WEBVTT - André Butler - Oct 31 - 1:00 pm 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:04.140 All right, tonight we're continuing a series we've been studying 0:00:04.220 --> 0:00:08.700 on Sunday mornings called This Is Us. And of course, 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:11.470 in this series, we've been talking about the fact that 0:00:12.570 --> 0:00:16.390 we live in a world where we seem more connected 0:00:16.670 --> 0:00:21.470 than ever through all the wonders of technology, and yet 0:00:21.550 --> 0:00:27.050 we feel more disconnected than ever. And that's not God's 0:00:27.110 --> 0:00:31.070 will for us, that God actually created you to belong. 0:00:32.750 --> 0:00:35.660 That if you're somebody that's chosen to follow Jesus, you've 0:00:35.740 --> 0:00:39.240 already belonged to his family because he didn't just save 0:00:39.260 --> 0:00:42.839 you from Satan. He didn't just save you from hell. 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:50.269 He saved you into a family, a family with a mission. 0:00:51.270 --> 0:00:54.210 And in this series, we're helping you to enjoy the 0:00:54.310 --> 0:00:58.200 life the benefits of being in the family that God 0:00:58.260 --> 0:01:02.080 placed you in. And so the first message we learned, 0:01:02.100 --> 0:01:05.000 that church isn't something we attend, it's who we are. 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:09.400 And we said, I am FX. And then on Sunday, 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.680 we learned that we grow better when we grow together. 0:01:13.020 --> 0:01:16.470 We asked the question, who's coaching you and who are 0:01:16.530 --> 0:01:19.590 you coaching? And if you missed those messages, you can 0:01:19.630 --> 0:01:22.270 find them on our app, our YouTube channel, our website. 0:01:22.830 --> 0:01:26.149 They're going to help you. The title of my message 0:01:26.209 --> 0:01:29.500 tonight is Be the Difference. Somebody say, Be the Difference. 0:01:30.380 --> 0:01:33.620 Turn to him and tell him, Be the Difference. So 0:01:33.660 --> 0:01:37.800 I want to start in John chapter 15 and verse 8. 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:39.860 Now you might remember the first week we walked through 0:01:39.900 --> 0:01:43.700 the vision of FX Church, we learned that God wants 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:48.010 us to know him, to help people know him, help 0:01:48.050 --> 0:01:52.270 them find freedom, help them discover their purpose, and to 0:01:52.330 --> 0:01:55.400 make a difference in this world. And so we know 0:01:55.420 --> 0:01:59.200 we know God through our experiences. We find freedom through 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.280 our groups. We discover purpose through growth track. And then 0:02:02.300 --> 0:02:05.410 we mentioned that we make a difference by joining the 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:09.230 dream team, by serving in our church. But I'm going 0:02:09.250 --> 0:02:12.530 to amend that tonight. And I started to a couple 0:02:12.550 --> 0:02:14.230 of weeks ago and I could tell that the church 0:02:14.250 --> 0:02:16.050 didn't get it. And I just sensed in my spirit, 0:02:16.070 --> 0:02:18.169 you got to come back to that. And so I 0:02:18.210 --> 0:02:21.360 want to talk about making a difference tonight by being 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:24.160 the difference. And I want to look at John 15, 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.990 verse 8, first of all. I want to just dump 0:02:27.010 --> 0:02:29.970 this on you guys. Are you all ready? It's first Wednesday. 0:02:30.030 --> 0:02:32.690 First Wednesday, we take the governors off. Do you know 0:02:32.710 --> 0:02:36.460 what I mean by that? We just go. We just go. 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:38.340 We just give it to you. So that's what we're 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.579 going to do tonight. John 15, 8 says, when you 0:02:41.700 --> 0:02:50.340 produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. Jesus says, 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:55.090 when you produce, God wants you to produce, not just receive. 0:02:55.750 --> 0:02:58.970 He wants you to produce. And he says, when you 0:02:59.030 --> 0:03:05.430 produce much, you do some producing. And he mentions fruit here. 0:03:05.490 --> 0:03:08.850 And fruit, really another way of looking at the word 0:03:08.930 --> 0:03:14.950 fruit here is difference, impact. do a big difference. You 0:03:14.990 --> 0:03:17.529 make a big difference, man, when you're causing a big 0:03:17.770 --> 0:03:20.410 impact in the world. He says, that's when you're my 0:03:20.450 --> 0:03:23.690 true disciples. Which tells me I could be a follower 0:03:23.730 --> 0:03:26.530 of Jesus and not really be a disciple of Jesus. 0:03:28.260 --> 0:03:31.760 But Jesus wants us to be his disciples. Which is 0:03:31.780 --> 0:03:34.840 another way of saying he wants us to make a 0:03:35.100 --> 0:03:41.490 difference in this world. He wants you to use your 0:03:41.610 --> 0:03:46.490 life to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. 0:03:46.630 --> 0:03:49.250 I'm going to say that again. He wants you to 0:03:49.500 --> 0:03:54.620 use your life to make an eternal difference. Somebody say eternal. 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:59.460 Because the best way to make a difference is to 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:05.380 help change someone's eternity. That's what separates us from what 0:04:05.420 --> 0:04:07.480 so many others do in the world. And thank God 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.140 for those that are a blessing to those in need 0:04:10.180 --> 0:04:12.610 and that are helping those in their community. But if 0:04:12.630 --> 0:04:17.250 they aren't changing their eternity, then the work is only temporary. 0:04:18.750 --> 0:04:21.500 It doesn't have the kind of impact that's really needed. 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.880 But when you're someone that's walking with God and you're 0:04:24.900 --> 0:04:27.400 allowing God to use you to make a difference in 0:04:27.460 --> 0:04:32.300 somebody else's life, well, you're helping change someone's eternity. And 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:34.540 that's what God wants. He wants you to use your 0:04:34.580 --> 0:04:38.849 life to make an eternal difference in the lives of others. 0:04:39.140 --> 0:04:41.169 And the best way to do that is seen in 0:04:41.190 --> 0:04:45.510 Matthew chapter 5 and verse 16. We get more information 0:04:45.570 --> 0:04:50.270 about that when he says here, let your light so 0:04:50.410 --> 0:04:56.570 shine before men that they may see your good works 0:04:57.270 --> 0:05:00.729 and glorify your father in heaven now here's Jesus talking 0:05:00.770 --> 0:05:02.770 again and if you were to back up a couple 0:05:02.790 --> 0:05:04.810 scriptures he says you're the light of the world you're 0:05:05.150 --> 0:05:07.369 the city that's set on the hill you're the salt 0:05:07.390 --> 0:05:09.909 that shouldn't lose its saber then he sums it up 0:05:09.950 --> 0:05:12.359 by saying what God really wants from us that he 0:05:12.390 --> 0:05:17.200 wants us to let our light shine somebody say shine 0:05:17.850 --> 0:05:21.290 Turn to him and tell him, shine, baby, shine. That's 0:05:21.330 --> 0:05:23.600 what God wants. God wants you to shine, baby, shine. 0:05:23.620 --> 0:05:26.240 Put that in the comments, FX online. He wants you 0:05:26.260 --> 0:05:30.860 to shine. But notice that he's saying here, the way 0:05:30.900 --> 0:05:33.180 you shine is really shown by the second half of 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:39.130 the scripture that they may see your good works. So 0:05:39.150 --> 0:05:42.230 let me say it this way. You let your light 0:05:42.370 --> 0:05:49.480 shine by what you do. You let your light shine 0:05:49.540 --> 0:05:54.520 by what you actually do. He says when you are 0:05:54.580 --> 0:05:58.080 an individual who's allowing your light to shine by what 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:02.990 you're doing, by the actions that you're taking, that will 0:06:03.050 --> 0:06:07.080 lead to some change. Seeing your good works and then 0:06:07.140 --> 0:06:11.000 glorifying God in heaven. In other words, that individual will 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:15.000 now have their eternity saved, changed. They, you will once 0:06:15.060 --> 0:06:21.110 again have changed their, impacted their eternity by what you 0:06:21.190 --> 0:06:24.010 have done. You will have made a difference. But I 0:06:24.029 --> 0:06:26.290 could go a step farther and say you will have 0:06:26.470 --> 0:06:29.520 been the difference. Now I want to show you something here. 0:06:29.540 --> 0:06:31.040 I know we got some items. We can bring those 0:06:31.100 --> 0:06:38.510 out here for me. If this room... were completely dark, okay? 0:06:38.550 --> 0:06:44.030 They were completely dark, right? And then I had this flashlight, 0:06:44.070 --> 0:06:47.470 and I turned it on, right? Well, you know what? 0:06:47.529 --> 0:06:51.880 I'm not going to say, well, you know, how much 0:06:51.980 --> 0:06:55.200 darkness does it take to turn the light off? Why? 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.440 Darkness can't turn the light off. And one of the 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.410 things that Jesus never told us to do was to 0:07:03.470 --> 0:07:09.080 complain about the darkness. He never told us to, you know, 0:07:09.140 --> 0:07:12.120 spend our time talking about how dark it is, right? 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.620 He said, let your light shine. And the problem is 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:20.260 we're really good at identifying darkness. You know, we know 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.320 what's wrong with our city. We know what's wrong with 0:07:22.380 --> 0:07:24.720 our schools. We know what's wrong with our families. We 0:07:24.740 --> 0:07:27.220 know what's wrong with our industry. We know what's wrong 0:07:27.540 --> 0:07:31.770 with this generation. But Jesus didn't say, talk about the darkness. 0:07:32.650 --> 0:07:36.710 He said, let your light shine. In other words, he's 0:07:36.770 --> 0:07:39.790 telling you that you need to not just talk about 0:07:39.830 --> 0:07:43.570 the darkness, you need to be the difference that changes 0:07:43.690 --> 0:07:49.940 the darkness. And today I want to show you six 0:07:50.020 --> 0:07:53.940 ways you can do that. Six ways you can be 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:57.380 the difference. Six ways you can be the light that 0:07:57.540 --> 0:08:03.930 actually helps someone's eternity change. And before I dive into them, 0:08:03.970 --> 0:08:08.980 let me say this. Because for years at FX Church, 0:08:09.060 --> 0:08:13.200 we've said, make a difference by joining a dream team. 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:18.660 And absolutely, you should serve, right? You should serve in 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:20.780 your local church that's needed. We'll talk a little bit 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.040 more about that in a minute. But making a difference 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.880 is bigger than what happens when you put an FX 0:08:27.940 --> 0:08:34.540 Dream Team shirt on. It's actually a way of life. See, 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.160 that affects, we don't want you to just join a team. 0:08:37.220 --> 0:08:41.660 We want you to be the difference everywhere you go. 0:08:43.350 --> 0:08:44.870 If I were to grab one of these guys here 0:08:45.230 --> 0:08:47.570 and I were to ask, okay, which team do you 0:08:47.610 --> 0:08:49.230 serve on in the church? And they were to say, 0:08:49.309 --> 0:08:51.429 I serve on the parking lot team. I wouldn't want 0:08:51.470 --> 0:08:53.650 that person to think, well, you know what? I'm on 0:08:53.690 --> 0:08:58.800 the parking team, so I'm making a difference. Check. No, wait, wait, wait. No, 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:01.370 serving on the dream team is one of the ways 0:09:01.410 --> 0:09:03.870 that you make a difference, but they should be thinking, 0:09:04.210 --> 0:09:09.410 I'm becoming a person who's being the difference everywhere I go. 0:09:10.770 --> 0:09:13.809 It's starting with me serving on the dream team. That's 0:09:13.870 --> 0:09:16.670 where I start to make a difference, but that doesn't 0:09:16.730 --> 0:09:19.630 stop at FX Church. God hasn't just called you to 0:09:19.670 --> 0:09:21.980 make a difference at church. He's called you to make 0:09:22.020 --> 0:09:24.620 a difference everywhere that you go. He says you are 0:09:24.660 --> 0:09:29.080 the light of the world, not the light of your church. right? 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:33.040 And so God wants you to make a difference by 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:39.020 being a difference everywhere you go. So what does that 0:09:39.059 --> 0:09:40.600 look like? What is it like to be the difference? 0:09:40.620 --> 0:09:42.300 I'm going to give you six things, and go ahead 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:47.090 and just bring the whole thing up. Number one, somebody say, 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:54.689 be the difference. Number one, pray for someone. Pray for someone. 0:09:54.990 --> 0:09:56.630 First time with each other, two verse one says this, 0:09:56.929 --> 0:10:00.150 therefore I exhort first of all, And you say, he 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.820 says first of all because this is the beginning of 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.060 Paul's letter to Timothy he's talking to him about the 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:11.260 things that he should be preaching to those under him 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:13.040 and so the first thing he really wants to talk 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:18.959 about is prayer because prayer is important prayer is impactful 0:10:20.710 --> 0:10:26.979 First of all, that's supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of 0:10:27.020 --> 0:10:31.380 things be made for all men. Well, intercession, that's the 0:10:31.420 --> 0:10:34.400 type of prayer. You're standing in the gap for someone 0:10:34.420 --> 0:10:38.050 so judgment doesn't come to them. Supplication, that's a heartfelt, 0:10:38.190 --> 0:10:41.010 earnest prayer that you pray on behalf of another person. 0:10:41.740 --> 0:10:44.820 petitions is also a type of prayer you can pray 0:10:44.860 --> 0:10:50.040 for other people clearly he's telling us pray for people 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.430 and notice that he's not talking about praying for yourself 0:10:54.550 --> 0:10:57.189 now there's nothing wrong with praying for yourself but his 0:10:57.290 --> 0:11:00.709 focus here what he's telling Timothy to teach his church 0:11:01.090 --> 0:11:03.770 or the churches under him is that we ought to 0:11:04.100 --> 0:11:09.430 make prayers on behalf of others not just ourselves that 0:11:10.290 --> 0:11:13.750 we should be using our faith on someone else's behalf. 0:11:15.250 --> 0:11:18.130 If you look at James chapter 5 verse 16, he 0:11:18.190 --> 0:11:21.120 says here, in fact even before I read that out, 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:24.780 let's talk about this. Think about the people you pass 0:11:24.980 --> 0:11:28.920 every week. Maybe the person in the cubicle or the 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:33.470 office next to you. or the guy that cuts your hair, 0:11:33.550 --> 0:11:36.179 or the woman that does your hair, or the parent 0:11:36.220 --> 0:11:39.160 that sits next to you at your kid's game, or 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.640 the person who always seems fine when you see them 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:46.990 at church. But the thing is, you don't always know 0:11:47.750 --> 0:11:52.270 what they went home to last night. You don't always 0:11:52.350 --> 0:11:55.430 know what phone call they got. You don't always know 0:11:55.870 --> 0:11:58.210 what they're afraid of. You don't always know what they're 0:11:58.250 --> 0:12:00.830 going through. And you might just be the only person 0:12:00.850 --> 0:12:03.270 in the world who knows God well enough to pray 0:12:03.350 --> 0:12:08.150 for them. And that's what God expects us to do, 0:12:08.490 --> 0:12:12.470 to pray one for another. In fact, what if instead 0:12:12.490 --> 0:12:15.410 of you telling people, I will pray for you, you say, 0:12:15.580 --> 0:12:19.250 let me pray for you right now. And take 10, 0:12:19.250 --> 0:12:22.250 15 seconds and pray for them in that moment when 0:12:22.270 --> 0:12:24.770 you know something is going on with them. Because this 0:12:24.850 --> 0:12:27.369 is something that we are tasked to do. This is 0:12:27.410 --> 0:12:30.850 what Christians are supposed to do, is pray one for another. 0:12:31.030 --> 0:12:32.630 This is one of the ways that we can be 0:12:32.690 --> 0:12:36.780 the difference in the lives of those people. Now, James 5, 0:12:36.780 --> 0:12:40.750 16 says this, confess your trespasses to one another and 0:12:40.950 --> 0:12:44.720 pray for one another. There it is. It's another scripture 0:12:44.740 --> 0:12:47.250 that says we should be praying for each other. that 0:12:47.290 --> 0:12:52.740 you may be healed. Whoa, so my prayers for my brother, 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:57.160 my sister, my barber, my colleague, whoever it is, can 0:12:57.380 --> 0:13:02.670 actually bring about a supernatural result? Because that's what he's 0:13:02.690 --> 0:13:05.630 talking about. He's talking about supernatural healing. I pray for 0:13:05.690 --> 0:13:07.910 you and you get healed because I prayed for you. 0:13:09.190 --> 0:13:11.050 I shared with you about a church that I heard 0:13:11.090 --> 0:13:12.929 about a number of years ago. Brother Higgins talked about 0:13:12.970 --> 0:13:15.330 he visited churches and preached there all the time, and 0:13:15.350 --> 0:13:16.989 he said there was a church that he went to 0:13:17.210 --> 0:13:21.240 where nobody died early, no one, after 20-something years. And 0:13:21.270 --> 0:13:23.910 he asked the pastor, what's the secret? And the pastor said, 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.880 anytime the church finds out somebody is really sick, they 0:13:26.900 --> 0:13:29.059 book up all the prayer rooms, they jump on it 0:13:29.100 --> 0:13:31.840 in prayer, and the person is always healed within three days. 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:36.780 So the church prayed in the healing of its members. 0:13:37.290 --> 0:13:38.950 And we should be doing the same thing. Anybody agree 0:13:38.970 --> 0:13:40.870 with me on that? I mean, we ought to be 0:13:40.910 --> 0:13:43.689 doing that. And so you can see that, man, when 0:13:43.790 --> 0:13:48.079 I pray for someone else, it has impact. It makes 0:13:48.140 --> 0:13:51.660 a difference. The scripture ends by saying, the effect of 0:13:51.780 --> 0:13:57.840 fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. The words 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:01.869 avail means to be a force. One translation says it 0:14:01.910 --> 0:14:07.160 makes tremendous difference. power available. So when I pray for 0:14:07.260 --> 0:14:11.300 you and you pray for me, we release power in 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.910 the realm of the Spirit, and that power changes things. 0:14:15.620 --> 0:14:19.330 That power makes a difference. What are you saying? Your 0:14:19.410 --> 0:14:23.290 prayers for people can really make a difference in their lives, 0:14:23.530 --> 0:14:25.370 and this is one of the ways we should be 0:14:25.450 --> 0:14:28.690 the difference. We should be praying for one another. We 0:14:28.730 --> 0:14:32.980 shouldn't just let people suffer. When we know something's going on, 0:14:33.020 --> 0:14:34.640 we ought to get in our prayer closet just like 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.100 that church did that I told you about, and we 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.380 ought to pray for them because when we do that, 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:43.700 we make a difference in their lives. Some people will 0:14:43.740 --> 0:14:46.880 live because you prayed for them. Some people will be 0:14:46.900 --> 0:14:49.880 healed because you pray for them. Some people will avoid 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.440 making the biggest mistake of their lives because you pray 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.680 for them. Be the difference by praying for the people 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:59.660 around you rather than just asking people to pray for you. Now, 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:01.109 I'm preaching better than y'all saying amen tonight, but I'm 0:15:01.130 --> 0:15:04.150 going to preach anyway because I got something to give you, man. 0:15:04.170 --> 0:15:07.620 This is really what a true disciple looks like. What 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.000 does a mature Christian look like? What is it that 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.560 God created this church to produce? This is what he 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.400 created the church to produce. When you reach this point, 0:15:16.620 --> 0:15:19.380 we know we got the job done. You're somebody that's 0:15:19.420 --> 0:15:22.270 producing much fruit. You're somebody that's a light to the world. 0:15:22.410 --> 0:15:25.130 You're somebody that's being a difference, man, and so making 0:15:25.170 --> 0:15:27.430 a difference in this world. And one of the ways 0:15:27.470 --> 0:15:29.650 you do that is by praying for someone. Somebody say, 0:15:29.690 --> 0:15:36.460 pray for someone. Number two, serve someone. John 13, verse 0:15:36.460 --> 0:15:39.260 14 and 15. Now here in John chapter 13 and 0:15:39.300 --> 0:15:44.290 verse 14 and 15, we find Jesus now teaching about 0:15:44.330 --> 0:15:48.870 what he just finished doing. He just finished washing the 0:15:49.010 --> 0:15:53.510 feet of his disciples. And if you think about that, 0:15:53.550 --> 0:16:00.880 that's remarkable. He is the master. He is the messiah 0:16:00.900 --> 0:16:04.500 of He is the Son of God, and he gets 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:08.340 on his knees, gets some water, gets a towel, and 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:14.560 washes the dirty feet of his disciples. And it says 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:18.090 something to them. Then he explains it in verse 14. 0:16:18.090 --> 0:16:22.310 He says, you call me teacher and Lord, and you say, well, 0:16:22.390 --> 0:16:25.850 for so I am. If I then your Lord and 0:16:25.950 --> 0:16:30.810 teacher have washed your feet, You also ought to wash 0:16:30.970 --> 0:16:35.970 one another's feet. He said, man, I am your master. 0:16:37.050 --> 0:16:40.290 I am your teacher. And I got on my knees 0:16:40.350 --> 0:16:44.240 and washed your dirty feet. I served you. You ought 0:16:44.270 --> 0:16:46.960 to serve one another. And his number of scriptures say 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.060 that very same thing, that one of the things we 0:16:49.100 --> 0:16:52.280 should be doing is serving each other. In fact, Jesus 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:55.320 said elsewhere, if you want to be the greatest among you, 0:16:55.580 --> 0:16:59.420 then be the servant among you. right? It's the servants 0:16:59.470 --> 0:17:01.530 that are the greatest. It's the servants that are the 0:17:01.590 --> 0:17:04.369 most mature. The person that wants to be served all 0:17:04.410 --> 0:17:07.389 the time still has some growing up to do. The 0:17:07.430 --> 0:17:09.669 person that is willing to get on their knees and 0:17:09.790 --> 0:17:13.450 serve somebody else, that's someone that's being a difference. They're 0:17:13.470 --> 0:17:16.350 making a difference in somebody else's life, and that's what 0:17:16.390 --> 0:17:18.689 God wants us to do. You know, I remember when 0:17:18.730 --> 0:17:20.810 I was in high school, and you know, John might 0:17:20.830 --> 0:17:22.590 remember this because we went to the same high school. 0:17:22.609 --> 0:17:26.570 We were part of the same foot washing ceremony. We 0:17:26.609 --> 0:17:30.750 were sophomores, maybe freshmen, and I had never seen this 0:17:30.790 --> 0:17:33.310 before in my life. I grew up in church, okay? 0:17:33.770 --> 0:17:36.730 I was the pastor's son, but when they said we're 0:17:36.750 --> 0:17:39.280 going to do a foot washing ceremony, I got nervous. 0:17:39.710 --> 0:17:42.580 You're going to do what? Y'all about to be washing 0:17:42.619 --> 0:17:44.660 my feet, and I got to wash somebody else's feet? 0:17:44.700 --> 0:17:47.219 But you know, I never forgot it. There were some 0:17:47.260 --> 0:17:50.970 pretty impactful things that happened in that time. Just 14 0:17:50.970 --> 0:17:54.100 and 15 year old kids washing each other's feet. I 0:17:54.100 --> 0:17:55.960 don't want to say it broke something in you, but 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.840 maybe it did. Maybe it broke a little bit of 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.520 pride off of you. Help kind of help you to 0:18:01.580 --> 0:18:05.420 see that I'm here to serve, not to be served. 0:18:07.420 --> 0:18:09.669 And sometimes we have the wrong attitude about church. We 0:18:09.710 --> 0:18:12.350 come to church thinking I'm here to be served. And 0:18:12.410 --> 0:18:14.409 at first, yes, we got to reach you. We're going 0:18:14.430 --> 0:18:16.169 to help you to get free from some things. We 0:18:16.190 --> 0:18:18.570 help you figure out your purpose. But ultimately, we're just 0:18:18.590 --> 0:18:19.930 trying to get you to the place that you should 0:18:19.950 --> 0:18:23.159 have been all along, which is a place of serving. 0:18:23.980 --> 0:18:27.220 We're trying to get you promoted to the place of serving. 0:18:28.540 --> 0:18:30.719 And that's what the Bible says, that man, we ought 0:18:30.740 --> 0:18:35.179 to serve one another just like Jesus did. You see, 0:18:35.190 --> 0:18:37.010 part of the problem we have in church is that 0:18:37.050 --> 0:18:39.770 everybody wants the microphone, but not everybody wants the towel. 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:44.720 Some people pick the microphone, but Jesus picked the towel. 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:48.060 You got to learn to pick the towel. We think 0:18:48.100 --> 0:18:52.850 making a difference requires a microphone, a title, a following, right? 0:18:53.070 --> 0:18:56.090 A platform. But Jesus showed us that sometimes making a 0:18:56.150 --> 0:18:58.950 difference looks like noticing something that needs to be done 0:18:58.990 --> 0:19:01.890 and picking up a towel and making it happen, right? 0:19:02.070 --> 0:19:04.229 That's really what we need to do. And, you know, 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:06.159 here at FX Church, even today, and of course on 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:08.240 our weekend, you know, we have people that are serving 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:10.800 all the time. This is our dream team. And so 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:13.399 somebody shows up at the church and somebody gives them 0:19:13.420 --> 0:19:16.290 direction in the parking lot. Somebody opened a door for 0:19:16.330 --> 0:19:20.250 those people. Somebody checked those kids in. Somebody taught those kids. 0:19:20.650 --> 0:19:24.570 Somebody went ahead and helped someone find a seat. Somebody 0:19:24.609 --> 0:19:27.490 got behind the camera so that people online and people 0:19:27.530 --> 0:19:31.090 later on could hear the message. Nobody may know their name, 0:19:31.130 --> 0:19:35.080 but somebody's life is different because someone grabbed the towel. 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.760 Somebody chose to serve. So you don't need a platform 0:19:40.140 --> 0:19:42.790 to be the difference. Sometimes you just need a towel. 0:19:43.510 --> 0:19:46.130 Sometimes you just need to use your hands and your feet. 0:19:46.170 --> 0:19:48.590 That's really what God wants. He wants to use your hands. 0:19:48.630 --> 0:19:50.550 He wants to use your feet. He wants to use 0:19:50.570 --> 0:19:53.450 your mouth to bless the lives of those around you. 0:19:54.130 --> 0:19:56.909 He actually wants you to use the gifts He gave 0:19:56.970 --> 0:20:00.450 you to serve someone. And that's what 1 Peter 4 0:20:00.450 --> 0:20:02.910 10 says. It says, God has given each of you 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:08.100 a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. So 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:10.040 all of us have different gifts. Some of us have 0:20:10.060 --> 0:20:13.020 a compassion gift. Some of us have a gift to teach. 0:20:13.300 --> 0:20:15.200 Some of us have a gift to lead. Some of 0:20:15.220 --> 0:20:18.700 us have a gift to give. I mean, we all 0:20:18.740 --> 0:20:21.470 have different gifts that God has given us, but God 0:20:21.490 --> 0:20:23.909 didn't give you these gifts, these abilities that you use 0:20:23.990 --> 0:20:25.890 often in the workplace as well as in your church 0:20:26.270 --> 0:20:29.050 for you. He gave them to you so you could 0:20:29.210 --> 0:20:33.330 use them to serve others. God made you a servant. 0:20:35.330 --> 0:20:38.980 And maybe some of us have been AWOL We haven't 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:42.140 shown up for our assignment, and it's time to start serving. 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:45.820 And that's where I would say, hey, start making a 0:20:45.859 --> 0:20:49.810 difference by getting on the dream team, by beginning to 0:20:49.869 --> 0:20:52.470 serve in your church and beginning to serve in your community. 0:20:52.730 --> 0:20:55.609 Pick up the towel and let God use you to 0:20:55.750 --> 0:21:00.640 be the difference in someone's life. You never know how 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.459 somebody can come to church and how they could be 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:05.960 close to ending their life and someone meets them, greets 0:21:05.980 --> 0:21:07.580 them with a smile and gives them a hug and 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:10.449 ends up changing their mind. And I've heard stories like that. 0:21:10.460 --> 0:21:13.030 I've been in church my whole life. I've heard stories 0:21:13.090 --> 0:21:15.169 like that of people. I came to church for the 0:21:15.210 --> 0:21:18.130 last time. I just said, if nothing happens today, then 0:21:18.270 --> 0:21:19.970 that's it. I'm going to end my life. And then 0:21:20.130 --> 0:21:22.470 they meet somebody at church and that person doesn't do much. 0:21:22.490 --> 0:21:24.290 They just pick up the towel and they end up 0:21:24.330 --> 0:21:27.070 turning around and living for Jesus and having an impact 0:21:27.090 --> 0:21:29.109 for the rest of their life. You just don't know. 0:21:30.140 --> 0:21:31.660 This is one of the ways you be the difference. 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:34.640 That's why you don't take it lightly when God has 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:40.890 honored you with the opportunity to serve. Today I get 0:21:40.930 --> 0:21:43.690 to make a difference in somebody's life. Today I get 0:21:43.730 --> 0:21:47.989 to be the difference. Somebody say, be the difference. All right, 0:21:48.010 --> 0:21:52.440 number three. How do I be the difference? There's six ways. 0:21:53.500 --> 0:22:01.310 Number three, reach someone. Reach someone. Mark 5, 19, we 0:22:01.350 --> 0:22:04.130 talked a little bit about this recently. Jesus has now 0:22:04.330 --> 0:22:07.780 saved a man who was possessed with a legion of 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:11.659 demon spirits. The man was possessed with what appears to 0:22:11.700 --> 0:22:19.000 be 666 demons. And he was someone who had demonic power, 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:23.240 someone that would cut himself, you know, because cutting, that's demonic. 0:22:23.380 --> 0:22:27.060 That's been driven by demon spirits. That's not godly. Let's 0:22:27.100 --> 0:22:28.840 mention that to somebody in here just so you know 0:22:28.859 --> 0:22:32.180 that ain't good. So just believe God to get you free. 0:22:33.940 --> 0:22:36.030 This is a man who was wailing. He was living 0:22:36.070 --> 0:22:38.889 among the tombs. I mean, you name it. And Jesus 0:22:38.950 --> 0:22:40.570 saved him. Now, I don't know about you. I didn't 0:22:40.630 --> 0:22:42.910 have those issues, but I had some things Jesus saved 0:22:42.930 --> 0:22:45.930 me from. Anybody else agree? Amen. Some of you say, well, 0:22:45.990 --> 0:22:48.070 I did have those issues. Well, thank God Jesus saved 0:22:48.109 --> 0:22:51.810 you too, right? No, I'm being silly. But notice that 0:22:52.290 --> 0:22:54.780 he's saved. And so what does he want to do? Well, 0:22:54.920 --> 0:22:58.420 verse 19, the Bible says Jesus did not permit him. 0:22:58.480 --> 0:22:59.980 Permit him to do what? He wanted to just travel 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:02.719 with Jesus. He said, man, you set me free. I'm 0:23:02.740 --> 0:23:05.820 staying with you. But Jesus said no. It's one of 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:07.640 the only places in the Bible that I found where 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:11.260 Jesus told somebody no. Why? He has a higher mission 0:23:11.280 --> 0:23:14.320 for this man. Some of us, we were thinking, man, 0:23:14.340 --> 0:23:16.200 I would love to go to heaven right now. Come on, Jesus. 0:23:16.220 --> 0:23:19.280 Let me just go home. I'm tired of this nasty world. 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:22.420 I'm tired of all this stuff. I want to go home. 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:27.810 And his answer is no. Why? Same reason. Go home 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:32.050 to your friends and tell them what great things the 0:23:32.109 --> 0:23:35.190 Lord has done for you and how he has had 0:23:35.270 --> 0:23:38.770 compassion on you. Well, he says, go home to your friends. 0:23:38.790 --> 0:23:40.840 If you said it in original Greek, the word is oikos. 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:45.280 It means your family and your friends. Tell them what 0:23:45.340 --> 0:23:48.600 I did for you. Well, notice what happened. Jesus saved 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:51.460 this man and then he immediately started thinking about that 0:23:51.520 --> 0:23:55.310 man's friends and family. He got him saved, but now 0:23:55.330 --> 0:23:58.010 he's not saying, all right, that's good. Yeah, that's good. 0:23:58.090 --> 0:24:00.409 But he's immediately thinking, all right, now I want to 0:24:00.450 --> 0:24:02.780 reach his family and friends. And this man is the 0:24:02.880 --> 0:24:06.060 one that is the key to reaching them. Right. And 0:24:06.119 --> 0:24:10.860 so he sends this man on a mission to go 0:24:10.940 --> 0:24:14.350 tell them what Jesus did for him. Just him showing 0:24:14.430 --> 0:24:17.200 up is going to say a lot. He started telling 0:24:17.220 --> 0:24:19.200 people what Jesus did. That's going to lead to somebody 0:24:19.280 --> 0:24:21.880 seeing the truth about Jesus, and that's what he did. 0:24:21.920 --> 0:24:24.659 If we read any scripture, he went throughout Decapolis telling 0:24:24.680 --> 0:24:26.790 people about what Jesus did for him, and people marveled, 0:24:26.810 --> 0:24:30.390 which means most likely people begin to believe in Jesus. Well, 0:24:30.410 --> 0:24:33.409 this is not just something that God did with this man. 0:24:33.430 --> 0:24:35.150 This is a picture of what God has really done 0:24:35.170 --> 0:24:36.970 with all of us. In fact, if I took you 0:24:36.990 --> 0:24:39.790 to John 1, you'd see there that God used family 0:24:39.830 --> 0:24:45.419 members to bring other family members to Jesus. God has 0:24:45.480 --> 0:24:50.120 put you in the lives of some people so that 0:24:50.220 --> 0:24:58.399 he can use you to reach them. Period. He strategically 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:02.880 puts you in their lives so you can point them 0:25:03.410 --> 0:25:07.070 to Jesus. Here at FX, we've been calling that person 0:25:07.430 --> 0:25:12.550 your next. The next person God has placed in your 0:25:12.609 --> 0:25:18.830 life To experience Jesus through you. Because there is somebody 0:25:18.970 --> 0:25:22.470 else that he's put in your life that he's thinking about. 0:25:23.270 --> 0:25:27.870 He saved you, delivered you, teaching you. He loves you. 0:25:28.710 --> 0:25:31.369 But now he's thinking about them and he realizes the 0:25:31.410 --> 0:25:34.650 way to get to them is through you. That he 0:25:34.690 --> 0:25:37.129 needs you to be a worker together with him. He 0:25:37.190 --> 0:25:39.700 needs you to work arm in arm with him to 0:25:39.820 --> 0:25:43.690 reach those individuals. You know, if I had to have 0:25:43.710 --> 0:25:48.139 an empty chair up here, right? So this chair represents 0:25:48.220 --> 0:25:52.020 somebody who isn't here yet. So they don't know the 0:25:52.080 --> 0:25:55.530 songs that we sing, right? They don't know where to part. 0:25:56.710 --> 0:25:59.830 They may not even know what they believe about God yet, 0:25:59.930 --> 0:26:05.869 but you know them, right? You know them. So the 0:26:05.930 --> 0:26:09.720 question is, who is missing from this chair because you 0:26:09.780 --> 0:26:13.720 haven't gotten them here? Who is missing from this chair 0:26:14.000 --> 0:26:17.419 because you haven't invited them? Because Jesus has given you 0:26:17.480 --> 0:26:20.940 the same task he gave this man. Now, it might 0:26:20.980 --> 0:26:24.020 be a particular family member. It might be a particular friend. 0:26:24.200 --> 0:26:26.869 But I guarantee there's somebody in your life that Jesus 0:26:26.940 --> 0:26:29.389 is pointing you to and saying, I need you to 0:26:29.450 --> 0:26:32.290 get them in this chair. I need you to reach them. 0:26:33.890 --> 0:26:36.820 If you look at Luke chapter 15 and verse 4, 0:26:36.820 --> 0:26:40.300 the Bible says this, Jesus is talking about, talking to 0:26:40.859 --> 0:26:44.560 sinners and publicans, and actually he's talking to religious folk 0:26:44.580 --> 0:26:47.850 who had a problem with him talking to sinners and publicans. 0:26:48.119 --> 0:26:51.510 So he explains why he spends his time preaching to sinners. 0:26:52.670 --> 0:26:55.470 And he tells the story about a shepherd. He says, 0:26:55.530 --> 0:26:59.350 what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he 0:26:59.410 --> 0:27:03.730 loses one of them, somebody say one, if he loses 0:27:04.100 --> 0:27:08.179 one of them, does not leave the 99 in the 0:27:08.260 --> 0:27:12.080 wilderness and go after the one which is lost until 0:27:12.140 --> 0:27:15.360 he finds it. I want you to notice that the 0:27:15.440 --> 0:27:22.760 shepherd notices who's missing. He's got a hundred sheep, but 0:27:22.800 --> 0:27:25.260 he's looking around and he's saying, where, where, where? I'm missing, 0:27:25.440 --> 0:27:28.410 I'm missing one. Where, where is she? Where is she? 0:27:28.670 --> 0:27:30.949 And when he realizes she isn't here, he goes to 0:27:30.970 --> 0:27:32.750 get her. And that's really what God is saying. Man, 0:27:32.770 --> 0:27:36.810 there's somebody in your family that they're missing. And he 0:27:36.869 --> 0:27:39.980 actually wants you to notice who's missing so you can 0:27:40.000 --> 0:27:43.680 go get them and bring them into God's family. Man, 0:27:43.720 --> 0:27:45.000 you want to talk about a way to be a 0:27:45.140 --> 0:27:48.080 difference in somebody's life? Be the person God used to 0:27:48.140 --> 0:27:53.810 bring somebody to Jesus. I mean, you want to talk 0:27:53.830 --> 0:27:59.960 about changing somebody's life. Be that person. You want to 0:27:59.980 --> 0:28:03.540 talk about being fulfilled. I mentioned to you years ago 0:28:03.560 --> 0:28:05.980 when I used to go out with our soul winning 0:28:06.020 --> 0:28:09.220 attack team in Atlanta. We called it the SWAT team. 0:28:10.540 --> 0:28:12.439 And honestly, this may have happened before then, too. But 0:28:12.680 --> 0:28:16.220 I remember that going out with the SWAT team. And, 0:28:16.920 --> 0:28:19.460 you know, when you first go out to soul win, 0:28:19.520 --> 0:28:22.480 if you haven't done it before, you can have some nerve. 0:28:24.190 --> 0:28:26.050 There's a part of you that's kind of like, oh, 0:28:26.470 --> 0:28:28.170 I don't know how I feel about this. I don't 0:28:28.190 --> 0:28:30.830 even talk to people. That's my nature. By nature, I'm 0:28:30.869 --> 0:28:32.840 an introvert. I don't know why God made me a pastor, 0:28:32.880 --> 0:28:35.800 but he gave me a gift so that when I'm 0:28:35.840 --> 0:28:38.440 around you, I can be open and talk to y'all 0:28:38.480 --> 0:28:39.960 and be great. And then when I go home, I 0:28:40.000 --> 0:28:45.470 got to decompress. Don't nobody come near me. No. Okay, 0:28:45.790 --> 0:28:47.770 but by nature, I'm an introvert. So I'm not the 0:28:47.790 --> 0:28:49.390 type of person to just walk up to a stranger 0:28:49.410 --> 0:28:51.050 and start talking about. I would marvel when I see 0:28:51.070 --> 0:28:53.150 people do that. We go on our family vacations and 0:28:53.170 --> 0:28:56.430 my brother-in-law is like that. My brother, Joel Jenkins. And 0:28:56.450 --> 0:28:58.990 I don't care where we go. We could be at 0:28:59.030 --> 0:29:01.390 a restaurant. We could be in line at an amusement park. 0:29:01.670 --> 0:29:05.040 He just starts conversations. He just starts talking to people 0:29:05.460 --> 0:29:08.400 all the time and they like him. And I'll be like, 0:29:08.420 --> 0:29:09.959 I don't even know how you, I don't even want 0:29:09.980 --> 0:29:11.660 to talk to these people. How you do this all 0:29:11.680 --> 0:29:14.140 the time? Just the way he's wired, but that's not me. 0:29:15.400 --> 0:29:17.780 And so I remember when I was going out that time, 0:29:17.800 --> 0:29:20.220 and there are times before, surely the first couple times 0:29:20.300 --> 0:29:22.480 I went, you know, you feel kind of nervous, like 0:29:22.500 --> 0:29:25.200 what's going to happen here? And I remember one time 0:29:25.260 --> 0:29:27.590 going out and just going ahead and being bold and 0:29:27.620 --> 0:29:29.470 walking up to somebody and say, hey, you know, if 0:29:29.490 --> 0:29:30.970 you were to die today, you know where you would go, 0:29:31.010 --> 0:29:35.610 heaven or hell? And starting a conversation and actually leading 0:29:35.770 --> 0:29:41.170 someone to Jesus. And that moment was just it was 0:29:41.290 --> 0:29:46.820 hard to explain how fulfilling it was it was I 0:29:46.860 --> 0:29:49.170 remember because I remember this one day and it was 0:29:49.230 --> 0:29:52.460 like my eyes opened and all of a sudden I 0:29:52.480 --> 0:29:54.680 didn't just see people walking around I saw people who 0:29:54.720 --> 0:29:57.430 needed Jesus walking around And all of a sudden I 0:29:57.450 --> 0:29:59.030 became like, oh man, I got to go get some 0:29:59.050 --> 0:30:01.450 people to save us. I can't. There is something. See, 0:30:01.490 --> 0:30:05.180 we're spirit beings. And I think people miss this when 0:30:05.200 --> 0:30:09.760 they don't understand living in this world that you're a 0:30:10.100 --> 0:30:15.920 spirit being. And there are things that grieve your spirit. 0:30:17.190 --> 0:30:21.030 And there are things that fulfill your spirit. This is 0:30:21.070 --> 0:30:25.969 why you can do something that gratifies your flesh. and 0:30:26.040 --> 0:30:31.000 grieve your spirit, and you feel worse afterwards. You finally 0:30:31.040 --> 0:30:33.710 got that girl in bed, and after you did it, 0:30:33.720 --> 0:30:38.200 you feel like, well, I feel so bad, because you're 0:30:38.220 --> 0:30:41.180 a spirit being. It's like people who don't know God, 0:30:41.200 --> 0:30:44.210 they can get the whole world, and yet there's something missing. 0:30:44.410 --> 0:30:45.690 I was thinking the other day about one of the 0:30:45.730 --> 0:30:47.970 NFL players that won the Super Bowl a couple years ago, 0:30:48.270 --> 0:30:50.230 and then he came out publicly and said, you know, 0:30:50.530 --> 0:30:54.100 that there really wasn't all that. He was like, I 0:30:54.140 --> 0:30:55.740 kind of thought that when I went to the Super Bowl, 0:30:55.800 --> 0:30:58.980 I would feel differently, but I don't really feel, you know, 0:30:59.100 --> 0:31:01.540 all that different. And I thought, man, somebody, this is 0:31:01.560 --> 0:31:04.640 the perfect time for somebody to go and tell him 0:31:04.680 --> 0:31:07.880 what the real Super Bowl is. Because if you got 0:31:07.920 --> 0:31:11.310 him and then you win the Super Bowl, if you 0:31:11.330 --> 0:31:13.570 don't have him, the Super Bowl is not going to 0:31:13.590 --> 0:31:17.420 fill that gap. There's something about a spirit being that 0:31:17.850 --> 0:31:20.890 you need to be gratified. The things that help you 0:31:20.930 --> 0:31:23.070 feel fulfilled. And man, when you're talking about reaching somebody 0:31:23.090 --> 0:31:24.490 for Jesus, it's one of the best things you could 0:31:24.530 --> 0:31:27.390 ever do. You want to talk about feeling good. You 0:31:27.430 --> 0:31:29.950 want to talk about God rejoicing and you rejoicing and 0:31:29.990 --> 0:31:32.430 them rejoicing. That's what John chapter 4 talks about. When 0:31:32.470 --> 0:31:34.630 you actually reach them. And how about when it's somebody 0:31:34.970 --> 0:31:39.520 that is your family member? or your friend that you love, 0:31:39.860 --> 0:31:42.580 and you've been concerned that they're going to go to hell, 0:31:42.820 --> 0:31:45.680 and God uses you to turn your life around, and 0:31:45.740 --> 0:31:50.240 now they're serving him. And that's part of how God 0:31:50.270 --> 0:31:52.330 wants to use you. This is one of the best 0:31:52.400 --> 0:31:55.910 ways you can ever be the difference, by reaching someone, 0:31:56.990 --> 0:32:02.190 helping them to find Jesus. Number four, somebody say, be 0:32:02.230 --> 0:32:05.630 the difference. By the way, we've talked about how we 0:32:05.650 --> 0:32:07.990 can do this. We said, you know, identify who the 0:32:08.030 --> 0:32:10.370 person is that God's put on your heart. Write their 0:32:10.390 --> 0:32:14.420 name down. Pray for them because every success is a 0:32:14.450 --> 0:32:17.300 prayer of success first. Find a way to love on them. 0:32:18.000 --> 0:32:21.440 Invite them to church. Bring them to church. We even 0:32:21.480 --> 0:32:23.440 got a badge in our app. You know, you're noticing 0:32:23.740 --> 0:32:25.460 you open the app and you can see your next 0:32:25.480 --> 0:32:29.300 step spiritually. One of those is I brought somebody to church. Why? 0:32:29.320 --> 0:32:31.000 Because this is something you should be doing on a 0:32:31.040 --> 0:32:34.140 regular basis. So that's how you do that. But because 0:32:34.200 --> 0:32:37.040 your next FX isn't a number we're trying to add. 0:32:37.140 --> 0:32:40.640 It's a name. It's a person that God wants you 0:32:40.680 --> 0:32:44.280 to reach. All right, number four, coach someone. Somebody say 0:32:44.340 --> 0:32:46.860 coach someone. I don't have to spend a whole lot 0:32:46.900 --> 0:32:49.920 of time on this because I did Sunday. But first, 0:32:50.000 --> 0:32:52.180 second Timothy chapter two, verse two says this, and the 0:32:52.200 --> 0:32:54.740 things thou has heard from me among many witnesses that 0:32:55.300 --> 0:32:58.340 Commit these to faithful men who will be able to 0:32:58.400 --> 0:33:04.360 teach others also. So notice Paul is teaching Timothy. He says, 0:33:04.380 --> 0:33:07.300 what I teach you, teach other men. And then what 0:33:07.340 --> 0:33:09.980 you teach those other men, they ought to teach other men. 0:33:10.380 --> 0:33:13.720 And the idea here is, by the way, to help 0:33:13.980 --> 0:33:19.890 someone follow Jesus. First, I got to help people find Jesus, 0:33:20.510 --> 0:33:23.600 but then I need to help them follow Jesus. Let 0:33:23.640 --> 0:33:28.180 me help them take their next step. in their relationship 0:33:28.200 --> 0:33:31.190 with Jesus. In fact, Hebrews 10 verse 24 says this, 0:33:31.470 --> 0:33:34.590 and let us consider one another in order to stir 0:33:34.710 --> 0:33:37.610 up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of 0:33:37.690 --> 0:33:41.110 ourselves together as is a matter of some, but exhorting 0:33:41.270 --> 0:33:44.350 one another. And so much the more as you see 0:33:44.410 --> 0:33:47.070 the day approaching, we said it Sunday, one reason why 0:33:47.110 --> 0:33:49.790 we come together in a setting like this, or even 0:33:49.850 --> 0:33:52.670 in small groups, is that we can consider one another, 0:33:52.950 --> 0:33:55.910 we can provoke one another, we can exhort one another. 0:33:57.130 --> 0:33:58.970 There's ought to be somebody who you're paying attention to 0:33:59.010 --> 0:34:01.030 where they are spiritually, what's going on in their life, 0:34:01.330 --> 0:34:04.140 somebody that you're provoking, you're trying to push them to 0:34:04.180 --> 0:34:06.360 do the things God's called them to do, somebody that 0:34:06.380 --> 0:34:09.000 you're encouraging, keeping them going so that they're able to 0:34:09.040 --> 0:34:10.620 continue to do what God's called them to do. They 0:34:10.640 --> 0:34:13.339 can finish the work. They can finish their course. This 0:34:13.400 --> 0:34:16.299 is something we should be doing all the time. This 0:34:16.340 --> 0:34:18.980 is one of the ways that God wants you to 0:34:19.040 --> 0:34:22.049 be a blessing to others because what he gets to you, 0:34:22.110 --> 0:34:25.239 he wants to get through you. You know, and we 0:34:25.260 --> 0:34:28.259 don't pretend this is a baton in a race. And 0:34:28.320 --> 0:34:30.419 you could have run the fastest leg of your life. 0:34:30.600 --> 0:34:32.510 But if you don't hand the baton off, you lose 0:34:32.530 --> 0:34:36.330 the race. You got to hand the baton off in 0:34:36.350 --> 0:34:41.110 a relay race or I lost. And there's something wrong 0:34:41.310 --> 0:34:44.370 with God teaching you so much and then you dying 0:34:44.570 --> 0:34:48.319 and you never handed the baton off. You spent your 0:34:48.340 --> 0:34:50.420 whole life learning so much. You got so much revelation. 0:34:50.440 --> 0:34:53.980 You got books and notebooks full of notes for 10 0:34:53.980 --> 0:34:56.219 years and 20 years and 30 years, but then we 0:34:56.260 --> 0:35:02.400 can't identify anyone that you actually deposited that in. No, 0:35:02.420 --> 0:35:05.520 that's not what God wants. God wants you to be 0:35:05.540 --> 0:35:08.320 an individual that takes the things that you have heard 0:35:08.600 --> 0:35:11.819 and then you deposit that into other individuals. That's why 0:35:11.860 --> 0:35:14.030 Paul said in Hebrews chapter 5 to the church there, 0:35:14.300 --> 0:35:17.759 he said, by now you ought to be teachers. That 0:35:17.800 --> 0:35:22.750 wasn't written to preachers. That wasn't written to the reverend someone. 0:35:22.770 --> 0:35:25.969 So that was written to believers. Every believer is supposed 0:35:25.989 --> 0:35:28.830 to become a teacher. I don't mean in a classroom. 0:35:28.850 --> 0:35:32.840 I mean in life. Every believer should be coaching somebody. 0:35:33.100 --> 0:35:34.680 I've said it on Sunday. We need to be having 0:35:34.739 --> 0:35:38.339 coffee and conversations with someone all the time. There's got 0:35:38.360 --> 0:35:41.460 to be somebody that's in your life that you're helping 0:35:41.520 --> 0:35:44.060 take next steps, whether it's to know God or to 0:35:44.120 --> 0:35:46.680 find freedom or to discover their purpose or make a 0:35:46.739 --> 0:35:49.259 difference in this world. And when you do that, you 0:35:49.300 --> 0:35:52.620 help somebody go from being a new believer to a 0:35:52.680 --> 0:35:55.520 mature believer. Do you want to talk about being a difference? 0:35:56.500 --> 0:35:58.759 You helped me develop a relationship with God. I didn't 0:35:58.780 --> 0:36:00.390 know how to pray. You taught me how to pray. 0:36:01.070 --> 0:36:02.910 I didn't know how to study my Bible. You taught me. 0:36:03.840 --> 0:36:05.450 I didn't realize why I should even go to church 0:36:05.510 --> 0:36:07.430 and you helped me to see that. I couldn't get 0:36:07.530 --> 0:36:09.549 over this addiction. I couldn't stop drinking. You helped me 0:36:09.590 --> 0:36:11.969 get free from that. I couldn't stop sleeping around, but 0:36:11.989 --> 0:36:13.569 you helped me to know what to do so that 0:36:13.590 --> 0:36:16.000 I didn't live that way anymore. I couldn't stop pouring, 0:36:16.040 --> 0:36:18.020 but you showed me how to get free from that. 0:36:18.060 --> 0:36:20.140 God set you free and you helped me. I didn't 0:36:20.160 --> 0:36:22.160 know what my purpose was, but you helped me realize 0:36:22.200 --> 0:36:25.030 what that was. I wasn't doing anything to help anybody, 0:36:25.070 --> 0:36:27.250 but you came and served next to me. I wasn't 0:36:27.270 --> 0:36:29.950 doing anything in the workplace, but because you helped disciple me, 0:36:30.170 --> 0:36:33.189 now I'm a giant in my industry, and God's using 0:36:33.230 --> 0:36:35.359 me to change the world. See, this is how we're 0:36:35.390 --> 0:36:39.400 supposed to do this thing, by helping people walk closer 0:36:39.460 --> 0:36:42.400 and closer to God, by coaching them up so they 0:36:42.460 --> 0:36:44.920 are a champion for God like God has made us. 0:36:47.230 --> 0:36:49.890 I was listening to something about the lions and, you know, 0:36:49.950 --> 0:36:52.290 obviously for a long time, lions were bad, but they've 0:36:52.310 --> 0:36:54.610 been really good the last four years or so. They 0:36:54.650 --> 0:36:57.000 have a different culture. And one of the things they 0:36:57.020 --> 0:36:59.100 were saying, and I was listening to this and they 0:36:59.120 --> 0:37:00.980 were talking about how I was reading it and they're 0:37:01.000 --> 0:37:05.820 talking about how the rookies rave about the veterans. Because 0:37:05.860 --> 0:37:08.790 when you become a lion, the veterans take those rookies 0:37:09.030 --> 0:37:12.830 under their wing and teach them. They really teach them. 0:37:12.870 --> 0:37:15.290 They help them develop. And in other locker rooms, you 0:37:15.330 --> 0:37:18.120 don't see that because they're thinking in other locker rooms, 0:37:18.160 --> 0:37:20.940 this guy is going to take my job. So they 0:37:21.000 --> 0:37:23.620 purposely don't tell them what they need to know so 0:37:23.640 --> 0:37:27.140 that that person can't take their job. But in alliance culture, 0:37:27.420 --> 0:37:29.969 they are so focused on winning, they actually take the 0:37:30.010 --> 0:37:33.170 rookies and the veterans teach them what they need to 0:37:33.230 --> 0:37:37.130 know so the team can be better. Too often, our 0:37:37.210 --> 0:37:41.009 churches have been the opposite. We haven't been training people up. 0:37:41.230 --> 0:37:43.630 We want to keep our positions. We're too focused on 0:37:43.670 --> 0:37:46.510 ourselves when really we're focused on the kingdom of God 0:37:46.760 --> 0:37:49.100 and reaching our city. We ought to be grabbing that 0:37:49.140 --> 0:37:51.520 new person and training them up and teaching them the 0:37:51.560 --> 0:37:54.299 things of God and helping them to become a champion too. 0:37:55.360 --> 0:37:58.080 When you develop people, help them to be free, man, 0:37:58.120 --> 0:38:01.220 you are being the difference and you're making a difference. 0:38:02.719 --> 0:38:07.819 Number five. Let me say this, you can't coach everybody, 0:38:08.780 --> 0:38:13.170 but you can coach somebody. There's somebody you're ahead of. 0:38:14.730 --> 0:38:16.850 And so you may not be, you know, somebody's been 0:38:16.890 --> 0:38:19.710 saved 25 years, you just got saved last week. You 0:38:19.730 --> 0:38:22.839 don't need to try to coach them. Let them coach you. 0:38:23.610 --> 0:38:25.379 But even if you just got saved last week, there's 0:38:25.400 --> 0:38:27.640 probably somebody that you can at least say, come on 0:38:27.660 --> 0:38:31.239 to church with me. We've said this many times, but 0:38:31.700 --> 0:38:36.350 the kingdom of God is not selfish. It's a selfless kingdom. 0:38:37.030 --> 0:38:42.940 You realize it's not about me. It's about you. And 0:38:42.980 --> 0:38:46.879 when we're all thinking it's about you, well, we're all 0:38:46.920 --> 0:38:49.779 taken care of. And God accomplishes what he wants to 0:38:49.800 --> 0:38:52.040 accomplish in our city, in our world. And this is 0:38:52.060 --> 0:38:53.360 one of the ways that we do that. Number five. 0:38:53.760 --> 0:38:57.190 Y'all still with me? Somebody say, be the difference. We're 0:38:57.250 --> 0:39:01.110 moving along pretty well, actually. Give something. How can I 0:39:01.210 --> 0:39:05.090 be the difference in this world? By giving something. What 0:39:05.110 --> 0:39:11.020 do you mean by that? First John chapter 3 verse 17. 0:39:11.020 --> 0:39:14.700 He says, but whosoever has this world's goods and sees 0:39:14.760 --> 0:39:19.680 his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him. 0:39:20.660 --> 0:39:23.750 How does the love of God abide in him? That's 0:39:23.790 --> 0:39:29.230 a strong statement. This is my little children. Let us 0:39:29.270 --> 0:39:34.390 not love in word or in tongue, but in deed. 0:39:34.410 --> 0:39:36.660 Remember we said letting your light shine is something that 0:39:36.700 --> 0:39:41.560 you do when you do something. In deed and in truth. 0:39:41.620 --> 0:39:45.520 Not fake love, true love. What's he talking about here? 0:39:45.840 --> 0:39:49.790 Helping somebody in need? We won't read them, but in 0:39:49.810 --> 0:39:53.010 James chapter 5, chapter 2, excuse me, he talks about 0:39:53.370 --> 0:39:56.290 someone that is naked or hungry and how you don't 0:39:56.330 --> 0:39:58.299 just say to them, we'll go and be filled in 0:39:58.320 --> 0:40:01.319 the name of Jesus. He says, what has that done? 0:40:01.360 --> 0:40:03.660 That didn't help them at all. He says, faith without 0:40:03.719 --> 0:40:07.279 works is dead. And we can see examples throughout the 0:40:07.320 --> 0:40:11.820 Bible of believers helping people in need. In Acts chapter 4, 0:40:11.820 --> 0:40:13.810 the Bible talks about how the whole early church, what 0:40:13.850 --> 0:40:16.350 they were doing was those that had extra were finding 0:40:16.390 --> 0:40:18.470 those that did not have enough, and they were paying 0:40:18.530 --> 0:40:22.260 off their bills. paying off their debts. They were helping 0:40:22.300 --> 0:40:24.279 people that were in need. We read the story of 0:40:24.300 --> 0:40:26.680 the Good Samaritan, and if you know that story, you 0:40:26.719 --> 0:40:28.680 know that this man was on the road, and he 0:40:28.719 --> 0:40:31.759 was beat up by robbers, and ultimately, without getting too 0:40:31.780 --> 0:40:34.439 deep into the story, a Good Samaritan sees this man. 0:40:34.460 --> 0:40:37.660 He's half dead. He stops his day. He gets the man. 0:40:37.880 --> 0:40:40.180 He bandages the man up, puts the man on his animal, 0:40:40.500 --> 0:40:42.620 takes him into town, puts him up in what we 0:40:42.640 --> 0:40:47.580 would call a hotel room, pays for the room, and says, hey, 0:40:48.160 --> 0:40:51.180 let him stay here till he feels better, and I'll 0:40:51.200 --> 0:40:53.160 just pay the rest of the bill when I come back. 0:40:53.360 --> 0:40:57.980 He gave because this man was in need. Sometimes if 0:40:58.280 --> 0:41:02.500 we're not careful as Christians, we miss this. We've actually 0:41:02.540 --> 0:41:08.930 gotten to the place where we have been discouraged in 0:41:09.050 --> 0:41:16.279 helping people in need because of con artists. Because the 0:41:16.320 --> 0:41:19.010 thought is, well, if I give this to this person, 0:41:19.270 --> 0:41:20.830 they're going to go buy drugs. They're going to go 0:41:20.850 --> 0:41:23.549 drink alcohol. They're going to do this. They're just doing 0:41:23.570 --> 0:41:26.610 this to try to get as much money from people 0:41:26.670 --> 0:41:29.109 as they can. And yes, there are people out there 0:41:29.230 --> 0:41:31.989 like that. And I would always tell you, be led 0:41:32.070 --> 0:41:35.050 by your spirit before you give something to someone. Because 0:41:35.070 --> 0:41:37.569 the Holy Spirit knows. He can always warn you when 0:41:37.590 --> 0:41:41.780 there's a problem. But our default should be to give, 0:41:42.160 --> 0:41:46.330 not to be skeptical. There comes a place where whatever 0:41:46.390 --> 0:41:49.149 they do with the money isn't really up to you. 0:41:50.130 --> 0:41:54.920 Sometimes God gives people opportunity. And so something's put in 0:41:54.940 --> 0:41:59.540 their hands and now they can choose. But your job 0:41:59.940 --> 0:42:02.760 is to show the love of God be the difference 0:42:02.820 --> 0:42:06.169 because you'd be surprised how even just a little gift 0:42:06.230 --> 0:42:09.380 can make a difference in somebody's life. I mean, okay, 0:42:09.400 --> 0:42:11.040 we got some fake money up here. I keep saying 0:42:11.060 --> 0:42:12.120 that so y'all don't jump up here and try to 0:42:12.160 --> 0:42:14.060 take my money, but no, I'm just kidding. So we 0:42:14.080 --> 0:42:16.380 got some fake money up here, right? What do you 0:42:16.420 --> 0:42:19.779 see here? Let's say this is about $ 300, right? So 0:42:19.820 --> 0:42:25.759 what is this? Money, right? But not necessarily, because this 0:42:25.820 --> 0:42:32.410 could be somebody's groceries. This could be somebody's light bills. 0:42:33.320 --> 0:42:36.779 This could be food for somebody that's hungry. This could 0:42:36.820 --> 0:42:39.640 be used to finance a missionary to get the gospel out. 0:42:40.489 --> 0:42:43.250 This could be used to help get a camera in 0:42:43.290 --> 0:42:46.310 a church so somebody could hear about Jesus. I mean, 0:42:46.330 --> 0:42:49.750 this could, it depends on whose hand you put it in. 0:42:49.790 --> 0:42:51.690 And the Word of God has shown us that what 0:42:51.710 --> 0:42:54.460 you're supposed to do is you're supposed to be somebody 0:42:54.700 --> 0:42:57.960 that lives to give. You know, the Bible talks about 0:42:57.980 --> 0:42:59.580 it in Acts chapter 20 when Paul says to them, 0:42:59.920 --> 0:43:02.080 he says, you know, you guys have done a good 0:43:02.100 --> 0:43:05.050 job ministering to people, and you should keep ministering to people. 0:43:05.210 --> 0:43:09.650 Remember what Jesus said, it is more blessed to give 0:43:09.850 --> 0:43:13.009 than to receive. I mean, there's so many scriptures on 0:43:13.030 --> 0:43:15.180 this topic that as I started studying, I'm like, man, 0:43:15.200 --> 0:43:18.890 that's a whole message by itself. I mean, the Bible 0:43:18.910 --> 0:43:23.109 says so much about giving, particularly to people in need. 0:43:23.410 --> 0:43:25.250 So the reason why we do things like, you know, 0:43:25.270 --> 0:43:28.120 we have our clothing closet, we have first Saturday serves 0:43:28.160 --> 0:43:30.520 and other things, why we still want to do a 0:43:30.580 --> 0:43:32.400 dream center here. We just got a lot going on 0:43:32.460 --> 0:43:34.700 at FHR, but it's something we want to do. Why? 0:43:34.760 --> 0:43:38.880 Because we should be constantly being a blessing to people 0:43:38.960 --> 0:43:41.360 in need. Because when you do that, you are being 0:43:41.400 --> 0:43:46.000 a difference. God's using you to show someone the love 0:43:46.040 --> 0:43:49.719 of God. He said, let's love indeed. You're showing the 0:43:49.800 --> 0:43:52.120 love of God when you say, you know what? God 0:43:52.200 --> 0:43:53.990 loves you. I just want to be a blessing to you. 0:43:55.380 --> 0:43:57.820 You never know which time that might be the time 0:43:57.840 --> 0:44:01.469 that somebody finally sees the truth about Jesus. But you know, 0:44:01.510 --> 0:44:06.430 another way that we give something is in Philippians chapter 4. 0:44:07.310 --> 0:44:10.540 Verse 15. Now you Philippians know also. Then in the 0:44:10.560 --> 0:44:12.980 beginning of the gospel when I departed from Macedonia, let 0:44:13.000 --> 0:44:17.780 me say this before I read that. God blesses you 0:44:19.160 --> 0:44:24.069 so He can bless somebody through you. He wants you 0:44:24.150 --> 0:44:30.150 blessed to be a blessing. I know we've heard this before. 0:44:32.090 --> 0:44:34.109 But sometimes you hear it so much you don't hear 0:44:34.130 --> 0:44:42.739 it anymore. I'm blessed to be a blessing. God gets 0:44:42.840 --> 0:44:47.770 it to me so God can get it through me. 0:44:50.070 --> 0:44:54.719 Too often we get something and we immediately think God 0:44:54.760 --> 0:44:58.340 got it to me. All right, hallelujah, praise the Lord. 0:44:59.440 --> 0:45:02.870 I've been believing for that Lord. I get the paycheck. Hallelujah. 0:45:02.890 --> 0:45:06.090 I'm going to go get that television. Finally. Hallelujah. And 0:45:06.130 --> 0:45:08.450 there's nothing wrong with God blessing you. We talk about 0:45:08.469 --> 0:45:11.210 it all the time. God cares about you. He wants 0:45:11.230 --> 0:45:13.250 to give you the desires of your heart. But what 0:45:13.270 --> 0:45:15.189 he does not want you to do is lose sight 0:45:15.230 --> 0:45:20.170 of your mission. It's more blessed to give than to receive. 0:45:20.650 --> 0:45:26.010 The fun is in the giving. You make a difference 0:45:26.350 --> 0:45:31.690 in your giving. That's what we're here for. When it's 0:45:31.770 --> 0:45:33.730 all said and done, all this nice stuff, this is 0:45:33.750 --> 0:45:36.319 going to pass away. What's going to last for eternity 0:45:36.410 --> 0:45:39.700 are the people whose lives were changed because you were 0:45:39.739 --> 0:45:43.560 a blessing to them in the name of Jesus. All right, 0:45:43.640 --> 0:45:47.419 the other side of this, Philippians chapter 4, verse 15. 0:45:47.420 --> 0:45:49.460 Now you Philippians know also in the beginning of the gospel, 0:45:49.860 --> 0:45:53.089 when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated or shared 0:45:53.110 --> 0:45:56.259 with me concerning giving and receiving, but you only. For 0:45:56.340 --> 0:45:59.109 even at Thessalonica, you sent aid once and again from 0:45:59.150 --> 0:46:02.450 my necessities, not that I seek the gift, but I 0:46:02.590 --> 0:46:05.730 seek fruit that abounds to your account. What's he talking 0:46:05.750 --> 0:46:09.930 about here? This church was giving to help the gospel 0:46:09.950 --> 0:46:15.239 get out. They were funding the mission. When we say, hey, 0:46:15.480 --> 0:46:17.640 you ought to give something, we're saying you ought to 0:46:17.700 --> 0:46:22.000 either meet a need or fund the mission, or maybe both. 0:46:22.760 --> 0:46:25.819 Because your giving that goes to helping people hear about 0:46:25.900 --> 0:46:31.419 Jesus is absolutely making an eternal difference in somebody's life. 0:46:31.460 --> 0:46:34.370 The Bible says the Word of God is the power 0:46:34.410 --> 0:46:37.430 of God unto salvation. The best thing you can ever 0:46:37.469 --> 0:46:40.170 do for anybody is get them the Word. Get them 0:46:40.190 --> 0:46:42.969 to hear the truth about Jesus. When they get to 0:46:43.030 --> 0:46:45.350 hear about Jesus, they are in a position where they 0:46:45.390 --> 0:46:49.529 can really see spiritually, who they are, where they are, 0:46:49.590 --> 0:46:51.590 what they need, and they can make the most important 0:46:51.610 --> 0:46:54.589 decision of their life. And so Paul noticed here that 0:46:54.630 --> 0:46:58.210 this church was giving and giving and giving, and their 0:46:58.290 --> 0:47:02.630 giving was actually helping other people in other cities find Jesus. 0:47:03.350 --> 0:47:06.730 He mentions Thessalonica here. There were others. They're giving into 0:47:06.810 --> 0:47:10.299 his ministry. Why? Because they're funding the preaching of the gospel. 0:47:11.100 --> 0:47:13.900 And so people in Thessalonica got to meet Jesus. We 0:47:13.940 --> 0:47:16.480 have a whole two books, first and second Thessalonians, that 0:47:16.540 --> 0:47:19.740 are a result of the people of Philippi giving into 0:47:19.780 --> 0:47:24.600 that ministry. Right? And so, you know, when you fund 0:47:24.719 --> 0:47:30.339 the gospel, you help change people's eternities. In fact, when 0:47:30.380 --> 0:47:35.299 you fund the gospel, you participate in every life it changes. 0:47:36.610 --> 0:47:38.650 And that's what Paul talks about. I want this to 0:47:38.690 --> 0:47:43.140 abound to your account. I want you to have reward 0:47:43.180 --> 0:47:46.250 in heaven because you were allowing God to use you 0:47:46.290 --> 0:47:49.049 to help get the gospel message out. And so one 0:47:49.110 --> 0:47:51.089 of the things that God will do is He'll get 0:47:51.150 --> 0:47:53.029 more money to you so He can get more money 0:47:53.070 --> 0:47:55.129 through you. He'll give you the wealth of the world 0:47:55.150 --> 0:47:56.910 so you can help reach the world. This is one 0:47:56.950 --> 0:47:59.009 of the ways that you can have an impact when 0:47:59.050 --> 0:48:01.430 you're giving into your local church, when you're giving into 0:48:01.469 --> 0:48:03.670 a ministry that God's called you to sow into, when 0:48:03.690 --> 0:48:06.509 you're partnering with a ministry like that. When you're doing that, 0:48:06.850 --> 0:48:10.489 your giving is literally leading, particularly if it's something that's 0:48:10.810 --> 0:48:14.770 a ministry that's producing fruit, is literally leading to somebody 0:48:14.810 --> 0:48:18.750 following Jesus. You are here today most likely because somebody 0:48:18.870 --> 0:48:23.110 gave in a ministry before you came along. Somebody gave 0:48:23.150 --> 0:48:25.609 and they played a role in you being saved. Ain't 0:48:25.630 --> 0:48:28.089 nobody glad you're saved in this place. Ain't nobody glad 0:48:28.130 --> 0:48:31.989 heaven is your home. Yeah, somebody's giving did that. And 0:48:32.030 --> 0:48:34.549 the same thing is true for you that when you 0:48:34.610 --> 0:48:37.969 give so that somebody else can hear about Jesus, man, 0:48:38.030 --> 0:48:41.420 you are being a difference. You can take something temporary 0:48:41.480 --> 0:48:43.960 like this and actually use it to make an eternal 0:48:44.040 --> 0:48:46.750 difference in somebody's life. So one of the ways you 0:48:46.770 --> 0:48:50.160 can be a difference is to give something. And then 0:48:50.219 --> 0:48:55.000 last but not least, impact somewhere. Somebody say, be a difference. 0:48:56.700 --> 0:48:58.339 One of the ways you can be a difference is 0:48:58.360 --> 0:49:07.250 to impact somewhere. Didn't this Daniel distinguish himself above the 0:49:07.310 --> 0:49:13.359 governors and sat rats? Because an excellent man spirit was 0:49:13.440 --> 0:49:17.450 in him. That's one of our values, right? We pursue excellence. 0:49:17.850 --> 0:49:21.529 That was Daniel. So the end result is... Daniel is, 0:49:21.730 --> 0:49:26.360 although he's not from this empire, the Mede-Persian empire, he 0:49:26.400 --> 0:49:30.880 was actually brought over as a slave when the Babylonians 0:49:30.940 --> 0:49:34.440 took over the people of God's home. But he is, 0:49:34.500 --> 0:49:37.989 because of the spirit of excellence on him, he's a 0:49:38.050 --> 0:49:42.299 number two man in a foreign empire. Same thing happened 0:49:42.320 --> 0:49:46.170 to Joseph. The Bible talks about how he was a 0:49:46.250 --> 0:49:49.690 slave brought into Egypt, but because he was someone of 0:49:49.730 --> 0:49:53.390 an excellent spirit, because he, like Daniel, had the blessing 0:49:53.450 --> 0:49:58.529 of the Lord on him, he became prime minister of 0:49:58.570 --> 0:50:04.359 the nation of Egypt. Number two in the whole nation. Well, 0:50:04.460 --> 0:50:07.280 when it comes to Daniel's situation, we know what happens next. 0:50:07.300 --> 0:50:10.240 Of course, there's always going to be jealous people. They 0:50:10.280 --> 0:50:13.380 lied on him. He was thrown into a lion's den, 0:50:14.660 --> 0:50:18.780 and God protected him, did a miracle on his behalf. 0:50:19.960 --> 0:50:24.510 And King Darius, after this, he's ruling over the known world. 0:50:25.070 --> 0:50:27.790 He decides to write a message to the whole world 0:50:28.310 --> 0:50:31.549 that he knew. He says in verse 25, it says 0:50:31.570 --> 0:50:34.410 in verse 25, to all peoples, nations, and languages that 0:50:34.450 --> 0:50:38.239 dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. 0:50:39.110 --> 0:50:41.990 I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom, 0:50:42.140 --> 0:50:46.900 men must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel. 0:50:47.560 --> 0:50:52.300 This is the king. For he is the living God 0:50:52.980 --> 0:50:55.390 and steadfast forever. His kingdom is the one which shall 0:50:55.450 --> 0:50:58.069 not be destroyed and his dominion shall endure to the end. 0:50:58.310 --> 0:51:00.670 He delivers and rescues and he works signs and wonders 0:51:00.710 --> 0:51:03.109 in heaven and on earth. Who has delivered Daniel from 0:51:03.150 --> 0:51:06.300 the power of the lions? Do you understand the impact? 0:51:07.180 --> 0:51:11.419 of the leader of the Mede Persian Empire sending this 0:51:11.480 --> 0:51:17.930 letter to the entire kingdom. How many people chose to 0:51:17.969 --> 0:51:22.690 believe in God after receiving that? After hearing about how 0:51:22.750 --> 0:51:26.950 God saved Daniel from the lion's den. And the only 0:51:27.030 --> 0:51:30.110 reason why they ever heard about it was because God 0:51:30.170 --> 0:51:36.009 had elevated Daniel to a position of power. God gave 0:51:36.070 --> 0:51:41.150 him a platform. And yes, with that platform came some problems. 0:51:42.310 --> 0:51:44.029 But when it was all said and done, God gave 0:51:44.070 --> 0:51:51.920 him such an overwhelming victory that his position influenced people 0:51:52.580 --> 0:51:56.779 all over the known world. Joseph was similar in that 0:51:57.060 --> 0:52:00.890 he had a position of influence and he ended up 0:52:01.050 --> 0:52:06.049 saving people all throughout Egypt. All throughout that region of 0:52:06.090 --> 0:52:11.150 the world. And God got the glory for that. You see, 0:52:11.170 --> 0:52:14.410 we said something earlier. God, Jesus didn't just call us 0:52:15.190 --> 0:52:18.759 to merely be the light of the church. He called 0:52:18.800 --> 0:52:23.160 us to be the light of the world. And too 0:52:23.260 --> 0:52:25.620 often we think that the only people that can change 0:52:25.660 --> 0:52:27.660 the world are people that are standing behind a pulpit 0:52:27.680 --> 0:52:34.500 like I am. But Daniel's pulpit was government. Joseph's pulpit 0:52:34.540 --> 0:52:40.020 was administration. Somewhere along the line, we accidentally divided the 0:52:40.080 --> 0:52:45.680 world into two categories. It's secular or it's sacred. So 0:52:45.750 --> 0:52:50.030 if I preach, that's ministry. But if I run a company, 0:52:50.090 --> 0:52:55.190 that's just business. If I'm a pastor, that's a calling. 0:52:55.800 --> 0:52:58.660 But if I'm a teacher, I'm a lawyer, I'm an athlete, 0:52:58.960 --> 0:53:02.240 I'm an engineer, I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a public official, 0:53:02.560 --> 0:53:05.700 that's just my career. That is not how God sees 0:53:05.760 --> 0:53:11.469 it at all. It's all ministry. It's all God placing 0:53:11.510 --> 0:53:14.870 you somewhere so that you can develop and you can 0:53:14.930 --> 0:53:19.250 have such influence that it points people to Jesus. Look 0:53:19.290 --> 0:53:25.040 at 1 Kings chapter 10 and verse 1. Let me 0:53:25.080 --> 0:53:28.970 say this. God has not only called you to somebody, 0:53:29.630 --> 0:53:35.210 he's placed you somewhere. He actually wants you to dominate 0:53:35.510 --> 0:53:38.750 in the marketplace. Oh, I want to preach about this more. 0:53:38.770 --> 0:53:41.080 I'm going to start today, but I'm going to tell 0:53:41.100 --> 0:53:43.860 you this. I want to do more in this arena. 0:53:43.880 --> 0:53:46.000 We are ready to do some things to help our 0:53:46.040 --> 0:53:48.779 business leaders, and I need somebody to step up and 0:53:48.820 --> 0:53:53.470 help me do it. Because in this church, we don't 0:53:53.510 --> 0:53:56.520 do it until we have a leader. And so if 0:53:56.540 --> 0:53:59.160 you're somebody God has called you to help with business 0:53:59.219 --> 0:54:02.779 people and legacy, that type of stuff, you need to 0:54:02.800 --> 0:54:04.360 come talk to me because I've been waiting for you 0:54:04.380 --> 0:54:07.500 for a couple years now. And we need you right now. 0:54:07.520 --> 0:54:11.040 All right, I'm going to go back to my little message. Shandai, 0:54:11.060 --> 0:54:12.530 I'm going to go ahead and get my towel, wipe 0:54:12.550 --> 0:54:16.570 my hair. Hallelujah. Come on, man. God wants you to dominate. 0:54:16.850 --> 0:54:19.509 He wants this place to be full of people that 0:54:19.550 --> 0:54:22.290 are not just doing ministry in the traditional way, but 0:54:22.350 --> 0:54:28.060 we are in marketplace ministry. And that doesn't just mean 0:54:28.080 --> 0:54:29.980 that when I go to work, I pray for somebody 0:54:30.300 --> 0:54:32.700 or I lead them to Jesus. Obviously, we should do 0:54:32.750 --> 0:54:37.750 that when we can, but it's not just that. Part 0:54:37.770 --> 0:54:39.150 of the problem we have in the body of Christ 0:54:39.370 --> 0:54:42.140 is everybody's critical of everybody else because they think too small. 0:54:42.780 --> 0:54:44.779 They get this idea that, you know, God can't chew 0:54:44.820 --> 0:54:48.310 gum and walk at the same time. Well, God don't 0:54:48.350 --> 0:54:50.850 want you to have money because money might cause you 0:54:50.870 --> 0:54:52.700 to do this. Or maybe God does want you to 0:54:52.739 --> 0:54:54.779 have money, and he also wants you to serve. I mean, 0:54:54.820 --> 0:54:56.400 you know what I'm trying to say? People just get, 0:54:56.420 --> 0:54:59.339 they don't understand that God's thinking bigger than we are. 0:55:00.320 --> 0:55:03.279 The strategy is bigger than we think it is. Your 0:55:03.360 --> 0:55:07.500 Monday through Saturday isn't a waste of time. It isn't 0:55:07.540 --> 0:55:10.180 just about getting money. It's not even just about getting 0:55:10.219 --> 0:55:13.920 money to fund the gospel. It's part of it, but 0:55:13.960 --> 0:55:17.040 that's not what's happening here. God's not wasting 60% of 0:55:17.080 --> 0:55:21.890 your life. 1 Kings 10 verse 1. Now when the 0:55:21.910 --> 0:55:23.790 queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning 0:55:23.810 --> 0:55:26.070 the name of the Lord, she heard of the fame 0:55:26.110 --> 0:55:28.190 of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. What did 0:55:28.210 --> 0:55:36.670 she hear? Solomon was so successful as a king. He 0:55:36.710 --> 0:55:43.100 was so rich. And it was... well known, he made 0:55:43.140 --> 0:55:46.560 it known that God was the one that did this. 0:55:47.400 --> 0:55:48.360 That it led to. 0:55:48.380 --> 0:55:53.899 A queen who had her own success and her own 0:55:54.000 --> 0:55:58.650 wealth leaving her kingdom and coming to his kingdom. 0:56:00.010 --> 0:56:04.650 Just the Bible says to test him with hard questions. 0:56:07.400 --> 0:56:09.400 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue 0:56:09.460 --> 0:56:12.620 of camels that bore spices, very much gold and precious stones. 0:56:13.260 --> 0:56:15.420 And when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him 0:56:15.660 --> 0:56:19.029 about all that was in her heart. Whoa, a woman 0:56:19.050 --> 0:56:21.569 walks up to a stranger and just lays it all 0:56:21.650 --> 0:56:25.750 on the table. Because, you know, people of status don't 0:56:25.770 --> 0:56:28.610 feel like they can talk to many people. But when 0:56:28.630 --> 0:56:31.810 they see somebody of status, they feel like, okay, maybe 0:56:31.850 --> 0:56:35.359 you can relate to me. And maybe they'll open their 0:56:35.400 --> 0:56:37.600 heart and they'll listen. Even the Bible talks about how 0:56:37.820 --> 0:56:40.259 the poor, you know, the people will not listen to 0:56:40.280 --> 0:56:43.860 the poor, but they will listen to the rich. And 0:56:43.890 --> 0:56:45.370 that's not to say that God can't use as a 0:56:45.390 --> 0:56:47.450 poor person, but it's talking about, it's showing you this, 0:56:47.830 --> 0:56:50.630 that because God had elevated this man to this position, 0:56:50.989 --> 0:56:52.950 it opened the door for him to preach to people 0:56:52.989 --> 0:56:56.870 of that position, that status. And when she came to him, 0:56:57.170 --> 0:57:00.170 she had all kinds of questions, and the Bible teaches 0:57:00.390 --> 0:57:02.430 that he was able to answer all those questions. Next 0:57:02.450 --> 0:57:04.950 thing it says here, Solomon answered all her questions. There 0:57:04.989 --> 0:57:06.830 was nothing so difficult for the king that he could 0:57:06.870 --> 0:57:09.130 not explain it to her. The Bible says that he 0:57:09.170 --> 0:57:13.450 had wisdom, and he had wealth. He had the Word 0:57:13.469 --> 0:57:15.529 of God, and then he had the results of the 0:57:15.570 --> 0:57:18.760 Word of And so ultimately, the Bible teaches when she 0:57:18.800 --> 0:57:20.340 got a chance to hear everything he had to say, 0:57:20.580 --> 0:57:22.260 she got a chance to see all that God did. 0:57:22.550 --> 0:57:24.430 It says that she fainted, man. She was, there was 0:57:24.450 --> 0:57:26.570 no spirit left in her. And in verse 9, she says, 0:57:26.850 --> 0:57:29.810 blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you, 0:57:30.150 --> 0:57:32.650 setting you on the throne of Israel, because the Lord 0:57:32.710 --> 0:57:36.310 has loved Israel forever. Therefore, he made you king to 0:57:36.370 --> 0:57:40.050 do justice and righteousness. Did the woman even believe in 0:57:40.090 --> 0:57:44.410 God when she came? But after she had the opportunity 0:57:44.450 --> 0:57:47.710 to see the success this man had and to hear 0:57:47.790 --> 0:57:50.790 the wisdom that God gave this man, it turned her 0:57:50.830 --> 0:57:53.970 to God. And this is a picture of what God 0:57:54.050 --> 0:57:58.140 likes to do. God wants to, let's say it this way. 0:57:58.820 --> 0:58:05.800 God will prosper you, promote you, and platform you to 0:58:05.860 --> 0:58:09.000 bring people to him. I'm going to say it again. 0:58:09.760 --> 0:58:15.970 God will prosper you, promote you, and platform you to 0:58:16.030 --> 0:58:20.530 bring people to Him. Your success will be evidence of 0:58:20.570 --> 0:58:25.919 God's presence. Whatever you touch will prosper. And as you 0:58:25.960 --> 0:58:29.660 give God the glory for that, you'll see that people 0:58:29.840 --> 0:58:31.950 will look to the God that did it for you. 0:58:32.410 --> 0:58:34.970 And I'm talking here and I sense the anointing coming 0:58:35.090 --> 0:58:37.070 on me because some of us, I think this is 0:58:37.110 --> 0:58:39.730 what you've been missing. You've been thinking that I'm only 0:58:39.790 --> 0:58:42.370 doing something for God when I come to church and 0:58:42.390 --> 0:58:44.470 I'm serving. And I'm here to tell you, man, God 0:58:44.530 --> 0:58:47.760 wants to increase you. promotion comes not from the east 0:58:48.040 --> 0:58:50.680 or from the west. It comes from the Lord. God 0:58:50.700 --> 0:58:53.340 wants to promote you in your workplace. God wants to 0:58:53.400 --> 0:58:56.460 promote your business. God wants you to have success in 0:58:56.500 --> 0:58:59.080 whatever you're doing, whether it's teaching or it's writing or 0:58:59.140 --> 0:59:02.770 it's dribbling a ball, whatever it is, it's strategizing, it's consulting, 0:59:02.970 --> 0:59:05.810 whatever it is, God wants to put the blessing on 0:59:05.870 --> 0:59:09.150 you that whatever you touch prospers and then he gets 0:59:09.190 --> 0:59:11.340 the glory from it. He wants you to use the 0:59:11.480 --> 0:59:16.230 influence he gives you to point people to him. When 0:59:16.390 --> 0:59:19.390 FX leaves this property, we really should have a sign 0:59:19.430 --> 0:59:22.660 that says you're entering the mission field because that's what's happening. 0:59:22.980 --> 0:59:26.380 On Monday, you're entering the mission field. As you serve 0:59:26.400 --> 0:59:29.320 with excellence and you live a life of character and 0:59:29.340 --> 0:59:32.050 you tell people, Jesus did this for me, that's going 0:59:32.070 --> 0:59:35.490 to lead to people from your workplace knowing about the 0:59:35.550 --> 0:59:39.510 God that did all of this in your life. And 0:59:39.530 --> 0:59:41.910 that's part of God's strategy, that God will use your 0:59:41.990 --> 0:59:45.330 gifts and your leadership and your creativity to promote you 0:59:45.630 --> 0:59:51.310 and to prosper you and to platform you. God doesn't 0:59:51.350 --> 0:59:55.050 give you influence just so people can see you. He 0:59:55.090 --> 0:59:57.880 gives you influence so people can see him through you. 0:59:59.800 --> 1:00:01.160 This is one of the ways that you can be 1:00:01.200 --> 1:00:04.260 a difference, man, is that you can use the influence 1:00:04.280 --> 1:00:08.600 God has given you. And allow Him to give you 1:00:08.760 --> 1:00:12.520 more as you develop and you do things with excellence. 1:00:14.040 --> 1:00:17.060 And you live a Christian life and you point people 1:00:17.320 --> 1:00:27.860 to Him. So, we started in Matthew chapter 5. Let 1:00:28.000 --> 1:00:33.100 your light so shine before men that they may see 1:00:33.640 --> 1:00:38.550 your good works. And glorify your Father in heaven. One 1:00:38.610 --> 1:00:41.450 way I can do that is when I pray for someone. 1:00:42.910 --> 1:00:46.140 Another way I can do that is when I serve someone. 1:00:47.280 --> 1:00:50.760 Another way I can do that is when I reach someone. 1:00:52.400 --> 1:00:56.000 Another way I can do that is when I coach someone. 1:00:56.880 --> 1:00:59.360 Another way I can do that is when I give 1:00:59.420 --> 1:01:04.870 to someone. And lastly, I can impact them. Wherever I 1:01:04.890 --> 1:01:11.209 go is my pulpit. I can be a difference. This week, 1:01:12.050 --> 1:01:16.490 somebody needs your prayers. This week, somebody needs you to 1:01:16.510 --> 1:01:20.260 pick up the towel. Somebody belongs in this chair. That's 1:01:20.280 --> 1:01:22.540 what we do at FX Church. I mean, we pray 1:01:22.580 --> 1:01:26.400 for people. We serve people. We coach people. We reach people. 1:01:26.460 --> 1:01:31.720 We give to people. We impact places. This is us. 1:01:33.030 --> 1:01:37.560 This is FX Church. And so this week, I don't 1:01:37.580 --> 1:01:40.860 want you to wait for somebody else to pray. I 1:01:40.900 --> 1:01:43.920 want you to be the difference. I don't want you 1:01:43.940 --> 1:01:45.800 to wait for somebody else to serve. I want you 1:01:45.840 --> 1:01:48.760 to be the difference. Don't wait for somebody else to give. 1:01:48.820 --> 1:01:51.050 You be the difference. Don't wait for somebody else to 1:01:51.110 --> 1:01:54.990 tell somebody about Jesus. Don't wait. Be the difference that 1:01:55.030 --> 1:01:58.410 God made you to be. Make a difference. Ask yourself 1:01:58.470 --> 1:02:02.880 this question. Who or what is different because of what 1:02:02.980 --> 1:02:07.600 God is doing in me? I want to challenge you today. 1:02:08.580 --> 1:02:12.450 You want to make a difference? Be a difference. Come on, 1:02:12.450 --> 1:02:15.510 lift your hands toward heaven. Let's thank you, Father, for 1:02:15.530 --> 1:02:23.200 the Word of God. And I pray for you. where 1:02:23.220 --> 1:02:25.160 you'll be able to listen to the message from our 1:02:25.280 --> 1:02:31.360 Sunday experience. Our podcast is available on platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, 1:02:31.390 --> 1:02:35.610 Google Play, and more. Be sure to check us out, subscribe, 1:02:35.950 --> 1:02:36.530 and share.