WEBVTT - André Butler - Oct 17 - 1:00 pm 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:03.940 Well, beginning a new series today called This Is Us. 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:07.659 You know, we live in a world where people are 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:11.580 more connected than ever, but feel less connected than ever. 0:00:11.619 --> 0:00:12.539 Anybody ever notice that? 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:15.300 I mean, you know, we've got, some of us have 0:00:15.380 --> 0:00:20.299 thousands of followers and nobody really knows us. You know, 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:22.580 we live in a neighborhood with, you know, who knows 0:00:22.620 --> 0:00:25.910 how many houses and neighbors and yet don't know our neighbors. 0:00:26.450 --> 0:00:28.930 Some of us go to a church every Sunday and 0:00:29.010 --> 0:00:34.600 still never really belong to a church. You know how 0:00:34.620 --> 0:00:37.300 you come to church and, you know, you park and 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.000 you find your seat and you sing a couple songs 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:42.720 and you hear a good message and you kind of, 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:44.920 you know, dap up a few people, give them a 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:49.400 little head nod, and then go home without really actually 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:55.870 having any real relationships, without even understanding why does this 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:57.090 church even exist? 0:00:57.870 --> 0:00:59.880 Where are we going? Where do I fit in? 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:08.410 And maybe more importantly, do I just go here or 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:12.430 do I belong here? Because there is a difference between 0:01:12.470 --> 0:01:18.789 attending somewhere and belonging somewhere. I believe God created you 0:01:18.810 --> 0:01:24.209 to belong. I believe He didn't just save you from something. 0:01:24.930 --> 0:01:29.000 He saved you into something. That when you gave your 0:01:29.050 --> 0:01:31.990 life to Jesus, you didn't just get a savior, you 0:01:32.030 --> 0:01:35.750 got a family. A family with a mission. And so 0:01:35.790 --> 0:01:38.190 today I want to help you to begin to really 0:01:38.270 --> 0:01:41.590 truly belong here at FX Church. So let's go to 0:01:41.630 --> 0:01:50.309 Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 22. It says, but you 0:01:50.330 --> 0:01:54.030 have come to Mount Zion to the city of the 0:01:54.090 --> 0:01:58.020 living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.540 upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:01.120 Notice this. 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:06.840 To the church. Somebody say church. The church of the firstborn, 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:08.919 whose names are written in heaven. 0:02:08.940 --> 0:02:09.359 Anybody? 0:02:09.620 --> 0:02:12.240 Glad your name is written in heaven. If you're a believer, 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:14.739 your name is written in heaven right now. But notice 0:02:14.780 --> 0:02:17.800 what the author of Hebrews is saying. And by the way, 0:02:17.860 --> 0:02:19.720 I might mention this for this group. You know, some 0:02:19.740 --> 0:02:22.180 people would say Hebrews is written by Paul. But when 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:26.850 you get into the actual information, you start studying it 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:31.260 There is a real debate about if God used Paul 0:02:31.419 --> 0:02:36.120 or God used Apollos or God used Barnabas. This is 0:02:36.139 --> 0:02:39.260 something for y'all to research. So Paul's making a point 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.280 here about the difference between the old covenant and the 0:02:42.340 --> 0:02:45.440 new covenant. We've talked about this even recently. And under 0:02:45.460 --> 0:02:48.320 the old covenant, they came to Mount Sinai, and the 0:02:48.380 --> 0:02:51.720 message really was stay away. You get too close, this 0:02:51.780 --> 0:02:54.680 might kill you. But under the new covenant, we're coming 0:02:54.700 --> 0:02:58.709 to Mount Zion. And the message is, everybody come on in. 0:02:59.870 --> 0:03:00.110 Right? 0:03:00.430 --> 0:03:02.270 And so he's saying, hey, if you're a believer, you 0:03:02.310 --> 0:03:04.850 have now come. Not you're going to when you die. 0:03:05.330 --> 0:03:09.690 You right now have come to Mount Zion. You've come 0:03:09.830 --> 0:03:13.970 to the living city, heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to 0:03:14.070 --> 0:03:18.020 thousands of angels. This is your world. You have come 0:03:18.460 --> 0:03:23.880 to the church of the firstborn. Now the word church 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:30.989 here means means a community, a Christian community of members 0:03:31.230 --> 0:03:35.270 on earth and saints in heaven. So a church is 0:03:35.330 --> 0:03:39.910 a Christian community, somebody could say community, of members on 0:03:40.170 --> 0:03:43.240 earth and saints in heaven. 0:03:43.290 --> 0:03:45.560 So he's talking about a. 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:52.730 Christian community of people Some who are in heaven, some 0:03:52.770 --> 0:03:55.240 who are on earth, and the Bible calls all of 0:03:55.350 --> 0:03:59.619 us together the church of the firstborn. Well, the firstborn 0:03:59.660 --> 0:04:03.000 is Jesus, and that's another message. So we're all a 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.620 part of the church of Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:08.640 said it in Matthew 16. He said, on this rock, 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:13.160 I will build my church, right? In Ephesians 1, the 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.520 Bible talks about how Jesus is the head of the church. 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.890 And so the church of the firstborn is not just 0:04:21.130 --> 0:04:24.310 FX Church or Triumph Church or Word of Faith or 0:04:24.350 --> 0:04:26.990 Motor City Church or whatever church you can come up with. 0:04:27.370 --> 0:04:28.270 It's all of us. 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:33.440 There's about two to three billion of us on the 0:04:33.500 --> 0:04:39.289 earth right now. We're the biggest gang on this planet. Right? 0:04:39.610 --> 0:04:40.290 The church. 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:43.660 is all of us. I'll take Ephesians 3 verse 14 0:04:43.660 --> 0:04:48.240 says this, for this reason I bow my knees to 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:52.350 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the 0:04:52.470 --> 0:04:57.950 whole family in heaven and earth is named. Well, he's 0:04:57.990 --> 0:05:01.350 talking about the church and he calls us a family. 0:05:02.010 --> 0:05:04.010 Once again, you can see that, man, this is not 0:05:04.070 --> 0:05:07.060 just talking about people down the street, you know, or 0:05:07.100 --> 0:05:09.360 people who happen to be gathering in a building right now. 0:05:09.420 --> 0:05:11.500 This is talking about All of us. 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.160 And not just all of us on earth, but all 0:05:14.180 --> 0:05:15.120 who are in heaven too. 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:17.000 Some of you, you got loved ones in heaven. They're 0:05:17.020 --> 0:05:21.000 a part of the church. Right? He's calling the church 0:05:21.570 --> 0:05:22.790 a family. See, when you. 0:05:22.710 --> 0:05:26.250 Came to Jesus, you didn't just come to a person. 0:05:26.770 --> 0:05:31.430 You came to a people. You came to a people. 0:05:31.870 --> 0:05:35.290 Those of us who believe in Jesus are actually a 0:05:35.410 --> 0:05:39.710 part of a big family called the church. 0:05:41.089 --> 0:05:42.210 All right, go to 1 Corinthians 16. 0:05:42.190 --> 0:05:45.049 You know, if you were to go to a restaurant 0:05:45.750 --> 0:05:47.990 and you come in, you know, right, and somebody serves 0:05:48.029 --> 0:05:50.170 you and you eat the food and you kind of 0:05:50.190 --> 0:05:54.870 evaluate the experience, you pay, you walk out. But when 0:05:54.910 --> 0:05:58.250 you go to your family's house and you walk in 0:05:58.270 --> 0:06:01.060 the door, somebody might say, hey, baby, grab the plates, 0:06:01.100 --> 0:06:01.890 put them on the table. 0:06:03.180 --> 0:06:04.159 Why? Why would they do that? 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:10.050 Because this is family and things are different We're family. 0:06:10.310 --> 0:06:13.330 When you go to a restaurant, customers ask, what are 0:06:13.350 --> 0:06:15.750 you going to do for me? When you're among family, 0:06:15.770 --> 0:06:18.270 you're asking, what am I going to do for you? Right? 0:06:18.589 --> 0:06:20.010 When you go to a restaurant, people. 0:06:19.810 --> 0:06:22.780 Think, come in, feed me, serve me, take care of 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:25.240 my kids, make sure the music is good, make sure 0:06:25.260 --> 0:06:28.100 the atmosphere is right, and then I'll let you know 0:06:28.180 --> 0:06:29.839 if I've enjoyed the experience. 0:06:30.180 --> 0:06:32.099 But that's not family. 0:06:32.779 --> 0:06:36.650 Jesus actually didn't save you into a restaurant. He adopted 0:06:36.690 --> 0:06:37.909 you into a family. 0:06:37.930 --> 0:06:40.760 Right? And that family is called the church. 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:47.190 Well, 1 Corinthians 16, verse 19. 0:06:47.190 --> 0:06:49.990 The churches of Asia greet you. 0:06:52.550 --> 0:06:55.690 Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord with 0:06:55.730 --> 0:06:58.630 the church that is in their house. 0:06:58.650 --> 0:07:00.010 A couple things to notice here. 0:07:00.390 --> 0:07:03.400 Now, Paul is writing to the church of Corinth. 0:07:03.940 --> 0:07:06.800 Which is in Achaia. And these are regions of the 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:07.520 Roman Empire. 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:12.750 And he says the churches in Asia, another region, more 0:07:12.830 --> 0:07:15.050 around Turkey, are greeting you. 0:07:15.090 --> 0:07:16.530 Well, what are the churches in Asia? 0:07:16.570 --> 0:07:20.370 Well, Ephesus, which is where he was, by the way, Smyrna, Pergamon, 0:07:20.390 --> 0:07:24.030 you read about them in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3. 0:07:24.030 --> 0:07:26.290 But I want you to notice that he talks about 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.700 different churches. 0:07:30.580 --> 0:07:31.220 In a region. 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:36.400 And then he mentioned a church that was meeting in 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:41.350 the house of of a power couple named Aquila and Priscilla. 0:07:42.530 --> 0:07:46.680 They're the ones that discipled Apollos. So he's saying that 0:07:46.710 --> 0:07:49.150 there's a church that actually meets in their house. 0:07:49.180 --> 0:07:49.940 And you'll see this a. 0:07:49.950 --> 0:07:52.460 Number of times in Scripture where there are some churches 0:07:52.500 --> 0:07:53.440 that meet in. 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:58.480 Individuals' houses, right? And so I want you to notice. 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:04.600 That in the Bible, the term church doesn't just refer 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:05.120 to the. 0:08:05.140 --> 0:08:08.530 Big church, right? You know, the one we just finished 0:08:08.570 --> 0:08:09.150 talking about. 0:08:10.030 --> 0:08:13.670 The billions of us that name the name of Jesus. 0:08:13.970 --> 0:08:17.960 In the Bible, it also refers to a specific assembly 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.340 of believers that regularly worship together. 0:08:22.580 --> 0:08:24.700 Some people will argue, well, I don't need to go 0:08:24.780 --> 0:08:26.480 to church. I am the church. 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:30.910 Well, you are right and you are wrong. You are 0:08:30.970 --> 0:08:33.569 the church, but you also should belong to a church. 0:08:35.190 --> 0:08:37.690 That's Bible. In fact, look at Acts chapter 9 verse 31. 0:08:37.690 --> 0:08:40.210 You know, if you were to get on an airplane, 0:08:40.550 --> 0:08:43.430 you know, you'll notice everybody has a ticket, right? But 0:08:43.470 --> 0:08:46.550 just because you have a ticket doesn't mean that you 0:08:46.590 --> 0:08:48.250 just get to say, well, I'm on the plane. 0:08:48.410 --> 0:08:50.510 I'm good. No, you got an assigned seat, baby. 0:08:51.510 --> 0:08:54.250 You need to find your way to that seat and 0:08:54.290 --> 0:08:56.030 put your seat belt on or somebody's going to have 0:08:56.050 --> 0:08:56.830 a problem with you. 0:08:57.710 --> 0:09:00.700 And that's how church is. Well, I'm the church. That's great. 0:09:00.740 --> 0:09:02.880 You're on the plane, but there is an assigned seat 0:09:02.910 --> 0:09:03.170 for you. 0:09:04.010 --> 0:09:06.650 There is a local church body you're supposed to be 0:09:06.690 --> 0:09:10.000 a part of. Take your seat, put your seatbelt on, 0:09:10.010 --> 0:09:10.550 and let's go ahead. 0:09:10.470 --> 0:09:13.900 And enjoy this ride. Well, look at Acts 9, verse 31. 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:15.600 By the way, this is scripture that God gave me 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:18.140 for FX Church here, Detroit, West. 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:21.040 Et cetera. So y'all believe God with me about this. 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:26.189 Then the churches, there it is again, throughout all Judea, Galilee, 0:09:26.350 --> 0:09:31.130 and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in 0:09:31.150 --> 0:09:32.730 the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of 0:09:32.750 --> 0:09:34.050 the Holy Spirit, we're what? 0:09:35.110 --> 0:09:35.890 Multiplied. 0:09:35.950 --> 0:09:38.330 So the churches were edified and multiplied. What God put 0:09:38.390 --> 0:09:40.380 in my heart is to believe for peace, for rest, 0:09:41.059 --> 0:09:45.220 for our church campuses, and for multiplication. Can anybody agree 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.120 with me about that? That's what he put in my 0:09:47.140 --> 0:09:49.319 heart recently. So we're believing for that. But I want 0:09:49.340 --> 0:09:52.040 you to notice he mentions once again churches. There's churches 0:09:52.110 --> 0:09:55.770 in Judea and churches in Galilee and churches in Samaria. 0:09:55.790 --> 0:09:57.950 And we get this because there's churches all over Detroit. 0:09:57.970 --> 0:09:59.690 I mean, you can go down. 0:09:59.960 --> 0:10:02.220 you know some blocks here just go down a mile 0:10:02.260 --> 0:10:05.180 and see about 50 churches you know which is one 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:06.939 reason why we're at FX West by the way because 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:10.260 there's hardly any churches over there which surprised me that's 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:12.040 why we're launching a campus over there because you don't 0:10:12.070 --> 0:10:13.930 have a lot of places where they're actually teaching the 0:10:13.970 --> 0:10:17.080 bible Well, you notice, though, that what you have here 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:20.359 is that the Bible is talking about, you know, a 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:25.810 specific assembly of believers that regularly worship together. So you 0:10:25.850 --> 0:10:31.230 can see here that the church equals God's worldwide family. 0:10:31.710 --> 0:10:35.710 A church equals the local family God has planted. 0:10:35.250 --> 0:10:36.210 You to be a part of. 0:10:37.070 --> 0:10:39.150 All right, go with me to Ephesians chapter 4. Y'all 0:10:39.170 --> 0:10:44.040 can see I'm working on something. Somebody say, this is us. 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.820 Ephesians 4, verse 11. Now, these are the gifts. Somebody 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:53.870 say gifts. That Christ gave to the church. Somebody say church. 0:10:54.710 --> 0:10:58.190 All right, you're seeing a pattern, right? The apostles, the prophets, 0:10:58.270 --> 0:11:04.670 the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. So this is 0:11:04.710 --> 0:11:07.380 talking about gifts Jesus gave when he went back into heaven. 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.580 He gave what we call ministry gifts into the earth. 0:11:11.660 --> 0:11:14.960 One of those gifts is the gift of pastors. Now 0:11:14.980 --> 0:11:19.370 the word pastor means shepherd. And so a pastor is 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:25.710 supposed to be a shepherd over a local church. Pastors 0:11:25.850 --> 0:11:29.189 actually do mainly three things. They're to find the sheep, 0:11:29.530 --> 0:11:32.190 they're to feed the sheep, they're to lead the sheep. 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:35.839 And so you notice that this is one of the 0:11:35.860 --> 0:11:36.940 things that God put on the. 0:11:36.940 --> 0:11:38.460 Earth for a reason. 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:41.700 Because every Christian is supposed. 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:42.620 To have a pastor. 0:11:46.050 --> 0:11:47.390 In fact, we won't go there, but if you were 0:11:47.410 --> 0:11:49.790 to look at Acts chapter 20 and verse 28, Paul's 0:11:49.830 --> 0:11:52.730 talking to pastors there. He talks about them being a 0:11:52.790 --> 0:11:56.470 good shepherd over the flock God made them overseer of. 0:11:57.330 --> 0:12:00.270 If you were to go to Revelation chapter 2 and 3, 0:12:00.250 --> 0:12:02.490 you'll notice that those letters, and I know I'm talking 0:12:02.510 --> 0:12:05.350 a little deeper with, I can't with this group. I can't, 0:12:05.370 --> 0:12:07.270 I have to break it down more with the second group, 0:12:07.730 --> 0:12:09.950 but with this group, you know, if you look at Revelation, 0:12:09.970 --> 0:12:13.320 anybody remember the seven letters in Revelation? All right, three 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.820 people remember the letters. Maybe I need to go to Revelation. No, 0:12:17.460 --> 0:12:21.240 In Revelation 2 and 3, John wrote seven letters to 0:12:21.260 --> 0:12:24.179 the churches. And the letters all start with saying, to 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:28.780 the angel of the church of, then fill in the blank. Well, 0:12:28.820 --> 0:12:32.440 the angel of the church is a pastor. Some try 0:12:32.460 --> 0:12:34.360 to argue it's a physical angel, but why would an 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:36.470 angel show up to give a message to an angel 0:12:37.300 --> 0:12:38.350 to then give to the people? 0:12:39.070 --> 0:12:40.530 No, the angel is the pastor. 0:12:41.250 --> 0:12:43.089 God was giving the message to the pastor so he 0:12:43.110 --> 0:12:45.570 could communicate it to the people and lead them in 0:12:45.590 --> 0:12:47.699 the way that Jesus wanted them to go. So you 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:50.500 can see in the Bible that God has set in 0:12:50.540 --> 0:12:52.840 the church one of the things that God, that Jesus 0:12:52.900 --> 0:12:57.620 put in the worldwide church are pastors who would lead 0:12:57.730 --> 0:13:01.350 the local churches that we're talking about. In fact, look 0:13:01.390 --> 0:13:07.470 at Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 7. It says, remember 0:13:07.570 --> 0:13:12.410 them Who rule over you. 0:13:12.429 --> 0:13:15.230 I hear somebody saying, ain't nobody ruling over me. I 0:13:15.290 --> 0:13:20.540 rule over myself. That's your problem. Right? 0:13:20.580 --> 0:13:24.160 Jesus, the Bible is saying, remember them who rule over you. 0:13:24.179 --> 0:13:29.280 And the word rule here means to lead. To command 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:34.640 with official authority. So if you're a believer, somebody's supposed 0:13:34.700 --> 0:13:39.610 to be leading you. Somebody is supposed to have spiritual 0:13:39.670 --> 0:13:44.520 authority over you. And you can see that because he's saying, 0:13:44.540 --> 0:13:47.670 remember them, right? So he's beyond saying you need one. 0:13:47.690 --> 0:13:50.000 He's saying this is what you should do. in your 0:13:50.020 --> 0:13:54.120 relationship with them, who are those individuals who have spoken 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:57.069 the word of God to you? So the people that 0:13:57.110 --> 0:14:00.290 are standing on a stage like this and consistently teaching 0:14:00.330 --> 0:14:03.390 you the Bible, that's who he's talking about. He says, 0:14:03.470 --> 0:14:07.270 whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct. In 0:14:07.330 --> 0:14:10.010 other words, imitate the lifestyle they're living because you can 0:14:10.030 --> 0:14:16.470 see the results of it. Verse 17, obey those who 0:14:16.570 --> 0:14:19.230 rule over you. Well, there it is again, second time. 0:14:20.910 --> 0:14:27.580 Obey them, he says, and be submissive or submit to them. 0:14:28.460 --> 0:14:30.940 And the idea here is you submit yourself. He's not 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.140 talking about somebody forcing you to submit. This isn't talking 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.480 about being a cult, somebody trying to make you do something. 0:14:36.580 --> 0:14:36.960 No, no, no. 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:40.670 He's saying, no, you recognize this is the spiritual leadership 0:14:41.010 --> 0:14:43.610 God has called me to serve under, and I'm going 0:14:43.630 --> 0:14:46.030 to follow that spiritual leadership. 0:14:47.210 --> 0:14:53.680 It's getting quiet in this church. For they watch out 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:55.390 for your souls. 0:14:56.660 --> 0:14:59.480 As those who must give account, let them do so 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.900 with joy and not with grief, for that will be 0:15:01.940 --> 0:15:03.960 unprofitable for you. One reason why he's saying you ought 0:15:03.980 --> 0:15:06.729 to submit to spiritual leadership is because they're the ones 0:15:07.070 --> 0:15:09.330 who are watching out for you. They're the ones trying 0:15:09.350 --> 0:15:11.050 to make sure that your life is going the way 0:15:11.130 --> 0:15:13.570 it should, that you're pleasing the Lord, that one day 0:15:13.610 --> 0:15:16.090 when you appear before God in heaven, you'll hear, well done, 0:15:16.130 --> 0:15:20.040 good and faithful servant. So if you're someone that's resisting 0:15:20.100 --> 0:15:23.020 their leadership, that's going to lead to grief for you 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:26.640 and for them. But if you're following their leadership, it's 0:15:26.740 --> 0:15:29.540 profitable for you. That leads to that good life that 0:15:29.580 --> 0:15:31.620 God wants you to have where you're having an impact 0:15:31.660 --> 0:15:32.810 and God is blessing you. 0:15:33.530 --> 0:15:35.610 But notice again, the Bible. 0:15:37.170 --> 0:15:41.190 The Bible reveals that there are individuals that God has 0:15:41.290 --> 0:15:44.190 placed in your life that are supposed to have the 0:15:44.250 --> 0:15:47.850 rule over you. And we know that because we've already 0:15:47.890 --> 0:15:49.720 looked at one scripture on this, and I've mentioned a 0:15:49.750 --> 0:15:52.660 couple other ones, that that is your pastor. 0:15:54.290 --> 0:15:55.510 That's your pastor. 0:15:56.730 --> 0:16:00.770 So the way God works is that he often gives 0:16:00.860 --> 0:16:06.800 a vision for a local church to that pastor. You know, 0:16:06.820 --> 0:16:09.020 a lot of churches have different visions. It's all the 0:16:09.060 --> 0:16:13.300 same big vision, make disciples. But God gives different churches 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.790 different assignments. Some churches, there's, I know one church that 0:16:16.850 --> 0:16:18.850 I'm familiar with, my children went to the school there 0:16:19.190 --> 0:16:23.050 up until basically ninth grade, and part of their assignment 0:16:23.090 --> 0:16:24.989 is to have a school and raise up children in 0:16:25.010 --> 0:16:27.470 the ways of God. They built a lot of what 0:16:27.510 --> 0:16:30.460 they do around that assignment. You know, there are some 0:16:30.500 --> 0:16:33.080 churches that God has raised them up to send out missionaries. 0:16:33.780 --> 0:16:34.780 That is what they do. 0:16:35.620 --> 0:16:37.680 You know, there's churches like ours that God said, just 0:16:37.740 --> 0:16:39.240 create a city right in the middle of Detroit. 0:16:40.140 --> 0:16:42.340 Impact the world from here, right? I mean, they all 0:16:42.380 --> 0:16:43.460 have different assignments. 0:16:43.740 --> 0:16:48.400 And God, when He created you, He gave you the 0:16:48.460 --> 0:16:52.700 giftings to match the assignment that He wants you to 0:16:52.820 --> 0:16:58.080 help bring to pass. And then He sends you to 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:04.770 that local church to serve under that pastor. You are 0:17:04.790 --> 0:17:09.450 assigned by God to a lead pastor and to help 0:17:09.550 --> 0:17:12.970 carry out the vision God, not the pastor came up with, 0:17:13.700 --> 0:17:15.740 God gave the pastor. 0:17:17.460 --> 0:17:19.800 That's where life fits. That's where you. 0:17:19.660 --> 0:17:23.600 Find you're happy. That's where you're having your greatest impact. 0:17:23.859 --> 0:17:25.830 That's where you put yourself in a position where one 0:17:25.869 --> 0:17:29.390 day God says, well done, good and faithful servant because 0:17:29.590 --> 0:17:32.129 you're faithful because you did what I told you to do. 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:43.020 But notice this phrase, be submissive. 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:47.320 The King James Version says, submit yourself. 0:17:48.940 --> 0:17:50.960 And this is part of where we struggle. 0:17:52.369 --> 0:17:57.350 Is that sometimes in our day and age, we don't 0:17:57.410 --> 0:18:03.470 like to commit to anything. We don't mind being a consumer. 0:18:05.250 --> 0:18:11.190 But we don't commit. And that's not how a Christian 0:18:11.250 --> 0:18:14.070 is supposed to operate. A lot of people in our 0:18:14.130 --> 0:18:15.990 culture will tell you, I don't even go to church. 0:18:16.910 --> 0:18:19.210 I got my own Bible. I can pray by myself. 0:18:20.510 --> 0:18:21.970 You know, I'm good with God. 0:18:22.070 --> 0:18:22.469 No, you're not. 0:18:24.590 --> 0:18:27.109 He didn't create pastors for you to not have one. 0:18:31.130 --> 0:18:32.389 Some people, well, you know, I just kind of go 0:18:32.430 --> 0:18:34.439 to this church and that church and, you know, well, 0:18:34.450 --> 0:18:39.040 that's great. But are you at the one God called 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.720 you to? Some people, they're on their phone or online 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.459 all morning watching, listening to four or five, six different preachers. 0:18:45.500 --> 0:18:49.180 I'm getting fed good. That's great. But are you getting 0:18:49.270 --> 0:18:50.830 fed and are you helping the. 0:18:50.770 --> 0:18:54.490 Vision that God has told you he wants you to 0:18:54.510 --> 0:18:57.770 be fed with and he wants you to help to fulfill? See, 0:18:58.930 --> 0:19:01.550 we just finished a series talking about why life isn't working. 0:19:01.590 --> 0:19:03.970 And this is one reason why some Christians find life 0:19:04.109 --> 0:19:07.500 isn't working. is because there's someone that's supposed to have 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.960 the rule over you. There's a church family that you're 0:19:09.980 --> 0:19:12.560 supposed to be a part of, you're supposed to belong to, 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:14.939 that you're supposed to be going arm in arm with 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:19.140 and carrying out a mission. So I've got my Tigers 0:19:19.180 --> 0:19:22.730 jersey up here. And, you know, the thing about being 0:19:22.770 --> 0:19:25.770 a Tigers fan, and we're going to keep praying for 0:19:25.790 --> 0:19:28.470 them because they up one minute and down the next, 0:19:28.490 --> 0:19:31.430 but that's all right. At least they're not as terrible 0:19:31.510 --> 0:19:33.490 as most of our teams were a couple years ago, right? 0:19:34.230 --> 0:19:36.429 But here's the thing about being a fan is you 0:19:36.450 --> 0:19:43.219 can watch every game. You can know the roster. You 0:19:43.260 --> 0:19:47.100 can critique the decisions made by the coaching staff, right? 0:19:47.660 --> 0:19:51.030 You can spend money on tickets. You can scream when 0:19:51.070 --> 0:19:53.090 they win and get mad when they lose. 0:19:53.910 --> 0:19:55.230 But you're still not on the team. 0:19:58.490 --> 0:19:58.780 Right? 0:20:05.180 --> 0:20:08.340 This is what we do with church. At church. 0:20:09.270 --> 0:20:11.820 We were never supposed to be just a room full 0:20:11.859 --> 0:20:17.199 of spectators. That was never what God designed for us. 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:21.550 We weren't supposed to just watch other people play, watch 0:20:21.570 --> 0:20:23.550 just a small group of people do all the work, 0:20:23.590 --> 0:20:27.830 do all the serving, right? We're all supposed to be 0:20:27.930 --> 0:20:31.670 members of that body. Right? Another way of saying that 0:20:31.950 --> 0:20:36.040 is we shouldn't just be individuals that see other people 0:20:36.130 --> 0:20:38.919 wearing the jersey. We should be putting on the jersey 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:42.680 ourselves and saying, I'm not just, I don't just go 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:43.500 to FX. 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:48.139 I am FX. See what I'm saying? 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:51.879 This is what God wants. Not to say I go 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:58.910 to that church, but that's my church. They are doing this. No, 0:20:59.330 --> 0:21:03.330 we are doing this. I am submitting myself to the 0:21:03.390 --> 0:21:06.230 assignment God has given me to be in this church 0:21:07.369 --> 0:21:12.070 by becoming a member there and doing life with them. 0:21:13.010 --> 0:21:19.600 All right. So if God has connected us together as 0:21:19.650 --> 0:21:22.879 a family, right, you know, and he's given our church 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:26.580 a specific assignment, The question I would ask. 0:21:26.460 --> 0:21:28.540 Is, well, who are we really? Who is FX? 0:21:29.580 --> 0:21:35.210 Like, what are we about? What's our vision? What's our assignment? 0:21:35.869 --> 0:21:37.410 And I want you to go with me to John 0:21:37.450 --> 0:21:39.750 chapter 17. 0:21:43.710 --> 0:21:46.500 John 17. Anybody ready to put on the jersey? 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:48.240 Yeah, man. 0:21:48.280 --> 0:21:50.300 Yeah, put on the jersey. I am. 0:21:50.380 --> 0:21:53.580 Somebody say, I am FX. Turn to him and tell him, 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:56.199 I am FX. Even if you're not, that's all right. 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:59.590 Turn to somebody else and tell them you are FX. Yeah, 0:21:59.830 --> 0:22:02.810 I'm on the team. Anybody glad to be on the team? Yeah, 0:22:02.830 --> 0:22:05.330 I don't just come and sit in the stands. I 0:22:05.390 --> 0:22:06.290 want to be in the game. 0:22:06.310 --> 0:22:09.810 Right? 0:22:10.010 --> 0:22:13.429 So, okay, if you are FX, what's the vision? And 0:22:13.490 --> 0:22:14.930 I want to walk through this. Some of us know this. 0:22:14.950 --> 0:22:15.410 That's all right. 0:22:15.430 --> 0:22:17.600 Every year we got to go through this. First of all, 0:22:17.609 --> 0:22:20.630 it's good to refresh yourself. But second of all, there's 0:22:20.650 --> 0:22:25.280 always new people. And they come, but they're learning who 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:31.780 we are. Well, our vision ultimately is for everybody we 0:22:31.820 --> 0:22:36.030 come in contact with to go on a journey to 0:22:36.070 --> 0:22:39.050 the future God has for them. And you can see 0:22:39.070 --> 0:22:43.889 the sign we have right here. Here's the signage, to 0:22:43.930 --> 0:22:49.730 know God, to then find freedom, to then discover their purpose, 0:22:50.670 --> 0:22:53.649 and then to make a difference. Because if you do 0:22:53.710 --> 0:22:55.419 these four things you're going to find yourself in the 0:22:55.460 --> 0:22:56.659 middle of God's future for you. 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:00.140 And it's a good future. Right? 0:23:01.900 --> 0:23:09.320 And so let's look at John chapter 17. And this 0:23:09.420 --> 0:23:16.020 is eternal life. That they may know you. The only 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:18.899 true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Now 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:22.250 this is Jesus talking and There's a lot in the 0:23:22.290 --> 0:23:26.090 scripture because eternal life isn't just a duration, it's a 0:23:26.170 --> 0:23:30.050 quality of life. And he's saying this is what eternal 0:23:30.109 --> 0:23:33.080 life is really all about and it's that you know 0:23:33.200 --> 0:23:35.920 God and know Jesus. 0:23:37.420 --> 0:23:38.879 And the word know here, if you look. 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:42.220 At the Amplified Translation, the classic one, it means, it 0:23:42.260 --> 0:23:46.600 says to perceive, to recognize, to be acquainted with, and 0:23:46.660 --> 0:23:51.420 to understand him. So God wants you to to perceive him, 0:23:51.500 --> 0:23:54.940 to recognize him, to be acquainted with him, to understand him. 0:23:55.810 --> 0:23:57.490 He wants you to know him. 0:23:58.710 --> 0:24:02.950 He actually created you and he saved you so that 0:24:02.990 --> 0:24:09.240 you could actually know him, like in an intimate, personal way. 0:24:10.300 --> 0:24:13.540 Like there's some of us, we know facts about people, 0:24:14.720 --> 0:24:17.919 like we know their names, We might know what they do. 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:21.200 We might know something about their history or their accomplishments, 0:24:21.240 --> 0:24:24.820 but we don't know them. And there are other people 0:24:24.859 --> 0:24:29.110 that we know, like spouses or children or best friends. 0:24:29.210 --> 0:24:32.170 We know them. God doesn't want you just to know 0:24:32.369 --> 0:24:37.290 facts about him. He wants you to know him. Even 0:24:37.330 --> 0:24:39.390 when it comes to reading the Bible, we don't read 0:24:39.450 --> 0:24:42.880 the Bible just so that we can know the Bible. 0:24:42.910 --> 0:24:45.520 We read the Bible because the Bible helps us know him. 0:24:47.970 --> 0:24:50.190 And sometimes people read the Bible and miss the whole 0:24:50.290 --> 0:24:54.250 PowerPoint of it, you know. And so God wants us 0:24:54.330 --> 0:24:55.770 to know him. 0:24:56.390 --> 0:24:58.190 He doesn't want us name dropping him. 0:25:01.840 --> 0:25:04.619 Well, you know, I had my uncle's cousin's aunt had 0:25:04.700 --> 0:25:08.300 lunch with, you know, so-and-so last week. 0:25:08.320 --> 0:25:12.240 Well, that's nice. But he doesn't want you just name 0:25:12.260 --> 0:25:13.699 dropping God. Well, I'm a Christian. 0:25:13.760 --> 0:25:16.550 I know God, you know. He does in me than 0:25:16.590 --> 0:25:18.370 he does in the world, but you don't really know him. 0:25:19.330 --> 0:25:20.469 He wants you to be on the level where you 0:25:20.490 --> 0:25:22.270 could say, oh, yeah, I know Steph Curry. 0:25:22.290 --> 0:25:22.590 Hold on. 0:25:22.850 --> 0:25:26.890 And you FaceTime him. Hey, Steph. You really do know 0:25:26.950 --> 0:25:28.899 Steph Curry. You know what I'm saying? He wants you 0:25:28.940 --> 0:25:31.400 to know him. Right? 0:25:31.680 --> 0:25:34.840 He wants you to know him. And that's what Christianity 0:25:34.859 --> 0:25:38.780 is really about. It's not about getting information about God. 0:25:39.100 --> 0:25:43.909 It's about knowing him in a personal, intimate way. And 0:25:43.950 --> 0:25:47.240 when you know him like that, man, that just changes everything. 0:25:47.920 --> 0:25:51.139 And that's what Jesus was saying. This is really eternal life. 0:25:52.119 --> 0:25:56.260 This is what makes life amazing. Knowing him. 0:25:57.500 --> 0:26:03.139 Having a relationship with your creator that is unmatched. 0:26:04.800 --> 0:26:07.659 And all of us can know him more and more. 0:26:08.000 --> 0:26:10.159 And I don't care if you've been saved for 50 years, 0:26:10.200 --> 0:26:15.980 you can know him more. And this is why our 0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:19.820 church exists, because this starts with helping people know God 0:26:19.920 --> 0:26:24.359 by following Jesus. In fact, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, 0:26:24.359 --> 0:26:32.950 verse 19. Even though I am a free man with 0:26:33.010 --> 0:26:36.110 no master, I have become a slave to all people, 0:26:36.170 --> 0:26:39.570 get this, to bring many to Christ. 0:26:41.080 --> 0:26:43.399 So Paul's talking and he's saying, I've become a slave 0:26:43.440 --> 0:26:45.240 to all people. What's he saying? He's talking about the 0:26:45.260 --> 0:26:48.609 fact that I'm working for free as a minister. 0:26:48.640 --> 0:26:50.190 In this case, he was working for free and he 0:26:50.210 --> 0:26:52.090 was like, because my goal is to win people to Christ. 0:26:52.109 --> 0:26:53.110 There's a whole message in there. 0:26:53.609 --> 0:26:55.550 He says, when I was with the Jews, I lived 0:26:55.590 --> 0:26:58.310 like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ. And 0:26:58.330 --> 0:27:00.350 when I was with those who followed the Jewish law, 0:27:00.530 --> 0:27:01.410 I too lived. 0:27:01.330 --> 0:27:02.189 Under that law. 0:27:03.470 --> 0:27:05.510 Even though I'm not subject to the law, I did 0:27:05.570 --> 0:27:07.909 this so I could bring to Christ those who are 0:27:08.010 --> 0:27:08.550 under the law. 0:27:09.510 --> 0:27:11.290 When I am with the Gentiles who do not. 0:27:11.270 --> 0:27:14.230 Follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that 0:27:14.290 --> 0:27:17.190 law so I can bring them to Christ. But I 0:27:17.230 --> 0:27:19.389 do not ignore the law of God. I obey the 0:27:19.430 --> 0:27:22.690 law of Christ. When I am with those who are weak, 0:27:22.869 --> 0:27:24.909 I share their weakness, for I want to bring the 0:27:24.950 --> 0:27:28.129 weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground 0:27:28.150 --> 0:27:32.490 with everyone, doing everything I can. 0:27:32.530 --> 0:27:33.470 To save some. 0:27:33.490 --> 0:27:37.650 Now here's Paul's ministry strategy. Okay? 0:27:37.670 --> 0:27:37.930 Okay? 0:27:38.460 --> 0:27:40.740 And I want you to notice, for those that are 0:27:40.760 --> 0:27:43.480 a little bit more seasoned, Paul has been preaching the 0:27:43.520 --> 0:27:46.550 Word of God. He believes in being led by the 0:27:46.609 --> 0:27:50.770 Holy Spirit. He's been doing miracle signs and wonders. And 0:27:50.810 --> 0:27:54.929 he still needed a strategy. There's this idea, well, if 0:27:54.950 --> 0:27:57.070 you just preach and follow the Holy Ghost, your church 0:27:57.109 --> 0:27:57.580 will grow. 0:27:57.880 --> 0:28:03.340 Stop it. That's not biblical. Oh, my goodness. Look at 0:28:03.359 --> 0:28:05.680 what Paul had a strategy. 0:28:07.670 --> 0:28:10.710 He recognized that if I'm trying to reach a particular 0:28:10.750 --> 0:28:13.550 group of people, I may need to make some adjustments 0:28:13.609 --> 0:28:18.109 to reach those people. So when I get around the Jews, 0:28:18.170 --> 0:28:19.780 even though I don't even have to follow the law, 0:28:19.820 --> 0:28:21.210 he said I was following the law. 0:28:21.730 --> 0:28:25.520 He had his head shorn, as the Bible said. He 0:28:25.540 --> 0:28:26.320 didn't have to do that. 0:28:26.340 --> 0:28:27.659 I don't know about you, I'm not a fan of 0:28:27.880 --> 0:28:30.000 somebody just cutting my hair off when I don't have to. 0:28:30.560 --> 0:28:31.940 If I want to do it, that's one thing. 0:28:32.560 --> 0:28:35.619 But he did it because it would help him reach 0:28:35.980 --> 0:28:39.730 the Jews. He got up and preached in Acts chapter 0:28:39.730 --> 0:28:43.410 22 to a multitude. And part of what got their attention, 0:28:43.450 --> 0:28:45.600 got them to listen, was that he looked like them. 0:28:47.740 --> 0:28:50.060 He says, I'm around the proselytes, those who don't follow 0:28:50.080 --> 0:28:52.480 the law. I'm not walking around wearing a robe, looking 0:28:52.500 --> 0:28:55.370 like somebody carrying a Jewish master. No, no, no. I'm 0:28:55.420 --> 0:28:59.870 adapting how I present myself so they will hear me. 0:29:01.140 --> 0:29:02.820 When I'm around those who are weak, he was talking 0:29:02.840 --> 0:29:05.240 about believers that didn't believe you could eat meat. Then 0:29:05.280 --> 0:29:07.200 he wouldn't eat meat around them just because I can 0:29:07.220 --> 0:29:10.670 make sure you could hear me. He says, I'm not 0:29:10.690 --> 0:29:13.220 going to sin. I'm not going to go out here 0:29:13.480 --> 0:29:15.640 and smoke weed with somebody to get them saved. I'm 0:29:15.660 --> 0:29:17.420 not going to go sit in a bar with somebody 0:29:17.680 --> 0:29:19.860 so I can get them saved. I'm not talking about 0:29:19.920 --> 0:29:22.200 doing that kind of stuff, but I am willing to 0:29:22.240 --> 0:29:26.670 adapt how I present myself and how I minister so 0:29:26.790 --> 0:29:29.850 I can save as many people as possible. I love 0:29:29.890 --> 0:29:32.170 something one minister says, Craig Rochelle. He says, we would 0:29:32.190 --> 0:29:35.270 do anything short of sin to reach people for Jesus. 0:29:35.950 --> 0:29:38.680 And that is FX Church. That's one reason why we 0:29:38.700 --> 0:29:41.140 present ourselves the way we do. There's nothing wrong with 0:29:41.340 --> 0:29:44.600 what other churches do, but for us, our assignment is 0:29:44.620 --> 0:29:47.400 to reach people far from God in this area, and 0:29:47.420 --> 0:29:50.680 so we have set out to learn people in this area, 0:29:50.920 --> 0:29:53.820 particularly those that are far from God, and said, all right, to. 0:29:53.740 --> 0:29:57.130 Detroit, I became as Detroit, that I might save some. 0:29:58.910 --> 0:30:03.620 Okay, so we exist ultimately because we want people that 0:30:03.720 --> 0:30:09.080 don't know God to know God. So they can have 0:30:09.160 --> 0:30:14.590 eternal life and enjoy eternal life with him. All right, 0:30:14.630 --> 0:30:17.030 so we're asking, what is FX? When I say I 0:30:17.090 --> 0:30:19.350 am FX, what am I saying? I'm somebody that's helping 0:30:19.370 --> 0:30:20.110 people know God. 0:30:21.370 --> 0:30:21.650 What else? 0:30:22.230 --> 0:30:28.210 Well, find freedom. Look at John chapter 8. Verse 31, 0:30:28.210 --> 0:30:32.310 then said Jesus to those Jews who believed in him, 0:30:33.530 --> 0:30:38.230 if you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed. 0:30:39.350 --> 0:30:41.990 And you shall know the truth and the truth shall 0:30:42.030 --> 0:30:47.460 make you what? The truth shall make you free. The 0:30:47.480 --> 0:30:51.020 word free here means to liberate. It also means to 0:30:51.060 --> 0:30:53.220 make exempt. Anybody, when you were going to college, you 0:30:53.240 --> 0:30:54.900 were glad when you were exempt from having to take 0:30:54.940 --> 0:30:55.600 certain classes. 0:30:56.210 --> 0:30:58.050 Like when you are in high school, you're exempt from 0:30:58.090 --> 0:31:01.390 taking this in college. Hallelujah. Right? 0:31:01.870 --> 0:31:04.130 Well, you can be exempt from what Satan wants to 0:31:04.170 --> 0:31:06.380 do in your life through Jesus. 0:31:07.040 --> 0:31:09.240 Verse 36. 0:31:09.240 --> 0:31:12.700 Therefore, if the Son makes you free, somebody say free. 0:31:13.940 --> 0:31:18.170 That word free is the same Greek word. Then you 0:31:18.210 --> 0:31:23.000 shall be free indeed. Somebody say free again. Now, that 0:31:23.080 --> 0:31:26.300 is a different Greek word, very similar. But the idea 0:31:26.340 --> 0:31:29.610 here is that, once again, you're not restrained. You're not 0:31:29.660 --> 0:31:34.690 a slave. You're instead a citizen. And you're exempt from 0:31:34.730 --> 0:31:36.870 what Satan wants to do in your life. Well, here's 0:31:36.910 --> 0:31:39.070 the thing that a lot of people struggle with. Let 0:31:39.090 --> 0:31:42.590 me say this, by the way. Jesus can set you free. 0:31:44.150 --> 0:31:46.350 That's what he's saying. If the Son has set. 0:31:46.170 --> 0:31:49.360 You free, you are free indeed. The word indeed here 0:31:49.400 --> 0:31:53.030 means really. Really. Like if Jesus does it, you're. 0:31:52.750 --> 0:31:55.550 Not just going to rehab and then going back out 0:31:55.750 --> 0:31:58.670 and then going back to rehab and then going back out. No, 0:31:58.690 --> 0:32:02.260 when Jesus sets you free, you are free indeed. You 0:32:02.360 --> 0:32:06.140 are free to last, right? And that's something that he 0:32:06.180 --> 0:32:09.760 can do. But notice here that as a believer, you know, 0:32:09.820 --> 0:32:14.390 he's talking to believers, by the way. And here he's 0:32:14.430 --> 0:32:16.490 talking about being free from sin, but you can go 0:32:16.510 --> 0:32:18.600 throughout the Word of God and you can see other 0:32:18.630 --> 0:32:20.760 scriptures that also point to the fact that you can 0:32:20.800 --> 0:32:26.000 be a believer and still be entangled in sin. And 0:32:26.020 --> 0:32:28.120 the Bible talks about not letting it overcome you and 0:32:28.140 --> 0:32:31.000 then you're walking away from God. You can be a 0:32:31.020 --> 0:32:35.980 believer and also just be held back because your heart 0:32:36.120 --> 0:32:42.030 haven't been broken. Some bad things happen to you. that 0:32:42.070 --> 0:32:46.210 you haven't really gotten over. You failed in some ways 0:32:46.690 --> 0:32:49.670 and you haven't been able to forgive yourself. These are 0:32:49.790 --> 0:32:53.120 all the type of things that actually hold you back 0:32:53.580 --> 0:32:56.960 from living the future God has for you. That's part 0:32:57.000 --> 0:32:59.540 of Satan's plan is to get you bogged down in 0:32:59.580 --> 0:33:04.140 your past or bogged down into sin. Whether it's just 0:33:04.200 --> 0:33:08.070 simply bad habits or it's addictions. Because that's going to 0:33:08.190 --> 0:33:10.930 slow you. It's like, you know, you're trying to go 0:33:10.970 --> 0:33:13.110 through the airport to get to the airplane, but you've 0:33:13.130 --> 0:33:15.350 got 10 pieces of luggage on you, and you're trying 0:33:15.370 --> 0:33:17.840 to catch the flight. And it's just hard to do. 0:33:18.280 --> 0:33:20.880 And God has come. Jesus says, hey, man, if you'll 0:33:20.900 --> 0:33:23.240 let me, I'll free you from all of that stuff, 0:33:23.480 --> 0:33:24.980 and you can get on the plane to. 0:33:24.900 --> 0:33:26.180 The future I have for you. 0:33:30.200 --> 0:33:31.880 You know, if you were about to take a road trip, 0:33:34.310 --> 0:33:36.630 You got a car and it's got a perfectly good engine. 0:33:36.670 --> 0:33:37.770 You got a full tank. 0:33:38.050 --> 0:33:41.150 You're ready to go. You got some snacks. You got 0:33:41.190 --> 0:33:43.489 your phone ready. You know, your GPS. You got some 0:33:43.510 --> 0:33:48.020 good horsepower. But you actually have mud on the windshield 0:33:48.120 --> 0:33:50.280 so much so that you can't see through it. 0:33:51.320 --> 0:33:51.780 Guess what? 0:33:52.020 --> 0:33:55.640 You can't safely move forward. And that's some people. Some 0:33:55.660 --> 0:33:58.280 people don't have a future problem. They have a windshield problem. 0:33:59.540 --> 0:34:01.600 It's not that God doesn't have something for you. It's 0:34:01.640 --> 0:34:03.720 not that you don't even see what God wants to do. 0:34:04.000 --> 0:34:06.920 It's that you're so caught up with the mud in 0:34:06.960 --> 0:34:09.570 your life that you need to do something about it 0:34:09.780 --> 0:34:12.230 before you can get anywhere. And a lot of times 0:34:12.270 --> 0:34:14.870 what God will do is he'll bring people into your 0:34:14.910 --> 0:34:17.149 life to point out the mud to you and help 0:34:17.190 --> 0:34:20.750 you wipe it off of your windshield. Look at Proverbs 17. 0:34:20.730 --> 0:34:24.569 I show you what I'm talking about. Verse 17. It says, 0:34:24.650 --> 0:34:30.280 a friend loves at all times. Not just when things 0:34:30.340 --> 0:34:32.040 are good. You always find out who your friends are 0:34:33.320 --> 0:34:35.600 when things turn for the worse, right? 0:34:36.400 --> 0:34:36.940 You remember that. 0:34:38.700 --> 0:34:43.180 And a brother is born for adversity. 0:34:45.340 --> 0:34:46.480 The idea really of the. 0:34:46.440 --> 0:34:50.720 Whole scripture is God puts some friends, God puts some 0:34:50.800 --> 0:34:51.910 brothers in your. 0:34:51.790 --> 0:34:56.049 Life to be there when you are struggling. 0:34:57.830 --> 0:35:00.640 Ecclesiastes 4, I won't take you there, but it talks about, 0:35:00.940 --> 0:35:02.920 you know, how two are better than one. And one 0:35:02.940 --> 0:35:05.600 of the examples it gives is if you fall into 0:35:05.660 --> 0:35:10.799 a pit by yourself, you're in trouble. But if there's 0:35:10.860 --> 0:35:13.969 somebody with you, they can lift you up out of 0:35:14.030 --> 0:35:19.049 the pit. All of us, all of us have either 0:35:19.110 --> 0:35:20.890 been in a pit or will be in a pit 0:35:21.050 --> 0:35:25.670 at some point. It's called life. Psalm 23, hey, the 0:35:25.710 --> 0:35:28.310 Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, right? You're 0:35:28.350 --> 0:35:30.590 following the shepherd. And in the middle of that psalm, 0:35:30.650 --> 0:35:32.660 it says, yea, though I walk through the valley of 0:35:32.700 --> 0:35:34.560 the shadow of death. Well, how on earth did I 0:35:34.680 --> 0:35:36.640 end up in the valley of the shadow of death? 0:35:36.719 --> 0:35:39.460 I've been following the shepherd. Jesus, you don't know where 0:35:39.480 --> 0:35:44.560 we're going? How we end up here? But as life, 0:35:44.600 --> 0:35:46.759 he knows sometimes to get where he wants to take you, 0:35:46.989 --> 0:35:48.470 he's going to have to take you through a season 0:35:48.489 --> 0:35:50.569 where you're going to be attacked by the devil, right? 0:35:51.700 --> 0:35:52.310 But you're not. 0:35:52.239 --> 0:35:58.410 Supposed to be going through these moments by yourself. God 0:35:58.450 --> 0:36:01.310 will put people in your life that will help you 0:36:01.570 --> 0:36:03.070 get free from. 0:36:02.969 --> 0:36:10.160 What happened in your past. What are you saying, Pastor? 0:36:10.660 --> 0:36:16.380 Freedom often happens in the context of relationships. Relationships. So 0:36:16.400 --> 0:36:18.640 when we talk about finding freedom, there's really two pieces 0:36:18.660 --> 0:36:22.050 to this. Number one, Jesus will heal your heart, and 0:36:22.130 --> 0:36:24.689 God is able to do that. He's able to not 0:36:24.730 --> 0:36:29.799 just keep you going, but make your heart whole again. 0:36:30.830 --> 0:36:33.509 Which means that I'm not going to live my life 0:36:33.730 --> 0:36:35.969 with a limp. That, you know, this happened when I 0:36:35.989 --> 0:36:38.320 was 12. And this happened when I was 20. And 0:36:38.380 --> 0:36:40.259 I blew this up when I was 25. And I 0:36:40.300 --> 0:36:41.819 did this to my kid at 35. 0:36:41.820 --> 0:36:42.839 And no, no, no, no. 0:36:43.020 --> 0:36:45.879 When you come to him and you allow him to 0:36:45.920 --> 0:36:48.089 heal your heart, you might have been limping, but he 0:36:48.110 --> 0:36:50.690 will get you walking straight again. He will make you 0:36:50.710 --> 0:36:53.290 whole again. You're not going to have a broken heart 0:36:53.469 --> 0:36:57.970 all the days of your life. But also he'll put 0:36:58.030 --> 0:37:00.770 people in your life to help you get free from 0:37:00.830 --> 0:37:03.410 some of the habits, some of the sins, some of 0:37:03.430 --> 0:37:08.029 the addictions that have been holding you back. And so 0:37:08.070 --> 0:37:09.910 we talk about here, we want you to find freedom. 0:37:09.950 --> 0:37:12.270 We have a freedom encounter and we always have a 0:37:12.290 --> 0:37:13.729 great experience with God there. 0:37:13.750 --> 0:37:16.649 But then we put you in a freedom group. Why? 0:37:16.870 --> 0:37:19.490 Because it's your brother and your sister who's born for adversity. 0:37:20.400 --> 0:37:22.080 They'll be there to lift you up when things are 0:37:22.100 --> 0:37:23.980 going down. See, that's one of the things we've been 0:37:24.020 --> 0:37:26.100 talking about recently is that you need to not just 0:37:26.440 --> 0:37:28.960 find a church. You need to find your people in 0:37:29.020 --> 0:37:29.600 that church. 0:37:30.900 --> 0:37:32.319 Because God's got a brother for you. 0:37:32.360 --> 0:37:35.219 God's got a sister for you that'll help you overcome 0:37:35.260 --> 0:37:37.040 whatever's been holding you back. 0:37:38.400 --> 0:37:39.200 This is FX. 0:37:39.239 --> 0:37:39.879 This is us. 0:37:40.890 --> 0:37:44.970 Somebody say, I am FX. All right, number three, discover purpose. 0:37:44.989 --> 0:37:46.310 Look at Ephesians chapter two. 0:37:48.510 --> 0:37:49.250 What's our vision? 0:37:49.290 --> 0:37:51.970 What has God said to us as a local church? 0:37:52.770 --> 0:37:55.170 For we are God's masterpiece. 0:37:55.530 --> 0:37:59.029 Somebody say, I'm God's masterpiece. Pastor, you sure got us 0:37:59.090 --> 0:38:02.160 saying a whole lot. That's right. It's good to say it, right? 0:38:02.440 --> 0:38:04.740 You are God's masterpiece. 0:38:05.760 --> 0:38:08.819 That's something right there that somebody may have needed to hear. 0:38:09.719 --> 0:38:14.590 139th Psalm, the Bible says, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. 0:38:15.330 --> 0:38:19.759 Uniquely made. You are valuable. You are one of a kind. 0:38:20.660 --> 0:38:21.390 You are. 0:38:21.960 --> 0:38:23.600 You may not feel it that way. People may not 0:38:23.640 --> 0:38:25.739 treat you that way. But that just means they don't 0:38:25.780 --> 0:38:29.240 know what they're doing. Because you are one of a kind. 0:38:30.080 --> 0:38:33.580 God made you a masterpiece. 0:38:35.100 --> 0:38:35.480 Why? 0:38:36.440 --> 0:38:37.900 Why did he make you the way he made you? 0:38:38.160 --> 0:38:40.040 Why did he give you the gifts he gave you? 0:38:41.000 --> 0:38:45.089 You got certain talents. You got certain abilities. He has 0:38:45.200 --> 0:38:53.560 created us anew in Christ Jesus. So we can do 0:38:53.680 --> 0:39:01.440 the good things he planned for us long ago. So 0:39:01.480 --> 0:39:06.100 he made me, made me a masterpiece, gave me these gifts, 0:39:06.160 --> 0:39:08.940 these abilities. But he did it not just so I 0:39:08.980 --> 0:39:11.719 can just sit there and say, well, hey, look at me. 0:39:13.140 --> 0:39:15.459 He did it because he had something for me to do. 0:39:16.340 --> 0:39:19.440 There's a purpose that he had for my life. There 0:39:19.520 --> 0:39:21.860 are good things he wants me to do with the 0:39:21.890 --> 0:39:27.170 abilities that he's given me. And there's two categories of this. 0:39:27.410 --> 0:39:29.970 There are good deeds that God has called everybody. 0:39:30.440 --> 0:39:30.799 To do. 0:39:31.060 --> 0:39:32.759 We preached a series on this last year. You can 0:39:32.780 --> 0:39:34.379 find it on the app or the year before called 0:39:34.420 --> 0:39:36.380 Good Deeds. And all of us should be winning someone 0:39:36.400 --> 0:39:41.530 to Jesus, mentoring or coaching someone, serving, giving, praying, right? 0:39:41.719 --> 0:39:44.169 These are good deeds every believer should be doing. 0:39:44.190 --> 0:39:46.890 But then there's also things that God has specifically called 0:39:46.969 --> 0:39:52.630 you to do. In fact, look at Acts chapter 26, 0:39:53.290 --> 0:39:57.200 verse 16. But rise and stand on your feet, so 0:39:57.219 --> 0:39:59.919 God said to Paul, for I have appeared to you 0:40:00.140 --> 0:40:02.980 for this purpose. 0:40:03.100 --> 0:40:06.220 I appear to you, Paul, for this purpose. 0:40:06.840 --> 0:40:13.120 Paul's purpose was different than Peter's, different than John's, different 0:40:13.140 --> 0:40:16.280 than Matthew's, just like your purpose is different than mine. 0:40:17.510 --> 0:40:19.089 And it's different than the person next to you. 0:40:19.390 --> 0:40:21.610 In his case, he says, to make you a minister 0:40:21.630 --> 0:40:23.009 and a witness of the things which you have seen 0:40:23.030 --> 0:40:25.020 and the things which I will yet reveal to you. 0:40:25.030 --> 0:40:26.540 If you were to read the next scripture he talks about, 0:40:26.760 --> 0:40:30.400 because I'm sending you to the Gentiles. He was called 0:40:30.719 --> 0:40:33.739 to preach to the Gentiles. Peter was called to preach 0:40:33.760 --> 0:40:34.500 to the Jews. 0:40:34.680 --> 0:40:35.640 We can go on and on and on. 0:40:35.900 --> 0:40:38.879 So God had a specific purpose for him, and God 0:40:38.920 --> 0:40:41.160 has a specific purpose for everybody. And one of the 0:40:41.180 --> 0:40:43.790 reasons why life doesn't work for some people is because 0:40:43.830 --> 0:40:49.310 we don't always walk into the purpose God has for us, right? 0:40:49.370 --> 0:40:52.610 I mean, let me say it this way. You know, 0:40:52.630 --> 0:40:53.310 if you get. 0:40:54.930 --> 0:40:57.180 A phenomenal suit, fellas.... 0:40:58.010 --> 0:41:01.910 If you have a wife that cares about what you 0:41:01.930 --> 0:41:04.100 look like, she's going to make you go to the tailor. 0:41:06.020 --> 0:41:07.400 Some of you like going to the tailor. Some of 0:41:07.420 --> 0:41:09.580 you like me, and you just don't like that. I 0:41:09.620 --> 0:41:12.040 was just joking with somebody a minute ago how we 0:41:12.120 --> 0:41:19.319 are our wives' personal kin dolls. But the reason why 0:41:19.340 --> 0:41:21.029 you go to the tailor is because they make sure 0:41:21.130 --> 0:41:24.310 it fits you perfectly before you go out in front 0:41:24.350 --> 0:41:25.799 of people. Right? 0:41:26.020 --> 0:41:27.279 That's what God did with you. 0:41:27.780 --> 0:41:30.640 He made you fit perfectly before he sent you into 0:41:30.680 --> 0:41:34.430 your purpose. He gave you everything you needed, all the gifts, abilities, 0:41:34.650 --> 0:41:36.549 you know, even things that people don't like about you. 0:41:36.590 --> 0:41:38.880 God put that in there because they may not like it, 0:41:38.910 --> 0:41:41.930 but he likes it. He's going to use it and 0:41:41.989 --> 0:41:44.049 he's going to present you to the world. But we 0:41:44.090 --> 0:41:46.870 have a problem when God has tailor made you to 0:41:46.910 --> 0:41:49.810 be a drill, you know, a couple hundred dollar drill. 0:41:50.410 --> 0:41:54.100 And you say, I'm going to use this as a paperweight. Well, 0:41:54.219 --> 0:41:57.680 it will work as a paperweight. But I mean, no, 0:41:57.700 --> 0:42:00.940 that's not what it's made for. Right? It's not just 0:42:00.980 --> 0:42:02.940 made so you can hold something down. Man, it's made 0:42:02.960 --> 0:42:04.799 to get something done. And this is where a lot 0:42:04.840 --> 0:42:08.230 of us are. We're sitting here, we're paperweights. When God 0:42:08.270 --> 0:42:10.469 made us to do something with the gifts that God 0:42:10.510 --> 0:42:12.509 gave us. I'm talking to somebody here about the Holy Ghost. 0:42:12.750 --> 0:42:14.710 It is time for you to stop being a paperweight. 0:42:15.690 --> 0:42:18.410 You know God gave you gifts. At what point are 0:42:18.430 --> 0:42:22.400 you going to use those gifts? If you aren't using 0:42:22.460 --> 0:42:27.540 your gifts, something is wrong. And I'm not telling you 0:42:27.560 --> 0:42:29.660 to quit your job today, but I am telling you 0:42:29.680 --> 0:42:31.859 to go to God today and find out what his 0:42:31.940 --> 0:42:34.739 next steps are in your life so you get into 0:42:34.969 --> 0:42:39.529 the purpose he has for you. And we exist to 0:42:39.570 --> 0:42:43.530 help everybody find their purpose because life doesn't make sense. 0:42:44.290 --> 0:42:46.150 And even more importantly, as. 0:42:46.110 --> 0:42:52.649 A church person, Locally and collectively, we aren't as effective 0:42:52.930 --> 0:42:56.779 if people aren't in their purpose. If the eye is 0:42:56.860 --> 0:43:00.880 trying to be the hand, we got a problem. If 0:43:00.900 --> 0:43:04.640 the hand only sits in the pocket, we got a problem. 0:43:05.060 --> 0:43:05.219 Right? 0:43:05.260 --> 0:43:07.980 We need everybody to find your place and do your 0:43:08.030 --> 0:43:11.589 job so together we can help people know God and 0:43:11.670 --> 0:43:12.310 find freedom. 0:43:12.330 --> 0:43:15.450 All right? This is FX. Somebody say, I am FX. 0:43:15.450 --> 0:43:22.490 I am FX. Come on, John chapter 15. John 15. 0:43:22.489 --> 0:43:26.589 See, church isn't something we just attend. It's who we are. 0:43:27.989 --> 0:43:29.569 This is who we are. This is what God was saying. 0:43:29.610 --> 0:43:31.930 He said, I'm sending you to FX Church. This is 0:43:31.950 --> 0:43:37.270 what he was sending you to do. John 15 verse 8. 0:43:37.270 --> 0:43:37.830 Let me reiterate. 0:43:37.989 --> 0:43:42.469 So this is not just attending. This is actually belonging. 0:43:42.489 --> 0:43:46.680 This is putting on the jersey. I help people know God. 0:43:47.440 --> 0:43:51.839 I help people find freedom. I help people discover. Not 0:43:51.960 --> 0:43:55.960 I watch Pastor Andre do it. Not I watch Renita 0:43:56.020 --> 0:43:59.839 do it. Not I watch Pastor Daryl do it. Not 0:43:59.960 --> 0:44:01.219 I watch Jeremy do it. 0:44:02.160 --> 0:44:04.420 I'm doing this. I am FX. 0:44:05.600 --> 0:44:08.100 I'm wearing the jersey. All of us have the jersey. 0:44:09.520 --> 0:44:13.940 Not I'm watching outreach do it. I'm a part of that. 0:44:15.430 --> 0:44:15.750 Okay. 0:44:15.910 --> 0:44:16.230 All right. 0:44:17.739 --> 0:44:22.620 What's the fourth thing? Make a difference. Make a difference. 0:44:23.440 --> 0:44:24.000 This is our vision. 0:44:24.620 --> 0:44:27.900 John 15, 8, Jesus says, when you produce much fruit, 0:44:29.260 --> 0:44:37.360 you are my true disciples. I wrote something down as 0:44:37.380 --> 0:44:39.319 I was studying this. I really want to study this more, 0:44:39.340 --> 0:44:42.390 but I can see it's accurate. Salvation is a gift, 0:44:43.140 --> 0:44:50.089 but true discipleship That's a badge you earn. You know, 0:44:50.250 --> 0:44:52.549 years ago I was learning martial arts. I actually want 0:44:52.570 --> 0:44:54.810 to get back into it. But the thing about martial 0:44:54.930 --> 0:44:57.450 arts is that, you know, you have to earn belts. 0:44:58.950 --> 0:45:00.330 You know, you might start off, I think it was 0:45:00.370 --> 0:45:02.730 a white belt, first of all, and then you keep 0:45:02.770 --> 0:45:04.770 moving on up until you get to a black belt. 0:45:04.790 --> 0:45:06.270 And then I believe it's a red belt. I mean, 0:45:06.290 --> 0:45:08.750 you can keep going. You got to earn that. And 0:45:08.810 --> 0:45:11.850 Jesus says, hey, you want to be my disciple, a 0:45:11.910 --> 0:45:16.260 disciple of mine? produces much fruit. Not just a little, 0:45:16.600 --> 0:45:20.790 much fruit. What's fruit? 0:45:21.650 --> 0:45:28.380 Results. Another way of saying that is impact. Impact. 0:45:29.900 --> 0:45:34.859 Or we might say today, you make a difference. He says, 0:45:34.880 --> 0:45:37.100 this is what believers do. This is what my disciples do. 0:45:37.280 --> 0:45:39.120 If we were to jump to verse 16, I didn't 0:45:39.140 --> 0:45:40.930 give it to you guys, but he says there, I 0:45:40.969 --> 0:45:43.850 have called you, I have ordained you so that you 0:45:43.870 --> 0:45:51.330 could bring forth much fruit and that your fruit would remain. 0:45:51.650 --> 0:45:55.719 So let's put it this way, because we're talking about 0:45:55.900 --> 0:46:01.299 eternal fruit. And yesterday we did week three of our 0:46:01.320 --> 0:46:03.620 launch team training for FX West. 0:46:03.640 --> 0:46:07.960 Come on, anybody excited about FX West? Man. You know 0:46:08.000 --> 0:46:11.799 why we're doing that? Why are we doing this campus? Why? 0:46:12.719 --> 0:46:15.890 Because there are many people over there that are far 0:46:15.950 --> 0:46:20.930 from God that need to know God, find freedom, discover 0:46:20.969 --> 0:46:22.930 their purpose, and make a difference. 0:46:23.830 --> 0:46:24.930 Never forget the why. 0:46:24.950 --> 0:46:26.729 People. People. 0:46:27.600 --> 0:46:29.100 We've already started meeting some of them. 0:46:29.140 --> 0:46:32.120 And I'm excited about that we're going to see people 0:46:32.180 --> 0:46:35.259 walk in that church who didn't know God and going 0:46:35.280 --> 0:46:36.890 to walk out and be a part of God's family. 0:46:37.650 --> 0:46:39.910 We're going to see marriages that were breaking apart. And 0:46:39.930 --> 0:46:41.870 by the time we get done being used by God, 0:46:41.910 --> 0:46:43.870 those families are going to be together. We're going to 0:46:43.890 --> 0:46:46.830 see teenagers figure out their purpose. We're going to see 0:46:46.870 --> 0:46:49.520 people who are sick get healed. Come on now, we're 0:46:49.540 --> 0:46:52.260 going to see God do some supernatural things over there, 0:46:52.860 --> 0:46:55.020 just like we're seeing him do here and beyond. 0:46:56.180 --> 0:46:59.410 That's why we're doing it. And so. 0:47:00.980 --> 0:47:04.520 The idea ultimately is that we are doing something that 0:47:04.620 --> 0:47:05.520 is eternal. 0:47:07.360 --> 0:47:07.920 Eternal. 0:47:09.300 --> 0:47:11.100 There's a scripture in 1 Corinthians 3 that's what I 0:47:11.100 --> 0:47:12.609 was talking about. We were looking at it from growth 0:47:12.620 --> 0:47:16.549 track for our long-term training yesterday. And it talks about 0:47:16.610 --> 0:47:19.430 how God's going to evaluate the work that you have 0:47:19.469 --> 0:47:20.230 done on this earth. 0:47:21.030 --> 0:47:22.470 He's going to try it by fire. 0:47:23.989 --> 0:47:28.820 And the type of work that that will survive the fire. 0:47:29.469 --> 0:47:32.650 The type of work that you will get rewarded for 0:47:33.350 --> 0:47:42.870 is the type of work that follows into eternity. You know, people, 0:47:42.890 --> 0:47:45.200 I don't even like the term social justice because I 0:47:45.239 --> 0:47:49.360 think it's a misnomer. People have created something that is 0:47:49.400 --> 0:47:52.799 not really right. But let's just do it this way. 0:47:53.900 --> 0:48:02.940 Social justice is without spiritual justice isn't really justice. If 0:48:03.060 --> 0:48:06.839 I feed you, but I don't tell you about Jesus, 0:48:07.300 --> 0:48:12.560 I have done you a disservice. And you could argue 0:48:12.860 --> 0:48:16.739 spiritual justice without social justice is a disservice, because faith 0:48:16.780 --> 0:48:20.020 without works is dead. If I believe in Jesus, I 0:48:20.060 --> 0:48:22.300 ought to help people in need. That's all we do 0:48:22.320 --> 0:48:23.950 first Saturday service, all the other things that we do. 0:48:24.219 --> 0:48:28.270 But you notice that what really matters is your work 0:48:28.350 --> 0:48:31.969 showing up in eternity. And the best way to do 0:48:32.010 --> 0:48:35.050 that is to actually make a difference in people's lives. 0:48:38.070 --> 0:48:40.930 And there's really a number of ways that you make 0:48:40.950 --> 0:48:41.529 a difference here. 0:48:41.590 --> 0:48:44.730 I mean, FX Church, and I'm starting, you know, our 0:48:44.770 --> 0:48:47.110 church is in a bit of a reset as a team, 0:48:47.180 --> 0:48:49.500 and we've been talking about this. And so the Lord's 0:48:49.520 --> 0:48:51.989 been talking to me about some things, and And you'll 0:48:52.010 --> 0:48:53.430 see some things pretty soon here. 0:48:53.850 --> 0:48:54.630 But here's one of them. 0:48:55.310 --> 0:48:57.870 When we've talked about making a difference at FX Church, 0:48:57.930 --> 0:49:00.939 we've said you make a difference by joining the dream team. 0:49:01.060 --> 0:49:01.479 Well, why? 0:49:01.560 --> 0:49:04.940 When you serve in your local church, you're helping somebody 0:49:04.980 --> 0:49:07.460 make a decision to follow Jesus. We tell the dream 0:49:07.480 --> 0:49:09.500 team every week, man, somebody's going to come to church today, 0:49:09.520 --> 0:49:11.700 they're going to need to experience God, and you might 0:49:11.739 --> 0:49:13.509 be the one who just gives them a smile that 0:49:13.530 --> 0:49:14.250 changes their life. 0:49:14.910 --> 0:49:16.089 You might take care of their kid. 0:49:16.110 --> 0:49:17.380 And it opens the door to them actually being able 0:49:17.400 --> 0:49:18.980 to not worry about their kid and they can hear 0:49:19.000 --> 0:49:21.080 what God has to say I mean you can really 0:49:21.140 --> 0:49:23.839 change their life together we reach every time somebody makes 0:49:23.880 --> 0:49:28.259 a decision for Jesus we did that together okay so 0:49:28.300 --> 0:49:30.989 that is that's where it starts man it starts by 0:49:31.090 --> 0:49:33.549 joining the dream team it starts by serving in your 0:49:33.610 --> 0:49:38.410 church but it doesn't stop there we actually make a 0:49:38.469 --> 0:49:42.690 difference by serving someone, which is meeting needs with your gifts. 0:49:43.290 --> 0:49:47.480 But we also make a difference by reaching someone, helping 0:49:47.580 --> 0:49:50.500 someone far from God encounter Jesus. 0:49:50.560 --> 0:49:51.280 That's our next. 0:49:52.040 --> 0:49:56.530 We make a difference by coaching someone, helping somebody grow 0:49:56.650 --> 0:50:00.029 and take their next step. We make a difference by 0:50:00.250 --> 0:50:06.080 impacting somewhere. Using your influence where God has placed you. 0:50:06.280 --> 0:50:09.870 Because your ministry isn't limited to a church building. God 0:50:09.910 --> 0:50:13.350 has placed you somewhere to make an impact. That is 0:50:13.430 --> 0:50:17.720 probably your workplace. That might be, you know, your business. 0:50:17.940 --> 0:50:21.180 You know, we talk about here spheres of influence or 0:50:21.420 --> 0:50:24.540 the seven mountains of culture. where God may have called 0:50:24.560 --> 0:50:28.589 you to entertainment, or God might have called you to education, 0:50:28.870 --> 0:50:31.330 or God might have called you to media, or God 0:50:31.370 --> 0:50:34.410 might have called you into government. Whatever area God has 0:50:34.469 --> 0:50:36.930 called you to be in, you have an influence there. 0:50:37.170 --> 0:50:40.430 You make an impact there. That's part of what we 0:50:40.489 --> 0:50:42.960 want for you, and that's part of what we want 0:50:43.000 --> 0:50:46.060 for everybody we come in contact with. Because your life 0:50:46.320 --> 0:50:49.400 is not supposed to be just about you enjoying yourself. 0:50:49.680 --> 0:50:52.800 Your life is supposed to be about using your gifts 0:50:53.020 --> 0:50:56.870 to impact others for Jesus. So when you have success 0:50:56.969 --> 0:50:59.830 in the workplace, God gets the glory for that. 0:51:01.350 --> 0:51:02.510 And then God uses. 0:51:02.530 --> 0:51:07.970 That blessing, that success to open the heart of somebody 0:51:07.989 --> 0:51:11.000 to hear the good news about Jesus from you that 0:51:11.040 --> 0:51:14.100 they wouldn't hear about it from somebody who doesn't have 0:51:14.160 --> 0:51:17.280 that success. It's like the Queen of Sheba. The Bible 0:51:17.320 --> 0:51:20.359 teaches that she came to hear Solomon. She came to 0:51:20.420 --> 0:51:22.310 him to get questions answered. 0:51:22.570 --> 0:51:23.310 Why Solomon? 0:51:23.489 --> 0:51:26.390 Because she was the queen of Sheba. So you weren't 0:51:26.430 --> 0:51:28.390 just going to walk in the door and talk to 0:51:28.430 --> 0:51:31.390 the queen of Sheba and you were a goat herder. 0:51:31.650 --> 0:51:35.310 But another king who had even more success than she had, 0:51:35.610 --> 0:51:38.520 she would listen to him. God wants to create kings 0:51:38.600 --> 0:51:41.540 and queens in this place. that have an impact in 0:51:41.640 --> 0:51:44.840 our world. God's used you to serve people to a 0:51:44.920 --> 0:51:47.719 high level. God's used you to have success so people 0:51:47.739 --> 0:51:50.140 will hear what you have to say. God's increasing you 0:51:50.300 --> 0:51:52.900 so that you have wealth to help get the word 0:51:52.920 --> 0:51:56.799 of God out. God wants you to impact somewhere to 0:51:57.020 --> 0:52:06.360 make a difference. So your ministry is It's not just 0:52:06.440 --> 0:52:07.820 about Sunday morning. 0:52:08.380 --> 0:52:13.160 It's probably more about Monday to Saturday. I'm preaching better 0:52:13.180 --> 0:52:17.930 than y'all saying amen. Y'all not getting me. We'll come 0:52:17.969 --> 0:52:18.410 back to that. 0:52:21.210 --> 0:52:27.890 So our vision isn't just about building a big church. Now, 0:52:28.239 --> 0:52:29.859 I could preach about that all day because I think 0:52:29.900 --> 0:52:32.760 it's stupid to be against mega churches. Aren't we supposed 0:52:32.780 --> 0:52:34.540 to get as many people as possible in heaven as possible? 0:52:36.070 --> 0:52:38.730 Every church should be a mega church, at least in 0:52:38.750 --> 0:52:41.170 this area, right? But like I said, I'm going to 0:52:41.190 --> 0:52:45.450 be good. We're not just about building a big church. 0:52:45.510 --> 0:52:51.890 We're about building big people that know God and find 0:52:51.910 --> 0:52:54.070 their freedom and discover their purpose and they make a 0:52:54.239 --> 0:52:55.920 difference in the world. In fact, I'm going to put 0:52:55.960 --> 0:52:58.300 something on the screen to kind of bring all this together. 0:53:00.920 --> 0:53:04.500 And you can see that this is really what we're 0:53:04.520 --> 0:53:08.590 trying to do as a ministry. Our whole thing is indeed, 0:53:08.750 --> 0:53:12.020 it's kind of like a road trip. So we want 0:53:12.040 --> 0:53:14.680 to get people in the car. They want them to 0:53:14.700 --> 0:53:17.700 know God, right? They have a relationship with him. We 0:53:17.739 --> 0:53:20.779 want them to find freedom, which means that we got 0:53:20.800 --> 0:53:22.259 to get rid of all the baggage that maybe we 0:53:22.300 --> 0:53:25.259 put in the car, right? We want them to know 0:53:25.280 --> 0:53:28.560 where they're going, to discover their purpose, and then on 0:53:28.600 --> 0:53:30.430 the way, pick somebody up and take them with you 0:53:30.450 --> 0:53:33.700 and make a difference. That's the picture of what we 0:53:33.739 --> 0:53:35.900 want to do as a ministry. Help people know God, 0:53:36.420 --> 0:53:40.810 find freedom, discover their purpose, and make a difference. I'm 0:53:40.850 --> 0:53:43.740 ending James chapter 4 because I'm out of time. Now, 0:53:43.750 --> 0:53:45.850 I'm skipping over something I really wanted to get into, 0:53:45.890 --> 0:53:47.509 but I figured I wasn't going to be able to. 0:53:48.190 --> 0:53:52.550 Because vision tells us where we are going. Values tell 0:53:52.590 --> 0:53:53.160 us how. 0:53:53.010 --> 0:53:54.300 We're going to get there. 0:53:55.200 --> 0:53:58.130 We have some values here at FX Church. And if 0:53:58.150 --> 0:54:00.430 you're on the dream team, you've heard this almost every week. 0:54:00.469 --> 0:54:06.820 What are our values? We love God. Before ministry, before serving, 0:54:06.880 --> 0:54:09.040 before success, before attendance or. 0:54:09.000 --> 0:54:15.620 Giving, we love God. We love people. Right? We love 0:54:15.700 --> 0:54:18.470 people and we act like it. Right? 0:54:18.930 --> 0:54:21.750 So, you know, we act like our father, which means 0:54:21.790 --> 0:54:25.730 we forgive. We believe the best. Right? Right? 0:54:27.000 --> 0:54:28.460 We pursue excellence. 0:54:29.660 --> 0:54:33.000 We recognize that our service is to the Lord, and 0:54:33.140 --> 0:54:36.760 excellence is giving God our best with what he put 0:54:36.800 --> 0:54:38.410 into our hands. So, you know, it's kind of like 0:54:38.469 --> 0:54:42.910 if somebody, you know, you were giving a gift to somebody, 0:54:43.910 --> 0:54:45.790 and instead of wrapping it nicely, you just kind of 0:54:45.810 --> 0:54:48.609 threw it in a bag and just, here, you just 0:54:48.660 --> 0:54:51.920 show them I don't really respect you. If I respect you, 0:54:51.940 --> 0:54:55.120 I'm going to present this well. And so we pursue excellence. 0:54:55.140 --> 0:54:59.790 That applies to worship, kids, parking, the marketplace, whatever God's 0:54:59.830 --> 0:55:03.130 called us to do. And then number four, we choose joy. 0:55:04.239 --> 0:55:04.879 What does that mean? 0:55:04.920 --> 0:55:08.430 It doesn't mean I'm always happy because my life is good. 0:55:08.710 --> 0:55:11.310 That means no matter what's going on, I am going 0:55:11.350 --> 0:55:15.410 to choose to rejoice in the Lord because I know him, 0:55:15.800 --> 0:55:18.300 because of what he's done for me, because I believe 0:55:18.340 --> 0:55:19.680 what he's doing for me right now. 0:55:19.960 --> 0:55:22.660 The Bible says this is the day the Lord has made. 0:55:22.840 --> 0:55:26.190 I choose. to rejoice and to be glad in it. 0:55:26.390 --> 0:55:28.529 So we're not a church where you walk in the 0:55:28.570 --> 0:55:32.509 church and you got miserable greeters and irritated volunteers and 0:55:32.590 --> 0:55:35.110 negative leaders. We're a church where we keep a smile 0:55:35.200 --> 0:55:38.480 on our face. We're not thermostats, we're thermometers. Or I 0:55:38.480 --> 0:55:39.739 say the other way around, you know what I'm trying 0:55:39.760 --> 0:55:43.400 to say? We set the atmosphere with our joy. So 0:55:43.440 --> 0:55:47.970 James chapter four, verse eight, come close to God and 0:55:48.010 --> 0:55:50.790 God will come close to you. Well, how do I 0:55:50.810 --> 0:55:51.730 come close to God? 0:55:51.890 --> 0:55:53.630 Step by step. 0:55:55.640 --> 0:55:57.770 Some of you, your next step might be that you 0:55:57.810 --> 0:55:59.690 need to know God. You've never even become a part 0:55:59.730 --> 0:56:03.690 of his family. Or you haven't even started having a 0:56:03.710 --> 0:56:04.730 real relationship with him. 0:56:04.750 --> 0:56:05.510 You don't read your Bible. 0:56:05.530 --> 0:56:08.520 You don't pray yet. Those type of things. You're not 0:56:08.540 --> 0:56:12.560 going to church consistently. That's your next step. Some of you, 0:56:12.640 --> 0:56:16.719 it's time to find freedom. You've had this issue for 0:56:16.800 --> 0:56:19.549 long enough, and it's time to get free of it. 0:56:20.390 --> 0:56:22.029 Some of you, your next step is, I need to 0:56:22.070 --> 0:56:24.200 figure out what God's called me to do with my life. 0:56:25.420 --> 0:56:26.520 What is my purpose? 0:56:27.100 --> 0:56:29.299 And start talking to God about what your next steps are. 0:56:29.560 --> 0:56:31.740 And some of you, it's time to make a difference, 0:56:31.760 --> 0:56:34.040 to no longer just sit on the sidelines with the 0:56:34.100 --> 0:56:36.620 gifts God has given you, but to take the step 0:56:36.660 --> 0:56:39.870 of faith you need to take and actually allow God 0:56:39.930 --> 0:56:43.230 to use you to make an eternal difference in people's lives. 0:56:43.830 --> 0:56:45.930 I want to challenge you today, if you've been sitting 0:56:45.969 --> 0:56:49.649 in the stands for a while, watching everything that God 0:56:49.710 --> 0:56:52.330 is doing at FX Church or God's doing across the country, 0:56:53.030 --> 0:56:53.819 put on the jersey. 0:56:54.600 --> 0:56:58.780 Stop saying, I go to FX. Say, I am FX. Amen. 0:56:59.540 --> 0:57:01.790 Come on, lift your hands toward heaven. Let's thank God 0:57:01.830 --> 0:57:02.649 for the word of God. 0:57:10.489 --> 0:57:12.420 Where you'll be able to listen to the message from 0:57:12.520 --> 0:57:16.860 our Sunday experience. Our podcast is available on platforms like 0:57:17.000 --> 0:57:21.600 Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and more. Be sure to 0:57:21.640 --> 0:57:23.970 check us out, subscribe, and share.