1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,240 Welcome to those of you in the room. 2 00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:04,640 If you are here and you're new to this space, 3 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:07,520 meaning you're new to the church or you're new to faith, 4 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,080 I just want to say an extra special welcome to you. 5 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:11,720 You came at a great time. 6 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:13,960 We're walking through something called the critical journey. 7 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,240 And over the next weeks, 8 00:00:16,240 --> 00:00:17,920 you're going to see where it's all going to, 9 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:21,360 like the intention of what this whole journey of faith is about, 10 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,400 the intention of how God made you to mature spiritually 11 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:27,040 and what you're maturing into. 12 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,120 Like in weeks to come, you kind of see the end goal. 13 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:31,440 So if you're here and you're going, 14 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:32,560 I don't really understand, 15 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:34,320 or you're sitting across the screen, 16 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:36,000 you're going, I don't get Christianity, 17 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,400 then hopefully what happens is over the next weeks, 18 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:40,160 you get to kind of just go, 19 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:43,160 oh, that's what this is all about and where it's heading. 20 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:44,920 And so you have a clear picture ahead of you. 21 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:46,680 And so hopefully that's you. 22 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:48,840 You'll be happy to know, 23 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,000 I don't have any football to talk about today. 24 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:54,520 Yeah, the season is over. 25 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:56,440 Somebody just went, praise the Lord. 26 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,880 The season is over, we are done. 27 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:02,480 But what we do have to talk about is this, 28 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,400 winter camp, middle school winter camp is happening right now. 29 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:07,240 Yeah. 30 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:09,400 You guys are excited 31 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:10,640 because the middle school is on here. 32 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:12,440 It's great, right? 33 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:13,640 But middle school winter camp, 34 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,440 so here's what I want to celebrate with that. 35 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:18,280 We put on a camp every year. 36 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:20,600 And by put on a camp, I mean, we connect, 37 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:22,720 we collaborate with churches from Phoenix 38 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,040 and kind of different churches carry different things. 39 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,240 And for middle school this year, our youth band, 40 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:29,600 our youth worship team, 41 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:33,840 and people from the church are leading worship for the camp, 42 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:35,240 which is phenomenal. 43 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,560 And then we also have our youth team, 44 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,840 meaning different ones that are a part of the youth team 45 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:42,720 in leadership positions. 46 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,400 They are putting on all of the rec for the camp. 47 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:47,880 And so it's like 500 students, something like that. 48 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:51,160 And I got a video of Pastor Todd yesterday, 49 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,280 running around in an eagle costume 50 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:55,040 because he is the bald eagle. 51 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,440 And I was like, it's fitting, it's fitting. 52 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:02,160 So just a lot of good stuff that's worth celebrating. 53 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:04,640 But if you've never been to a middle school camp, 54 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:07,120 count yourself lucky. 55 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:10,160 There are smells you will never forget, right? 56 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,640 And like this is as a youth pastor, 57 00:02:13,640 --> 00:02:14,760 one time we were up there 58 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:19,760 and the food hadn't settled right with some of them. 59 00:02:19,920 --> 00:02:21,560 And so one after another, 60 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,160 they just started throwing up, right? 61 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,800 And so now I'm up at night, like checking on kids. 62 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,440 And so this one kid, he'd been like, I don't feel good, 63 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:31,760 but I haven't thrown up yet. 64 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:34,640 And so I go to check on him and he's on a top bunk. 65 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:36,120 And so I have to climb the bunk. 66 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:38,440 And there's like a cabinet next to the bed. 67 00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:41,160 And I put my hand on the top and I go, 68 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:42,880 oh, that doesn't belong there. 69 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:44,120 That's not where that goes. 70 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:46,560 And so yeah, middle school camp, you'll never forget it. 71 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:48,360 It's amazing. 72 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:50,840 But as you think about it, pray for our kiddos 73 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:51,920 and pray for our leaders. 74 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:55,200 And also if you've been with us, 75 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,160 we're on this thing called the critical journey. 76 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:58,240 I'm gonna say this every week 77 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,960 because I believe we give credit where credit is due, 78 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,200 where the critical journey is not unique to Heights Church. 79 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:07,640 Somebody wrote a book and we are taking that book. 80 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:08,480 Why? 81 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,920 Because it maps the spiritual journey of the human soul. 82 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:13,840 And so the idea is that as humans, 83 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:15,120 this is how we are formed. 84 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:16,680 And so what we're doing each week 85 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,080 is we're looking at it through a biblical lens going, 86 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:22,280 how are we formed and what does that look like 87 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,720 at different stages along this mapping? 88 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,120 And so the idea is this, that you would get your home base, 89 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,800 that you would know this is where I am in my growth journey. 90 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:34,720 And then you can take ownership 91 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:38,600 of your kind of home base stage where you're at. 92 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:40,600 You can go, hey, this is my next step. 93 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:43,520 This is what I need to lean into in this season. 94 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,640 This is what I need to lean into in this part of the journey. 95 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,600 And so the goal is that kind of like last week, 96 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:52,000 absolutely phenomenal. 97 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,200 There was like over a thousand responses to people going, 98 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,200 hey, I wanna step into discipleship 99 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,320 or I'm ready to disciple somebody. 100 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:02,760 And you're like, well, a thousand, 101 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:04,360 that doesn't surprise me 102 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:06,040 because you bullied us into doing it. 103 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:07,920 So well done, well done. 104 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:11,440 You responded, but here's what's beautiful, you guys. 105 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,080 Like there are hundreds of people that went, 106 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,520 hey, I want somebody to walk with me. 107 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:19,560 And then there's hundreds of people that went, 108 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:21,600 hey, I would love to walk somebody 109 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:23,960 and pour out what I've been given. 110 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:26,560 Can you imagine, just slow down for one second, 111 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,440 imagine what happens to a church family 112 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:31,080 when a whole bunch of people 113 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:33,280 step into a life of discipleship 114 00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:36,920 and now they can take it and transfer it to somebody else. 115 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,400 That's how we change the community. 116 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:40,880 That's how we change our families. 117 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:45,880 That's how we change the church that we're inside of. 118 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:47,760 That now along the way, 119 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:49,200 there's a whole bunch of people going, 120 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,040 hey, I want that and I'm willing to give it away. 121 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,160 Now the caveat to that is a thousand people 122 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:55,400 is a lot of people. 123 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:57,760 And so if you were in different services, 124 00:04:57,760 --> 00:04:59,280 I mentioned it in two of them, I think, 125 00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:04,200 but we're not formally ready to help you with that yet. 126 00:05:04,200 --> 00:05:05,960 That's coming, and officially, 127 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:08,040 we're looking at the fall for that. 128 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:09,960 But here's what I would encourage you in the meantime, 129 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:11,000 if you're somebody that went, 130 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:13,600 hey, I would like somebody to walk with me, 131 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,560 there's many other ways that you can get in relationship. 132 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:18,600 Asking somebody, I heard somebody this week go, 133 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:19,640 hey, I just asked my friend, 134 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:20,880 would you go through a study with me? 135 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:22,640 Because you're further down the road than me. 136 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:24,880 If you know somebody, you can do that. 137 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:28,160 You can hopefully get into a group of people, 138 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:29,000 like a life group, 139 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:30,720 that you just know somebody who's in one and go, 140 00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:31,800 hey, can I hang out with you? 141 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:33,680 I know it's not official sign up time, 142 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:34,640 but can I just join you 143 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:36,960 because I want to be around people and I want to grow. 144 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:38,120 And so I would just encourage you, 145 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:39,680 if you're somebody that said yes, 146 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:41,000 we're not officially ready till the fall, 147 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:45,320 but you can step in today in many different ways. 148 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:47,600 So with that, we are in this thing 149 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:49,360 called the critical journey. 150 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:50,200 Why is it critical? 151 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,640 Because it's critical that your soul, 152 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:57,080 that your soul matures as God intended it to be. 153 00:05:57,080 --> 00:05:59,160 And so we talked weeks ago that the, 154 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:02,600 kind of the first part of that was this recognition of God. 155 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:06,400 You have to have for yourself a moment when you go, 156 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,720 man, I see Jesus, I see who He is, 157 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,080 and I am going to take this one life 158 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:13,600 and put it into His hands. 159 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:15,520 I'm going to trust Him as my Savior, 160 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,200 and I'm going to trust Him as my Lord. 161 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,000 And so there's a moment when you have recognition of God, 162 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:21,240 that's at home base, 163 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,600 that you have recognition of God for yourself. 164 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,920 Now, there's no linear path to this, right? 165 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,160 It's not like, okay, I got recognition of God, 166 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:31,320 now I instantly jump to the next. 167 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,800 But we talked last week that after your recognition of God, 168 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:36,920 part of what's going to happen is you're going to go, 169 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,480 I want to know more, I want to learn more, 170 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,640 I want to belong to a community, right? 171 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:43,200 Like I was made for this. 172 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:47,720 And so within that, you advance into what they call stage two, 173 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:49,080 the life of discipleship. 174 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:50,960 Somebody walks alongside you, 175 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:52,360 like we talked about last week, 176 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:55,400 where you get to now have somebody intentionally 177 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,280 help you learn and grow and understand 178 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:00,640 what does it look like to follow Jesus? 179 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:05,640 What does it look like for you to actively structure 180 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:07,880 your life around the person of Jesus, 181 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:11,760 to take rhythms and spiritual disciplines and go, 182 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:13,080 I'm going to grow in these things, 183 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,160 I'm going to grow in my understanding of the Bible, 184 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:17,160 I'm going to grow in my prayer life, right? 185 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,440 And so the idea is that you're really creating 186 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:20,360 this foundation. 187 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:21,880 And as you create the foundation, 188 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:24,200 hopefully what you get from stage two, 189 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:26,000 the life of discipleship is this, 190 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:28,480 that you understand your identity, 191 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:30,000 that you know who you are, 192 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:31,720 you know how God made you. 193 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:34,880 You understand when you said yes to Jesus, 194 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:37,760 the identity that you were given in Christ, 195 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,160 that you have a brand new identity, 196 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:44,400 that things like you are completely loved by God, 197 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:46,960 that that's your identity, you're a son, you're a daughter. 198 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:48,760 That's identity language, right? 199 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,280 That you are completely forgiven. 200 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:53,080 That's identity language. 201 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:54,920 So the idea is that as you go through the life 202 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:58,360 of discipleship, you gain all of this identity. 203 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:00,880 And at the same time as you're doing that, 204 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,560 you're also understanding God made you unique, right? 205 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:09,280 That God packed into you gifts and talents and abilities. 206 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,240 And so you begin to see those in a new light now. 207 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:14,560 Before Jesus, those things were there, 208 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:16,960 and maybe you just used them as you wanted to use them. 209 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,360 Now you begin to understand, wait, 210 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:23,600 inside of my uniqueness, I'm also a part of a family, 211 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,640 and that family has a mission, and it's the kingdom of God. 212 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:28,640 And so now what happens is you start to look 213 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:30,640 at what you've been given and you start to go, 214 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:31,480 how do I use it? 215 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:33,800 How do I use it for the kingdom of God? 216 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:37,240 Which leads you to the most next natural step, 217 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,560 that as you discover your identity and you discover, 218 00:08:39,560 --> 00:08:43,040 wait, I've got a responsibility to use what God is given 219 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:44,880 for the kingdom of God. 220 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:46,280 And that may be within the church, 221 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:47,720 that may be with outside of the church, 222 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:49,880 but what happens is you start to go, 223 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:54,880 I've got to do something, which leads you to stage three, 224 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:56,480 which is the productive life. 225 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:00,280 Maybe a different way to say that is you do work for God. 226 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:02,800 You go to work for God, you understand what you've been 227 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:05,040 given, you understand who you are, and you're like, 228 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:07,320 ah, I got to step in and give it away. 229 00:09:07,320 --> 00:09:09,480 I got to step in and use it. 230 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:12,320 It reminds me, if you've ever met a guy 231 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:16,600 who really likes to eat meat, right? 232 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,480 Which you're like, that's probably every guy, right? 233 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:22,160 But if you are like, no, I like to eat meat, 234 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:23,520 I'm very specific about the meat. 235 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,280 If you've got one of those kind of guys in your life, 236 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:30,480 they learn how to grill a good steak, and what do they do? 237 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:33,680 You gotta, I grill the best steak, you gotta come have it. 238 00:09:33,680 --> 00:09:36,880 And so you go over, it's all right. 239 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:41,640 And you go, we gotta go hang out with our other buddy. 240 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:43,240 And so you go hang out with your other buddy, 241 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:45,280 and guess what your other buddy has? 242 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:46,600 A smoker. 243 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:51,040 It's a true story for a lot of you. 244 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:54,680 Where you went, wait, I didn't know it could be this good. 245 00:09:54,680 --> 00:09:57,600 All right, and now, now you're so convinced 246 00:09:57,600 --> 00:09:59,760 that the next natural step for you is what? 247 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:01,280 To get a smoker. 248 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:04,880 That on the way home, you're telling your significant other, 249 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:07,760 hey, so what do you think if I got a smoker, right? 250 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,120 And before you even get home, you're on marketplace 251 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:11,520 trying to see if you can get one cheap, 252 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:12,920 so that you can convince them 253 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:15,240 that you should be able to get this, you know what I mean? 254 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:17,760 Right, but the next natural step is if you love meat, 255 00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:19,600 you're gonna get a smoker. 256 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:21,240 It's kinda like when COVID hit, right? 257 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,560 And all of a sudden we realized how bad we were at cooking. 258 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:27,040 Right, and so then all of a sudden we start watching videos 259 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:28,800 and how other people, and we're like, we gotta try that. 260 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:29,640 Why? 261 00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:31,080 Because you learned something, 262 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:33,040 and you were like, I gotta do this. 263 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:36,160 The same is true in the spiritual sense 264 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:38,760 that as you sit in the life of discipleship 265 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:40,280 and you begin to know who you are 266 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,080 and know the responsibility that God's got for you 267 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:44,920 in the kingdom, and you see your gifts that you go, 268 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:47,200 I have to step in and give it away. 269 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,920 I can't contain this all to myself. 270 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,800 It's the next natural step, which in Luke chapter nine, 271 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:59,800 Luke chapter nine, Jesus is with his disciples. 272 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:02,040 And in verse one it says this, 273 00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,120 when Jesus had called the 12, so the 12 disciples together, 274 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:09,840 he gave them power, he gave them power and authority 275 00:11:09,840 --> 00:11:12,480 to drive out all demons and to cure diseases. 276 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:17,240 He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God 277 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:19,800 and to heal the sick. 278 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:21,800 So those that have been walking with Jesus 279 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:23,000 for a specific amount of time, 280 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:25,280 they've been living the life of discipleship 281 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,520 with Jesus in person. 282 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:29,760 There comes a moment where Jesus goes, 283 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:33,120 hey, the next natural step for you is what? 284 00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:36,040 To go and you are now gonna be the ones 285 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:37,120 doing what I was doing. 286 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,200 You're now the ones that are gonna be doing, 287 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:41,720 and you're gonna be giving away what you've been given. 288 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:43,960 I'm gonna give you power to drive out demons, 289 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:45,720 to heal diseases. 290 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:50,720 I'm gonna ask you to go and proclaim the kingdom of God 291 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:51,960 everywhere you go. 292 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:54,960 The next natural step is you have learned with me, 293 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:57,440 now go do it. 294 00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:01,200 Verse three, he told them, take nothing for the journey. 295 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:06,040 No staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. 296 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:08,600 Can you imagine you guys roll up one day? 297 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:11,040 And we're like, okay, here's what we're gonna do today. 298 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,640 You're gonna go to Yuma, don't take anything, 299 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:16,200 just what you got. 300 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:18,640 Nope, don't even take a staff, don't take your car, 301 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:19,480 you're gonna walk there. 302 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:20,520 Like this delivery, what he's doing, 303 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:21,720 he's like, you're gonna go, 304 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:22,560 and here's what you're gonna do, 305 00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:24,240 don't take nothing with you. 306 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:25,280 That's terrifying. 307 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:27,280 Can we just all agree that's, 308 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:29,120 thankfully we're not doing that today. 309 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:31,680 Verse four, whatever house you enter, 310 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:34,760 stay there until you leave town. 311 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:36,040 Okay, you're gonna go to Yuma, 312 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:37,880 you don't know where you're gonna stay. 313 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:39,920 Don't make plans ahead of time. 314 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:41,720 When you get there, the Holy Spirit's gonna show you 315 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:45,240 which house, we're like, uh-huh, sure. 316 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:47,120 Verse five, if people do not welcome you, 317 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:49,080 leave their town and shake the dust off your feet 318 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:51,200 as a testimony against them. 319 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:53,760 So they set out and went from village to village 320 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:56,600 proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere. 321 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,880 Verse 10, when the apostles returned, 322 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:02,480 they reported to Jesus what had been done, 323 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:04,080 and then he took them with him, 324 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:08,000 and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida. 325 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:13,000 Okay, so Jesus has this like, 326 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,360 hey you guys, you have been in the life of discipleship, 327 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,320 and now, and now I need you to begin to step 328 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,240 into the productive life. 329 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,480 I need you to begin doing work for God. 330 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:27,600 Right, essentially what he's doing with them 331 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,760 is he's giving them like a moment 332 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:31,360 to put their foot in the water. 333 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:32,200 You know what I mean? 334 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:34,120 Like put your foot into the productive life, 335 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,400 but here's the thing, come back to, 336 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:40,040 which is a great picture of how this whole journey works. 337 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,520 Their home base is still the life of discipleship, 338 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:47,240 but they are stepping into, hey, I'm gonna be productive, 339 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,480 I'm gonna step in and do some work for God, 340 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:51,160 but really my home base is here, 341 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:52,400 so here's where I'm landing. 342 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:54,680 They come back to Jesus, and when they get to Jesus, 343 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:55,560 what do they do? 344 00:13:55,560 --> 00:13:58,320 They start to tell him all the things they got to do. 345 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:00,960 What do you think Jesus did in that moment? 346 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:02,480 Like he continued to teach them, 347 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:03,840 they continued to learn, right? 348 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:06,360 They weren't ready to fly yet. 349 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:10,520 So here's what happens then, as the story continues, 350 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,000 if you were here last week, you get to Matthew 28, 351 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,200 and in Matthew 28, he tells them, right? 352 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:17,400 He's gonna ascend, go to heaven, 353 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:19,000 and he looks at his disciples and he goes, 354 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:20,360 hey, you got work to do. 355 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:21,640 Here's the work that you're gonna do. 356 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,280 Go tell everybody about the kingdom of God. 357 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,560 Go tell everybody, go proclaim it everywhere you go, 358 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,600 all the way to the ends of the earth, right? 359 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:31,880 So he sends them out. 360 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:33,080 What is he doing in that moment? 361 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:35,520 He's taking them from what was the home base 362 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:37,960 of the life of discipleship, and he's going, 363 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:39,600 you're ready for what? 364 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:43,440 To step into doing work for God. 365 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:46,760 You're ready for the productive life. 366 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:49,640 There's this natural transition that is happening, 367 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:52,080 this natural progression that is happening 368 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:54,840 within their world, which then they go on, 369 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:57,440 and the early church is established, right? 370 00:14:57,440 --> 00:14:58,880 And it says that people were coming. 371 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:00,360 We talked about this last week, that they come 372 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:02,680 and they would devote themselves to the apostles 373 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:05,400 teaching, they're learning from the apostles. 374 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:06,640 The apostles are doing what? 375 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:08,920 They're taking this life of discipleship, 376 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,640 and what their work for God is is a responsibility 377 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,720 for the kingdom of God to give it away. 378 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,960 You realize that everything you've been given 379 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:20,680 was meant to be given away. 380 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,440 That everything you have ever learned about Jesus, 381 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,400 everything you have ever held true, every ounce, 382 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:31,160 every story, every moment that you have had this been growth, 383 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:33,680 it's designed for what? That you would take it 384 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:38,080 and you would build into the kingdom of God, right? 385 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,520 There's this imagery, whether you like this or not, 386 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,560 I don't know, I don't know if it's good or not, we'll see, 387 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:49,320 right, but you ever noticed that in the Bible, 388 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:52,360 sheep come up an awful lot, right? 389 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:55,200 Like Jesus refers to himself as a shepherd, 390 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,160 he actually calls us like under shepherds at one point, 391 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:01,440 but sheep are a part of the story. 392 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:03,280 You know what's interesting with sheep? 393 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:11,400 They really aren't that smart, right? 394 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:14,080 Like they're very, very social. 395 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:17,640 They move together, do things together, 396 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:19,120 if one figures out how to get out of the fence, 397 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,120 they all get out of the fence, you know what I mean? 398 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:23,960 I can say they're not very smart. 399 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,640 I grew up in England where there's more sheep than people. 400 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:28,480 Like this is just reality, we're on an island 401 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:29,480 with a bunch of sheep. 402 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,240 But here's the thing that's interesting about sheep, 403 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:36,720 that they need a shepherd to guide them. 404 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,480 They need a shepherd to help them know 405 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:42,040 what to do where they are. 406 00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,880 The life of discipleship is somebody walking alongside you. 407 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:49,720 Here's one of the problems that I think exists 408 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:51,080 inside of the church. 409 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:55,840 It's some people never want to leave the life of discipleship 410 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:57,960 for the productive life. 411 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,040 And in essence, what you are is you're a sheep 412 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:06,040 that just continues to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat. 413 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:09,440 And what happens to a sheep that eats and eats 414 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,080 and eats and eats and eats, it becomes a fat sheep. 415 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:15,880 Right, it doesn't move. 416 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:17,480 And so we've got a whole bunch, 417 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:18,440 and I'm not just talking about heights, 418 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:20,120 I'm talking about the church in general. 419 00:17:20,120 --> 00:17:23,160 We got a whole bunch of people that wanna just continue 420 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:25,840 to learn and learn and learn and learn and learn 421 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:27,840 and consume and consume and consume, 422 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:29,920 and they're not giving it away. 423 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,920 It was never designed to be that way. 424 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,160 You were designed to take what you're given 425 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,680 and pour it out into the kingdom. 426 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,360 And what happens is, is the sheep gets so fat on this side 427 00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:43,800 that they don't wanna move. 428 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:44,920 They don't wanna go anywhere. 429 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:46,040 They don't wanna do anything. 430 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,200 They just want to eat. 431 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,280 Now, there's a whole nother group of people. 432 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:53,480 You had a recognition of God, 433 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:55,560 and out of the recognition of God, 434 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:57,560 you're like, man, Jesus is amazing. 435 00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:59,720 I cannot believe I get to, and what happens? 436 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:01,880 Somebody comes alongside you and goes, you know what? 437 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:03,320 You should join a serve team. 438 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:07,880 And what happens is you jump straight from recognition of God 439 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:10,000 all the way into the productive life. 440 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,440 You start doing work for God, right? 441 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:17,440 And so now you don't have any foundation on how to do it. 442 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:19,080 You don't have any foundation under you. 443 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,920 You're over here, and I believe this is where burnout 444 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:24,840 comes from, within the church. 445 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:26,880 I believe this is when people walk away from their faith, 446 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:29,200 and we'll talk about this more in the weeks to come. 447 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:31,200 It's because what happened is I met Jesus, 448 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:35,040 and now I'm doing work for Jesus, and I burn out 449 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:37,240 because I don't have the foundation and understanding 450 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,720 of who I am, how God has made me, how He's gifted me, 451 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:42,160 and the responsibility to the kingdom. 452 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,240 I just feel a responsibility to the church, 453 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:47,400 and that cannot sustain you. 454 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,920 On this side, right, if we're not careful 455 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,280 and you skip the middle, you get skinny sheep, 456 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:57,760 and they're so weak that they can't even stand up. 457 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:00,400 And so on the one side, we've got you're so consuming 458 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:02,000 that you can't move, and on the other side, 459 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:04,720 it's like, I'm so weak, I can't bear the weight 460 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:06,200 of doing the work for God. 461 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:10,240 And within this, there's a lesson to learn inside 462 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:14,200 of what happens within Acts chapter six, 463 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,360 within the early church. 464 00:19:17,360 --> 00:19:19,960 In those days, when the number of disciples were increasing, 465 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,760 the Hellenistic Jews among them complained 466 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:25,040 against the Hebraic Jews because their widows 467 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:27,840 were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. 468 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,280 Okay, so lots in there. 469 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:34,160 The Hellenistic Jews were ones that had Greek language, 470 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:35,600 Greek culture, right? 471 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,960 So they are different than the Hebraic Jews 472 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:39,880 who had different language, different culture. 473 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,640 So inside of this early church, 474 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:44,680 you have two very different groups, 475 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:46,000 both with the same problem. 476 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,160 You have widows who need to be taken care of. 477 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,720 And one group's going, hey, you're favoring their widows 478 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:52,120 over our widows. 479 00:19:52,120 --> 00:19:54,360 Like ours are being neglected. 480 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:56,640 So I don't know how this makes you feel. 481 00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:58,680 It encourages me that even in the early church 482 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:00,960 that sometimes we go, oh, it was so good. 483 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:02,280 I wish I was there. 484 00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:03,840 They still have problems, right? 485 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:05,160 There's still stuff there. 486 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,000 So the 12 gathered around, verse two. 487 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:11,320 So the 12 gathered around, gathered all the disciples 488 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:13,800 together and said, it would not be right for us 489 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:16,360 to neglect the ministry of the word of God 490 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:17,920 in order to wait on tables. 491 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,680 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you 492 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:26,680 who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. 493 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,280 So there's specific things they're looking for. 494 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:31,960 They're not looking for somebody who is brand new, 495 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:33,360 just had a recognition of God. 496 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:35,920 They're looking for people who have displayed. 497 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:37,240 How do you know they've displayed? 498 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:38,800 We've been walking in relationship. 499 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:40,280 We've been doing life together. 500 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:41,800 We're in this life of discipleship. 501 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:43,520 And out of that, they're going, hey, 502 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:45,520 is there people that you recognize 503 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,360 who are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom? 504 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:54,400 Verse three, sorry, verse four. 505 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:56,920 Actually, let's read three again. 506 00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:59,080 Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you 507 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,520 who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. 508 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,880 And we will turn this, what's that next word? 509 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:06,760 Responsibility. 510 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:11,200 We will turn this responsibility over to them 511 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,520 and we'll give our attention to prayer 512 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,000 and the ministry of the Word. 513 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:20,480 We will give this responsibility to this group of people. 514 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:22,280 Right, so now they're dividing out. 515 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:24,880 They're going, hey, this is great that the church has grown, 516 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,360 but the complexity of what the needs are 517 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:30,720 are too great for this group of people to meet them. 518 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:33,680 So what happens is they go, hey, look for these people 519 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:36,520 with these specific things that you've seen in their life. 520 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,720 And now we're gonna hand over ministry to them 521 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,320 while we focus on this part of the ministry. 522 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:44,840 Verse five, this proposal pleased the whole group. 523 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,640 They chose Stephen, a man full of faith 524 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,120 and of the Holy Spirit, also Philip, Prochorus, 525 00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:55,600 Nicanor, Timon, Parmenus, and Nicholas from Antioch, 526 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:57,560 a convert to Judaism. 527 00:21:57,560 --> 00:21:59,560 They presented these men to the apostles 528 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,400 who prayed and laid their hands on them. 529 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:04,360 So the Word of God spread, 530 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:07,320 the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, 531 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:11,360 and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. 532 00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:13,600 So they look around and they go, wait, 533 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:15,080 you've got that gifting. 534 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:17,640 So don't miss it. 535 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:20,200 It's so important, you guys, 536 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,480 that when you're in a life of discipleship 537 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,560 and somebody comes to you and they go, 538 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:28,440 hey, I see this in you. 539 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:31,120 Don't underestimate that. 540 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:34,760 When they look at you and they go, you know what? 541 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,000 You could do this. 542 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,560 I've seen this in you and this in you. 543 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:44,560 You should step in and be a middle school life group leader. 544 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,000 And what happens almost every time, 545 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:52,480 oh, I could never do that. 546 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:55,320 Right, you ever had that moment for yourself 547 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,560 where somebody looks at you and they go, you got this. 548 00:22:57,560 --> 00:22:58,880 I see it in you. 549 00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:02,640 You're like, oh, I don't see that in myself. 550 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,000 What they're telling you is within your life 551 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,760 of discipleship, as they walked alongside you, 552 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,720 they see that God has gifted you, that He's equipped you, 553 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,280 that you've matured to a point where maybe 554 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:19,280 the next step for you is that you now have to 555 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:20,640 put your foot in the water. 556 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:21,480 Why? 557 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,080 Because we don't wanna stay and just consume, 558 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:25,400 but we wanna move when we're ready. 559 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:30,400 And what you see in this moment is there's very real problems. 560 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:32,920 This food distribution, they believe that 561 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,240 it was their religion's job to take care of their widows. 562 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:38,160 It's all the way through scripture. 563 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,800 And so the way it would work is they had two distributions. 564 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:43,800 One was, in the Jewish religion, 565 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:44,760 they had two distributions. 566 00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:47,560 One was that every single week, 567 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:49,400 if you were a widow to that area, 568 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,480 you could come and receive enough money 569 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:53,480 for 14 meals for that week. 570 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:55,440 So your meals were covered by 571 00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:57,520 whatever the religious group was. 572 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:01,240 There was also another one that was a daily food offering. 573 00:24:01,240 --> 00:24:04,080 And what the daily food giving was 574 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:06,120 is that if you were passing through, 575 00:24:06,120 --> 00:24:08,920 but you were a Christian, you could stop by 576 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:11,160 and you would get food for that day. 577 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,400 You would more than likely get somewhere to stay for that day. 578 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,120 They just looked after one another over and over. 579 00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:19,600 It says in here that there was no needy people among them. 580 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:21,640 Right, so it's a really important part 581 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:23,600 of what they were doing as a church. 582 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,040 They were taking care of those 583 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:27,800 that God had told them to take care of. 584 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,080 And in the midst of that, they go, 585 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:35,000 our needs have grown to the point where we need help. 586 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:37,760 And so there's this moment where they begin 587 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,760 to point people out and go, they could do it. 588 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:41,280 They could do it, they could do it. 589 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,480 I wonder how many of you have been approached by somebody 590 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:44,960 and they go, you could be a life group leader. 591 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:46,680 And you're like, I don't think so. 592 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,080 How many of you have been approached by somebody? 593 00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:53,040 Maybe Kathy was up here earlier, right? 594 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:55,440 And she goes, you could be a table leader. 595 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,160 And you're like, I don't think I can do it. 596 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:04,440 But there's a moment, there's a moment, a catalyst 597 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:06,600 that moves you from the life of discipleship 598 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:08,840 into doing work for God when somebody looks at you 599 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,200 and goes, you can do this. 600 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,960 It happened in probably one of the most famous 601 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:17,080 early believers, right? 602 00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,560 The apostle Paul, it happens in his life. 603 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:22,520 So if you were here a couple of weeks ago, 604 00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:24,920 we talked specifically about Paul 605 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:27,920 and we talked about how the apostle Paul, 606 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,240 who was known as Saul then, is on the road to Damascus. 607 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,560 He sees Jesus in a miraculous way, his life has changed. 608 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:35,640 This is a little later in that story. 609 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:39,240 In chapter nine, verse 28, it says this. 610 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,280 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely 611 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:45,480 in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 612 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,200 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, 613 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,600 but they tried to kill him. 614 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:52,520 When the believers learned of this, 615 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:54,080 so when the church learned of this, 616 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:58,760 they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. 617 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:00,800 Okay, so this is Paul, remember, 618 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,280 who wrote most of the New Testament, 619 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,160 a lot of the letters of the New Testament. 620 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:07,680 Okay, so that's chapter nine. 621 00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:12,200 Chapter 11, we meet another character named Barnabas. 622 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,720 1122, news of this reached the church in Jerusalem 623 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:17,240 and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 624 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:20,520 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, 625 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:24,600 he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true 626 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:26,240 to the Lord with all their hearts. 627 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,240 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, 628 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,760 and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 629 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:35,640 Verse 25, then Barnabas, then Barnabas, he goes where? 630 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,960 He went to Tarsus to look for Saul. 631 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:43,880 You know how many years between what we just read, 632 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,760 where the believers put Saul out, 633 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:48,680 like they send him off to Tarsus. 634 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:50,640 And when Barnabas goes to find him, 635 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,200 it's roughly eight to 10 years. 636 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,640 We have very, very, very little information 637 00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:02,000 about what happened to Saul while he was in Tarsus. 638 00:27:03,440 --> 00:27:05,600 Some of the stuff that we can find 639 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:10,040 is that he was learning how to live the life of discipleship. 640 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,680 He was learning about his unique calling. 641 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:14,960 He was learning about his identity, right? 642 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:16,560 So that's happening in Tarsus. 643 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,720 And now Barnabas goes and he goes, 644 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:20,560 Saul, it's time. 645 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:22,520 God sent me, it's time. 646 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:25,800 And so what happens then is, verse 26, 647 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:27,400 he found and brought him back to Antioch. 648 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,560 For a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the church 649 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,040 and taught great numbers of people. 650 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:36,360 The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. 651 00:27:36,360 --> 00:27:37,880 Chapter 13, verse two says this, 652 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,880 while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, 653 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:42,320 the Holy Spirit said, right? 654 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:43,720 So they've come back from that journey. 655 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:45,000 It's after the year. 656 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:46,760 And so, they said, 657 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:50,560 the Holy Spirit has set apart for me, 658 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:54,040 Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them. 659 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:55,560 So after they fasted and prayed, 660 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:57,880 they placed hands on them and sent them off. 661 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,600 You realize that language there? 662 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:02,600 The work that I have called them. 663 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:08,480 You realize that today, God has a work for you. 664 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,960 God has something unique to you. 665 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,960 How do I know that He made you that way? 666 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:16,200 He's given you a unique background 667 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,640 into coming into relationship. 668 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:20,960 He's given you an identity. 669 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:23,640 The parts of that identity you will latch onto and go, 670 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:25,800 this is life-changing to know this. 671 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,160 And you'll go, I gotta tell that to others. 672 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:30,600 He's given you unique giftings. 673 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,200 And the same as Saul, there is a call on you 674 00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,240 to take that and put it into the kingdom of God. 675 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,440 And as you are at this stage and as you are at this step 676 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,040 and as you are within the home base 677 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,680 of the life of discipleship, for some of you, 678 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,080 for some of you, God is calling you forward 679 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:50,280 into doing work for Him. 680 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:53,160 For some of you, you're already in the stage 681 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:54,400 of doing work for God. 682 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:59,160 You could stand up here and tell us your journey, 683 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:02,720 but here's the danger. 684 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:05,080 Here's the danger. 685 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:11,680 Paul took eight to 10 years to know what Christ had done, 686 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,960 to learn His identity, to gain, understand His responsibility, 687 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:17,680 to step into His calling. 688 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:22,600 I got some language last night. 689 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,280 Those of you who know Austin, who's part of our worship team, 690 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:29,480 he plays drums a lot, he's music directs for us. 691 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,760 He's over at Park Collective today. 692 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:33,320 And Austin, we were chatting after 693 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:35,360 and he gave some language to this. 694 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:42,040 He goes, you know, so often we get busy doing for God, right? 695 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,640 We step in and we're just doing work for God, 696 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,640 but we haven't taken time to receive from God. 697 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:52,480 He goes, we have to receive from God 698 00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:54,440 to be able to do for God. 699 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,120 And I just wonder, I wonder how many of you, 700 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:03,160 how many of you are busy for God 701 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,760 and you've completely skipped the step 702 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:09,760 of going, I need to understand who I am 703 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:11,520 and you need to sure up the foundation. 704 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,600 Doesn't mean you stop, but it means you recognize, 705 00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:16,640 hey, I don't think I ever shored up this home base. 706 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,920 There's others of you that today, today you are here 707 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:21,880 and you're like, John, I have stepped in. 708 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:24,240 I am a leader in this ministry. 709 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:28,080 I feel responsibility for this, right? 710 00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:30,680 So this idea of you may not be leading, 711 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,600 but you feel the weight of what God has put in your hands 712 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:37,280 and so you show up out of responsibility to the kingdom. 713 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:41,520 We talk about a lady and here somewhat often, Miss Beth. 714 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:42,760 Miss Beth's amazing. 715 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,200 She was here in the last service. 716 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,880 Some of your kiddos right now are being loved by Miss Beth. 717 00:30:49,920 --> 00:30:52,120 Miss Beth has loved kiddos for as long 718 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,560 as I can remember at the church. 719 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:59,080 And she just shows up faithfully over and over and over. 720 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:01,680 She shows up and feels the responsibility 721 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,480 to love those kiddos like Jesus would. 722 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:07,440 But that's the unique calling that Miss Beth has 723 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:09,720 and she is doing work for Jesus. 724 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,800 And in the process, your kiddos get loved. 725 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:17,280 Here's the truth, right? 726 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:23,360 That is you are here and you are doing work for God. 727 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:28,360 If you are doing work for God, I wonder if what Paul wrote 728 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:34,360 in Galatians 6 resonates. 729 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:40,240 Galatians 6, 9, he's encouraging the church, 730 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:45,240 let us not become weary in doing good. 731 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:50,640 If you're doing work for God, 732 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,640 there's a good chance you're tired. 733 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:55,480 If you're carrying somebody else's burdens, 734 00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:57,840 there's a good chance it weighs heavy. 735 00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:01,720 Let us not become weary. 736 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,760 Let us not become weary in doing good. 737 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:06,600 You know what he's saying? 738 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:08,200 Don't quit. 739 00:32:08,200 --> 00:32:10,480 Don't give up. 740 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,360 The calling is worth it. 741 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:16,080 The responsibility and weight of what he's put on you, 742 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,080 he knows you can walk with him in it. 743 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:22,400 But don't get weary of doing good. 744 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,560 Keep showing up when you don't want to. 745 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:28,080 Keep stepping in when you prefer to stay home. 746 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,160 Life group leaders, I know how it feels when you're like, 747 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:32,360 I don't wanna open my home today 748 00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:34,360 and yet you still open your home. 749 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,320 Keep showing up, keep doing why. 750 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:40,960 I'm not the smartest guy in the room. 751 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:45,480 I'm an unintelligent sheep, right? 752 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,000 But I'm pretty sure this is a promise. 753 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:49,960 Don't get weary of doing good. 754 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:51,720 Let us not get weary of doing good, why? 755 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:56,720 Because you will reap a harvest at the proper time. 756 00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:58,520 So keep showing up, why? 757 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:00,680 Because there's a harvest coming. 758 00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:02,000 You might not be able to see it today 759 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,760 and you show up as a leader and you're like, I'm tired. 760 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:07,280 Don't get weary, keep showing up. 761 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:08,840 Don't give up. 762 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:10,840 Why? 763 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:12,240 Because there's a harvest coming. 764 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,800 And if you find yourself within the productive life 765 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:17,640 and you're doing for God, keep doing. 766 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,160 Doing work for the kingdom of God, 767 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:21,240 because it's worth it. 768 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:23,920 Don't slow down. 769 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:28,760 You will reap a harvest. 770 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:32,040 Whatever that work for God looks like, 771 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:33,880 maybe it's in the church, maybe it's outside of the church, 772 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,160 maybe it's in your family, I don't know. 773 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:38,040 Don't give up. 774 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:42,640 Don't slow down. 775 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:46,040 Here's what I'd love to do. 776 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:48,040 There's a group of people in the room that you're like, 777 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:50,440 ah, I got the life of discipleship. 778 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:52,120 I think I'm ready. 779 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,200 Then here's what I would encourage you to do. 780 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,040 In April, there's Growth Track. 781 00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:58,760 Sign up for Growth Track. 782 00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:00,440 It'll help you understand your identity, 783 00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:02,040 it'll help you understand your gifting, 784 00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:03,520 it'll help you understand ways 785 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,640 that you can step into the productive life 786 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:07,080 and for people to look at you and go, 787 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:09,440 you should step there, right? 788 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:11,800 So Growth Track's coming, you sign up for Growth Track. 789 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,200 Come and you sign up for that on the app, on the website. 790 00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:16,400 You can even go out these doors and do that. 791 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:21,120 But I'd like to do this in this space 792 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:22,720 and across screens today. 793 00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:25,920 I'd like to pray for you. 794 00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:28,520 I'd like to pray over you. 795 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:32,200 I'd like you to leave encouraged. 796 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:38,080 And so if you're in the room and you carry a leader role, 797 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:40,600 and by leader role, I mean you show up 798 00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:42,960 and you are leading that space. 799 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,240 So that could be around the table 800 00:34:45,240 --> 00:34:46,640 that you lead around the table. 801 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,600 That could be that you lead an entire ministry. 802 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:51,360 That could be that you sit on a team 803 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:53,000 that is a leadership team. 804 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:56,680 And so if you're in the room and that's you, 805 00:34:56,680 --> 00:35:00,000 you are a leader, would you stand up, please? 806 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:03,440 Thank you. 807 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:04,720 Can we tell them thank you? 808 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:05,560 Church. 809 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:10,560 Okay, don't sit down. 810 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:13,760 Stay where you are. 811 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:15,320 Don't sit down. 812 00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,960 I know you hate this, but don't sit down. 813 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:20,320 If you're here and you feel responsibility, 814 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:22,920 meaning you feel responsibility for something 815 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,240 that God has put in your hands, a ministry, 816 00:35:25,240 --> 00:35:27,400 you feel responsibility for people. 817 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:29,880 If you're here and you go, I have a responsibility, 818 00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:32,480 meaning you're carrying, you're not the leader, 819 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:35,040 but you're carrying a weight for that ministry 820 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:38,200 or for that space or for those people, would you stand up? 821 00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:42,480 Yeah. 822 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:43,320 Thank you. 823 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:48,320 And then one last group. 824 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,800 If you are here and you show up and you are consistent, 825 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:56,280 like this is where I serve, 826 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,440 this is where I do my work for God, 827 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:00,840 and you don't carry responsibility or leadership, 828 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:05,840 but you show up and you serve, would you stand up? 829 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:07,880 Thank you. 830 00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:17,680 Thank you for what you carry and what you do. 831 00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:20,480 Before you sit down, would everybody stand up? 832 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:22,480 I'm just gonna pray over us as a church. 833 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:27,480 And so God, we come before you today, our creator, 834 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:35,840 our sustainer, the God who promises 835 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:41,600 that we will reap a harvest for the kingdom of God. 836 00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,120 God, I pray over those in this room 837 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:46,520 that carry the weight of leadership. 838 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:49,760 I pray over them that as they make this journey, 839 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,080 I pray over them that as they make decisions, 840 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:56,800 that you put them in seats where they have to make decisions, 841 00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,120 that you put them in seats where they have to carry 842 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:01,280 on behalf of others. 843 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:05,760 God, that they, in that moment and in those spaces, God, 844 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:08,280 they have to have wisdom that's not from themselves. 845 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:10,960 God, I pray over them right now that through the Holy Spirit, 846 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:13,600 you would encourage them today, that you would empower them, 847 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:16,520 that you would not allow them to grow weary today, 848 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:20,200 that through your Spirit, you would make alive again, 849 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:22,480 remind them of their identity, remind them 850 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:25,440 of their responsibility to the gospel, 851 00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:27,960 remind them of their calling when they've lost it. 852 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:32,600 But God, would you encourage the leaders here today? 853 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,240 Would you encourage those that carry responsibility 854 00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:36,240 without leadership? 855 00:37:36,240 --> 00:37:39,280 God, that's a hard place to lead from. 856 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:41,080 Would you let them know that they are seen 857 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,160 and that what they do matters today? 858 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:45,880 Would you allow them that on the days 859 00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:47,720 they don't wanna show up because they're tired 860 00:37:47,720 --> 00:37:50,480 or they got many, many other things happening around them, 861 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:53,000 would you remind them and would you encourage them 862 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:54,320 that it is worth it? 863 00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:59,840 God, for those who show up and they serve so faithfully, 864 00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:02,640 God, would you let them know that what they do matters 865 00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:04,040 in the kingdom of God? 866 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,840 Would you empower them to continue to step forward 867 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:10,320 into the productive life? 868 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:15,280 God, for those who are standing with us 869 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:18,680 and with them, God, would you continue to move each of us 870 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:21,760 on our journey, this critical journey of faith? 871 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,760 Would you show us what we need when we need it? 872 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,000 Would you encourage those that are in the life 873 00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,800 of discipleship to continue to lean in and learn 874 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:32,600 and discover who you've made them to be? 875 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:36,000 Those that are on the side of the productive life, 876 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:38,320 God, would today, would you encourage them 877 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:39,360 and would you ignite them? 878 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:42,800 God, would you remind us all that everything we need 879 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:44,480 is in you? 880 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:48,520 And so God, we look to you today. 881 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:50,680 We take our voices, we take our worship, 882 00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:52,800 and we declare that we are looking to you 883 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:54,320 where our help comes from. 884 00:38:55,720 --> 00:38:58,720 You are our sustainer, you are our maker, 885 00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:14,720 you are our God, and so God, today, we look to you.