_00: I got the broom, went in our bedroom.
SPEAKER_00: Dreamow.
SPEAKER_00: She's like, no, no, shut up.
SPEAKER_00: Shut up.
SPEAKER_00: Shut up now.
SPEAKER_00: Went to the hospital to make a visit.
SPEAKER_00: I hit the button.
SPEAKER_00: Love in an elevator.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: Shut up.
SPEAKER_00: And so the worship leader, who was born without ears, but God made doctors so small, so smart, he sent them to medical school, not so they could have a God complex and think, I'm so awesome, I can have three houses and six cars and not know what to do with them, so I build racks and I park them on top of each other.
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: And so they rebuilt this kid's ears.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't even sang yet.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I'm simultaneously crying and getting ready to clog.
SPEAKER_00: And he sang.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody remember what he sang?
SPEAKER_00: He sang Amazing Grace.
SPEAKER_00: And they cut the counter to Steven Tyler.
SPEAKER_00: And when that kid sang, My chains are gone, I've been set free.
SPEAKER_00: Steven Tyler pursed his lips almost like, Oh, I wish I knew what that felt like.
SPEAKER_00: And I just burst into tears.
SPEAKER_00: And he just lost.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And people just use him to enjoy him.
SPEAKER_00: And he's a celebrity and he's a great guy.
SPEAKER_00: And he's made in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: And he wears spandex.
SPEAKER_00: And I just cried.
SPEAKER_00: And Sophie was sitting on the couch beside me, kind of like glancing over, like, my dad's leaking again.
SPEAKER_00: And I I it wasn't like it's a few.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I had to get up and go to the kitchen because I didn't want her to think, why's my dad crying?
SPEAKER_00: What's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: Are the Mayans coming to get us?
SPEAKER_00: And here's why.
SPEAKER_00: Not just because, here's why I cried, and then I'm done.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't just cry because Steven Tyler.
SPEAKER_00: It's not been revealed to him yet.
SPEAKER_00: I cried because it was revealed to me.
SPEAKER_00: And the thought went through my, and I tried to say out loud, what did I do to deserve this?
SPEAKER_00: I know nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Not a stitch in my celestial garment when I get there.
SPEAKER_00: I look at it and go, What about that?
SPEAKER_00: I ran a running whip stitch on that bad boy.
SPEAKER_00: How about that?
SPEAKER_00: And so when I shave tomorrow, I'll sing No more my God.
SPEAKER_00: I boast no more of all the duties I've done.
SPEAKER_00: I quit the hopes I had before to trust the merits of thy son.
SPEAKER_00: What is Isaac Watts saying?
SPEAKER_00: He is saying that you can't get there on your own.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta trust that what Jesus did on the cross was sufficient for all your sin and put all your trust in him.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Jesus says, when you rejoice, rejoice about this.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: There's not an experience that you can have that triumphs over that, that's ever gonna trump that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't go today and go, hey, our church gave away a couple cars.
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to help people.
SPEAKER_00: We don't get a cookie for that.
SPEAKER_00: If we can build a brand new youth building and after that a children's building, and we can't help people in our own church, some of you are going to hell.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for coming today.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I'll be driving the golf cart shuttle.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be the first one in line because I'm your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: You're not the church if all you do is stuff for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we go to India.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why we'll be rolling out an idea about adopting orphans in India in the weeks to come.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why we go to Costa Rica.
SPEAKER_00: But it's also why we go to lunch today.
SPEAKER_00: Your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That's what you rejoice about.
SPEAKER_00: And if your name's not written in heaven, ask yourself today, why wouldn't I want to know this guy that takes broken people like that over caffeinated loser and makes them into something that maybe makes the Bible make sense?
SPEAKER_00: And God.
SPEAKER_00: He does that.
SPEAKER_00: And so when our service is over, myself and some of our pastors and elders be available down front.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're here today and you don't have a relationship with God, we'd love to explain to you how easy that is for you to start today.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you could just you you haven't outside the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be perfect or a certain type of person or have this or have that.
SPEAKER_00: You just got to understand, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I have screwed my life up, but the gospel is that Christ died as an atoning sacrifice for my sin.
SPEAKER_00: It's payment.
SPEAKER_00: That's what I mean when I say continual rediscovery of the amazing nature of God's grace is the fuel for the Christian life.
SPEAKER_00: Sitting on my couch watching American Idol, and the Holy Spirit says, you could be just like him.
SPEAKER_00: You could appreciate the musicality of what just happened and not ever have tasted of grace.
SPEAKER_00: So I went in the kitchen where my wife has these micro something pampered chef towels that I bought her for her birthday because I'm a big spender.
SPEAKER_00: And I folded one up and just put my face in it and stood there in the dark.
SPEAKER_00: So I didn't want to scare my eight-year-old.
SPEAKER_00: It's like my daddy is crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Because I was just reminded a fresh and anew, you didn't have to do any of this.
SPEAKER_00: And yet you did it all.
SPEAKER_00: And that's fuel.
SPEAKER_00: Staff came in.
SPEAKER_00: I came in this morning, the staff was like, whoa, you are.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my wife's like, Won't you and your personalities go have a picnic and get it figured out?
SPEAKER_00: And then just find Happy Neil and bring him back.
SPEAKER_00: Hey.
SPEAKER_00: Don't rejoice over the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice today that your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And if they aren't yet, they can be today.
SPEAKER_00: Stand to your feet.
SPEAKER_00: We've been here long enough.
SPEAKER_00: Hold your hands out.
SPEAKER_00: You are descendants of authority.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, stop waiting for permission.
SPEAKER_00: It's not your native environment.
SPEAKER_00: One of them God gives you, the other one, man gives you.
SPEAKER_00: Make sure you live in light of the right one.
SPEAKER_00: Depart now and live such lives as can only be explained by the coming of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.