Mission Sent
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Mission Sent
Cheerleaders Wanted, Critics Need Not Apply
What happens when the light of hope begins to dim in a world that feels increasingly dark? In this powerful exploration of Romans 12:8, we unpack the profound gift of exhortation - not just as positive thinking, but as a spiritual calling that mirrors the Holy Spirit's own work as our Helper.
The Greek word for "exhortation" (periklesis) shares the same root as "parakletos" - the Helper Jesus promised in John 14:16. This reveals something extraordinary about our calling: when we encourage others, we're participating in divine work. Unfortunately, many churches have abandoned their role as lighthouses of hope, focusing instead on messages that reinforce gloom and resignation.
Jesus didn't suggest we might be light if conditions improve; He declared it our identity: "You ARE the light of the world." Like the anglerfish using bioluminescence to attract others in ocean depths, our hope serves as a beacon in spiritual darkness. People should look at Christians and think, "There's something different about them - they suffer well."
The most dangerous weapon against despair isn't found in arguments or political victories but in steadfast hope pointing to Christ. Hope keeps you putting one foot in front of the other when everything says quit. It's what sustained Paul through imprisonment and persecution, and what fueled the explosive growth of the early church despite facing circumstances far worse than anything most Western Christians experience today.
Perhaps most critically, we've forgotten Christianity was never designed to be lived in isolation. When hurting, our instinct is to withdraw - like wounded animals hiding to die - making us most vulnerable to attack. The early believers understood this, breaking bread together daily and ensuring no one faced struggles alone.
If you possess the gift of exhortation, your voice is desperately needed. The church doesn't need more critics - it needs more cheerleaders pointing to our ultimate source of hope. Will you stand in the gap and become the encouragement someone else needs today?
so Romans 12 8 says this the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. Just to give you a heads up, we're going to be in this verse for the next like three weeks, and if you want to know what we're going to be doing, all you got to do is just continue to read right, today we're going to be diving deep on the one exhort in his exhortation. Now, before I get into it, does anybody in here know what exhortation means? Because it's not a word that most of us use on like a day-to-day basis. All right, encourage, it could mean encourage, it could mean console, it could mean like, just like going out of your way to make someone else feel better, like that. That's really what the word means. So, when we're talking about the gifting and it gifting exhortation, what are we talking about? See, because it's not just hey, think positive. If you know me and you've had these conversations with me, that whole oh, like positive thinking thing, that I don't. I don't get down on that. I'm very much a realist. I'm very much, hey, like, be honest about where you are, because if you're not honest with yourself, you're never going to move from where you are. I'm very much a realist. I'm very much hey like, be honest about where you are, because if you're not honest with yourself, you're never going to move from where you are. I'm not this person that goes hey like, name it and claim it and speak it into an existence, because you don't have the power of creation ex nihilo. In other words, you don't have the power to create. And for those of you that were like, oh well, I have kids, so obviously I can create, that's not creation, that's enjoying God's good gift of marriage.
Speaker 1:This word exhortation in the original language is this perikletios, all right or no, I'm sorry, periklesis, and it is a verb that means to encourage or console. However, there's something very important about this word I need us all to understand right out the gate. This word comes from the same word, the same Greek word parakletos. Now, is anyone familiar with that? Only one person that raised their hand. Here's where this word is found in scripture, in John 14, 16,.
Speaker 1:Jesus says this and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, parakletos, to be with you forever. Those two words are the same thing. So what Paul is stressing here? Not that we are God and we are the Holy Spirit, but that we should be acting in the same role as the helper. Jesus is sitting here going hey, I'm going to leave, and it's better for you that I leave, because if I don't leave, then God will not send the helper. But when he does, here's what the helper is going to do he's going to encourage you, he's going to lift you up, he's going to strengthen you, and what Paul is sitting here saying in Romans is we have that gifting to encourage and strengthen and console one another.
Speaker 1:See, sometimes, here's what we have to understand. We all pray for supernatural things, right, we all pray that God. Do this, god do that, god, do this supernaturally. Understand this. Jesus could have done this whole salvation any way he wanted to. How did he choose to do it, though? Through us, through broken, sinful people who are redeemed by his spirit To see the world differently. And so here's what he's saying this is your responsibility. When you see a brother or a sister and they're just down, you know what your responsibility is To help, to serve, to go to them and be like hey look, how can I make your burden easier. How can I walk with you through this? Because, understand this like you're still going to have to walk through it. But, like, the beautiful thing about marriage is this yeah, we had a terrible week this week. You know what I didn't do? Walk through it by myself, though it wasn't just me, because every step of the way I had a helpmate that God gave me that was fit for me to walk with me through that. And isn't it easier, even when you're going through something that's just like horrible and terrible, to have someone with you, not to suffer with you, but to help get you up from it? That's what Paul is talking about here exhortation, because it's not always going to be peachy and rosy.
Speaker 1:Jesus says this in John 15, in this world, you will have tribulation, things will go wrong. Why? Because we live in a broken, sinful world. Regardless of how good you try to be, there are things that exist beyond your control that are going to break. Systems and governments will break and fall. Your body, your health will break. It's not a matter of if, it is simply a matter of when, like when you are a grown man trying to ride a unicycle. Things are gonna break right, brian, Because our bodies don't just bounce up, like they did when we were eight.
Speaker 1:Like I remember being younger and being able to get on like our roof at the house. Like first of all I could climb this tree by our house and then literally like walk with my hands over to the roof and then kind of like fling myself the last feet to get onto the roof and we would do this because it was so much fun to go from the front of the house, run across the roof to the back of the house, jump off the roof onto the plane, hit like a double backflip into the pool. Like it was fun. Do you know what would happen if I do that now? My body would literally give out on me halfway through the first backflip. It was going to be just the back pain of the century as I slapped the water Because, see, we live in this brokenness and yet we need help from time to time.
Speaker 1:You know why Jesus says pride comes before the fall, because when you sit here and go I got this you're going to fall. See, we need each other to be able to come along and encourage, and the Bible is showing us here that some of us have this very deeply important gifting of being the same kind of helper that Jesus promises to give to his disciples. See, like I said in my opening, for the past five years, it is seen that the world has sped up its descent into hell. Just, things have just keep getting worse and worse and worse and worse. People are just longing for that time when it wasn't like that, when it wasn't like that. Now let me ask you do you think that the past five years have been worse than any other years in the history of humanity? Yeah, I would say no too. I mean, there's some periods about human life that has been a lot worse than what we see today. So why, then, is it? It looks just so gloomy now. Why is it that we have people that just struggle getting out of bed now, especially within the church?
Speaker 1:The church stopped exhortation. We stopped being encouraging. You know what most pastors preach from the pulpit, especially over this last five-year period. It's only going to get worse. We're in the end times. It's just going to keep falling more and more and more into the power of the devil. The devil is going to overtake this world. All you can do is buckle down and get ready for the worst. That's what we've preached. We haven't preached any like encouragement and hope. We haven't preached and went. Hey, it doesn't matter what happens. To live is Christ, to die is gain. There's literally nothing that this world can do to you. You should walk around and fight, not from a place of or not for victory, but from a place of victory, like. Those messages just don't seem to come as much. We just want to focus on all the miserable, just worst possible bearers of bad news that we can and we go. It's never going to get better. We choose to focus on the negative. We choose to sit here and go. This is just. The good times have passed. Spiritual warfare is happening now.
Speaker 1:Do you realize that all of the disciples really believed that they were going to see the return of Christ before they died? Every single one of you read through the new. Do you know what their age is? Right? Jesus is coming back soon now. Soon for us may be different, and soon for God, because God exists outside of time. Think about when your kids were little and they're like hey, hey, are we leaving soon? And your response was in just a little bit. Now, to a child, five minutes is not a little bit Like five minutes, you might as well say, hey, we're going to go tomorrow To an adult, though you're sitting here. Going five minutes is not that big of a deal. Before you know it it's going to be over. That's honestly, if you really want to get into it.
Speaker 1:That's Einstein's relativity that time does not exist as one universal thing. Time is relative to a person. So if you were traveling at 100,000 miles or at the speed of light I'm sorry, away from me, I look like I was thin so while your life would look normal. In other words, you don't all experience time the same way. You know how I know this, because if you're an adult in here, you don't experience time the same way you did when you were a kid. You want to know another way. If you're a teacher in here, you're about to be off for summer break, right? That is going to be like three minutes in the grand scheme of your life. Before you know it, you're going to be pre-planning in August. Same thing for a kid, right? Summer was so short. There's a cartoon that comes on I forget if it's Disney or Nicola, it's Disney, it just dawned on me. There's 104 days of summer vacation and school comes along. Just to end it Like, think about that, that's a long time when you really stop Like, if I were like, hey, could you go 104 days of fasting, everybody in here would be like, heck, no, you want me to go 104 days with, like you know, keeping myself from eating? No, that's not going to happen. But man, if you're a teacher and you're like, hey, you get 104 days to not be around kids, you're like, can we make it longer? Because time is relative and it's understanding that. But see, here's what I need us to understand as far as this goes.
Speaker 1:In his first recorded sermon, jesus says this in Matthew 5, in the Sermon on the Mount you are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to the whole house In the same way. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven. Think about it. If you've been raised in church, you remember this right, this little light of mine. Yeah, some of y'all got it right. You remember vacation, bible school, going to put it under a bush Heck? No, I'm going to let it shine. But you know what the church did we went. We're not going to let our light shine. Someone else will put it out, the devil will blow on it. How about this? If we're, it's never gonna get any better. It just get until Jesus comes back. So what's the purpose? Well, the purpose is this Jesus commanded you let your light shine, and if you're familiar with the anglerfish, that's right.
Speaker 1:Any sermon has to have a fishing. Any good sermon has to have a fishing illustration, because Jesus was a fisherman. The anglerfish lives in what we call the midnight zone in the ocean. In other words, there's no light. It's so deep down in the ocean, in other words, there's no light. It's so deep down in the ocean that light can't penetrate through that water, so it's in complete darkness. He lets the light shine, though he has this little barb that comes off his head and he has bioluminescence, this little like just, it looks like a lure, it actually looks like this little mic piece I have, and it just sits there and dangles and it glows. And you know what happens? All the other fish that are down in this complete darkness, they see this light and they're drawn to it and then, as soon as they get close enough, that angler fish just opens up his mouth and goes for it, turns the light off. The fish didn't even know what was happening, right? Why? Because there's a light in the darkness.
Speaker 1:Why does Jesus go? Hey, you're supposed to be a light in the darkness Because, yes, it is gloomy out here, yes, it is bad out here, yes, it is going to get worse out here, but you know what we're called to be A light shining in that, in other words, people are supposed to be able to look at us as the church and go. There's something different. They suffer. Well, do you have the power that comes with suffering? Well, the power to sit here and go. Yeah, bad things happen, but I don't need to worry about it, because what is coming for me is greater than the present sufferings of this time.
Speaker 1:Think about it. This too shall pass. I heard that my entire life, no matter what happened, my mom was like this too shall pass. This drove Paul, this drove Paul.
Speaker 1:Think about who Paul is. What are you going to do with him? He won't stop preaching Jesus. Throw him in jail. What's he do when he gets thrown in jail? He's a light in the darkness in jail. Right him and Silas sitting there singing spiritual and guess what? They plant church out of the Philippine, not Philippine.
Speaker 1:In jail, okay, we'll kill you to live as Christ, to die as gain. Kill me, I get to go be with Jesus. What are you gonna do to a guy like this? Nothing, nothing. Not us, though.
Speaker 1:We're so snowflakes like nowadays because most of you believed your parents when they told you how special you were. You're special in a way, but it ain't the way you think. Here's what we've told our kids our whole life. You are the world to me, but not to anyone else. One of the biggest things we have to understand is we are not so unique that your troubles are any different than anyone else's troubles.
Speaker 1:But paul is trying to get people to understand that we are called to be a light in the darkness, attracting people to it. Well, people are going to sit here and go, why? Look at the day and age we live in. Something happens. What's the first thing people do?
Speaker 1:Social media Like. There are entire pages on social media that are just called whatever, city gossip and complaints, and there are people that just go on there all day long. And well, I was at this red light and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then next thing you know they're like this city should be blown up and thrown into the earth. I would do it better. That is social media.
Speaker 1:And so for y'all that are spending hours and hours and hours on social media, here's what I want you to understand. That's what you're putting into your brain. This is why, honestly, I watch fishing videos. I'll spend my, I don't waste my time on social media. I don't care what you have to say. I'm just sitting here going on my next trip. Can I get a 40 plus inch red? That's the only thing I'm worried about. Why? Because I ain't got time to get sucked into your garbage. Understand I only got a set number of days and and I've already got a 40-plus inch snook. So if I can just get a 40-plus inch red to add to that group, I'm going to be doing good.
Speaker 1:But see, we focus on these things that are just poison to our soul and then we wonder why we couldn't suffer. Well, the church, instead of being a light in the darkness, becomes a repellent to push people away. We should be the hope, we should be the place that, when people are down, they go hey, that's where, that's where I need to be, because look at them, there's just something different about them. They don't respond to the people the way other people respond. Like when someone talks about you and I know you're sitting in here and you're like, oh, my friends are so amazing, they would never talk about me. You know that's a lie. First of all, you talk about yourself. How is someone else going to talk about you Now? What do you do? Do you drop down to their level and you just start spitting it back so you feel? Do you drop down to their level and you just start spitting it back so you feel good and you feel vindicated and you feel justified? Or do you sit here and you go?
Speaker 1:What did Jesus do when people talked about him? What did Jesus do on the way to the cross? Was he arguing and pleading his case? When Pilate goes, hey, are you a king? Jesus responds with this my kingdom is not of this world. For if my kingdom was of this world, my father would send a legion of angels. What you guys gonna do? You guys see one angel and you're like, ah. And the angel has to tell you don't be afraid. What are you gonna do when a thousand of them show up? Like Jesus is sitting here, going. You don't get it. Like the wood that you're about to nail me to, I hold that together because I'm the one that created that. Without me, that wood would just simply turn to dust. What's he do? Like a lamb led to slaughter, his mouth didn't move. He wasn't pleading his case, he was sitting here and going hey, this is what has to be done, so go do it.
Speaker 1:How come? We can't look at life like that? Because it's all about my happiness, right? That's what we think. It's all about my comfort, my peace and my happiness. Where do you get that from? Where do we think that that exists? That's the world telling you. It's all about you. The Bible says it's all about seeking and saving what is lost. See, and that's what the church should be doing. We should be the hope. We should be where people come to first. I mean, all we have to do is think about it.
Speaker 1:Apologetics, one of my favorite areas, right. 1 Peter 3.15 is the first verse that anybody who does apologetics always comes to, and here's what it says but in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense. That word defense is apologio. That's where we get the word apologetics from. We're making a defense to anyone who asks for a reason, for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. Understand when we engage in apologetics, what are we trying to defend? We're trying to defend the reason we have hope. That's what we're trying to defend.
Speaker 1:I'm not sitting here going. I'm engaging in apologetics so that I can win an argument. If that is your goal, understand. You'm engaging in apologetics so that I can win an argument. If that is your goal, understand. You're engaging in apologetics. You're sitting here going hey, I'm trying to have a defense for the hope that is found in me, because this hope is all that I have to hold on to.
Speaker 1:Now think about it. What hope and why is hope so dangerous? Why do governments like? If we go back and even look at the early church, why was Rome so intent on squashing Christians out, anybody? Because they didn't say Caesar is Lord. They said Christ is Lord. They had hope that there was a different. They had hope that this was gonna go different. They had hope that there was a different. They had hope that this was going to go different. They had hope that Jesus will return soon.
Speaker 1:See, hope is a very dangerous thing, because hope is what keeps you putting one foot in front of the other. Hope is what gets you out of bed every morning. You hope that today will be better than yesterday. Hope is sitting here going. This, too, shall pass, that it isn't going to get worse, that eventually it's going to break and it's going to get better. Hope is what keeps you going. You know who quits People who have no hope.
Speaker 1:That's why I think about any sports movie you've ever seen, and for those of you who grew up playing sports, right, you were always waiting to be down in the fourth quarter. Four seconds left to go. You're on the five-yard line, because you knew you had practiced this speech so many times in your head. It's got to happen. Give me the ball, I'll get in the end zone. I have goosebumps Like. Look at like in front of you. Y'all see that right, like this is like you hope for that. Why? Because that's what hope does.
Speaker 1:Regardless of how dark it may get, hope is that light in me that just continues to go. Hey, it's not always going to be like this. Debbie woke me up this morning going. Josh, I know yesterday was hard, I know this week was heavy, but it's not always going to be like this. Now, first thing in the morning that kind of went in one ear and out the other, but now that I'm awake a little bit, I can go. Thank you, that meant a lot. That encouraged me.
Speaker 1:See, hope is what we have to hold on to, and here's what the devil wants to do. The devil wants to hold you in despair, because if you don't feel like it's ever going to get better, what's the point of trying? And that's what we do. We shut down, Get out of bed and we don't try. Because what's the point of trying? It's never going to get better. Every single one of us in this room has been in that position before. Well, we just sat here. And what's the point? Regardless of what I do? You know how many fishing trips I've been on when, like we weren't just catching. Like spot one, nothing was happening. Spot two was happening. Spot three, nothing was happening.
Speaker 1:You see this, okay, those of you that don't know when you're fishing, right, you want to fish twilight periods, as the sun's first coming up or as the sun's going down, because when the sun's straight up above you fish, just drive down deep. It makes them impossible to find. They're not as active, they're kind of just waiting to go eat dinner. And after spot three, and you're looking around and you're like man, the sun still hasn't come or the sun's up too high now what am I going to do? But hope, hope was spot four. Y'all can giggle. This was my first solo fishing trip. I went man, this ain't nothing, I'm not catching anything. Sun came up too high now, man, and I launched a four-inch paddle tail right up into the mangroves and I pull out this 23-inch fish and it was like, oh cool, we got dinner now and you know what I did for the next, like two hours after that. It's not impossible. The fish are still biting and I'm gonna fish. It's like hour and a half made it.
Speaker 1:Me and JT just went out last week. We almost died. Y'all giggle JT, did we almost die? We almost died. Y'all giggle JT, did we almost die? This yacht okay, most of y'all have seen my boat in here. It ain't the biggest right. This yacht came flying by us. The waves were coming over the side of the boat JT is driving at this point. See, everyone had the same reaction. I did, like JT is driving at this point. See, everyone had the same reaction. I did like JT's back Now, luckily tripped and fell, and as he fell, he turned the wheel and hit the throttle, and so we made it.
Speaker 1:This is the last spot of the day, though, and as we're driving and now I'm like man, this is the worst trip, like you know, we're just out of sync. It's been too long since we finished. And, blah, I'm like man, this is the worst trip. Like you know, we're just out of sync. It's been too long since we fished in blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 1:The very next cast, 24-inch snook. See, that's what a hook does. And those of you that don't fish and you're like, well, I don't get these illustrations. You should fish more. You would understand exactly what I'm talking about, and I go when you want to go. We'll plan it out. Hope does. Hope is that thousandth cast after we've done 999, that you can't catch anything, and that's what we should be peddling. That's what we should be showing. That is what the dark. That doesn't make sense. That's what the dark's afraid of. Think about it. No, this isn't. This isn't the worst time that's ever in all humanity, right. Even if we look at the first century church, the God actually wrote what we're reading right now.
Speaker 1:You know who we're dealing with. They were dealing with this guy, nero. Okay, and if we think our politicians are bad, nero was going around and arresting Christians and then throwing them into an arena and going hey, you're going to fight this lion, this tiger, this bear. Oh my, but for real. And again, I love fighting just as much as the next person. I don't know how I would fare against a 500-pound, 1,000-pound, grizzly bear. I want to believe I could put up a fight, but I don't think I can.
Speaker 1:In here like I could do, like Daniel did, until you're actually next to a line. Then you're like you know what else Nero would do? He would. He would take Christians, arrest them, take a long rod, stick it up the back and out the mouth, soak you in oil and then light you on fire. So his garden had lights at night.
Speaker 1:This is what they're dealing with. So I get it is bad now, but it's been worse before. And yet, and yet, these are the same guys that are sitting here pinning this, same guys that are sitting here pinning this. Why, and just so we understand, was the church shrinking at this time? No, like. They're preaching sermons and literally thousands are coming to believe. Why? Because they're not afraid to show their hope, they're not afraid to exhort one another, they're not afraid to encourage one another, they're not afraid to go hey, it's going to get better. They're not afraid to give up their time so that they can be with a brother or a sister and go hey, let's walk through this. In fact, if you jump all the way back to Acts 2, what's happening at this point? They're selling everything they own so that no one was without.
Speaker 1:Every day meeting and breaking bread. Any of us do that, because I can guarantee what's about to happen at the end of service right, see you next week. What we've already decided is I'm not going to see you throughout this week. We've already went. No, we're not eating together. We're not doing anything like that. You have your family and you do your thing. We're church friends. We'll see each other again next weekend.
Speaker 1:You know how much power is in that, this much Zero power. Why? Because you're all by yourself. Think about any National Geographic show. You've ever seen what animal gets eaten? The one that's all by itself, the one that just wanders away from the herd and is like you know what, I'm good. If I see a lion or a crocodile, I would outrun it. They never do why? Because you're not with the herd. See, every once in a while it needs to be your opportunity to be in the middle, because that's where the weaker animals go.
Speaker 1:You know who's along the outside, those big bulls right Like they're standing there and they're looking at the lion, like seriously, like go home, like look, I know it's a Sunday and you should have nothing better to do, right, because today is the Sabbath, you're going to keep it holy. Go home and just on YouTube, just watch. Like water buffalo attacks lion. See this water, these water buffaloes know the lion could kill it, but when there's like eight of them, that lion doesn't stand a chance. That's why God gave us the church, because there's going to be times where you're hurting, but when there's 10 of us around you praying with you and walking with you, guess what doesn't happen? That lion can't attack you. But you know what our response is I'm hurting, I want to be by myself. It's the same thing all animals do, right before they die.
Speaker 1:Anybody in here ever heard of it? Okay, let's say you're in a nursery you dub along a deer. Does the deer just run right there and die? What's it do? It runs and where does it run? To the thickest things that they can find, because they go. I want to go hide and die myself, because I think it's safer. You know what's going to happen. As that deer is sitting there bleeding out in that palmetto thicket, I'm still going to come find it, because I saw that blood trail all the way to it. And then, when I get there, I'm still going to grab it, I'm still going to drag it out, I'm still going to skin it and I'm still going to eat it.
Speaker 1:The devil does the same things, and he sees your blood trail all the way back to your house, all the way back to your room, all the way back to your alcohol, all the way back to whatever you're running with to try to hide from him. And he's still going to grab you, he's still going to skin you and he's still going to devour you. You know what stands in his way, though your brothers and sisters in Christ, those people that can come along the side of you, who can stand in front of you and go. Hey, if you're going to fight them, fight me first. They're hurt right now. They're not at their prime right now, but I am, and you know who's coming with me, because greater is the one who lives inside of me than he who lives inside the world.
Speaker 1:See, that's what exhortation is. It's given so that we can show the darkness that there is a place you can come, where you can have healing and you can have rest and you can have all those things. And sometimes that is here on a Sunday morning and sometimes that's a Tuesday afternoon. When you go hey, I don't even care if we catch any fish, but can we just go out on the boat for a little bit? Because I promise you, if I got a text from you and you went, hey, can you just take me out fishing, I have no problem going to Debbie and going hey, look, it's for the church, I have to take them out. Okay, it's for the church, I have to take them out. Okay, we're probably going to wind up at JB's for dinner, deb, but you know it'll be all right.
Speaker 1:I will suffer through that with you, and if you've never been on the water watching the sun go down, there's nothing that can compare to it. Especially, that's what I was going to say, especially if you catch a fish at the exact same time and an eagle flies across the horizon as your tarpon's just coming out of the water, and then we have it all on video so you can enjoy it for the rest of your life. But see, that's what we should be doing for one another. So, as we close today and it's going to go a little different understand there's no answers within yourself. There's no strength when you're by yourself. You know where there's strength when you're with brothers and sisters and you're sitting there and you're laughing and you're joking and you're lighthearted because you know there's hope in what we believe, and you have someone promising you that, as bad as today may be, tomorrow doesn't have to be, and even if tomorrow is bad, the day after might not be. See, some of us need to start looking at life and going hey, I have Jesus. My glass isn't just half full, my cup is overfloweth, because, regardless of how dark it may be, the sun will always give light. There's no answers within ourselves. There's no answers in you, hiding alone and going. I'm just going to suffer through this, just like we saw last week on Easter. Our hope is that we can be made new and that we can see things the way Jesus did and live lives the way Jesus did. See the key to solving all of our problems and our hope is this that Jesus isn't done saving and that Jesus will bring back to life that which is dead.
Speaker 1:So if you are the person who is naturally gifted to encourage others, let me ask you, why aren't you? Because some of you are, some of y'all are just like peppy, and I'm talking about like peppy, like where it's annoying to be around you sometimes. Anyone ever talk to Debbie, like before you had your Mountain Dew in the morning. It can be a lot Between me and JT I don't know who gets upset more at the house but let me ask you, do you not think that the church needs more cheerleaders and less criticizers? Do you not think the church needs more people sitting here going hey, we got this, we can do this. It may not look like it's supposed to look Because, let's be honest, some of us we're a ragtag church in here. We do not look like your normal, typical church and I'm good with that. But think about it, don't we need more people sitting here, going, we got this? I'll tell you.
Speaker 1:Who was I talking to the other day? It was one of you guys and we were talking about something with an engine and I was like, man, you are not afraid just to rip something apart and like, hopefully it goes back together. I think it was, but I can't remember if it was on the phone the other day or not. Oh no, it was Troy. That's who it was.
Speaker 1:And I go, that encourages me because I go, hey, look, if they can do it, I can do it. So if in a couple of weeks I go, hey, does anybody in here know how to rebuild a 350, I might need your help. But we got it apart. No, I don't know where I put any of those bolts at and I didn't label anything. Oh, I will tell you, I've rebuilt an engine with Stephen one time and man, we showed up and it had been months since they had tore this thing apart and and every bolt was in a baggie and labeled, and I was like, man, this makes it so much easier. Why don't I think of stuff like this? Because that's what we do. We build each other up to encourage each other to go out there and be on the mission that Jesus is on, and right now I'm telling you we need more cheerleaders, we need more people going. Hey, we got this, we can do this, we can grow this, we can go seek and save what is lost. That is what the church needs. Here's what the church doesn't need. Hey, we need. It's too hot in here, can we lower it? Or it's too cold? Here's the deal.
Speaker 1:Y'all showed up Wednesday. There was a whole conversation before we ever got to anything about the Bible, about the temperature in the room, but you know what? Everyone brought a sweater with them. If you come to my house, what do you make sure you bring A sweater? Why? Because I don't know if you can see it or not, I'm sweating right now. It's hot in here and I lowered it to 70 before we got here, or when we got here, not before we got here. Wi-fi, we can do it at the house. But see, we need more of that. We need more people going. Hey, we got this.
Speaker 1:Y'all got together and did a breakfast yesterday. Right, going? Hey, here's what we can do throughout the rest of the year, and I'm sure we didn't answer every single question that could possibly come up, but we went. Hey, this is the first step. We can figure everything out as we go. It ain't got to be perfect, because there's no such thing as perfection outside of Christ, but we need more people going. We got this. That is what the gift of exhortation is. It's sitting here, going.
Speaker 1:Christy, I know you're scared to death every week, but, man, that was beautiful and that led me right back to the heart of worship, where it's all about you, jesus, because that's the whole point of what we do here.
Speaker 1:It ain't about me, it ain't about the people that have come up and sing, it's about Christ and Christ alone. So, father, I ask and I pray that, as we move forward from this day, that God, those of us in here that are sitting here and we feel that kind of little fire in our chest right now going yep, I've been slacking on this I do need to be a cheerleader for Jesus. I do need to encourage people and lift people up, father. I do need to show a cheerleader for Jesus. I do need to encourage people and lift people up, father. I do need to show them that there is hope, that there is something better. That, father, this isn't all there is.
Speaker 1:Father, I ask and I pray that you, even those people that have that little ember going, that you fan that, that it turns into an uncontrollable fire, that, father, they just can't help themselves. But they are a light in the darkness, that they look different than everything else around them and people are just sitting here going. There's something about that person and I need to be a part of that. So, father, as we close today, I ask and I pray that, as we move forward in this week, that we do everything to praise you, to make much of you the Father. We stop looking at the here and now, we stop looking at our circumstances, we stop looking at us inwardly and we start looking to you. Father, I ask and I pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen.