WEBVTT 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:13.519 I um glad to be I'm glad to be back and as I'm sitting here I've got this kind of uh rush of emotion coming over me just trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do this morning. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:34.799 So uh I haven't written down what I was planning on doing, but uh just kind of so much has happened, and it's kind of a convergence of experiences right now in my life because um right now I'm in a in uh some coursework for a master's degree, and that coursework uh is really talking about strategic planning, but the emphasis this week is what is the future of the church? 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:36.560 And talking about globalization. 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:39.600 So that so one piece is what is the future of Christianity? 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:48.399 The other piece of the course this week was writing a paper on the leaders' responsibilities in a culture of globalization. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:57.920 And you understand that globalization is something that is uh very rampant in the marketplace as uh corporations go overseas to try to, you know. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:04.480 For example, if you go to McDonald's in California, uh they piloted this about 2006. 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:17.280 If you go into the drive-thru, you might hear somebody on the drive-thru speaker who is actually from North Dakota or Hawaii or Wyoming because they have a call center now. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:26.319 And and the reality is there was rumors even at one point that they were going to uh ship that or uh move those operations to like India. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:41.519 And so you'd go into a drive-thru at McDonald's and you'd bring an Indian call center that would then take your order, they'd put it on a screen for them to process, but uh increasing timeliness and so globalization is a big deal right now. 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:46.959 Uh another one, there's um I forget what the company was, but it's in the UK. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:02:04.159 In the UK, another call center, but it was farmed out to India where they actually taught them to speak with British accents, but on their screen it would pop up on the screen, it would say um where they were, their sports team, whether they won or lost, what the weather was, so they could carry on small talk. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:05.439 So, how's the weather? 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:09.039 I said, you know, beautiful day here in wherever. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:11.039 And how about that? 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:14.400 Uh what's what's the soccer team? 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:19.039 Um Manchester United. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:20.000 Is that right? 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:23.120 Yeah, sorry, I'm a football fan. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:28.080 Not a football fan, however you say it. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:31.199 But um, so I'm sitting here and all this is converging. 00:02:31.280 --> 00:02:33.039 And you know, John 3.16, what does it say? 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:37.759 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:57.840 And and also as I was working on this paper and thinking about that, today is uh April 26th, and just coincidentally, as I was working on this paper yesterday, April 30th in 1492 is when Christopher Columbus stood before the Queen, and uh she was reluctant to let him voyage across the ocean. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:08.319 But the one of the aides, one of the uh, I forget the role of the man who came along her side and stood there and said, but for the glory of God. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:16.240 And so with that there was this adventure and kind of this concept of manifest destiny to go out and cross the oceans. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:19.360 Now, granted, there was certainly a trade component to that, right? 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:25.360 They were looking for trade routes to India, but there was also this sense of manifest destiny. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:43.120 And I think of World War II, shortly after World War II, speaking of, you know, there was this it unfortunately becomes kind of an ugly blend of imperialism and the move of God through the planet. 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:56.319 But after World War II, we we discovered that we as Americans could mobilize people to go to Germany or Japan or other places for war. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:04.400 But there were many men who came back with a spirit that says, Well, if we can do this for imperialism, we can do this for the kingdom of God. 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:15.039 If we can reach these people groups to advance democracy, then certainly we can do the same with the gospel, can't we? 00:04:16.079 --> 00:04:35.680 And you have the missionary movement that really began out of that, particularly in the 1950s, where they went out and reached the Alka Indians, with John Elliott, Jim Elliott in the group there, that with this pioneering adventure that says we can reach the world. 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:40.639 And so there was this advancement, but then the world today, what do they do? 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:48.879 They um, because of cultural relativism, begin to say, who are we to impose our beliefs on other people? 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:56.879 No, I understand, as you look through the course of history, there is that challenge where how do you define Christianity? 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:08.480 Because people would come into the United States and they wouldn't bring Christianity so much as they would bring European culture, Spanish culture. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:20.240 In fact, even in Africa, there was a church that was built in Africa and it had this massive steeple upon the roof as the Europeans came and settled and established a mission post there. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:24.879 And then another man came and says, Why this peak on the roof? 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:28.720 Well, to keep the snow from collapsing the roof. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:35.680 Because we impose our culture sometimes rather than our faith. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:43.279 And that could be problematic and a roadblock for many people to come to the church, is because it becomes a cultural thing. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:49.199 And the reality is this, is part of the studies that I'm working on, which is none of this is in the sermon, by the way. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:52.720 So this is my it's all converging right now. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:06:00.800 But uh part of it is as you look at it, is there's really three trends in the church today when we think of it. 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:08.879 And one of those trends is kind of the decline of the Western church, the the American and the European church. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:13.600 And if you go over to Europe, you'll see many a cathedral door that has been closed. 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:28.560 And part of that comes out of the age of reason, and people began to reject it because evolution could explain away God, because science could explain God, and so they checked reason, which is what we've been addressing the last few weeks is the importance of reason in our faith. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:30.319 It's a reasonable faith. 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:32.240 And so they've seen the decline. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:52.800 But uh just Thursday I was uh at, is it Paul Paul Paul Litchfield, I think, um, Campus Crusade for Christ, I'm not totally certain of the name, but he was speaking in Fargo and talking about how the Jesus film had gone out and reached so many languages, and somebody afterwards says, Well, but isn't the church dying? 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:58.639 Well, the church is not dying, it's just the center of the church is moving. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:04.639 Because if you look at South Korea and you look at Africa and you look at China, the church is exploding. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.800 See, God is still on the move, and God is still doing a thing. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:13.360 It's just maybe not such a European sort of church anymore. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:24.240 As a consequence, another one of the trends in the church of the future today is that what we're seeing is more of an incline towards Pentecostal charismatic movements. 00:07:24.319 --> 00:07:32.879 Now, you and I use those words a little bit hesitantly because they create in this, you know, snake-handling kind of concepts, right? 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:36.319 And it's not so much that, but it's seeing miraculous things work. 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:41.920 And you go to South Africa and you go to Korea and you go to all these places, and you do see God doing some miraculous things. 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:49.839 But even here in the United States, what do you see is more of a bent towards away from the rational, more towards the emotional, experiential side of worship. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:08:00.160 And you go to a culture that is essentially an illiterate community, they're going to be much more inclined to see a God who's moving than a God that you study. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:02.879 And so that's certainly on the rise. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:08.720 And the third trend that people are prostig uh pro never mind, people telling the future. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:10.319 I can't get that word out of my mouth. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:21.600 What they're seeing is a decline of denominations, specifically in the sense more of denominations of the seven mainline denominations. 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:29.040 Now, part of that, of course, is nobody, and I would say that's probably true for many of you who are here, and you may love the evangelical free churches. 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:43.200 I love the evangelical free church, but what you're saying is what's really important is not the label, but the preaching and the worship, because you're more inclined for that than the tradition of a denominational brand. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:55.919 And so you see churches that once said First Baptist Church is now, I don't know, Karas Church, or you know, you just put a name on it, it's a little more catchy. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:56.559 Ignite. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:59.919 No, I'm part of the Ignite denominations where I've been attending lately. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:04.639 The formerly known as the Baptist General Conference is now Ignite. 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:14.799 And part of that is just because this the labels of the traditions of the well, I'm a Baptist, and my parents were Baptists, and my parents before them were Baptists, and I will always be a Baptist. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:17.279 The same with Lutherans or Methodists or Episcopalians. 00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:21.200 So the church is definitely moving in a different direction. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:26.080 But the church is still definitely growing. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:35.039 Now, but and you all understand, right, that the church is not walls and roofs. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:37.679 The church is the body of Christ. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:49.200 From the Greek word ekklesia means the called out ones, and God has called out people across generations, across regions, across boundaries to call us to be part of the kingdom of his movement. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:56.399 And yet when you go and you do Man on the Street reporting and you ask someone, so tell me about Jesus. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:05.200 Well, he was a good teacher, he uh was a kind man, he uh you they're generally pretty kind, but you say, tell me about the church. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:08.639 The responses are far different. 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:20.240 They're misogynistic, they're um dictatorial, they're legalistic, and the names are not, labels are not nearly as kind, are they? 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:26.480 Which raises the question for us is what can we do here? 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:29.679 Because certainly we we we're missionally minded. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:33.519 Acts 1.8, of course, says, you shall be my witnesses from what? 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:37.039 Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:44.559 So we send out missionaries, we go on mission trips, we invest in missionaries because we care about it. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:54.559 But then yet the church has this picture of, or the world has this picture of the church, it is not a very favorable one. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:04.720 And uh, you know, trying to decide really how much do I even dive into this. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:12.080 But uh I'm just going to share some of my passions first with this. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:16.320 Why the church? 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:24.000 You know, in Genesis, at the very beginning, God said to Adam, and is not or said, that it is not good for man to be alone. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:29.840 And I've shared with you that over the year, over the last year, I've been working in a cubicle world, right? 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:41.200 And it's an interesting place to work in the cubicle world, and uh because you would think in close proximity you have relationships, but the truth is you have no relationships with the people there because of shh, I'm working. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:51.600 And uh we all are desperate for relationship because God created us for relationship. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:12:05.279 In fact, early on in the history of the United States, as we were, the homesteaders were moving across the country, you know, they would go and they would stake their claim, and a lot of times they would have the races to go and claim land. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:20.399 And they would take their flag and they would put it in the center of their land and they say, This is my land, as they looked to the north and the south and the east and the west, they would say, This is my property, and they would build their homes in the center of their land so that they can enjoy the land that they had been given. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:31.759 But what sociologists found that in time, those homes moved from the center of the property to the four corners, so that there were four homes in close proximity. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:35.120 Because we're all desperate for relationship. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:37.120 And that's what the church is. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:42.639 The church is a connection of relationships around the person of Christ who has called us out. 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:50.799 And we are all desperate for relationship, but people level accusations at the church that we're hypocrites. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:51.919 Are we hypocrites? 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:54.000 Yes, we are. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:13:03.759 And hypocrite simply means, you know, it's a Greek word that means uh it's a term from the stage, and it means to wear a mask. 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:11.519 And so people would put on a mask that would say, This is who I am, to play a part. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:19.120 And I think so many people tend to be upset with the church today because so often we play a part. 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:22.000 We pretend to be something that we're not. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:27.600 Now, I don't, sometimes hypocrisy I think is misunderstood. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:34.320 For example, if there was an alcoholic who came to you and said, you shouldn't drink, he is not a hypocrite. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:44.240 Because he understands the evil of the bondage that he is in with alcohol, and he's warning others that no, stay away from it. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:46.799 Don't get caught into the same trap that I am. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:51.519 But he's not standing there saying, No, I haven't touched this stuff in years. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:14:02.000 It's the alcoholic who pretends that he doesn't have a drinking problem and hides it from others and wears a mask and pretends like he has it together that becomes the problem. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:20.960 And so often in the church we want to put on masks and pretend like we have it together, pretend like we have it all figured out when in reality we're desperate for relationships and to be authentic with other people, and that's what the church is to be is a place where people can be authentic and real and no more masks. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:28.480 It's also been said of the church that the church has done so many terrible things throughout history. 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:36.799 And um certainly there are some occasions in which the church behaved badly. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:53.519 We look at the crusades, and as the church went out with the symbol of the cross upon their shields to take the lives of others, not a real opportunity to brag about, right? 00:14:54.720 --> 00:15:04.080 But here's the thing, as you and I know, and really I think the world knows too, is that that stands in stark contrast to what the principles of Christianity are about. 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:10.000 And that's why it's so hard for people to accept because they know that, well, Christianity is not about this. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:11.600 Why would they do something like that? 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:15.200 It's in contrast to the nature of the faith. 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:24.399 In contrast to that, though, consider, for example, Mao Zedong in China and his cultural revolutions. 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:39.120 And the reality is this in scale, in comparison to the Crusades, it's not even close because the Crusades killed maybe thousands of people, but Mao Zedong killed millions and millions. 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:47.679 Mao and the revolutions were in complete step with his philosophy, his atheistic beliefs. 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:52.240 Same is true with Adolf Hitler and Lenin. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:56.720 Their actions came out of their character. 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:05.759 The accusations of Christianity stand in contrast to what the character of Christ and Christianity is meant to be. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:07.039 Does that make sense? 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:20.960 One of the very reasons we believe the church to be what God created is because of the character it's meant to have, not always the character it does have, because we are sinfallen people in the context of relationships. 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:29.120 We need to see the church as an authentic community of Christ followers, not simply Christ talkers. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:30.559 We need to walk it out. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:37.759 And then there's the reality, as it says in Matthew 13, verses 24 through 30, it talks about the parable of the wheats and the tares. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:42.639 And it says that the tares will be sown among the good wheat. 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:48.559 And here's the thing about a tarare is a tar looks very similar to the wheat as it grows up. 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:54.559 But they're a poisonous weed known as the bearded Darnell. 00:16:55.360 --> 00:17:05.440 And while it looks similar, according to Smith's Bible Dictionary, the grains of this plant, if eaten, will produce convulsions and death. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:09.920 And this is the picture that Christ gives of what the church is. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.079 Is that within the church there will be those who are tares. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:19.839 And so there are many who are true, authentic Christ followers. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:23.680 Yet there are those who are here that are far from God. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:33.039 And in 1 Corinthians 11, 18, Paul writes, When you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:41.680 And in part I believe it, for there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.240 Did you hear that one little word? 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:47.119 There must be factions. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:49.599 Must be two words, sorry. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:56.960 He's saying that there will be, there must be, so that those who are truly followers of Christ will become evident. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:06.559 The church with a capital C is believers across this globe who see Christ as their Lord and Savior. 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:12.240 The church is not made up of necessarily just those within the walls. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:16.880 In fact, there are those within the walls that aren't part of the Capital C church. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:29.680 The question that was asked before Jesus gave this response of the wheat and the tares was this do you want us to go and gather up the tares? 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:33.200 In the parable, that's the description. 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:37.200 Do you want us to go gather these weeds, pull them out, burn them up? 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:44.079 He says, Don't do that, because in the moment that you do that, you will also pull up the wheat and it will be destroyed as well. 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:49.119 So the expectation is that you continue to let them abide with you. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:53.359 And as Christ followers, our hope is that they might know Christ. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:19:00.079 You know, another reality of Christianity is that our lives would be reflected in it. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:08.640 Early on in the Christian faith, in around 250 to 270 AD, there was a terrible plague that swept across the Roman Empire. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:12.400 It killed nearly 5,000 people a day. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:18.640 Instead of running like the city leaders, the city leaders ran out of the city. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:21.519 The physicians ran out of the city. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:26.160 Christians stayed and cared for the sick. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:34.640 And because of the love that they showed for the sick and the dying, it became a testimony to others of what Christ could and does do. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:40.720 Recently, Christian doctors in Liberia stayed to fight the Ebola crisis. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:41.519 Why? 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:52.240 Because they understand that God is a God who cares about eternities, and there's and hope is found in the healing of Christ, that there is hope in the eternal, but there's also hope in the now. 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:57.039 And that comes through the church living out as God intended it to do. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:02.880 Another roadblock when it comes to faith is this. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:06.160 Half of the Christians I know are more screwed up than I am. 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:12.880 You know, God doesn't grade on a curve. 00:20:15.359 --> 00:20:20.000 My kids, I I don't think my kids have experienced a teacher that grades on the curve. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:29.440 But in my fresh, my sophomore year, Chuck Jorgensen was my geometry teacher, and it was always, uh, class, today the grades are here. 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:32.400 He did sound a little like Yogi Bear. 00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:44.240 Um but he would come in and the grades would be up there, and there'd be a hundred up here, and then you know, like a 50 down here, and there'd be, you know, tick marks at the different places showing who got what grades. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:49.200 And so now, if the highest grade was 85, then that became the A, right? 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:51.839 You know what I'm talking about, grading on a curve? 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.079 Some of you youngsters maybe not. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:58.799 But uh, so got so that was awesome, except for what? 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:01.119 There was always that one guy, right? 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:09.759 The curve buster, who came and he studied, ruined it for the rest of us. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:13.200 But that's how we treat God sometimes. 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:16.240 Well, I'm better than that guy, or I'm better than that girl. 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:19.039 I'm certainly not as messed up as them. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:26.079 And yet yet, people outside the church and say, I'm not nearly as messed up as those people who go to church. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:27.440 Amen. 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:36.480 Because the church is not a place for the well any more than the hospital is a place for the healthy. 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:39.680 The church is full of messed up people. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:45.920 Because we need Jesus as much today as the first day we met him. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:59.839 It's a place of healing, a place of transformation, it's a place of hope and promise, and it's a place where we can be authentic and real and share in our burdens and our troubles. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.519 And our trials and our hurts and our hopes. 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:13.200 I think one of the major concerns of the church today is this roadblock, this next one, and that's this. 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:15.759 I can worship God on my own. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:31.839 Because we live in a very narcissistic, self-centered culture that the world of iPods and music lists, as I addressed just a few weeks ago, just we create our own playlists, right, of what we want to listen to and what we want to do. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:43.680 In fact, I think this is one of the contributing factors to the fall of the denomination and the tradition, is because we go to what we what appeals to us, the type of preaching, the type of worship. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:50.640 We don't go to a brand name of a denomination, but we we seek our own preferences and create our own playlist. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:58.000 In fact, I'm I'm sure many of you know people who will go to this service on Sunday and this service on Wednesday. 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:05.839 No, this event here, and a lot of times it's about the programs and the things that are available to you, and this is what you pursue. 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:09.680 And yet others say, I don't need any of this church stuff. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:12.000 I can worship God alone in creation. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:22.480 I, you know, having lived in San Diego and in the mountains, there were plenty of people who says, I can just worship God on my surfboard, which is a really good place to worship God, by the way. 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:26.000 Or on the mountains, on the ski slopes. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:29.839 But what are we missing? 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:32.480 Relationship. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:36.880 God has created you and me for relationship. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:44.480 And we don't find, we can find some authentic community or some pseudo-community, I should say. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:48.880 Some fake community, some attempts at community where we talk about the weather. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:24:01.359 But what God wants us to do is go to authentic community where we can be authentic and transparent and open and honest with other people and struggle together and fail forward in our walk with Jesus. 00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:05.599 And that doesn't happen anywhere outside of the church. 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:10.400 Support groups and chicken noodle soup for the soul aren't gonna do it for you. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:17.839 They're a good step in the process, but this in the context of Christian community is what God intended for us. 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:24.240 One of my, now I'm gonna start pounding my fist on the table in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:31.519 It says this. 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:35.519 Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:40.559 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:41.440 Do you understand that? 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:43.920 They were worshiping things that had no voice. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:51.119 They would make them out of stone or wood or gold or silver or whatever, but they would carve them and they had no voice. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:25:02.799 Therefore, verse 3, I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus be cursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:05.039 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:09.200 So you understand, we're talking about the context now of spiritual gifts. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.000 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:17.279 There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:20.000 God is working in all of his spiritual gifts. 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:24.880 And that's one of the beautiful things about the church is God has gifted the church. 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:34.880 It says that Jesus is the head of the church, but some of you are hands and some of you are feet, some of you are little toes, some of you are pinkies, some of you are ears and noses. 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:39.519 We all have a part to play, we all have a spiritual gift. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:46.319 And then in verse 7, now to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:52.640 And this verse here, the manifestation, this word here, literally means the voice of God. 00:25:53.359 --> 00:26:04.000 You worship that which had no voice, the mute idol, but the voice of God is now seen where people hear God when we are using our spiritual gifts to serve God. 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:06.240 Did you catch that? 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:12.720 You worship that which had no voice, but the voice of God is heard here in the context of spiritual gifts. 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:16.640 In 1 John chapter 4. 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:28.079 Verse 12, it says this no one has ever seen God. 00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:38.400 But if we love one another, God lives in us and loves, and his love is made complete in us. 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:42.319 No one has ever seen God, but if you love him, there he is. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:47.039 No one has ever heard God, but if you use your spiritual gifts, there he is. 00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:51.359 God calls us to live using our spiritual gifts. 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:57.039 God calls us to live to love one another so that the world may know that God is real. 00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:00.720 These last few weeks, this is what we've been talking about. 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:01.440 Why God? 00:27:01.599 --> 00:27:02.079 Why God? 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:05.279 Because we can see Him at work in the body of Christ. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:14.240 In this postmodern world where truth is determined in the context of community, the church is poised for the world to say, look at these people, there's truth here. 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:19.759 But only if we're living it out, only if we're following through. 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:23.200 God has called us to love and to serve. 00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:32.960 In Ephesians chapter 6, this came to me last night as I was wrestling with sleep. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:37.440 It seems so important to include today. 00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:59.680 In speaking of the armor of God, put on the full armor of God in verse 13, so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground, and after you've done everything to stand, stand firm in them, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:03.920 In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith, and that's where I want to land. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:05.839 Take up the shield of faith. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:07.920 It's an old movie. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:18.960 Some of you are maybe too young for the movie, but in well, and I think it was rated R, so forgive me, parents, if you're offended by this. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:20.880 But it was gladiator. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.359 And there's a scene in that movie. 00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:31.039 When you think of shields, you sometimes think that little round one, like Captain America has, that little tiny one, be good for useless. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:32.400 I mean, what's the point? 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:35.279 Because the gladiators, they had a shield. 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:38.720 It was about two feet wide and four feet tall. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:49.440 But here's where it worked best, and there's a scene in that movie where they're thrown into the arena, and the gladiators are coming out to go after these fighters. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:50.480 And what did they do? 00:28:50.559 --> 00:29:02.400 They get behind it and they gather together and they squawk, they kneel down behind it with some holding the shields over the head and create a wall of defense around and over them using these shields. 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:04.559 But they're not doing it alone. 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:11.119 They're standing there holding the faith, the shield of faith is what we're talking about here. 00:29:11.279 --> 00:29:16.799 They're holding the shields, and it worked works best in the context of relationships. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:20.559 What do we use the shield of faith for? 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:23.599 To extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy. 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:34.559 The accusations that the devil heaves in your direction, saying you're worthless, you're useless, your life doesn't matter, to go sin, to go consume, to go do this. 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:48.720 But it's in the context of Christian community where we each take our shield of faith and we circle the wagons, so to speak, and we put the shields over our heads and we create this defense that extinguishes the darts of the enemy. 00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:58.640 You see, those shields were covered with leather, and sometimes the leather was soaked, but what they would do is the enemy would shoot fire, but it would go into the shield and extinguish it. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.480 In the context of community, relationship. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:12.960 Each one of us using our spiritual gifts as God has given us so that the world will say, I hear God. 00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:19.279 Each of us loving one another as God calls us to, that they can say, I see God. 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:21.279 Why the church? 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:27.680 Because the church is poised to be the voice of God, to be seen by the world, that they might know God. 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:34.720 And it's a global, it is a global church, isn't it? 00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:36.960 As we saw here this morning. 00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:55.920 We have such a tendency towards ethnocentrism, where we think the American culture is the best culture, the Western culture is the best culture, the McDonald's, the Nokia, the globalization of the American companies is IBM, ATT, those that's what it's all about. 00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:58.559 But that's not what it's about in the kingdom of God. 00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:01.680 It's about the kingdom of God, which is a global kingdom. 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:13.920 And those people in Africa and those people in Korea and those people in China, they're part of the kingdom of God, and they're living in the context of community and a community that's a global community. 00:31:14.079 --> 00:31:21.759 You and I are networked to that community and connected to the community and part of that community that the world might see us and say, I want what they have. 00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:34.160 Will you be the church that the world might see, that the world might hear, that the world might know that God is real and worthy of following? 00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:36.720 Will you pray with me? 00:31:41.440 --> 00:31:59.359 Lord, I thank you that we are united by the head who is Christ, that we are the body of Christ, each one gifted and empowered by the Spirit to love one another, to serve one another, to sharpen one another, to encourage one another. 00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:08.480 In the context of authentic Christian relationships, may we remove the masks that we might not be hypocrites. 00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:15.039 May we love with the love of Christ. 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:23.920 May we serve in the power of your spirit that the world might know that you are Lord. 00:32:24.079 --> 00:32:25.519 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:26.400 Amen. 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:29.680 Thank you, Neil.