Mission Sent
Thanks so much for your time as you hear from Mission Sent in Florida. Our mission is to Serve Others, Share the Gospel of Jesus, and Live our Lives on Mission! Let's make the world better one Mission at a time.
Mission Sent
The Body of Christ: Finding Your Unique Role
What if we've been thinking about church all wrong? In this challenging exploration of Romans 12:4-5, we discover that the church isn't somewhere we go—it's something we are.
The word "ekklesia," which we translate as "church," never referred to a building in the first century. Rather, it described a people united in mission, a fighting force assembled by Jesus to storm the gates of hell and rescue the lost. When Jesus said, "I will build my church," He wasn't talking about construction projects but about gathering warriors for His kingdom purposes.
This shift in understanding completely transforms how we view our place in God's family. Like a body with many parts, each member serves a unique function. Some roles are visible—preaching, singing, teaching—while others operate behind the scenes. Yet all are equally vital. When one member fails to function (like a stubbed toe), the entire body suffers.
The military provides a helpful parallel: only about 10% of service members engage in actual combat, while 90% serve in support roles. Similarly, the church needs people with diverse gifts working in coordination. Whether you're passionate about hospitality, organization, children's ministry, outdoor activities, or simply sharing meals with others, your contribution matters.
God doesn't expect you to serve in ways that don't align with your gifts and passions. Instead, He invites you to ask: "What do I already enjoy doing, and how can I do it for God's glory?" When we each take responsibility for our unique role, the body functions as intended—seeking and saving what is lost.
Ready to move from consumer to contributor? Join us in discovering how your specific gifts can advance God's kingdom as we serve others, share the gospel, and live on mission together.
Everyone else. We are jumping back into Romans, chapter 12. We've been in it now for almost two months. We are up to verse 4 today, all right, and this is where it's going to get a little more. So up to this point, paul's really been dealing with the individual, right. So in Romans 12.1, he talks about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. That's an individual thing. Right, you have to do that. Then he talks about do not conform to the ways of this world. Right, you know. And we watch what we conform to. We watch what we consume, because what we consume is what we conform to. Then he talked about us being transformed by the renewing of our minds, that by the word of God, we are changed from the inside out. And now he's going to move from the individual Last week we started looking at spiritual gifts to the church he's going to move to the group.
Josh:All right, so some of you, especially those of you that have been here since the beginning we're going to go over a word that we haven't talked about a whole lot, but we're definitely going to dive deep into it. So I'm going to pray, then we'll read and we'll go. Father, I ask and I pray that, as I preach this morning, that you are with me. Now, father, it's not my opinion, it's not my thought, but, father, it is your words that people hear. I pray through the power is your words that people hear. I pray through the power of your spirit that I can preach your word so that we are transformed from the inside out to look more like Jesus. Father, I pray this in Jesus' name, amen, all right. So, picking up, in verse four it says this for as in one body we have many members, in one body we have many members and the members do not all have the same function. So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.
Josh:Paul talks about this quite often, in more than just his letter to the Romans. He also talks about this in his letter to the Corinthians. He hints on it in his letter to the Galatians, talks about this in his letter to the Corinthians. He hints on it in his letter to the Galatians. Like this is a big thing for Paul to get people to understand that the illustration of the church is the illustration of the body. He talks about it in Ephesians 2. Now think about it in Ephesians 4. And what he's trying to drive at is.
Josh:This is not an individual sport. All right, and if you were an athlete, I'll break it down like if you were on the weightlifting team that is an individual thing. You are the only one up there competing. Your team can, like, cheer you on, but that's about it. If you're on the wrestling team, that's an individual thing. If you're on the wrestling team, that's an individual thing. If you're on the track team, that's an individual thing.
Josh:However, if you were on the football field and it was just you versus 11 other people, I really don't even care how bad those people might be. There's 11 of them. They're going to win. If you were on a soccer, I don't even know what it's called because, I'm going to be honest, I don't watch soccer, but I know some of you do. All right, it's a pitch, and baseball pitch means something different. So this is why America deals the way we do. Right, if you're on a soccer team and you are only a goalie, you're going to have a hard time making a score right, a goal or whatever. Bad illustration, because obviously I don't watch soccer. Okay, I watch American football. Actually, I don't even watch that. So, but the whole point of it is. There are individual things and then there are things that we cannot do if there's not more than one of us, and that is what Paul is really driving at here.
Josh:But in order for us to understand this, we have to, we have to, we have to. We have to fully understand the word ekklesia and again, if you've been with us from the beginning, you have heard me talk about this word for going on like six years now. It is that important because we do not understand. We do not understand what the word church actually means. In Matthew 16, starting well, not even starting in Matthew 16, in verse 18, we see the word church for the first time ever in scripture. And in seminary, when, they'll tell you, is it's called the law of first appearance, where you see that word used first. That is what that word actually means.
Josh:So, in Matthew 16, 18, peter has just confessed Jesus as Christ. Jesus looks at him and he goes you know what? You couldn't have known this. This had to have been revealed to you by my father. Now, that being said, if you're Peter in that situation, what's Jesus really telling you? That you're dumb, right? You couldn't have known that. This had to have been revealed to you because this is so much bigger than your finite mind can understand. And he says this, and I tell you you are Peter, and on this rock, on the profession that I am, who I say I am, on that truth, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This is the first time we see the word church in Scripture and most of us today do not use the word in the correct context of what it actually means.
Josh:Because most of us, when we think of church, we actually should replace the word church with temple church. We actually should replace the word church with temple, because we're using it more along the lines of how Jewish people would have viewed the temple. We don't use it the way that Jesus uses this word church, and for us to understand the idea that we are members of something, we would have to understand that, see, most of us, in fact, I'm guilty of this Last night or yesterday I don't remember who it was, but I was I was ferrying people back over to the mainland from the island and and on one of the the rides over they were asking if I was ready to go. They're like hey, you know, like've been out here all night like we camped, like are you ready to get going too? And I was like, no Truth be told, I would stay out here all weekend if I didn't have to go to church. And I use that sentence the way most of us do, right, because most of us, either last night or this morning, had that thought we can't go do this or we can't go do that because we have to go to church.
Josh:Now, if you were in the first century, however, if you were talking to one of the disciples and you went, hey, we have to go to church, they would look at you like you were a pink elephant, because that doesn't make sense to them, because that's not what that word means, because it would be impossible to go to church, because church isn't a place. It would be like if you were like, hey, I have to go to family today, that is exactly the way they would hear that, because it doesn't make sense. You can go to your house, where your only may be, but you can't go to family. You can't go to army, like it is a thing you can be a part of, but you can't go to army. And that's what Jesus is sitting here trying to get the people to understand that this, right here, this isn't temple.
Josh:Temple was a place you could go and do churchy things, and that is what we have turned church into A place where we come and we do churchy things, we sing churchy songs. And then you listen to someone get up here and go on and on and on usually too long, because I see it in your faces and then you're like, okay, let's wrap it up, see you again next week, right? Like how many times when we're leaving and you guys have heard me say this many times, how many times when we're leaving, that's what we say right, all right, I'll see you next week, have a good week. And it's like what you have already said is, from now until next Sunday, I'm not going to hear or see from you Like, yeah, I know there's a handful of us in here that work here and we go see you tomorrow, but other than that, that's our life, right? So I'm going to leave the temple where we did temple and churchy things and I'm going to go back to my regular life, and I'm just going to live my regular life, and then next Sunday I'll go to church again. But if we read through Matthew 16 like that.
Josh:That doesn't make any sense because the ecclesia is not a place you can go, and I know I keep saying that the ecclesia is not a place you can go, and I and I know I keep saying that the ecclesia is where we get the word church, but it's not a place where you can go. It's a people, and our country is real good at this right. We love. We love identifying as, but see to disciple. That's what they would have identified. I am part of the ecclesia. That is who I am. That is what I do.
Josh:We gather together so that we're strengthened to go out and actually do the mission that God has left behind, or Jesus has left behind for us to do, which is seek and save what is lost. Jesus went hey look, I will build my church, I will build this fighting machine, this rescue machine that will go up to the gates of hell, kick them down and seek and save what is lost. He's sitting here going that the gates of hell can't prevail against this. Understand that is offensive wartime language. When something prevails against, it creates a defense, and what Jesus is saying is the strongest defense that the devil can come up with will not be strong enough to keep me from saving what is lost, and here's how I'm going to do it with my church, with my army. But see, we treat this as temple, where it's just hey, come in, do these things, go home, rinse, repeat and do it again the week after. We don't treat this like it's a wartime thing. We don't understand that every single one of us has a role to play in that.
Josh:So, just to give a great example, since we're talking about war anyway, does anybody in here know the percentage of the military that is actually like combat? Because, like every time I talk to especially high schoolers about hey, look like you should think about the military. It is a good thing. Like you learn skills that you will not learn anywhere else. You get your education paid for, like there are a lot of benefits. I'm not saying that there's no drawback, so please don't misunderstand what I'm saying, especially if you have a kid here. But what I am saying is there's a lot of benefits to going into the military, but does anybody?
Josh:The number one thing I hear from parents and students alike is this I don't want to go to war. Less, less, less, 10%, less, less Ten percent. Ten percent of all enlisted people are actually in combat, which means the other 90 percent are what Support? Like when kids, when I'm talking to them, I go look, look, look, look. I wouldn't even recommend that you go infantry, like that wouldn't even be the recommendation for me I go what do you want to do in life? Oh well, I want to be a doctor or a mechanic or whatever the case may be.
Josh:And they're shocked when they learn anything you can do in here, out here, in the real world, the military has a counterpart for it. Like when I went in, I found out for the first time in my life that I'm colorblind. So even though I score high enough to qualify for all of the cool jobs that I wanted to do which I did want to go combat because I like that but they went, can't do that. And then they slid another piece of paper across. They were like this disqualifies you from all of these jobs because I'm red, green, colorblind. If I would have been blue, yellow, it would have been fine, but your maps are in green and you shine a red light on them and it kind of disappears off the page for me. And they were like can't have you flying a helicopter, shooting people can't see things Makes sense. I get it. So they slid this piece of paper over and they were like here, here's the jobs you qualify. You can be a chef, you can cook for people, you can be a human resource specialist, you can be a truck driver, you can be a mechanic or you can be a construction worker. All those jobs exist inside the military and the military needs all those jobs because it needs to be able to build runways and it needs to be able to build bridges and it needs to be able to build roads and it needs to be able to do all of these different things to support the very small percentage of people who are actually going to go be in combat. The church is the same way Jesus went. We need all these different things to come together to support my wartime, to support my war against the darkness, to support my war against hell, and so Jesus went. I'm going to bring all these things together and some of you are going to offer and work in support. Some of you yeah, you're going to be on the front, front line. Some of you are going to be the person that is actually taking the war to the devil, and here's a great way to look at this.
Josh:Not everybody in here likes to spend in their free time like likes to spend their time reading by a bunch of dead guys. Like anyone in here? Like you really up-to-date on your Augustine? Like one of us, right? Anyone in here? Like you really up to date on your Augustine? Like one of us, right? Anyone in here like you know, you're like man, john Calvin, like he really, you know, being able to take his lawyer background and move it on over into theology. It really makes sense. No, most of us don't. That's not how we spend our time. Some of us do, though, spend our time. Some of us do, though, and that's why, when you have that question that you can't quite figure out, you go, hey, I'm going to go to someone that they do this Like some of us. That's our role.
Josh:We can answer objections to Christianity. We have a defense for why we believe. Some of us are like scared to death that anyone would even go, hey, like, was Jesus his real name or was it like Jesus? Because we don't know if we'd be able to answer that. Some of us in here, man, we can sing like nightingales. Some of us sound like great herons taking off and for some of you that don't know that is not a good voice. Like think, dumb and Dumber, the most annoying sound in the world. That's kind of what it sounds like, except you add a little, it's terrible. And at night when you're going down a mangrove shoreline you can't see them. And then all of a sudden you hear Like it's scary and they look like demons when they're coming out of the dark, like it's terrible.
Josh:Some of us, man, we just have that innate ability to smile. Do you know what that does to someone when they're walking in the morning? Like when they see a smiling face, when they hear someone go hey, good morning. Some of us, we like working with children I said some, I didn't say me okay. Some of us, like we like caring for people. Some of us, like we like caring for people, we genuinely like helping people and see, and Jesus went, hey, I need all these things. I forget who.
Josh:Oh, I was talking to a parent that came in for career day and I wasn't actually talking. I was actually eavesdropping on a conversation she was having with Debbie, but anyway, and they were talking about public speaking and they got up in front of the kids and they were talking about public speaking and they got up in front of the kids and they were just explaining, like what they do for a career and all of that and they were like man, I was sweating bullets. See, for me, being up here is easy. This is the easiest thing I do Because for the most part, no one's going to interrupt you. Everyone's just going to kind of sit there and just listen. This is easy for me.
Josh:You know what's really hard for me? Being one-on-one with someone I don't really know, like actually sitting there having a conversation with someone that I don't already know, that's very hard for me. Like, inside, I'm dying my stomach's queasy. I'm like my heart's beating real fast. If you haven't noticed, I'm dying my stomach's queasy. I'm like my heart's beating real fast. If you haven't noticed, I'm sweating. Like that's hard for me. This is easy.
Josh:See, we have different things. Every single one of us in here has a different thing that we bring to the table. My question really is this what is it that you personally bring to the table? See, paul, or not Paul? Jesus would say here's the mission, right, and it's super, super easy. In Luke 19.10, the mission is simple Seek and save what is lost. Now, how do we do that?
Josh:Paul comes along in Ephesians 4, and he says this and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. That's why we gather. That's how Jesus does this. He goes hey, here's the deal You're going to gather together that do different things, that are going to train everyone up so that we can all do the mission that I have left behind to seek and save what is lost, to redeem creation. That was God's vision if you go back in Ephesians 1, since before the foundations of the world, we are predestined for adoption in Christ. Here's what that means. Before God ever said, let there be light, he had the church already in mind. He went here is how I'm going to redeem the creation that is actually ultimately going to fail. By using us. And yeah, some of us men like we look around and we're like if I was going to build a team, it wouldn't look like this Right, like some of us probably weren't first round picks for dodgeball, but yet this is the mode Jesus went. I'm going to change the world with. Changed the world with Understand.
Josh:We're sitting in this room today because one guy with 12 followers 2,000 years ago spoke a message. 13 people changed the entire world. Understand if you use a ADBC like, that's why they tried it right. Bc doesn't stand for before we use C is based off of Jesus and that's not fair to everybody else in the world. Do you realize that one guy 2,000 years ago changed the entire world, moving forward? Every single world religion has to sit here and go.
Josh:What do we do with this Jesus guy? In Buddhism, he's the highest enlightenment that you could be Higher than Buddha. In Islam, in buddhism, he's the highest enlightenment that you could be higher than buddha. In islam, jesus is higher than muhammad, with his name being mentioned more times in the quran than the prophet muhammad in judaism. He's a blasphemer, let's be honest. And Hindu, he is one of the three million gods Like understand everyone else. We got to do something with them. We can't just act like he didn't exist and he literally changes the world with 12 followers.
Josh:Speaking of which, how many can you name? Can you go all 12 for 12? No, like we're pretty good. Peter, james, john, we got those right. A couple of us remember Thomas because he doubted, and then we start like kind of trailing off right, like anybody in here, like you're really brushed up on Andrew, you know, and when Jesus feeds the 5,000, andrew's the one that actually gets the food right. Like we remember the miracle but we don't remember Andrew actually being the one to get the food.
Josh:Why? Well, because Andrew didn't do a lot. He was a support role, like, and think about it. Why why do we know Matthew, for instance, because he wrote a book? How do you know that John was the disciple whom Jesus loved? Because John told us he is the disciple whom Jesus loved. If you wrote a book, wouldn't you go hey, Jesus loved me more than the other people too. Like, how do we know Peter? Like because John went? I want you to know that I'm better than Peter, but other than that, john was like hey look, I ain't got no competition in here. Everybody else is a support role to me, and that is what we have to understand that there were other disciples that did many, many, many great things. That it wasn't just the ones we can name because their names are written down the most, and that's what we're afraid of. That's why we see here in Romans 12 that Paul is saying all of us bring something different to the table. Think about it.
Josh:Some of you in here you like doing clerical work. You know who doesn't like doing clerical work Me, you know why? Because it's boring to just sit at the computer and put numbers in. It's just, it's not fun, it's not excited. I wind up going off on tangents and the next thing, you know, I'm like hey, I created a new logo. And Debbie's like but did you finish the spreadsheets? And I'm like but look at the logo, it looks really nice. Yeah, I chase squirrels from time to time. Some of you don't, though. Some of you are like man, this just makes sense, like I can just file and organize and do all of this. Some of you really like planning events. You know who doesn't Me. That's why so much of our camping trip was.
Josh:I was just flying by the seat of my pants Like we'll figure it out why? Because I wasn't going to sit here and plan it out, because I don't even know what to plan. I went hey, here's the problem. Right, we need to get these people from a mainland to an island. I have a boat Problem solved, okay, but how does that work? I don't know. Put your stuff on the boat. We'll see if it sinks when we get there. It didn't. Everyone came back. So mission success.
Josh:But some of us we would have known what we were cooking. We would have been like here's what time we're eating, here's what we're making. We've got to start at this time so that we can eat by this time. I'm sitting here going Deb, is it okay if I leave and go fish? Like that was the only thing I needed to answer on Everybody's here, safely. You got this holding down JT, let's go. But that was it. But some of us, like, that's what we thrive on. See, jesus went. I'll bring people together, I'll put together what I need to put together and I'm going to bring everyone together so that you may go accomplish my mission. The question still boils down to what are you personally doing to accomplish that mission? I'll be honest, it's super easy Serve, share and live. You serve others the way that Jesus did. Like I'll tell you, we belong to a organization, a fishing organization.
Josh:We were leaving one of the meetings and they originally they were like, hey, if you want to be part of leadership, like we're sending this letter out, you guys are like the most active in the community for your area If you want to be part of leadership. Like, come to the leadership meeting. And then we get to the leadership meeting. It was more than I wanted to take on Like. I was like man, I don't really have time. To begin with I don't want to add something else to my schedule. I was like, hey, look, I'll help, I'll serve in any way that you guys need take on like an official role. We get two meetings into it and we're leaving.
Josh:And one of the guys was like hey, could you come in early? Like, can you help us do this? Can you help? Yeah, absolutely Show up early and guess what? They didn't even need help and they were like but, man, thanks so much for always being and sometimes you're just going to be that one.
Josh:Come to find out he's he. He's at a church. Like the first pastor I ever talked to about planting, he goes to his church. And I was like man, what a small small world they saw our, our church did back in January when we did our fishing day. And they were like hey, can we sit and talk Because we want to do that at our church too. That looks like a lot of fun.
Josh:Can we just talk about logistics, how you did this, where you chose, why you chose there, like all of those kind of things. And how did we get to have all these conversations? Because I went. Yeah, I mean, I'll help out in any way I can. Sharing the gospel man. That's easy. Here's all you have to do. Talk about yourself. You're going to do it anyway. Just do it intentionally Instead of how amazing you are. Just go. Hey, look at all the things Jesus did for me. That's it. You just got to kind of change the conversation a little bit. Here's how Jesus saved me from me. Because he did, because every single one of us in here would be on a very, very different road had Jesus not intervened. I would be drunk, dead, face down in a ditch definitely single, we know that, but Jesus went. Nope, you won't. Here's what I'm going to do with you. I go, but what is it that we individually are bringing to this? Because Jesus went, I will bring it together. I will build it. Now.
Josh:I know I ask questions like that and the question I always get asked after is this how do I know what I should be doing? So I'm going to give you a list of things that are practical that I'll tell you everybody should be helping with and then we'll drill down into like you specifically, because I can answer everyone's specific question in one statement. So number one here I'll tell you this, not this week because, of course why not? We're on spring break this week but I'll tell you right now, after service. You know what would be the biggest help in the world Help me stack up chairs, like we just take each row and we stack them along the wall because we have a school that meets here. I need people to help me do that.
Josh:We had to rush in this morning Some of you heard before service because we were kind of talking about it, because Debbie woke me up and I told her to wake me up early, because I knew when we left on Friday because we normally set everything up Friday afternoon, but I knew we had a camping trip. So when we left on Thursday, not Friday, I was like, whatever, I'll get back early enough Saturday, we'll just swing by Famous last words, right? So last night, as I got done washing the boat and I looked at my phone and went uh-oh, it is almost eight o'clock I went no, I'm not going up and stacking chairs and we'll get it in the morning. Debbie, just wake me up a little early. Debbie didn't wake me up early, so we got up here at normal time. So now I have like just anxiety out the wazoo going. I'm never going to get able to do this in time and I was like we won't vacuum. So I set up all the chairs and I'm looking at the floor and I'm like I can't not vacuum. This looks like garbage. So then it's like now I'm trying to vacuum in between all the chairs, like I go, it's little things like that, think about it, many hands make light work and I go. So that's something Again.
Josh:Some of you like like you, you like talking and smiling to people Show up 15, 20 minutes early and just be like hey, I'm going to sit by the door and as people come in, I'm going to sit by the door, and as people come in, I'm going to sit here and go hey, how are you Like, if that's, you do it, because I'm going to tell you that's not me. I'm not going to stand by the door and smile. You know why? Because it is morning time. Y'all remember when we had Saturday night service I was great at that right, me and Eric, were always on the porch talking when y'all pulled up. Why? Because it was nighttime and I like nighttime. I feel like Batman in that way. I am the night Like I. Even I can do the voice too.
Josh:But some of you like you like like, when we were asking like, hey, service times, what are you guys thinking? One person was like, hey, let's do a 6 am service. I was like, oh no, that ain't happening. You want to know how long your 6 am service would go? From 6 to 6.15. Once you got done singing, it would just be like all right, have a good week, I'd come back for the 9.
Josh:But, that being said, show up a little early and just smile and wave. I'll tell you right now Kayla had said something about, I guess a couple people wanted to sing. Come up and practice and sing with her. I'll tell you, kayla doesn't like to sing, she likes playing the guitar, she doesn't like singing. So if you're sitting here going, hey, you know what I can do this. Let's work out a time that you can meet her up here so you guys can actually practice during the week and then come up and sing Our biggest thing.
Josh:I'll tell you right now what we are praying for more than anything else right now a youth director, like someone who is sitting here going hey, I want to take on the youth, because you know who's not going to do it. This guy. You know why? Because I'm with most of them all week anyway. I don't want to see him again extra. That's a joke. So some of y'all were like what I was like, some of them are mine. Well, those I definitely can go. I don't want to see extra. But, again, that's what we're praying for.
Josh:We have plenty of kids that are in that middle school, high school range, and I want someone who goes. I'm passionate about that age range and this 80% of decisions made for Jesus, 80% of the people that go I'm going to believe in Jesus, do so before the age of 18. Okay, when we wrap our heads around that, here's what that means. 20% of adults are going to go. Hey, I want to believe in Jesus, I want to walk with Jesus. See, my job is easy. My job is to take people who already claim to believe in Jesus and go. Hey, all, right, now that you claim this, here's how your life should look, and I have no problem with that. You know what's hard, though, holding a teenager's attention long enough just to say the gospel story, because they do bible every day and as I'm preaching through on bible, you can literally watch the eyes going. It's hard, but we're praying that god sends someone who goes. Hey, like, this is my passion, and these are just areas on service day. These are just areas for sunday morning.
Josh:What about other areas like you could do during the week? How about this? Eat dinner with family and friends, not your immediate family, like it doesn't count that me and debbie ate dinner. I eat dinner with her every night. I'm talking about like those, those family members that you may have a harder time with, and if you're like, oh, I don't have family that lives around me, find friends, eat dinner with friends, coworkers, someone, because you know what happens when you eat. You talk Hopefully not at the same time, because that is disgusting. If you're a food shower in here, I apologize, but no one like don't talk about Jesus and you're a food shower in here, I apologize, but no one like don't talk about Jesus and you're like so like that's disgusting. But eat dinner with people. Eat lunch with people.
Josh:Share digital content we talked about this either last week or the week before. Right, you hit like go one button over and hit share. The easiest way for you to share anything we do is just like that, right, like share, done. It literally took you three seconds. It really boils down to this what are you doing to serve others, share the gospel of Jesus and live your life on mission? Now, like I said, those are generalities, right, specifically, and like I said, I can answer this for anyone in this room, you ready, what is it that you like to do? Like I will tell you right now this camping trip this weekend for me was not work at all. Why? Because if that was just a typical Friday night, I would have done it anyway. Like that's, in fact, that's how it came up, because I went.
Josh:If I'm going to plan something, I'm going to plan something I want to do. You know what I don't like doing? Going to a museum, debbie, and I talk about this all the time. This is why it's an example. To a museum, debbie, and I talk about this all the time. This is why it's an example. Like Debbie likes the artsy stuff. I do not understand why people would pay money to go look at bad drawings that other people did. That don't make any sense, that are just like I could do this at home if I had to paint by numbers, like I don't like that, but Debbie does, so why isn't she planning a trip going? Hey, we're going to go out to the what is it, moaz? And we're going to go look at all the art exhibits. What is it that you already like to do? And then how can you do that, for the glory of God? Here's the thing I'm not trying to force you to do stuff that you don't want to do, but how can you already do what you like to do, for the glory of God?
Josh:We were walking out of Zaxby's yesterday on the way home because we knew it would be too late to eat by the time we got home and I was walking across the drive-thru and like there was a car parked in the drive-thru facing me and it looked like it had a flashing light and I was like there's no way that that is a police officer. And they left their lights on while they're in a drive-thru because it'll reflect, you'll know your lights are on. So I kind of looked over and it says Jesus loves you anyway, and it's like an LED, like a scrolling LED sign and it's backwards and I was like what the? And then I was like thinking about it. I was like, oh, if I were to see that car coming up behind me in my rear view mirror. It's just going to say Jesus loves you anyway. And I went, yeah, one that's illegal way. And I went, yeah, one that's illegal. But whatever, I mean, you obviously don't care about that. Two, how many people are going to read this sign? Quite a few, see, specifically.
Josh:Here's the answer to that question what is it that you already are passionate about? Do do that, but do it intentionally, for the glory of God. Understand if you're someone in here who's like I like to go to buffets. Paul legit says whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God. Would buffets work in that? Yeah, you could sit down and go, hey, look as we're eating. You know, you get like three or four plates into it. You start that natural slowdown to begin with and then you go, hey, what do you think about gluttony? Like, do you think this is gluttonous? And I promise you, if you just started with that question, you have a whole gospel conversation coming next and that's all you got to do as you're sitting there, you know you got your stack of plates like you're arguing over who's eating the most. You're like hey, did you know?
Josh:1 Corinthians 10.31 says whether we eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. And guess what? You're going to have A whole gospel conversation. Because what does it mean? Do it for the glory of God, what do you think that is? Or just go, hey, does your belly ever hurt this much? And when they go, can I pray for you? Like you would really throw them off on that one, right, see? But there's all these ways to do it just by taking what we're already passionate about, but doing it for the glory of God, because that's what we're called to do.
Josh:The only reason we come here is to hear people tell us that, to remind us, hey, as you leave this place, when you go back out into the war zone, like, think about this as like the green zone, which just means the neutral zone. Right, this is the rear, this is where you come. You can actually eat a whole chow. You ain't eating MREs and stuff like that. But when you leave this place and you go back out into the combat zone, here's the things you need to take with you. You get your resupply here to take the war out there. And Jesus went. I'm going to bring some specialists together that each are going to do different things so that we can take the war to the enemy, because, understand, not everyone in here is the same. Everyone in here brings something different to the table. Easy example Last week, when you guys came in, you were like, why are your shoes off?
Josh:Some of you were like, oh, he's doing the holy thing now. Like I knew it was coming. I knew he was getting a little like, kind of like Pentecostally, but now it's on. Like some of y'all were probably like looking for what's the horn called the shofar. We ain't there yet, but no, that's what it was.
Josh:I did something to my toe the night before. It hurt really bad and shoes hurt it, so I just took my shoes off because it hurt. It literally changed my entire day, though, because it hurt to walk, like to the point where I was like how can one little toe completely alter all of the plans of my day? And it did Understand each and every one of you are a little toe and when you are hurting, you completely alter the plans of what we're planning to do here, because, just as one member cannot say I am better than the other, I am no better than anyone in here. Just because I could win at Bible trivia In the office in the 90s and probably 80s, probably.
Josh:Take a couple of you in the 70s, here's how you get me Go. Hey, can our next trivia be music like 2010 plus? You got me Because sometimes I hear these kids talk and I'm like what? Oh, it's a TikTok thing. What's a TikTok? Because to me, tiktok is a clock right. Tiktok, apparently, it's a Chinese app that you guys are just giving all your information away, on which this will probably now get banned because we gave away that secret.
Josh:But understand, I'm not better just because I have a different position than anyone else in here. My role is just different. Your role is just as vital. It's just as important. If you were like someone who was sitting here going hey, I don't want to sing, I don't want to smile at people, I don't want to get up and preach, but you know what? I have no problem helping stack up chairs and vacuum. You are just as important as anyone else in here, because that is a function that needs to happen.
Josh:The problem is is when we decide we're not going to function because, just like my toe shaved off my entire day. That's the same thing we're doing to the family of God. See God, when I brought you here for a reason, when you decide to not do that reason, you are now what we call oh, no one wanted to guess on that one useless. You weren't called to be a consumer. I'm telling you that right now, you were not called to just sit here and just listen to what I'm saying. You were not called to just like oh well, now I can just be bathed in entertainment and every once in a while he'll say something that's kind of funny.
Josh:We are called to be producers to produce something. Now, I'm not saying it has to be producers to produce something. Now, I'm not saying it has to be a forward-facing gift, right, it doesn't have to be something that everybody's going to see. There are plenty of background things. I'll tell you the Sharon Center is opening next month. That is a background thing that is still forward-facing, now that I think about it. Just not up here in front of everybody, right, my mom's going to need help with that.
Josh:So if you're someone who's sitting here going, hey, I have some time. No, you don't. Stop thinking that way, you don't? There are plenty of things to do. Start doing things, because what Paul is sitting here going is we are members of one another. That's how he ends with that right. And what that means is, if you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing, who is Someone right? Because it's still getting done, it just ain't you, which means someone's doing double work because you're not doing what you're supposed to do.
Josh:It's like I tell the kids all week long hey, I tell and when I say the kids, I mean my daughters you may want to talk to your friends and pick up the trash because, understand, you ultimately are going to be the one cleaning this room. So you can either talk to your little friends in school and go, hey, clean up the trash under that desk, or, when Friday afternoon comes, you can spend an extra hour up here cleaning up the stuff that's under that desk. But, understand, the stuff under that desk is getting cleaned up. That's the same thing we need to treat this. See, I'm not here every Sunday because this is my job. I don't get paid to do this. The hours during the week that I spend studying and preparing, and all of that. I don't get paid for any of that. I'm not here because this is my job. I'm here because I go. Jesus says this is my family, and when my family needs something they know all I have to do is call. See, the question is do you believe what the Bible actually says? Because if you're sitting here going yes, I believe what the Bible actually says then understand this. The people in this room are your family and, just like you would be there for your immediate family, you need to be here for your family, because when you're not, it hurts. Not, it hurts. When you're not, you're the big toe that got kicked and now you are changing everything else about it, and that's why Paul is sitting here going. We are members of one another. It's not an individual thing. It's not just like the church of Josh. Just because I'm the pastor, that just means I have a specific role to fill in this. It's not just the church, it is God going. I brought these people together to go accomplish this mission. We need to come together to accomplish this mission because this mission is bigger than any one of us in this room. Like, think about it, guys. There are weeks we have literally run out of chairs and had standing room, only Then other weeks where it's like just the Guffenbergs and us. And I'll tell you I'm not above going. Hey, grabby Joe's has a breakfast buffet that goes from 8 to 11. If we leave now, we can make it out there. But see, what I'm saying is is we are members of one another. I am just as responsible for you as you are for me.
Josh:When we first started Mission Scent, we did so with one purpose for the lost to come to know Jesus. We wanted to create opportunities for every disciple to serve, share and live, and that is why we have so many missions. That's why we have Mission Scent Outdoors and Mission Media and Mission Academy and Mission Scent. And I'm sitting here going. You know what? You want? To help grow the family. You want to help do podcasts? Let me know, we do one every other week. You want to be on one? Cool, I would love to hear your perspective. So would everyone who listens. And you know, the glorious thing about it is you have no idea who listens, because all you'll see is a mic right in front of your face.
Josh:You're sitting here going, hey, like, no, like that's not for me. I don't. I don't like stuff like that. I get it. You like being outside. Like you like doing, like what we did this weekend that's what Mission Center Outdoors is all about is to create those opportunities to go hey, like, let's get outside. Summer's coming. We live in the state that people save all year long to come visit. Understand there's going to be a lot of things that happen over summer outside in the springs, with animals, like you're like I don't like outside because I know some of you are broken and you don't like outside for whatever reason. I get it.
Josh:Mission Academy you're like hey, like I like to educate, I like to teach. Talk to Debbie. I'm telling you I'm looking for reasons to leave anyway. Like I got a couple other job offers lined up up. Like I can go. Do you want fries with that? It's pretty easy, I go.
Josh:And if you're like hey, none of that, none of that, even like, sounds remotely interesting, what is it that does? Because that's why we started? We started so that you could come to me and go, hey, because that's why we started. We started so that you could come to me and go, hey, here's what actually sounds interesting to me. Like I'm really into conspiracy theories.
Josh:What can we do with this? We'll figure out something, and we'll figure out how to do it for the glory of God, like that's what we exist for. See, I'm not worried about growth and all of that, because if we're doing what we're supposed to do, growth is a natural outcome of that. Hence why we're growing now. Hence why we have weeks where we run out of chairs now, because that's what is a natural outpouring of that. That's not why we do this, though.
Josh:We do this so that one more will come and go. Hey, I want to put my faith in Jesus, so one more will go. Hey, you know what? I need to get serious about my faith in Jesus. We do this, so one more will go. Hey, you know what I actually need to be a part of this. I need to stop being half in, half out.
Josh:We do this so that more will come to know, so that we can beat down the gates of hell, but in order to do that, we all have to do our part so that we can operate at the highest we can. So, as we close today, what are you doing? Where are you serving? Where are you sitting here, going? This is my part and, like I said, it doesn't have to be one of the forward-facing things. You may not be that kind of person, and I get that, but all of us have to operate because when we don't, the body can't, your big toe will shut you down. I have a very high pain tolerance, like I've hit myself with grinders before and just kept on grinding Finger just cut wide open, like that stuff doesn't bother me, like that stuff doesn't bother me. That toe shut the body down. Like I went. Debbie, we're going home, I'm getting in bed, you are bringing me everything into the room and then we will just have a nice relaxing day now. So I'm just saying at the end of all of this, don't be a big toe.
Josh:So, father, we ask and we pray that as we go from here, that God, we find our area to take responsibility in and to go hey, this is my lane. That, father, if it's something that we don't offer right now, I pray that you just put it on. Whoever it is that you are talking to right now. God, we'll figure out how to do it. We'll figure out how to open it. We'll figure out how to do it. We'll figure out how to open it. We'll figure out everything that needs to go with it.
Josh:But that, father, I just pray that each and every one of us get in the game, sit here and go. You know what? It is right we need to go to war against the forces of darkness. So, father, I ask and I pray that, as we move from this space, we do so understanding that we are part of one another, that every single one of us in this room understands that we can't function without the other, that we are codependent, father, in the way that you have created your church. Father, I ask and I pray that we leave here encouraged, not discouraged. That we leave here ready to work, father, and not beat down, but that, father, we leave here with the resolve to go. Hey, you know what. I'm going to get serious about it, father. I pray this in Jesus name Amen.