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My Checklist for His Mission (Luke 6:12-19)
7 Plays1 day ago
Sunday Message recorded 26 January 2025
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
00:00:06
Speaker
Well, good morning.
Gratitude and Introduction
00:00:07
Speaker
This is the time I'm supposed to come, right? I'm not sure anymore. Anyway, it is so good to be back with you. Thank you for praying for me during my surgery. The Lord was good. And so everything is going just great. So I thank the Lord and I missed you. I really did. I love you guys so much and I appreciate your support, your love, your prayers.
00:00:29
Speaker
So thank you again for praying for me. If you want to go ahead and open your Bibles to Luke chapter six, that's where we're going to be. Luke chapter six verses 12 through 19. Just want to say I appreciate it so much. of Mark Vickers, his testimony. Thank you so much, Mark, for sharing with us a very powerful and very clear testimony for the Lord. I also appreciate our associate pastor,
00:00:54
Speaker
where his diligence and study is faithfulness to the scriptures. I was home and I was you know recovering from the surgery. I was watching the live stream last Sunday and I got to hear Larry Petter's testimony, which was also a blessing. And then I got to hear Josh's introduction, but that's when the live stream crashed.
00:01:18
Speaker
And so I don't know if it's on today or not. Hopefully it is, but I'm just thanking the Lord. I think it is. So praise the Lord for that.
Serving the Lord and Preparation
00:01:26
Speaker
But anyway, last week, Josh looked at the first 11 verses of this chapter, and he talked about how Jesus is the authority over the Sabbath.
00:01:38
Speaker
But today we're gonna see that Jesus is also authority over our service. Are you serving the Lord? You know, the the way to serve the Lord is not limited to just pastors or to just deacons, to just Sunday school teachers. There's so many different ways that we can serve the Lord. As a matter of fact, in Matthew 9, 37 to 38, here's what Jesus said, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
00:02:07
Speaker
Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Do you know the very next verse in Matthew chapter 10 verses 1 through 4 is a parallel account of what we're going to read right here in Luke chapter 6 verses 12 down through verse 19.
00:02:27
Speaker
And so what I want us to look at as we as we hear Jesus talking to his original apostles that he called, I want us to think about how the Lord may want to call us. And if he does call us to do something, whatever it is, even if it's in your family, if it's beyond your family, it's in the community, or maybe at the closed closet, or maybe ah at vacation Bible school, or maybe on a mission trip, whatever that might be,
00:02:55
Speaker
Whatever he calls you for, you're going to need to prepare. and You're going to need to say, okay, these are the things that I need to do. So whenever we look at how Jesus um called his apostles, we're going to think, okay, how can I prepare for what God is calling me to do?
00:03:12
Speaker
You know, before I went on my last mission trip, I went down to Ethiopia and I was assigned, my assignment was to train pastors, national pastors that were there in Ethiopia. But before I left, I had to prepare.
00:03:28
Speaker
You know, for example, they had asked me to write a follow-up curriculum of seven sessions that whenever the Ethiopian pastors lead someone to Christ, how can they follow up on them to help them to grow?
00:03:43
Speaker
So I couldn't wing that. I had to have that ready because they were going to give them the curriculum in print in their language.
Spiritual Readiness and Biblical Examples
00:03:51
Speaker
And then I was going to teach it when I arrived there. And so that was one thing I had to prepare. Also, during one of our church conferences, one of our members, Sam Gonzalez, said, you know, I hear that there are pastors in Ethiopia who only have a fragment of the Bible. They don't have a copy of the whole scripture. And so I would like to propose that our church send bibles, gift bibles, so that every pastor down there can have a Bible. And so we did that, but we had to order those. And whenever I arrived there to do the training, they distributed the pastors. And those guys were waving their new copy of God's Word. They were so happy.
00:04:32
Speaker
I didn't just show up out there at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. you know The morning I was ready to leave and say, hey, I want to go to Ethiopia. Can you find a place for me to go? No, I had to have a plane reservation. I went to Dr. Milliken to check over my health, make sure I was ready for it. I needed malaria medication. He checked my vaccinations and so forth. I had to prepare some food because I've seen some of the food they eat and some food I'm okay with. Other food is on my no-fly list. and The pastors there, they wear a suit and tie still. So when you preach in their church, you're supposed to wear a suit and tie. But whenever they do the training, you can be more casual. But whenever you go to the marketplace, you got to really dress comfortable because you're out there in the sun, in the heat all day. So all I'm saying is I had to prepare for that assignment. Are you prepared for how God wants to use you this year? No matter the size, it doesn't matter how many people He will use you with, it's are you ready?
00:05:35
Speaker
You know, King David learned an important lesson. He learned that if he prepares his heart, that that's the most important preparation of all. You know, it says ah that God talked to him and said to Samuel, the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. In Acts 13, verse 22, it's even recorded in the New Testament that David was a man after God's own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.
00:06:03
Speaker
Would that be your sort of your faith posture this year in 2025? I think that'd be a great place to say, Lord, whatever you want to do through me, I'm your servant. I'm here. I'm available. You know, whenever Samuel was, the prophet was looking through all those siblings that David had,
00:06:22
Speaker
they were He was tempted to be a little sort of confused over, well, maybe this guy looks more like a leader. Maybe that guy looks more like a leader. But here's what it says in 1 Samuel 16, 7, do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature. For the Lord sees, not his man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord He looks on the heart. So that's the first place you can begin this day of this year to say, Lord, I want my heart to be ready so that when you need a servant, you will say, I call you. I choose you.
Jesus' Apostles and Healing
00:07:00
Speaker
I want you on my team. I want to use you in whatever way that is.
00:07:04
Speaker
So I want to invite you to stand with me as I read through these verses. It's going to seem like it's only about them. But trust me, before we get done, you're going to say, I believe that was about me. That was what I needed. I know that the Holy Spirit gave this to me. So somebody out there, this is for you.
00:07:23
Speaker
In these days, verse 12, he went out to the mountain to pray. And all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them 12, whom he named apostles Simon, whom he named Peter and Andrew, his brother and James and John and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the zealot in Judas, the son of James and Judas Iscariot.
00:08:00
Speaker
who became a traitor. And he came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples, and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured, and all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.
00:08:30
Speaker
Let's go to the Father in prayer. Lord, I know that you've called me to be here. I know that the joy that fills my heart when I open your word to feed your your people. These are your people. You're the head of the church. The church body belongs to you. This is who you work through.
00:08:50
Speaker
But Lord, I do realize in a fresh way this year that you want to use each member. You want to use all those that are in the body of Christ. And so thank you so much for the assignments that you're going to have for each one of us. Lord, I know that I certainly couldn't do it. And I'm sure that Josh would echo that with an amen that we we couldn't do it by ourselves. so We need and nursery workers. We need those working with children and those working with the Sunday School classes. We need deacons and we need those who are going to be discipling their children and those who are going to be reaching out at work. So please God, help each one of us to hear your call. Help us make sure that we're going down through the checklist of how we can be prepared.
00:09:39
Speaker
for whatever assignment, for whatever mission that you will have for each one of us as we go through 2025. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated.
00:09:51
Speaker
Well, I want us to look at this passage as sort of a biblical checklist. I want God to prepare us for what he's gonna call us to do in his service.
Prayer and God's Guidance
00:10:02
Speaker
If you were to begin, where would you start? I would recommend starting where Jesus started. Look at verse 12, it says, in these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.
00:10:18
Speaker
You know, the writer of this gospel, Luke, Luke frequently referred to Jesus' prayer life. Do you remember right before he launched his public ministry to other people? Do you remember what he was doing in Luke 3, 21, just before his baptism? It says he was praying. And after that baptism,
00:10:38
Speaker
After he went into that wilderness and was tempted, he began his public ministry. That's a great way to begin serving, to say, I'm going to pray at the beginning of this year that God, you would please guide me, please use me, please empower me as I go through this year. But as you go through 2025, whatever it is that God's called you to do,
00:10:59
Speaker
You may find in Luke 5 16, another example that Jesus, he took the load. If you read through Luke chapter five, Jesus was busy. He was not idle. He was not sitting on a pew only. He was saying, I want to be involved in what the father is doing. And so in Luke chapter five verse 16, Jesus often would go into the so solitude and he would go into a private place. And he would pray. And I think he was unloading the the pressures and the load of ministry. Maybe you feel that load. It's easy to feel that load whenever you've got a lot of responsibilities. But what helps with that load is when you pray. And when we pray, what are we asking God for? well That's where I come to chapter 6 verse 12. I believe that in chapter 6 verse 12, Jesus is thinking, how can I lengthen my ministry? How can I multiply my ministry? I need to concentrate on a few so that I will pour extra time. I will give them principles and I will try to equip them so that they're ready for what God will do through them.
00:12:11
Speaker
So when I looked at his prayer life, I thought, well, I see three things that ought to be in our prayer life. If you would like for God to show you, to guide you, to say, OK, here's what I want you to
Multiplying Discipleship
00:12:22
Speaker
do. Here's three things to think about in Jesus' prayer life in verse 12. The first thing is, is prayer really a priority? Or are you kind of hit miss? You know, notice the prioritization of his prayer life. It says, in these days,
00:12:38
Speaker
Have you ever had one of those days where you think, I don't i can only even know if I can catch up today. I'm so far behind. Hey, after being sidelined for surgery and recovery and all that, I know exactly what that feels like. But we ought to still say, it doesn't matter. You know what? I'm going to put the Lord first. No matter how many things are on my to-do list, He's my priority. But the other thing that I noticed is where it says, in these days, He went out to the mountain to pray.
00:13:06
Speaker
Why did he go to the mountain to pray? I think he went there to get alone with the Father. You know, I think it's possible for you to to pray as you watch the evening news. It's possible for you to pray over social media posts that you check.
00:13:23
Speaker
It's possible, but I think that it's also very important that we take time every day to say, you know what, I'm going to set my cell phone aside, putting the TV aside, putting all the other responsibilities aside, and I'm just going to concentrate on praying and asking God for guidance because I need him to guide me as I go through this year.
00:13:46
Speaker
So I couldn't help but notice not only the prioritization, but the isolation. The fact that he said, I'm going to pull away and I'm going to spend some time with the father. I like that how it says in these days, he went out to the Mount. Sometimes we have to go out. We have to say, you know what, I'm going to take a walk.
00:14:05
Speaker
You know, I remember Susanna Wesley, she had like 17, 18 kids. She used to put her apron over her head and she said, don't bother mommy when I'm under the apron. So they learned but don't bother mom. She's serious about that prayer time. But anyway, you've got to find a way of sort of blocking out and closing out all the other things and say, God, I need to hear your voice because he's the only one that can guide us. But then sometimes we're like, I don't know, wanting to treat God like he's a drive through window.
00:14:33
Speaker
And we're saying, I'll have two blessings to go, please. you know And it's like God's like, hey, hey, come back here. I want to spend some time together. you Notice what it says, the continuation in prayer, all night, all night he continued in prayer. you know do You know that that right there is the only reference we have to anyone in the New Testament spending all night in in prayer to the Lord.
00:15:01
Speaker
But have you ever considered, let's just say, you may say, hey, look, I pray. I pray when I bow my head over my cereal bowl in the mornings. That's great. I'm glad you do. but But have you ever thought, what am I actually spending the most time on?
00:15:15
Speaker
You know, there's a thing called an activity log or a time log of daily time expenditures that a lot of CEOs even recommend this for those their employees and those who are working under them. But if you were to live 79 years, some of you are already past 79 years, I celebrate that with you. But let's say 79 years, then if you live 79 years, you've already had 41,550,840 minutes.
00:15:44
Speaker
So how many of those minutes did you spend in prayer? Here's what I heard. one One person said, okay, I'm going to try to figure out how much time we're spending on each part of life. So they they added it up and they said, okay, if I live 79 years, then I would most most likely have spent 26 years sleeping.
00:16:05
Speaker
13 years working. 11 years of my life I spent looking at a screen. Five years I spent eating. One year I spent socializing. and I was sort of stunned by this one. 235 days I've spent waiting in a line. you know Sometimes you're like, really? It's got to take this long for me to get in there? But anyway, then we are to say, Lord, I don't think I'm really spending that much time with you. And I want to change that as I go into this year. So I just want to ask you, would you please ask the Lord to help you to say, Lord, I need you to guide me. So I'm going to spend more time asking you to guide me as I start this year. But let's go down to a ah second thing.
00:16:51
Speaker
In verse 13, I think as we put the Lord first, as we're seeking Him for guidance, you know what I believe happens next? We have clarity. We have clarity over what is His assignment for me. What's the best use of my time?
00:17:07
Speaker
You know, in 2025, how will you spend the rest of this year? And so I think that we should, you know, follow Jesus' example. He thought, okay, I don't want to be the only one serving the Father. I want other people to serve the Father, not just me.
00:17:24
Speaker
So I think every Sunday school teacher, every father, every mother are to say, I don't want the faith to stop with me. I want my kids to want to serve God. Every pastor are to say that I don't want to be the only one serving. I want everybody, every single member to serve. You know what you call that?
Teamwork in Ministry
00:17:41
Speaker
You call that multiplication.
00:17:43
Speaker
I was trying to think what's the best way that I can communicate to every person in this room the difference between simple addition, where it's just you and you're the only one, or where you're actually equipping others and they're multiplying. So the difference between addition and multiplication. So I want every teenager to listen to me because we got some great teenagers in here and I want you to listen to an opportunity. It's a job opportunity.
00:18:11
Speaker
There's a certain guy and he said, I'm going to hire whoever wants to work. I'll hire them for 35 days, 35 days. And he said, here's the deal. I'm going to have two different pay scales and you tell me which pay scale you want. The first pay scale is I will give you, if this is the pay scale you'd prefer, I will give you $1,000 every day.
00:18:37
Speaker
So some of you that are quick with math, I know Mark is a math teacher, he will check me on this, but if you take every day for 35 days and every day you work for this person, they give you a thousand dollars, you're going to come up with 35,000, right? Now, wouldn't that be great? Some of you teenagers, if you work somewhere and every day you worked, they give you a thousand bucks. And at the end of 35 days,
00:19:03
Speaker
You're done with the job, $35,000. That's a little over a month. That's worth your time, right? But what if he says, well, there is another option. It's kind of less. So after at the end of day one, I'm going to give you a penny. I'm just going to give you a penny. But here's the thing. Every day you work, I'm going to double what I gave you. And so he said, which one would you take?
00:19:29
Speaker
thousand dollars a day or begin with a penny, but every day after that for 35 days, it's going to double. Which one would you take? Yeah, you want the penny? I can't believe this you would take the penny. Some of you know, you know if it's going to double, that's multiplication.
00:19:50
Speaker
You know what, if we all won somebody to Christ, and we disciple them, and then they turn around and they can disciple someone, and then that person turns around and they can disciple, you know what it would happen in 35 days, 35 years? Well, it would be over $171 million. It would be If I were you, I would pick, you know, pay steal number two.
00:20:21
Speaker
There's a difference in this verse that you might not have noticed right off. Look at verse 13 carefully because there's two different words used. One is the word disciple, which means learner. The other word is the word apostle, which means someone sent out. The Greek word apostolos Apo means from, but stello means send forth, send out. And so Jesus looks at a whole bunch of disciples, like in this room, got a whole bunch of disciples. All right. He says, when they came, he called his disciples, so this is more than 12, and he chose from them 12, whom he named apostles.
00:21:09
Speaker
You see, he's thinking, who's going to carry on the work? Who's going to continue doing this after I'm gone? Do you know that Luke uses the word apostle more than anybody else? In the gospel of Luke, he uses the word apostle six times, but if you look in the book of Acts, he uses it 28 times.
00:21:29
Speaker
But Jesus is even called an apostle, because the Father sent Jesus out in Hebrews 3 verse 1. In John chapter 17 verse 3, it doesn't use the word apostle, but he says that you sent me forth. Barnabas and Paul are both called apostles. But you know what? We're not called to be an apostle, but you know what we are called to be?
00:21:52
Speaker
ambassadors. Do you know that you, me, each one of us that are born a again Christians in this room, we're actually called.
Diversity of Talents and Callings
00:22:01
Speaker
God wants to use us as his representative and we are called ambassadors.
00:22:08
Speaker
Remember, Matthew 28, 19, Jesus said, here's your assignment. I want you guys to do just like I did. I want you to make disciples of all the nations. I want you to baptize them, teach them to observe all that I've commanded you. That's pretty clear, right? Well, let's go to the next item on the checklist. Are you going to be doing this all by yourself?
00:22:31
Speaker
You could, if you want to work by yourself, you could do it that way, but you know what? The Lord had a better way. The Lord didn't just pick Simon Peter. He selected 12, didn't he?
00:22:43
Speaker
It was a team. You know, one thing I learned on the mission field, whether it was Canada or Japan, both places I learned at, I still learned. God uses teams. You have skills, abilities, talents, gifts that I do not have. I need you and you need me. We need each other.
00:23:02
Speaker
And so what I'm saying is God calls us to work in teams so that we can share the workload because for one person it's too much. Jesus knew he only had three years of public ministry and so he intentionally invested quantity and quality time in 12, get this, common.
00:23:25
Speaker
ordinary men, just like you, just like me. You see, it's not that we have to be extraordinary. He's the extraordinary one. But he's saying, I want the work to continue after me, after my generation. That's why young generation, teenagers and children look at me. We need you. Your life is precious. Your life is important. God is a special place for you in his kingdom work.
00:23:55
Speaker
And so Romans 12.4 says, for as in one body, we have many members and the members do not have the same function. You see, we don't all have the same function in the church. That's okay. We don't have to have the same function. The the the deal is, am i am I doing what God's called me to do? Am I using my talents and gifts and abilities to serve Him?
00:24:20
Speaker
Maybe you look at this list of men, verse 14 down through verse 16, and maybe you're thinking, I don't understand why we're taking our time today in 2025 to look at this list of guys. I'm just going to end with this. So don't get nervous. say Hey, he's running out of time. I got the time. I know what time it is. But here's the thing.
00:24:42
Speaker
those 12 men, they can kind of represent maybe you. Maybe you would say, tell me about those 12 men. I'm going to go through it really quickly, but I'm going to tell you about each of those 12 ordinary men. And maybe one of those guys you would say,
00:24:59
Speaker
That's just like me. If God can use them, God can use me. So here's the thing. Some of you are probably like Simon Peter. He actually was a leader type. Simon Peter was outspoken. Sometimes he would speak and then he would think. You know, and so anyway, we need to say, okay, Lord, why is it that when I get in a circle, I just want to start kind of leading out. I just want to, because you're a natural born leader, God instilled that within you and he wants to continue to use that. He wants to harness it. Yes, but he wants to use it. But then there's another, another man listed, Simon Peter's brother named Andrew.
00:25:37
Speaker
Do you know that Andrew was very relational? He's what I would call not a leader, but a connector. I mean, he's like so good with people. He was always bringing people. He's only featured three different times. Do you know all three times he's bringing somebody to Jesus? He's bringing somebody to Jesus? Wow. I mean, he didn't need a position.
00:25:58
Speaker
He's doing the work. But then the other thing I thought is James. James and John, these were two brothers, I would call James the protector. Maybe you say, why do you call James the protector?
00:26:10
Speaker
Because one time there was a Samaritan village, and they said, if you're Jesus, we don't want you in our village. So you know what James says to Jesus? He said, you want me to just go and call and ask the Father to send out fire on those dudes? We'll wipe them out. So it's like Jesus said, no, no, that's not what I wanted to do here. But he's like a protector. So if you've got protective instincts within you, man, you can watch over the flock. You have really good qualities that are needed.
00:26:40
Speaker
But also there's John. You know, John was the apostle of love. He was a caregiver. Man, it just seemed like he cared about other people. Is that you? You care about people? We need you. We need you in the body of Christ. You know when Jesus was on the cross, you remember what he said to John? He says to John, John, this is your mother. And Jesus was looking at his mother. And then he said to his mother,
00:27:06
Speaker
Mother, this is your son, John. He knew I can trust that guy because he cares about people. Philip, I would call the friend. Maybe you'd say, I ain't got a lot of strengths, but one thing I can do, I can just be a friend of people. That's awesome. That's just like Philip.
Missionary Reflections and Call to Action
00:27:23
Speaker
Do you know what Philip did whenever he was called? His first instinct was to go get Bartholomew. He had a buddy.
00:27:30
Speaker
I don't know if they were hun buddies or what they did, but he had a friend and he goes to his friend and says, I want you to come and meet the one that I think is the Messiah. And whenever Bartholomew comes to the Lord, you know what? He was what I would call the investigator. He's going to make sure everything is solid. Everything is right. And so, as a matter of fact, Jesus said of Bartholomew in John 1 47, he said, this is an Israelite in whom there's no deceit. In other words, this guy is real. We need authentic people. We need people who are going to say, I want to make sure it's real and then I'm all in.
00:28:09
Speaker
Matthew was a tax collector, so he had to have been organized. The tax collectors were hated. Nobody liked tax collectors. But then it says, he came into that circle, and he didn't come in prideful. He came in humble. So maybe that's you. Maybe you're like Thomas. Thomas is known, well, doubting Thomas, right? He was kind of a skeptic, a pessimist. But you know what? You give Jesus some time with that guy,
00:28:35
Speaker
and man Thomas was ready to lay down his life for Jesus at another point. There's James, the son of Alphaeus. You know, last night we finished a movie of John Wayne called The Quiet Man. I like that movie. I like the movie because I have Irish blood in me. He goes to Ireland and so I'm thinking, all right, you know, but ah anyway,
00:28:56
Speaker
The quiet man, you can often sort of write them off, quiet man, quiet woman. But you know what I've learned about quiet people? They're deep. They have waters that run so deep and they don't always put it out there in word. They're not outspoken like Peter. and Let me tell you, John, the son of Alphaeus, he was behind the scenes and he was a servant. He was doing what Jesus had called him to do.
00:29:20
Speaker
There was Judas the son of James. He's a guy that has three names. I mean, he could be called Judas son of James. He could be called Thaddeus. He could be called Jude. But one day in John 1422, he says to Jesus, he said, are you doing all of this and saying all of this only for us and not for the whole world?
00:29:42
Speaker
See, he's a thinker and we need people who are visionaries who think deeply and are saying, you know what, I know that this is bound to be more than just for us. And then of course there's Judas Iscariot, known as the traitor, known as a thief in some parts of the New Testament. He definitely was a performer, but whatever You're alike. I guarantee you there were more than likely some who were there that day who are just like you. I want to skip to the end because I want to i want to say something that's coming up.
00:30:16
Speaker
You know, our church commissioned a young lady who at that time was a teenager named Alyssa Bray. Alyssa Bray, on July 18, 2021, our church commissioned her, just like we're going to ordain the deacons tonight, but we commissioned Alyssa Bray for a mission assignment.
00:30:38
Speaker
So she goes to Alaska, and on August the 4th, 2021, she began 10 months of training. But somehow, during this whole process, the Lord looks down and He says, there's one more item of preparation you need. You need a husband, Alyssa. And so Alyssa married marin ah Aaron Litzler. And so January the 2nd, 2022, they were married.
00:31:04
Speaker
And then the Lord said, you know what? You guys are great. You're doing a great job there in Tulips, Alaska as a married couple. But I'm going to double your team. I'm going to give you twins. So therefore, their team just expanded.
00:31:18
Speaker
but But Aaron and Alyssa have extended to us an opportunity. On April the 9th through the 15th of this year, they're saying, would you come and help us? And maybe you would say, I can't sing, I can't teach, I can't train and do all these different things. Yeah, but here's the thing. This one is, can you work with your hands?
00:31:42
Speaker
because they're in a remodeling project for a church that's up there in a place called Bethel. And the thing is, all of the missionaries that work with students up there, they're all gathering together at this church in Bethel. And so they want to make it into like a church plus a conference center. And so right now, there's different teams that are going over there trying to help them to finish out that building. Well, that's needed.
00:32:11
Speaker
So here's the thing, would you want to go and help us to renovate that church and that conference center? And there are some pictures of others and maybe you would say, well, they kind of look like me. Yeah, that's right. Just ordinary people. And maybe maybe you would say, I believe I'm going to put that down. I would like to go on that mission trip.
00:32:33
Speaker
So why don't you pray about it? Why don't you ask the Lord? Tonight there's a team of deacons and those that team has said to you, hey, we we want to recommend to you that three deacons be approved.
00:32:49
Speaker
And so today you voted and you know what? it was It was definitely carried and the motion passed. So tonight we will ordain all three of those men. So let's give the Lord praise for them. Thank you.
00:33:06
Speaker
um But you see, those those three men, they're not the only men serving in the church. Do you know that after we dismiss here, we're going to go and there's 19 teachers who are going to take the Bible and they're going to equip, they're going to encourage, they're going to edify ah people in study school classes.
00:33:28
Speaker
There's also, while we've been in here, we've heard people use their music skills. There have been people in the nursery while we've been in here. there's Before we got here today, the Deacons were unlocking the doors. When we leave today, you know what? They'll lock the doors. They control the thermostats. They lead in prayer. There are ushers who come forward and and receive the offerings. But when you walked in, maybe they greeted you.
00:33:56
Speaker
But what is your assignment? What is it God wants to do in your life in 2025? You know, I believe that we need to say, Lord, you want to use every one of us, but we have to prepare our hearts. We have to be ready for whatever it is God wants us to do. So I want to ask you as you go through 2025 to say to God, Lord, please help me be ready. so that you can use me in 2025. Let's all stand together. We're going to have a time of invitation where you can respond. And so maybe the Lord has said to you, hey, you know, one thing I've skipped, I've never been baptized. I'm a believer, but I've never been baptized. Maybe you'd say, I'm not even a believer yet. But I would like to be a part of something like that. Maybe you would say, you know what? I'd like to be a part of this congregation, to go forward with the Lord and to help you, you know to be a part of that team that carries the workload. I'd like to do that. Or maybe God's calling you to service. Maybe you'd say, you know what? Just like God called Alyssa Bray, now Alyssa Litzler, just like God called Jacob Tice, and he's serving the Lord, there may be a call that God has in your life.
00:35:11
Speaker
And so whatever that is, you could come and talk to me. We could pray about that. But let's pray and ask God to bless this time of invitation, and then we'll be dismissed our classes. Lord, thank you again for this time to look into your word. Thank you for our worship service. But before we leave here, there might be something that we need to to do. Maybe individually, we need to be saved. Individually, we've never been baptized. Or maybe individually, we need to say, this is the church that I feel comfortable joining. I don't know what it might be. Maybe there's a call to missions. There's a call to ministry or just someone saying, I don't know what the call is, but God won't leave me alone. He keeps on telling me there's something he asked for me. So would you just speak to us this day in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
00:36:06
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.