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Hey, good morning everyone.
So good to see you.
Such a great response.
If you're joining us from home, I'm sure you screamed at your TV.
So great to have you join us in your space.
So just a couple quick updates.
Our run, our Tide-I run for freedom, we currently have around 120 registered runners for the
event.
Yeah, that's a great turnout.
Our goal is 200.
So remember, we're giving all the money away.
It doesn't matter if you run or don't run.
You can walk it with me.
I'm doing the one mile fun walk at the beginning of the day at eight.
So you can join me on that walk.
Again, just to make a difference in the lives of children.
And don't forget our spaghetti dinner for the freedom fighters.
They're hosting it.
All that money is being given away to end human trafficking.
So get involved, grab a ticket, sign up to run.
It all makes a difference.
So I want to start this morning just like I started last Sunday with a question.
What would you do if you knew you had 24 hours to live?
What would be on your bucket list?
Right?
Where would you go?
What would you see?
My bucket list would include a trip to a beach with my entire family and close friends, no
matter the time of the year, sitting in the sand, sharing stories and memories about how
good life is and how we are better together.
I would also encourage my family to get matching tattoos because after all, we want to remember
all that God did in us and through us.
Maybe for some of you, you would visit a place you have never seen before.
Maybe you would get crazy and actually skydive.
Maybe you would go see a sunrise or a sunset.
Maybe some of you would simply go fishing.
What would you do if you had just 24 hours to live?
Well, that is what we're going to be discussing today.
We're going to be jumping into the book of John and just to look a little bit, and we're
going to be looking at Jesus' final hours.
In fact, his last 24 hours and see what was on his bucket list and what he chose to do.
So many of you know we're currently in a series called Get Real with God, focusing on Micah
6, 8, which reads, No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good.
And this is what he requires of you church, to do what is right, to love mercy and to
walk humbly with your God.
I don't know about you, but this has been a great series, very impactful in my life.
We kicked it off discussing what we do, what we love and how we walk matters in this life.
We then looked at the not so good Samaritan and we're encouraged to become innkeepers
for God.
Last week, we focused on God's mercy and we're challenged to walk away from shame.
This morning, we're going to focus on walking humbly with God.
And before jumping into the book of John, I would like to go to the gospel of Luke.
Now the gospel of Luke is actually written by the only Gentile author of scripture.
Every other author of the 66 books in the Bible was Jewish, so they have a very different
perspective from Luke being the only non-Jew.
Now there are a few books like Hebrews that scholars don't know definitively who wrote
it, so there are a few books recorded in the Bible with unknown authors, but out of all
those that we do know, which of course the majority, the only books that were definitely
written by an outsider, an outcast, a non-Jew was Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.
These two books were written together and they're kind of like Star Wars and The Empire
Strikes Back, but unfortunately in our modern Bible, they stuck John in between the two,
so a lot of times we can't read them cohesively.
I want to challenge you this week, read the gospel of Luke and then jump over John right
into the Acts of the Apostles and then what you'll realize is there's a synergy and a
compassion of God that will speak into your heart.
And I believe that is because Luke was an outsider, right?
He focuses on stories that highlight intimacy and accessibility of Jesus with people who
didn't fit, right?
Kind of sound familiar, right?
We just kind of don't fit.
And all of that leads to our first thought this morning, you see, servanthood requires
closeness.
Servanthood requires closeness.
Remember Micah 6.8 from the message paraphrased, written by Eugene Peterson says, but he's
already made it plain how to live, what to do, and what God is looking for in men and
women.
It's quite simple.
Know what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love and
don't take yourself too seriously.
Take God seriously.
And I love how that's written there.
Don't take yourself too seriously.
Focus on God.
Get over yourself.
In other words, walk humbly with your God.
And in order for us to do this, friends, we have to get close.
Now I'm going to be reading from Luke chapter seven and I'm going to start actually in verse
36.
This won't be on our sky Bible.
I did that purposely.
I want you to close your eyes and I want you, okay, in your own mind to picture the story
that I am reading to you.
So Luke chapter seven, starting in verse 36, one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner
with him.
So Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.
When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful
alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.
Then she knelt behind him at his feet weeping.
Her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them off with her hair.
Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were
a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him.
She's a sinner.
Then Jesus answered his thoughts.
Simon, he said to the Pharisee, I have something to say to you.
Go ahead teacher.
Simon replied and Jesus told him this story.
A man loaned money to two people, 500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other.
But neither of them could repay him.
So he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts.
Who do you suppose loved him more after that?
Simon answered, I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.
That's right, Jesus said.
So we have an outsider, a woman that crawls into a dinner party that Jesus is attending
and interrupted the entire gathering, but it doesn't end there.
Let's continue in verse 44.
Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, look at this woman kneeling here.
And here's the reality.
For some of you here this morning, this is the first time you have felt seen in a long
time.
You walked into our community of faith, you feel like you didn't fit, but suddenly you
found yourself surrounded by people that was welcoming you, looking at you, seeing you,
and you feel like you matter.
You do matter and you belong here.
Jesus continues, look at this woman, Simon.
When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but
she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped
kissing my feet.
You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet
with her rare perfume.
I tell you, her sins, and they are many, have been forgiven.
So she has shown me much love.
But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.
Then Jesus said to the woman, your sins are forgiven.
Now see church, if we stop right there and we move on, we end our gathering.
It's a great story about Jesus accepting a woman that everyone else had written off and
judged.
But there's so much more within it, right?
It would literally be a disservice to God not to discuss all that is happening.
See the Bible is full of information and 80 plus percent of the Bible is stories, true
stories that can impact and change our lives.
But for so many people in the church, they miss the context.
They miss the meaning because they're not willing to do the work.
They don't understand who wrote it.
They don't understand who it was written to.
They don't understand why it was even written.
The miracles, the healings, the acceptance gets so much better.
It overwhelms us when we understand these truths.
So don't just post the scripture on your social media account, which is a good thing to do.
Learn and understand what you are posting.
Apply it to your life.
So let's tear this apart.
To Jesus, he's at a dinner party with a Pharisee, a religious leader, and suddenly a woman that
many scholars believe is a prostitute finds herself at the feet of Jesus washing his feet
with her tears and a rare perfume.
Now please understand many women and children that were prostitutes during this time of
history were actually what we now call sex trafficking victims, right?
The reason for this is Rome had gone broke.
They had gone broke from all the wars and all the government spending on buildings.
And in order for them to continue to just have an army, which was the most barbaric
army in the history of the world, they allowed their soldiers to make war against any people
group they wanted.
In return, the soldiers were given the right to keep the spoils of their victories, the
flocks of the people, their gold, their women and their children because Rome could not
pay the men in their ranks.
Historians, not Christian historians, historians will tell you that many of the women during
this time in the ancient Near East who sold their bodies, who were in prostitution, did
not choose to do so.
They didn't want to be in that profession.
They were forced to do so.
Today, the same is true for many women and children all around the world, even in our
own state.
Now how does this woman who is a immoral prostitute and forgotten and outcast within society,
how does she end up the house of a wealthy religious leader?
Now some pastors teach that, oh, she knew her way there insinuating that Simon had regular
interactions with this woman.
That is not true.
That is not what the Bible says.
That is something that pastors make up.
So picture Jesus, right?
He's not sitting.
He's leaning on a table with his left hip and elbow with a group of wealthy influencers,
all men, no women.
Their tables were low.
Picture a modern day table and a coffee table.
They happen to love each other, get married and have children, and that's what they birthed.
This small table where the men are leaning against it, sitting, talking, and it's important
to understand this because as they're sitting at the table, their feet are as far away from
the table as possible because their feet were unclean, both ceremonially unclean and literally
because they did not wear shoes, right?
They were slippers.
They walked in dirt and sand.
Their feet were literally filthy.
So as they're having dinner, which would have been outside, not in the house, outside on
a patio in the ancient Near East, many patios are outside because of the cooler temperatures
in the evening.
So they're outside of the house.
And what typically happened was as they're having dinner, especially when Jesus rolls
in for dinner, people from the city would have gathered around the patio because they
wanted to eavesdrop.
Everywhere Jesus went, he drew what?
Crows.
People followed him.
So he's sitting here having this conversation with these religious leaders, with these men
of influence, and it creates a lot of buzz everywhere, right?
This group of people included this woman, a sinner in the city who was already being
criticized and judged just for being there.
Like the people on the outside of the patio would have been like looking down at her, making
fun of her, telling her to get lost.
But this woman was so compelled by the nearness of Jesus's feet, not Jesus, his feet, that
she literally crawls into the patio area and begins to wash Jesus's feet with their tears
and expensive perfume.
Now please understand this woman already an outcast because of her reputation and profession.
Now this woman had the audacity to let down her hair and wash Jesus's feet with her hair.
Why is this important?
Because in that culture, this was a big no-no, right?
In Jewish culture, women only let their hair down when they were intimate with their husband.
Every other time it was up.
And this Pharisee literally was exploding inside of himself.
He wanted to jump out of his skin.
And in his mind, he's thinking, who is this teacher?
Why?
Why would he let this woman touch his feet?
But Jesus, of course, we learned because we just read it, knows his thoughts, calls him
out and tells the story.
Well, there are two people who owe the lender a lot of money and the lender cancels both
the debts.
One of those people owed a thousand dollars.
The other owed a million dollars.
Each of these two will be more grateful.
And the Pharisee says, well, the one with the larger debt, obviously, but the beauty
of Jesus, he flips the scripts, looks back at Simon and says, you did nothing for me
when I showed up at your house.
You didn't wash my feet.
You didn't greet me with a kiss.
You didn't acknowledge my presence.
But this woman, this woman, whom all of you have judged, whom all of you have thrown out,
whom all of you didn't even see, hasn't stopped kissing my feet and washing my feet with her
hair.
See, church, there's a big difference between a fan and a follower of Jesus.
And that difference is intimacy and closeness.
See, this woman did not care what people thought.
She didn't care what the people were saying.
She only cared about Jesus, the one who could set her free.
This was worship for her.
This was her outpouring.
But for so many of us, we live in the US, we're in the American church, we can't raise
our hands in worship because I don't know who my neighbor is.
What are they going to think about me?
We can't share about Jesus with us.
And invite card, Chris, you expect me to invite someone to church?
Well, that's not appropriate at work or school.
What if people knew that I went to that church, that hippie church?
I might as well get fired.
Intimacy with Jesus begins with humility and gratitude.
Do you remember what it was like before Jesus?
I don't know about you, but I was miserable.
Every day that I woke up, it was miserable.
I had no point, no purpose.
I was trying to numb the pain.
Do you remember how kind and loving Jesus was when we didn't believe?
When we worried only about ourselves?
When we would hurt others by making fun of them or judging them because of their choices?
So this morning, are you willing to kiss his feet?
And this is important to ask because servanthood begins with closeness.
Servanthood begins with closeness.
Now later in Luke's gospel, it is recorded that Jesus eagerly desired to share a Passover
meal with his disciples before he would go on to suffer and die.
Jesus knew that in his last 24 hours, here it is, he would suffer, he would be crucified,
and the one thing he desired was to gather his disciples together, his friends, his extended
family and celebrate Passover together.
So Jesus sent his disciples ahead to find a room to prepare a meal so they could share
the Passover celebration.
But it didn't quite turn out the way Jesus expected.
A fight broke out amongst the disciples arguing who would be the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven.
Then Jesus had to approach Peter and explain to him, hey, hey, you may be the rock, but
you're going to disown me three times.
We also read that at this very meal, the thought came to Judas to betray Jesus.
So these final hours, this final meal wasn't turning out as Jesus expected.
And I'm sure many of us can relate.
How many of you experienced something similar to that at a family meal?
Just gets a little awkward, right?
That wasn't supposed to happen.
Jesus, in this moment, he had to be frustrated because all he was trying to do was receive
encouragement and gather with his people before he would go on to experience pain and suffering
unlike no other.
It seems it would have been okay for Jesus to slam his fist on the table and say, this
is ridiculous.
Get it together.
It would have been okay for Jesus to walk away, to be by himself, to look for solitude
and peace in these last hours.
But Jesus does something in this situation that's totally unexpected.
Unexpected because he's a rabbi, unexpected because he was a teacher, unexpected for his
disciples.
Jesus gets up, takes off his outer clothing, wraps a towel around his waist, kneels down
and begins to wash the disciples feet.
Something no one would ever expect Jesus to do.
Why would Jesus get down and serve his disciples by washing their feet?
Because Jesus knew that if he humbled his heart, if he humbled himself, it would open
the doorway to his heart so the father could release his power and sustain Jesus during
the suffering he was about to walk through.
Jesus knew that if he walked away and became proud, he would not be able to receive all
that the father had in store for him.
See when we serve others, God serves us.
When we serve others, God serves us.
Jesus knew that if he served his disciples, his father would serve him with all the strength
that was needed to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world.
Friends when we decide not to be frustrated, not to be angry, not to be disappointed, not
to walk away, when we decide not to hold on to unforgiveness, God serves us.
Which leads us to our next thought.
When we serve others, God releases his favor.
Now we're going to jump into the Gospel of John chapter 13 verses 15 through 17.
We read, I have given you an example to follow.
Do as I have done to you.
I told you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master, nor is the messenger more
important than the one who sends the message.
Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.
God will bless you if you serve others.
If we serve others, God will serve us.
Friends this is good news.
For some of you.
God gives us his blessing when we serve others.
Now I know some of you are thinking, well Chris, shouldn't I serve someone without expecting
a blessing?
Shouldn't I serve someone without expecting anything in return?
Yes, yes you should.
But what is even better is Jesus telling us that we're going to be blessed with God's
favor when we do it.
So should we do it without expecting any return?
Yes, but we get something in return, so why not celebrate it?
When we serve others, God blesses us spiritually.
He blesses our relationships.
He blesses us physically.
He blesses us financially.
Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and he will meet all our needs.
All our needs.
So when we seek his kingdom first, we automatically become a blessing to the people within our
sphere of influence.
When I receive my blessing, that results in the blessing for others like my wife and children.
My blessing, when I receive it in serving, it results in the blessing of my neighbors
and my co-workers and in our community of faith and our greater outward community.
What could be better than receiving God's blessing on your life?
Is there anything better?
I can't think of anything.
Well, Chris, where's the example of this in the Bible?
Let me tell you.
There's this guy named Joseph in the Old Testament.
You can read all about his story.
It's in the book of Genesis this week.
Add it to Luke and Acts.
Man, you got a lot of homework today.
You will quickly learn that Joseph was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers.
He had every right to be frustrated, angry, and disappointed his life was over.
But Joseph chose to serve and he received God's favor and blessing on his life.
Joseph was purchased by Potiphar and became his house manager.
We read this in Genesis 39.
The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home
of his Egyptian master.
Potiphar noticed this and realized that the Lord was with Joseph, giving him success in
everything he did.
This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant, putting him in charge
of his entire household and everything he owned because he chose to serve.
Joseph would then be falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, thrown into prison.
I don't know about you, but if that happened to me, I'd be upset.
I'd be angry.
I'd be disappointed.
Joseph once again chose to serve.
He received God's favor and became a leader in the prison where he got an audience of
one before Pharaoh.
Now Joseph could have been angry with Pharaoh after all.
This was the guy that led the country, that was enslaving his people and destroying families'
lives.
But once again, he chose to serve.
And once again, he received God's blessing and became second in command over all of Egypt,
saved his family, saved his people because of the blessing that was on his life.
When we serve others, God releases his favor, his blessing on us.
I paused this week and I began to reflect on the past 19 years.
And I thought about my children.
For the last 19 years, I have six children.
For those of you who don't know, my children have served with Jess and I in this church
since the very beginning.
You know, on Sunday morning when I elbow them at 715, hey, it's time to roll.
They have faithfully gotten up, eaten their breakfast, gotten their showers, and faithfully
came to serve with us.
Now here's the crazy thing.
As I pondered all of this, I began to realize all of my children, or at least the first
five, they've received, you'll hear me out, hear me out.
All of my children, the first five, have all received the best education in the tri-state
area.
They attend a high school, a private boarding high school that costs $48,000 a year to send
them.
Do you think I can afford to pay that?
Everyone just say, no.
I can afford to pay that.
In fact, I didn't pay that, but God's favor has allowed my first five children to attend
a school, be successful, and be challenged to be their best.
My oldest son, Isaac, he's an engineer.
He's smarter than I'll ever be.
He does things with numbers and designs things that I don't even understand, but he does
it because he just loves math and he loves people and he's got such a beautiful sweet
spirit.
My second, Trinity, she's an incredible athlete.
She's a professional athlete.
This past summer, she spent her entire summer in Texas playing professional softball, right?
Because she is just talented and gifted.
My third child, Zoe, she will graduate in December.
And you know what Zoe's going to do?
She's going to serve kids.
She's going to be a teacher and she may become a special ed teacher.
And she just wants to serve kids and see them grow and change.
Now I have this other little daughter named Lily, and she's not so little anymore.
She's 17.
She's an accomplished softball player.
And last week she got offered a full ride, all expenses paid to her dream school in Florida.
She will not pay one cent for her university experience because she's committed and she's
all in to do the things she wants to do.
And then I have this little guy named Nolan.
He's not little anymore.
He's actually taller than me.
He's 14 years old.
He's thriving at St. James and sees himself as the senior prefect by the time he's senior
because he just loves doing what he does.
And then there's this other good little guy and he's four years old and his name's Phoenix.
And he's really fast.
He's really fast.
And if you could pray for us raising him, we need all the help we can get.
Now I'm not saying these things to say, hey, look at my kids.
Look how great they are.
Look at the great dad that I am and the Jess is an incredible mom.
I'm not saying that to say this to you.
This is what I'm saying.
Over the last 19 years, my family has served this church.
We have served the tri-state area.
We serve you.
We clean toilets.
We cook food.
We paint walls.
We do what is ever necessary to make this place your home so that you're welcomed into
it and you experience God's love.
And in return, my family is reaping the blessings of serving.
So if you look around and you say, well, that's not happening with my family.
Look in the mirror and say, oh, I'm not serving.
That's the challenge.
When we serve others, we receive God's blessing, his favor on our lives, which leads us to
our next thought.
When we serve others, God gives us his purpose.
Back to John chapter 13 verses three through four, Jesus knew that the father had given
him authority over everything that he had come from God and would return to God.
So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist and
began to serve.
Jesus knew he came from the father.
Jesus knew that he was empowered by the father.
Jesus knew that one day he would return to the father.
Jesus had purpose in his heart.
And what did he do?
He lived it out.
He served his disciples to the very end.
Remember church, this is his last 24 hours.
And when we serve, we receive God's purpose, not just any purpose, not just any goal, not
just any idea.
God gives us his purpose because we will not be fulfilled by simply doing the things that
we love to do.
We will not be fulfilled by being around the people we love to be with.
We won't be fulfilled by being someone unique and standing out in the crowd.
We will experience true fulfillment when we serve.
How do I know that?
Matthew 22, Jesus replied, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your
soul or your mind.
And the second is equally important.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
We love God and we love others.
God's purpose for our life is to then serve.
We will find ourselves excited and passionate about life when we're serving other people.
Just a couple of hours after this meal, Jesus, in his final hours, we find him in the garden
of Gethsemane.
And while in the garden, he's sweating blood, he's pleading with his father in heaven to
get him out of this situation.
He's just struggling.
He doesn't have the words.
And then in Matthew 27, it says, Jesus called out in a loud voice, my God, my God, why have
you abandoned me?
It's almost as if the situation before, right?
When Jesus was washing the disciples feet while he was serving them, it opened this
door into his heart so that he can receive strength.
He can receive supernatural power to sustain him for the upcoming suffering that he was
about to walk through for you and I.
A humble heart opens up the doorway for God's strength and his supernatural power to fill
our life.
When we serve others, God gives us what?
His purpose.
He gives us his purpose.
You know, I think about all the people that serve in our community of faith.
You know, I go, the reason you can hear me talking is because Donnie and John Early,
they're back, they're faithfully serving and making music and producing sound so that
you can hear it so that people on the live stream can hear it.
Right?
I think about Len and Lisa Rona.
They faithfully serve you by preparing a meal every single Thursday for a free community
dinner every Thursday night.
All you gotta do is show up and eat.
God bless them.
Right?
They're walking in that.
I think about all the new growth groups that just launched.
I think about, I think about Parker.
He's launching a group for our recovery people and addicts, you know, define freedom.
Like if you're struggling with an addiction or some sort of habit, see Parker because
he wants to serve you.
He wants you to be free.
Right?
I think about Tracy, who is on my staff.
You're like, well, of course she's getting paid to do that.
Yes, she is.
But you know something?
Tracy organizes all of our events that make a difference here in our community of faith.
Right?
She walks in her purpose and she does an incredible job at it because guess what?
I have no clue what to do.
I was at a wedding last night and someone came up to me and said, Hey Chris, I'm, I
was talking to Tracy and she said I was going to be the MC for the run for the run for freedom.
When am I going to MC?
I look back at him and say, I have no clue.
Ask her.
I have no clue what you're going to announce.
Right?
That's not my gifting.
That's not what I'm called to do.
That's what Tracy's called to do.
But the point is when you serve, you find purpose, which leads us to our final thought.
And this is important for some of you.
When we serve others, God breaks the power of the enemy over us.
So everyone see that?
There's so many people in the church today.
They're sitting there struggling.
They're saying, I don't understand why I can't catch a break.
I'm always being tempted.
I'm constantly in sin.
I constantly fall back into sin.
Why is it so hard, Chris, to follow Jesus?
You know why it's hard to follow Jesus?
Because you're not serving.
When we serve, when we serve, God breaks the power of the enemy over us.
How do I know that?
Back to John chapter 13, verse two, it was time for supper and the devil had already
prompted Judas, son of Simon and Scarey, to betray Jesus.
Can you imagine what Jesus is going through at this point?
There was frustration with the disciples arguing with one another over who would be the greatest.
Like who cares?
He had to speak to Peter about his upcoming denial that he would do three times.
And now he knows that Judas is about to betray him.
What does Jesus do?
Jesus, you know what he does?
He picks up a towel.
He takes off his outer garments, lets loose the towel, wraps it around his waist, kneels
down and begins to wash the disciples feet.
Wash the disciples feet.
Now picture this, this master, this teacher, the son of God, he healed the sick, raised
the dead, cleansed the lepers, challenged the Pharisees, walked on water, calmed the
storm.
This man comes to his disciples, kneels before them and begins to wash their feet.
He removes their sandals.
He takes a washcloth and he begins to wash away the dirt, the sand, a hard day's work
off their feet.
Not just quickly, but thoroughly.
Not just one foot, but both feet.
Imagine not just one disciple.
He starts with Andrew, he kneels down, he washes both his feet.
He moves to Bartholomew.
He kneels down.
He washes their feet.
Then Thomas and then he comes to Judas.
Judas.
And in this moment, he knew that not only is Judas going to betray him, he also knows
that Judas knows he's going to betray him.
And what does Jesus choose to do?
Wash Judas' feet.
He takes off his sandals.
He wipes off the sand and the dirt and the grime, serving him so well.
Why would Jesus serve Judas so well?
Because Jesus knew that if he served Judas, it would break the power of the enemy over
him.
And see, if we serve others, God breaks the power of the enemy over us.
Jesus knew that if he served Judas, frustration could not take a hold of his heart.
Jesus knew that if he served Judas, there would not be a seed of resentment placed in
his heart, planted in his thoughts that would have lasted.
The enemy had no hold over him.
And that is why Jesus chose to serve Judas.
Here's the reality, church.
When we pick up a towel and a sword, we have the sword in one hand and the towel in the
other.
And I don't know about you, but that's the situation I find myself in daily.
How am I going to respond when someone cuts me off?
How am I going to respond when someone's smart and rude to me?
How am I going to respond when it doesn't seem like there's enough money?
How am I going to respond?
See, when I get frustrated, what do we use?
The sword.
We lash out with rude comments.
We tear people down.
We post stuff on social media that has absolutely no point.
It's like, I want to serve.
I want to do the right thing, but I'm not able to use the towel because I have the sword
in one hand and the towel in the other.
See, to truly serve others, we have to lay down the sword and use both hands on the towel.
We have to get down on our knees lower than everyone else and serve them and show them
God's love.
We have to let go of the sword because the enemy has no power over us when we're serving
with both hands on the towel.
No power.
Hours later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas came back to Jesus and the other disciples.
And when he came back with the soldiers and religious leaders, Peter, he laid down the
towel and he took up the sword.
And we all know that Peter wasn't serving.
He was angry.
He was frustrated.
He was disappointed, and we read in John 18.
Then Simon Peter drew the sword, slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest's
slave.
But Jesus said to Peter, put your sword back into its sheath.
Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?
We all know that Peter goes on to disown Jesus how many times?
Three.
Just like Jesus said he would do.
Jesus, of course, goes to the cross, dies, is buried, and then resurrected.
And then after the resurrection, Peter and Jesus have a reconciliation, a conversation
together.
Peter, he'd already left the ministry.
He walked away.
He returned to his job as a fisherman.
He was believing that that's what he would do for the rest of his life.
But while Peter was fishing, he hears that Jesus is on the shore.
He jumps from the boat, and he begins to walk and run toward Jesus.
And we read this in John 21.
After breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than
these?
Yes, Lord, Peter replied.
You know I love you.
Then feed my lambs, Jesus told him.
Jesus repeated the question, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
Yes, Lord, Peter said.
You know I love you.
Then take care of my sheep, Jesus said.
A third time, he asked him, Simon, son of John, do you love me?
Notice, Peter was hurt.
He's grabbing for the sword again.
Jesus asked the question a third time.
He said, Lord, you know everything.
You know that I love you, Jesus said.
Then feed my sheep.
Why was this conversation so important for Peter?
Because Jesus knew that if Peter would lay down the sword of frustration and disappointment
and anger and pain from the past, and Peter would take up a towel with both hands and
serve others, he would receive God's goodness.
He would receive God's favor and his blessing.
Jesus knew that Peter would walk in his purpose and launch the church, becoming the rock.
And Jesus knew that the power of the enemy would be broken over Peter's life.
If you love me, Peter, feed my sheep.
And today, this morning, Jesus is asking us the same question.
Hey, church, do you love me?
Hey, church, will you get close?
Will you crawl even to his feet?
Will you run to Jesus like Peter first did?
Which leads us to our simple action steps responding to the great commandment church.
We've got to get close to Jesus.
Jesus replied, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, your
mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.
What does it look like to love God with our heart, soul, and mind?
Well, Luke 7, she knelt behind him and his feet weeping.
Her tears fell on his feet and she wiped them off with her hair.
Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
We have to get close.
We have to make it personal.
We have to make it real every single day.
There has to be time where you spend with Jesus, where you hang out with Jesus.
And it's not just that one devotional time.
It's 24-7.
Loving God, getting close to Jesus is a heart full of gratitude and thankfulness.
Are you willing to be thankful?
Are you willing to celebrate even in the midst of chaos?
Which leads us to our final step.
I wonder what it is.
Serve others.
A second is equally important.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
How do we love our neighbor as ourselves?
Jesus told us this in John 13.
He says, look, I've given you an example to follow.
Do as I have done.
We serve others.
But here's the reality, church.
Many of you right now, you're gathered, you're sitting here.
You're not serving.
You're not serving at HCV.
You're not serving anywhere.
The common percentage of churches is that out of 100% of the people that attend, 20%
usually serve while 80% attend.
Now I don't believe that's the case for HCV.
I think we just have huge numbers of people that serve in the first gathering.
I said, we're somewhere around 38% and 62%.
I don't want to celebrate that.
I don't want to be better than the average church.
I want to be the best.
You know why?
Because I like to win.
I like to win.
And you know, Paul likes to win.
What did Paul tell us?
Did Paul say, hey, be average, come in 20th place?
Did Paul say that?
Paul said, win the race.
Win.
So I want to challenge you.
Are you willing to pick up the towel and lay down the sword?
I'm going to invite out my beautiful wife, Jessica, if you could give her a hand, please.
You're strong, love.
You're strong.
So I am here to tell you about all the ways that you can team up here at HCV.
I teach the team up class, if you guys have attended.
And it's just an opportunity, great opportunity for me to serve you guys.
The reason Chris and I are up here is because God used me in my weaknesses, in my vulnerability,
when I was not perfect, which I'm still not perfect, right?
When I let go of my pride and I just said, OK, God, these people probably don't want
me to pray for them, but there's nobody else.
And so I prayed for them.
And God was able to use me.
And I felt the Holy Spirit move through me, right?
And then I realized I got off of myself.
I got off of my insecurities.
I got off of my things and said, you know what?
I'm going to be vulnerable, right?
And I realized how much God loved me.
And the reason I feel like we don't serve and we don't volunteer is because we are insecure
in who we are in Christ, right?
If we know how much the Father loves us, if we even get a glimpse of it, fear goes away,
shame goes away, guilt goes away, right?
If we can just get a glimpse of how proud your Father is of you, right?
And he wants to use you for his kingdom.
The beautiful thing about God, the beautiful thing about Jesus is he doesn't need us to
make this room full of people, right?
He doesn't need us to do anything, but he chooses to use us to the hands and feet of
Christ, right?
He chooses to use us not for his glory, but for that we can move beyond ourselves.
We can move beyond our circumstances.
We can take this broken vessel I am and I say, okay, I'm going to step out.
I'm going to serve, right?
And God uses me.
And I said, well, maybe I am worth something.
Maybe I can offer a nice word to somebody.
Maybe I can do this, right?
So I feel like we're all walking in a little fear, right, and insecurities, but hey, guess
what?
We're going to do it right.
And we're not going to do it right all the time, but we need your help because we believe
in the process of multiplication, right?
The more of us that are serving, the more of us are telling people about Jesus, the
more of us are doing this, guess what?
The kingdom grows and grows and grows and this world changes, right?
And people change and they start smiling and they start believing in themselves.
And guess what?
Then the drugs disappear.
Then the homelessness disappears.
Then the shootings disappear, right?
It's all reciprocal on us just saying, I'm going to serve because Jesus served.
This is my model and this is what I'm going to do.
So I'm going to show you guys how to sign up if you want.
On the back of your seats is a QR code.
It's also going to be up here on the screen.
If you're joining us from home, you can just go to teamup.hcv.church and you can do that.
So there's a QR code there.
If you scan the QR code on the back of your chairs or up here on the screen, it'll take
you to our link tree.
Our link tree has all the things we're doing, right?
If you're missing communication from us, if you didn't see the things in the email, you
can click onto that link tree.
But at the bottom of the link tree, at the very bottom, you'll click the bottom.
It says, how can I serve at HCV?
And it'll take you to this form.
If you don't have your phones out, that's great.
I love you.
If you don't have your phones out, we have a paper copy of this in the vestibules.
As you leave, you can just grab a form, okay?
And so when you go to this form, it's going to show you ways you can get involved in HCV.
And the reason we at the Vineyard like, we like everybody to play, right?
John Wimber says, we all want everybody to play here.
It doesn't matter if you've been a Christian for two minutes or 20 years.
We all have a place in God's kingdom, right?
Or if you're even just checking out what it's like to follow Jesus, serve anyway, right?
Serve anyway, okay?
So when you click on that link, you can look at our teams.
You fill in your name, and then it has Sunday morning teams.
We've got some new teams that are happening here on Sunday mornings.
We have a clean team.
So in between, how many of us know that we're messy people, right?
So in between services, you might find some trash in your seats.
You might find some stuff.
Sorry, we try to get in there, but we're having a team that comes in in between services and
cleans up the seats, makes everything look as good for second service as it does for
first, right?
So if you want to join that team, you can click on that, and then the organizer or the
team leader will reach out to you.
We also need, we always need help with the kids team.
We always have some special kids that just need some buddies to sit with them.
You know, so if you want to do that, you can.
The transportation team, bringing people to church on Sundays, right?
Bringing people to their things.
And then on the back, we've got some other teams that if you're like, okay, I can't
serve on Sundays, but I can serve during the week.
We have some other opportunities there.
We are looking for people to serve at our Hagerstown Healthcare on Sunday mornings.
There's a team of people that go in at 10 o'clock and just turn on the TV and just worship
with the residents there and just bring our live stream to them.
So if you are available to do that, it's not every week, right?
It's just like once a month, right?
Most of these teams, you serve once a month, one service.
And so we need people to help volunteer with that.
So you can check off nursing home or day ministry team.
We're creating a new group of care callers if you want to do that.
If you'd like to talk on the phone, I know some of you do, right?
You can join the care calling team.
So you can just look at all those opportunities to serve.
We're getting ready to start our angel tree outreach.
And Len and Lisa Rona need people to help reach out to families and just connect with
them so we can figure out what gifts the kids need.
And you can just check prison ministry team on the back.
And they would love to have you join their team.
So those are some good ways you guys can do that.
But I just wanted to pray for you guys because I know that the enemy doesn't want us to be
our best, right?
We don't believe that we've got what it takes, right?
There's all the excuses we can make in the world.
Well, I've got this going on.
I've got this going on.
But you know what?
When we serve, God uses our hands and feet and it's just a beautiful thing, right?
So I'm going to pray for you guys because the first service when I was thinking up here,
I saw people with, you know, they say I want to serve, but it was almost like they've thrown
in the towel.
Like, I've done that before.
No, thank you.
Somebody yelled at me when I was holding the door from and it just wasn't fun, right?
And they've thrown in the towel and they've given up on service or, hey, if they get me
on there, I'm going to have to serve every week.
And there's kids were screaming in my ears and all that kind of stuff.
You know, you've thrown in the towel in service.
But then there's some of you guys that you had the towel over your head and you're like,
I'm just not, I'm just stuck and I'm frozen and I'm afraid.
And so I feel like that's the enemy.
That doesn't come from God.
Fear doesn't come from God.
So I want to pray for you guys.
Okay?
All right.
So Holy Spirit, God, I thank you that you use us.
God.
I thank you that you use our hands and our feet and our words to reach others that are
hurting God, to reach this, to this world, God, to make this world a better place, God,
where your presence and your healing can come, God.
I've seen your miracles happen when people serve, God.
And I just pray right now for every single person in this room who's watching us online,
Lord, I just pray that you would take the towels off their head, God, that you would
let them pick back up the towel with both hands, God, that you would just empower them.
Show them, God, how much you love them and how valuable they are to the kingdom right
now in Jesus' name.
In Jesus' name.
Thank you, Lord.
Amen.
There's no impossible.
I believe that you are working now to pour it out.
Oh, pour it out.