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The Church Sent - Blueprint Series
44 Plays5 months ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about the critical importance of promptly obeying God's call and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He emphasized that every believer is called to serve the body of Christ in various capacities, using biblical figures such as Abram, Moses, and Joshua to illustrate obedience to God without knowing the full story. Through personal testimony and examples from Scripture, Barron highlighted the life-changing impact of listening to the Holy Spirit's voice, the need for the church to focus on sending out its best, and the ultimate purpose of bringing glory to God. He encouraged listeners to build a deep relationship with Jesus Christ, be prepared to hear God's voice, and live boldly in their faith, rather than settling for comfort or entertainment within the church.
Timestamps:
00:00 Sermon warning about open doors and gospel.
06:16 Accepted Christ at 8, strayed, called to ministry.
07:09 Struggling with relationship with Jesus, individual and churches.
10:56 Shift to Antioch, Paul's mission, global focus.
13:47 Sermon critique and call to self-reflection.
17:41 Serving Christ without knowing the end.
23:40 God exceeds what we ask or think.
24:30 Took step of faith, led to ministry.
28:31 Grief, faith, and listening for God's calling.
34:37 Answering the call: changing lives, bringing kindness.
36:22 Living a sent life, giving God glory.
39:36 Seeking forgiveness, deliverance, and God's kingdom.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Sermon
00:00:00
Speaker
Hope you are doing all right this morning. If you got your Bibles, turn to Acts chapter 13. It's where we are in our journey through the book of Acts right now. ah For those of you who are with us this morning for the first time, we are walking through the book of Acts. We've been here for about 58 weeks. Just kidding. Not quite, we're getting close, but not quite. um before we Before we jump into the sermon this morning, um is there a reason the doors are open?
00:00:30
Speaker
I think so because the front door is wide open and so that air is just going in the parking lot and I can hear a bunch of screaming kids and I don't want people thinking we're murdering children and the children's going to stop. We aren't, I promise.
Personal Relationship with Jesus
00:00:42
Speaker
okay um yeah Before we get into the sermon this morning, there's something I feel like I need to say. um This morning, as we have sung songs, you have heard the gospel, okay? um The reason it's important for me to say what I'm about to say is that the sermon that's ah about to follow might not make sense if you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, okay? It might make sense here, but it may not make sense in your heart because what is a prerequisite to what we're gonna hear this morning is that you actually have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
00:01:20
Speaker
And if that relationship with Jesus Christ is missing, then you will find this a little bit harder to take on. So I'm gonna tell you something a little bit unusual. I'm gonna share the gospel with you very simply this morning. Before we get started, you're gonna go, well, pastor, that's usually what you do at the end of the message. But I'm gonna share it with you, and I'm gonna say to you, if you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, when I finish that, I would invite you to walk right out these doors. That good-looking guy at the door will take you and and lead you to somebody who can have a conversation with you about the gospel.
00:01:50
Speaker
And then everybody else here who remains, I'm going to take you where God has led us to this morning in Acts chapter 13.
Core Gospel Message
00:01:56
Speaker
The gospel tells us this, that all of us are broken, frail, fragile human beings. We are sinful. Romans 3.23 says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all you've got to do is pick up the paper or turn on the news to realize that's truth.
00:02:10
Speaker
There are none of us that good and none of us that can save ourselves from the badness that's in us, okay? We needed a Savior. And because God loves us, He gave us that Savior in His Son, Jesus Christ. And the reason Jesus Christ was the unique answer to our problem was because Jesus alone was able to live a perfect life that was without sin. If Jesus committed one sin, our hope is hopeless.
00:02:37
Speaker
okay If Jesus failed at one point, none of this matters and we're wasting our time here this morning. But the gospel tells us that he indeed indeed lived a perfect life and then he willingly went to a cross to pay the price for our sins. Not for his because he had none. But he laid himself willingly on a cross and on that Roman cross paid the price for our sins so that we might have a chance at salvation.
00:03:04
Speaker
And if you will receive that today, it is a free gift. It's not anything you can work to earn. You don't have to come to church more or go more or give more or do more. You just have to put full confidence and faith in the reality that Jesus died for your sins.
00:03:21
Speaker
That's it. That's the hope of the world. So if at any point that starts to register in your heart and you're going, you know what, I am not sure that I have ever fully accepted that. You're not interrupting me. They're screaming kids down the hallway. They're disrupted more than you are. Get up, walk out there and go.
00:03:39
Speaker
receive what Christ has offered to you.
Purpose of the Church
00:03:41
Speaker
okay um Now, let's get into the story today. When I was in seminary, I had an evangelism professor by the name of Dr. Roy Fish, who was an amazingly godly man, one of those kind who could just walk up to a complete stranger in about 30 seconds, just be have him in his hands. I mean, just loved people, loved who they were, and was never afraid to share the gospel with them. He invited a guy by the name of Erwin McManus into our class one day. Erwin's written lots of books. He's a fantastic pastor. The time was in insane and California. I think he's still out there with his church. But he said something that day that he later subsequently would put into a book. He said this, we somehow think that the church is here for us. We forget that we are the church and we are here for the world.
00:04:27
Speaker
that's the That's the couch that we're going to sit on today, and I want you to understand why it's so important. I went actually this morning to the divinely inspired Google, and I said, what happens to a man when he loses purpose? Two things immediately. Number one, there were millions of entries in Google.
00:04:50
Speaker
And sadly, it was page five, I kept flipping, and at page five, I still had not found one Christian response to that question. Not one. Right in the middle of it was Oprah Winfrey. God help us if that's the answers we're looking for, okay?
00:05:07
Speaker
But I did find a definition that struck a chord with me because I think it does align with what we know to be true because of the gospel. Listen to what it says, not having a strong purpose will contribute to feelings of emptiness, lack of fulfillment, or a sense that something essential is missing from your life.
00:05:28
Speaker
You hear that? a lack of i mean A lack of fulfillment, a feeling of emptiness, and a sense that something essential is missing from your life. If that describes you in any part this morning, I would offer two suggestions. Number one, go back to what I just said and ask yourself, do I truly have a relationship with Jesus Christ? That's the most important question you will ever answer in your life.
00:05:52
Speaker
And if you don't have that answer, walk out of here, go sit down with one of our staff right now and let them deal with that question alongside of you as y'all dialogue over that. The second answer is this, there are many of you in this room today who have indeed received a Jesus Christ and somewhere along the way you have veered off course and lost sight of your purpose.
Speaker's Faith Journey
00:06:14
Speaker
You've lost sight of the reason you exist. At age eight, I accepted Christ at a vacation Bible school in Columbus, Georgia. I lived in a godly home and I wish I could tell you that at age eight, I dropped out of elementary school, I went on the road as a missionary and I led thousands to Christ because of my great faith.
00:06:32
Speaker
But the truth is, I actually went a lot of different directions that didn't honor God. It was not until the last month of my senior year that God got my attention, and in that day, I can take you back to the pew I was sitting in at First Baptist Church, Caulkwood, Georgia, in southwest Georgia. I can remember the place, remember the time when that day I didn't hear my pastor preaching, I heard Jesus speaking to me saying, when you're ready to get your act together, I'm here and I'm waiting.
00:07:02
Speaker
and it was then that I received my call to Jesus Christ to serve and as a minister. And we'll talk a little bit more about that in a second, but the reason I say all that to you is this. From age eight to age 17, I tried a whole lot of different things to try to figure out why why this relationship with Jesus that started out so well now doesn't seem to be helping. I tried arrogance, pride, sexuality, rebellion,
00:07:32
Speaker
stupidity, tried to be cool, tried to be popular, tried athletics, was successful with most of it, but came home every night going, this isn't what Jesus promised me. And if I had been listening, Jesus would have been saying, no, it's not. But it's not because I'm not doing my part, it's because you have failed to do yours, to surrender and to submit to what I'm offering you. So I wanna take a look at that today because But while we're talking about individuals in our search for purpose and our search for meaning, I also would submit to you that what we have in America today are a lot of soulless, empty churches because they've lost sight of their purpose as well.
Focus on Sharing Jesus
00:08:16
Speaker
We've got churches that are trying to be social justice warriors out there. They're trying to fight racism, they're trying to help immigrants, they're trying to do all these things. And hear me out, those are all good, but those are the byproducts of focusing on what is the purpose, okay? The purpose is to make Jesus known to the world because he is the hope of the world. It doesn't do any good to go feed an immigrant if you don't share Jesus with him.
00:08:42
Speaker
It doesn't do any good to bring an end to racism in America if you help don't help people understand that Jesus is the one who created all men to be the same. It doesn't do any good to talk about sexual trafficking if you don't take people out of that lifestyle and put them in a place that offers them hope and meaning and purpose. So at the end of the day, the beginning of the day, and every day in between, it's about Jesus.
00:09:06
Speaker
Jesus at the very end of his life, you'll remember if you've been with us all along through this journey, Acts chapter one verse eight, he's got a little bit of limited time with his disciples. He's talking about what's really, really important. He says, I want you to hear something from me. You're gonna be my witnesses from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. What he did not say is you're gonna be the CEO of a large corporation.
00:09:34
Speaker
You're going to be a successful businessman. You're going to be a great husband. You're going to be a great wife. You're going to be a great parent of some kind. You're going to be a good friend. You're going to be a great friend. He didn't say any of those things were the measure of success. The measure of success for a follower of Jesus is, am I bringing him glory?
00:09:55
Speaker
matt Now if that means you get to be a CEO along the way, then absolutely. If that means that you're gonna be a great parent along the way to bring Him glory, absolutely. But first and foremost, it is about how do I elevate Jesus to the preeminent place in my life so that the world around me sees that He's what they need.
Shift in Acts 13
00:10:15
Speaker
So Acts chapter 13 is unique because it's kind of the swift switching place in the book of Acts, okay? Up until this point, there's been three major focuses going on, and from this point on in the second half of the book, there are now three different emphases. The first part of the book, we talk about the church at Jerusalem, remember? Talked about how the Holy Spirit came and how He ignited a passion and people began to follow Jesus Christ. That was really, really great. But suddenly, suddenly this persecution breaks out, Stephen is martyred, people are dispersed, and they travel all over the Mideast, including places like Antioch. So in the beginning, it's about a church at Jerusalem. The last half is now the focus on the church at Antioch because it's the church at Antioch that ultimately will spread the gospel around the world.
00:11:05
Speaker
The focus gets off of Jerusalem and onto Antioch. The second shift we see in Acts 13 is a shift from the story of Peter and those early apostles, those guys who kind of were the early church and got things going. It shifts from a focus on them to after Acts 13, a focus on a guy by the name of Paul and his buddies Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, all of them who became the first church planters in the early church.
00:11:32
Speaker
Sure, there's some mentions of Peter along the way, but it's primarily the story of Paul and what he's doing. The third shift is this. Acts chapter one through Acts chapter 12, there is primarily a focus on ah the Messiah who has come to save and rescue his people. From Acts 13 through the rest of the book, it's about a Savior who's come to rescue the whole world. And we praise God for that because if that shift doesn't take place, we're not here today.
00:11:58
Speaker
So Acts chapter 13, verse one, let's follow this trail. We're gonna pull some things out that the Holy Spirit is doing. And I want you to hear this from me if you don't hear anything else today. Your life has a purpose because God has a plan. Your life has a purpose because God's life has a plan. Again, we're we're talking about this on a personal level, but we're also talking about this corporately. The purpose of this church exists because each of us have a purpose and it fits into God's plan. See how we're're we're passing along this thing here? Everybody with me?
Role of the Holy Spirit
00:12:29
Speaker
Are you sure? I need you to be awake because I might have to yell at you somewhere along the way and wake you up.
00:12:39
Speaker
Now in the church in Antioch there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Meneon, a close friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. As they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, notice that, they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work for which I have called them.
00:13:00
Speaker
Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. The first thing I want you to see today is the Holy Spirit is the one who calls.
00:13:15
Speaker
The Holy Spirit is the one who calls. These leaders weren't sitting around talking about the Great Commission. They weren't talking about some great growth campaign for the church. They weren't talking about how to start a revival in the church. None of those things had ever taken place. They were doing one very incredible thing. They were making their hearts ready to hear what the Spirit of God was going to say to them.
00:13:34
Speaker
says they were worshiping and fasting. Now the reason I want to underline that and emphasize that for you is because many weeks, I am not naive, many of you walk out of here and you go, hmm, pastor didn't do it for me this morning. Sermon wasn't great.
00:13:49
Speaker
Music just really didn't touch my heart this morning and I'm gonna shock you into a weakness The reason you don't hear from the Holy Spirit when you come in here is because your heart wasn't ready when you walked in the door You see we in America think that we can somehow magically walk through that door and suddenly all the trash of the week before suddenly goes away and we have a man a focused laser focus on on Jesus and the Holy Spirit and Can I just tell you that the reason you come in here is not to get your heart right with God, it's because your heart is right with God and you're wanting to project him to the rest of the world. You're coming here to get your marching orders and to worship the God who has already shown up in your life all week long. If the only time that God shows up in your life is it at 11 o'clock or 9.30 on Sunday morning, and your life is a skew and you need to be asking some real serious questions about how you're living your life.
00:14:38
Speaker
The Holy Spirit comes and he makes this call to these guys and he says to them, I want you to set aside paul and barner her Saul and Barnabas for me. And it says they obeyed immediately. Why? Because they understood that when the Holy Spirit speaks, it's never a suggestion.
00:14:56
Speaker
Did you catch that? When the Holy Spirit speaks, it is never a suggestion, it is always a command. You see, the problem with the suggestion is we can listen, we can mull it over, we can even pray about it, and we can walk away and not feel bad because we didn't listen if we think it's a suggestion, right? It's kind of like the suggestions your wife gives you at the dinner table.
00:15:16
Speaker
Yeah, well we can mull that over and we can think about it. But from here, what are we gonna do? these this book This book is filled with commands that the Holy Spirit gives to you and I. And so the only two options when you are commanded something is obedience or disobedience. Y'all are much better than the eight o'clock crowd. They had to mull it over for a second and figure out what it was. Obedience or disobedience? Now you need to hear something. Delayed obedience is disobedience.
00:15:46
Speaker
All right, think about this this afternoon. You go home, your kids are there. You walk in, you eat lunch, and you say, hey, before you go do anything else, I need you to clean your room. And your child looks at you and says, I think I'll do it on Thursday. Are you going to look at him and say, well, blessed be my child. I am so proud and honored that you have considered this and that you are going to do this.
00:16:10
Speaker
That ain't gonna happen. Not in my household. I'd set that child down and we would have a come to Jesus conversation about what it means to obey me at that moment, right? You don't take delayed obedience from your children. Why do you want God to do it with you? So it says that they immediately responded.
Obedience to the Holy Spirit
00:16:28
Speaker
Our response, many of us in that situation, if we had just heard that from God would be, well, God, can you wait a few weeks? We're in the middle of a really great growth campaign here.
00:16:37
Speaker
ah can Can you hold on for just a second? I've got this going on in my life. I'm gonna shock you this morning by saying to you, most of you in this room today have a call on your life and you're delaying the obedience to it. All right? If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, it's very clear that the Holy Spirit is constantly speaking to you.
00:17:01
Speaker
He is constantly encouraging, admonishing, hold you accountable, a cheering you on. So when you walk out of here week by week, the Holy Spirit has given you something that you need to respond to. And the worst thing in the world you can do is walk out of here and go, well that was great, I'll see you next week. Now I'm gonna let you off the hook a little bit, make you feel a little bit less. Not all of you are called to be church planners.
00:17:30
Speaker
Not all of you are called to be pastors. Not all of you are called to be ministers in a church, but all of you are called to be ministers. All of you are called to serve the body of Christ. These guys, they just simply obeyed. The the other thing they didn't do, they didn't ask for the end of the story first.
God's Plan and Glory
00:17:51
Speaker
They didn't say, God, can you tell me how this is gonna end up? Is this gonna keep me financially secure?
00:17:57
Speaker
Is this gonna provide for my family, my children? Is this gonna take me someplace scary? You know why God never gives us the end of the story? Because as soon as you and I know the end of the story, we'll work it out our way and get glory for ourselves. You read the Bible carefully and there's not one story in the scripture where his God told the end of the story first. Abram, he says, get up and go. And oh, by the way, I'll let you know when you get there.
00:18:27
Speaker
Moses he says you're gonna be the deliverer of my people Israel, but I'm not gonna bother to tell you it's gonna take you 40 years to get there My favorite story Joe Joshua Joshua in the battle of Jericho It says the night before the whole battle happened for it took place that this angel appears to Joshua Okay, Joshua sitting there going. Okay, this is gonna be a big deal tomorrow This is our first chance to go into promised land this angel shows up looks at him and doesn't say how many chariots spears and bows and arrows do you have and what What kind of commanders do you have underneath you? What is your strategy for tomorrow? He looks at him and he says, tell the boys to warm up their vocal cords and brush off their trumpets. And Joshua goes, are you sure this message is for me? Have you seen that city? Have you seen those walls? Do you know who it is we're up against? No, he looked at him and he said, got it, we're on it. You told me to do something, I will obey. And because of it,
00:19:23
Speaker
Joshua doesn't get one bit of glory. We recognize that it was the spirit of God moving throughout the whole event. Now, if you're intimidated to follow a voice, the voice of the Holy Spirit, I want you to have some encouragement. Because what you do with what God says to you this morning and every other Sunday morning in this church, what you do with it has major implications.
00:19:50
Speaker
These guys in Acts 13, it says, they got up, they prayed, they fasted, they laid hands on Saul and Barnabas. Saul and Barnabas turned and went to Seleucia, Cyprus, Paphos, Perga, Antioch, Iconium, Lister, and Derby. And that would be enough for most of us. We would say, don't what you ask me to do God? From there, they went to Ephesus, Philippi, and Thessalonica, all of which resulted in letters to those churches with instructions and encouragement that became most of our New Testament.
00:20:21
Speaker
From there, some of them decided to go to Berea and Athens. Athens was the center of the educated world at that point. Some of the greatest minds in the world at that time heard the gospel in Athens because of their faithfulness. From there, somebody decided to go deeper into Europe. And one day, one of them crossed the English Channel and took the gospel to the people of that island.
00:20:43
Speaker
centuries pass and before long somebody decided I'm tired of the government telling me how I'm going to worship God and so I'm going to get in a boat I'm going to sail west and I'm going to land at a place that you and I know is Plymouth Rock. From Plymouth Rock new leaders developed new churches were planted people were sent out they went north they went west and they eventually went south to a place we know is Georgia specifically Southwest Georgia. You know where I'm headed with this don't you Butch.
00:21:13
Speaker
They planted churches along the way. And one of those churches, a very small, probably mostly insignificant, Free Will Baptist Church, they introduced a man named Bruce Clooney to the gospel. And none of you have a clue who Bruce Clooney is except for this lady sitting on the front row. Bruce was my grandfather.
00:21:34
Speaker
My grandfather was an itinerant free will Baptist minister after he accepted the call to follow Jesus Christ. He made a living for his wife and eight children by driving a school bus bus all over the county. He raised those children, made them go to church, made them hear the gospel, prayed for them regularly. And eventually my mom, who was one of five daughters and three sons, received the gospel herself.
00:21:59
Speaker
And because she and my dad had the same kind of ethics and values and faith of my grandfather, raised me to follow Jesus as well. Specifically, they said, unless you're dying, you're going to church. And nevermind, if you're dying, you probably should be in church. That would be good. So I was at church every time the doors were opened and many times, like some of you grimaced when it was forced upon me. But along the way, over and over again, I heard the gospel that you heard earlier this morning.
00:22:29
Speaker
And at age eight, I received Christ. At age 17, I accepted a call in the ministry, and the rest you'll hear about in a little bit. All because Acts 13 verse five happened.
Pivotal Events in Acts 13
00:22:44
Speaker
Two guys received the call, left their homes, their comfort, their safety, and decided to live dangerously in the hands of God.
00:22:55
Speaker
If Acts 13.5 doesn't happen, there's a real good chance that the story for all of us is entirely different. You see, I just shared my story with you, but every single one of you are the result of those same acts of obedience in Acts 13. None of you are here, possibly, if that is not carried out according to the way the Holy Spirit led it. You have a purpose, he has a plan.
00:23:23
Speaker
Second thing we see here is that the Holy Spirit confirms what he says in your life. The Holy Spirit sends people. yeah Many of you have similar testimonies. Mine is, mine uniquely, but you have similar testimonies in that someday somebody says something to you, maybe the Holy Spirit spoke to you, and out of that you took one simple act of obedience, and then God said, here's the next, here's the next, here's the next.
00:23:45
Speaker
It reminds me of Ephesians 3.20 in this way. It says, now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think, I don't know about you, but I can ask and think a whole lot of big stuff. But the Bible says it can exceed everything we ask or think. How? According to the power that works in us. The same power that was working in the lives of Paul and Barnabas and all these guys is the same power that is in you if you are a follower of Jesus Christ.
Accepting the Call to Ministry
00:24:14
Speaker
One of the lies that Satan whispers to us as followers of Christ is, I can't. When the Holy Spirit says, yes, you can. Yes, you can.
00:24:30
Speaker
I don't know about you. Like I said, I can imagine a lot of stuff, but usually it's not my plan that matters. It's usually not my plan that orchestrates my life.
00:24:42
Speaker
You see at 817, I was sitting in that pew that day and I heard a pastor say the passage that you heard this morning. How will they hear unless someone goes? So I took a step of faith that day, not having a clue what was gonna happen. In fact, I was scared to death. Being from a small church in South Georgia, all I had ever seen were worship leaders and pastors, and I knew I couldn't sing. So I was thinking, you're gonna use me to pastor? And praise God he didn't, because I wasn't ready. He took me into student ministry. But that day when I walked out of that church, the pastor said to me, it was actually after I had preached at a youth Sunday. I was like the only senior guy, so that's how I got elected to preach that Sunday.
00:25:24
Speaker
We'll use that as an excuse. We know God was already doing something. I preached that sermon as I walked out that day with the pastor. He looked at me and he said, have you ever thought about ministry? I said, absolutely not. He said, would you be willing to pray about it? I said, absolutely not. He said, why not Ridley? I said, because I've got a plan. He said, well, tell me more about your plan. I said, I'm gonna graduate in June. By August I will be in Atlanta at Georgia Tech. I wanna be an architect and they've invited me to walk on and play baseball up there. That's my dream. He said, what about after that?
00:25:52
Speaker
I said, I will graduate, I'll have a wife, three kids, a dog, big house. What do you mean? He goes, what about after that? I was like, where are you going, pastor? He said, when you get to the end of your life, what's gonna bring you fulfillment? I wish he'd never asked that question.
00:26:11
Speaker
So I did the only thing I knew to do. I went to all the other people in my life, my two older sisters, my mom and dad, cousins, ah my youth workers, and I said, hey, this pastor has this crazy idea that I should be thinking about ministry. And not one of those people would agree with me. Every single one of them looked at me and said, maybe it's not such a crazy idea. And I was like, what is up with you people? This is a conspiracy against me. Here I am almost,
00:26:40
Speaker
40 years later in ministry and I would not trade one moment of one day for what God has called me to. Look at what I wound up with. You can pet yourself on the back, that's a compliment.
00:27:00
Speaker
It all happened, it all happened because God had a purpose and he had a plan.
00:27:07
Speaker
now I wanna encourage you, if you're gonna hear the Holy Spirit's voice, you gotta learn to hear it before you get in the middle of the battle. You gotta be able to hear it before you get into the conflict, the midst of the struggle. Before all hell breaks loose in your life, you gotta know who it is that you're listening to. I've used this illustration before, but I think it's very appropriate, so I'll use it again. When I was in high school, I played football, Southwest Georgia.
00:27:34
Speaker
Most of the stadiums we were in, 400 or 500 people, sometimes as many as 3,000 or 4,000 people. I would get in the middle of a game on Friday night and I don't care how loud and how boisterous the crowd was, I could always hear my father's voice in the middle of the game. Sometimes encourage me, had a boy, son, good job, way to block, nice catch, you know, what those things. Sometimes going, son, I taught you better than that. Come on, son, don't quit, don't give up, it's the fourth quarter.
00:28:01
Speaker
But the only way I could hear his voice in the middle of those seasons was because of all those hours in the backyard with him, where he would throw the football, or he would teach me to throw a curve ball, or he would beat me really badly in basketball. And in every one of those seasons, even though I thought we were just having fun, God was preparing me to hear my voice, his voice, in the midst of my struggles, my ball games, my conflicts. Even when I got later in life, it was daddy's voice I always wanted to hear.
00:28:31
Speaker
This past week in preparation for this sermon, I got um got a little homesick from ah my dad. He passed away 20 years ago, two months before my wife and son died.
00:28:46
Speaker
This week, if you'd have been in my truck with me on Wednesday and Thursday, you would have heard me listening to Alan Jackson's hymns on an album. But when Alan was singing, I loved to tell the story, it was my daddy's voice.
00:29:01
Speaker
that I was hearing. Because it was his faith, my mom's faith, that set me on the path that I'm on. But I learned to listen to that voice in those seasons because when the time came, when the war started, when the battle got to its intense pit pitch, that's not the time to begin to try to listen for the Holy Spirit.
00:29:28
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The third thing we see here
Offering the Best to God
00:29:29
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is this. When God calls, we dare not offer anything but our very best. You see, when the Holy Spirit said to them, send Saul and Barnabas, they didn't hesitate. they They would have probably had a tendency to want to be like us and go, hey, can you just take Fred and James over there? They sit in the back row of the church anyway. They're not really going to be missed. can you Can you have those two guys?
00:29:50
Speaker
They didn't say, hold on just a second, let's say who's the least needed in our congregation. We'll send them in behalf. No, they sent the two very best, the guys who were teaching, the guys who were training, the guys who were leading that congregation. It says they worship, prayed, fasted, laid on hands and sent out their very best. I would suggest in the church today, we've forgotten what it looks like to give our very best.
00:30:18
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For most of us, we give what's left over. we forgive we We give what's not important. We've allowed the church to become influenced by worldly metrics of success. We've forgotten what's really, really important. We get more excited about a mega church with a celebrity pastor than we do when a young man gives his life to follow Christ as a say as a pastor or to be a missionary in India. Now in God's eyes, they're both very good But can I remind you, you don't go to church to follow a pastor. You go to church to follow a holy God. We're here to bring glory to him. The best way to bring glory to God is to remember, we're not called here to stay, we're called here to go. Seating capacity is not the way a church should be measured in its success. Sending capacity is more relevant.
00:31:15
Speaker
We've made a church spectator sport. We've attached too much important to flashy churches with big rock shows and smoke and lights. And I told them in the eight o'clock service, if you bring a smoke machine in here, I'm gonna have to pray about going somewhere else. Because that's not who we are, it's not who we will be.
00:31:35
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If all we're doing is trying to fill seats, then we'll become entertainment oriented. But the problem is if you tracked people through entertainment, then you have to keep increasing the entertainment to keep them here. We want people who are truly devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
00:31:57
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The church should be trying to empty its seats. Have you ever been to a recruiting office? I know some of you guys have. been to recruiting office. You probably have seen them in strip malls. If you notice at strip malls or in in the mall they have recruiting offices, they're very, very not luxurious looking things. They're usually very small offices. If you've ever walked in, they're like really drably painted with a few chairs in there. You know why? Because that's not where the action is. They bring people in to send them out. The church is the recruiting office for the greatest army in the history of the world. The army of Jesus Christ.
00:32:35
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We shouldn't get so caught up in bringing people in and keeping them entertained.
Glorifying God as the Church's Purpose
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The church is not about comfort. It's not about making you feel better about yourself. It's about bringing glory to God. We are not an entertainment industry. If we ever get into that battle, Disney will beat us a thousand times out of a thousand. We are a forward operating base in the midst of the greatest battle in the history of the world.
00:33:03
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John Piper said this, the book of Acts is a constant indictment of mere maintenance Christianity. God did not call you to be saved so that you can come in and maintain your faith.
00:33:16
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He called you to live dangerously. He called you to get outside of your comfort zone. He called you to quit worrying about your salary, your promotion, your prestige, your performance. He called you instead to forget all these things and remember there's only one thing that ever really matters. And that's God's glory.
00:33:37
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Last thing, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to glorify God. That should be no surprise to you because you've heard it a hundred times already in this sermon. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to glorify God, which means when he leads us, he leads us to glorify God, right?
00:33:52
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Shocking news for you, salvation is not God's ultimate end for you. That's not why he sent Jesus was just to get you saved. Your salvation is not God's ultimate goal for you and me. Instead, his glory is. It's by our salvation that God gets glory. That's why he sent Jesus to reconcile the world to himself. So he would get the glory that he is due.
00:34:17
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The reason he saved us is because of his glory. The reason he sent Jesus is because of his glory. The reason he calls us to go out is so that he gets glory. The reason he sometimes chooses to do things in ways that don't make sense to us is because he gets glory. Because I'm i'm gonna say this to you again. In this room are many who are struggling with a call on their life. The question is, are you gonna listen?
00:34:45
Speaker
Now again, let me take pressure off of you. I don't expect everybody in here is gonna turn into a missionary. I don't expect everybody in here is gonna surrender to full-time Christian service. So I'm gonna give you three examples of the way people in our church listened to a call this week and how it made a difference to bring God glory. Two of the firemen in our church this week,
00:35:11
Speaker
ran into a chance encounter with an 82-year-old grandmother and a seven-year-old grandson who were homeless. And by the Spirit of God, we're led to sit and to love and have dialogue and feed a childhood not eaten in days. And before that child walked away to the new home where he was gonna be given custody, he walked away with a backpack full of clothes and new shoes. That boy's life will be changed because somebody listened to the Holy Spirit.
00:35:39
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Friday morning, two of the young ladies in our youth group led the FCA at Forest High School in the plan of salvation and led every one of those kids how to make a salvation bracelet to remind them of what Jesus Christ had done for them. That in itself would be really cool, but a teacher at the school saw what was going on and said, can I have your leftover supplies because I'm going to go show my class?
00:36:05
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And then earlier this week, I was having a conversation with one of my good friends, and I said to him, hey, you haven't talked to me much about your gospel conversations lately. You know I love to hear about your gospel conversations. He goes, man, I always forget. And I'm like, no, it's no big deal. How many gospel conversations have you had this month? He said, oh, 60 easily.
00:36:22
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60 plus times this young man listened to the Holy Spirit's nudge at the Dollar General, at the gas station, at the high school, at the ball field, 60 plus times that somebody's heart was exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is what it means to live a sent life.
Living a Life Centered on God's Glory
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This is what it means to give God ultimate glory through everything you do.
00:36:51
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What happens after Acts 13.5 happened because five men chose to listen. Wouldn't it be cool if 100 years from now people were writing about what happened when 150 people decided to give up everything they have so that the one who deserves everything we are could get his glory.
00:37:13
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We're gonna respond to the message this morning in a slightly different way. We're gonna observe a time of communion, remembrance of what Christ has done for you and I. I'm gonna ask our deacons to come on out.
00:37:28
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And as they are distributing the elements, let me just say to you, here at our church, we practice open communion. What that means is that if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you know you have a relationship with Jesus, you're invited to participate along with us. We don't care if you're not a member here, as long as you're a member of the body of Christ.
00:37:49
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If you are not a member, we strongly encourage you just to sit back and observe without judgment. Because we believe that if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ and you take these elements, you actually bring judgment on yourself. So we encourage you, just observe and watch what's happening. As they are passing the elements around, be reminded that there are two cups, one inside of the other, so that you get both of those elements. And then as always, I encourage you as we are preparing this moment,
00:38:17
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Prepare your heart by talking to the Father.
00:38:24
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Listening to the Spirit as it nudges you and holds you accountable in some areas of your life, maybe there's an area of disobedience, maybe there's an area of repeated sin, maybe there's an area of lack of faith. But once again, confession and repentance to prepare your heart for what the Holy Spirit wants to say to us, even in this moment of remembrance.
00:38:45
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When the elements are received, we will gather together again for a time of observance.
00:38:53
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Father, we are so grateful for the story of Jesus. It's his life, death, burial and resurrection that gives us hope, gives us purpose, that opens our hearts to the things he really desire for us.
00:39:11
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So this morning as we remember the price that was paid on our behalf,
00:39:18
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would you help us to understand what that really cost? Help us not to cheapen your grace. Help us not to take for granted what you have done. Forgive us of the things that we
00:39:35
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have let fall through the cracks. Forgive us of the places where our faith has not withstood the tests. Forgive us in those moments where we didn't forgive others.
00:39:46
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We pray this morning, Father, that you would deliver us from evil, and that you would help us to seek your kingdom and its glory here on this earth, just as it is in heaven. It's in Jesus' name I pray, amen.