Customer or Minister?

We are, we are the church. All right, welcome to First Baptist Henrietta. My name is Sam Bedell. I'm the pastor here.

Has it been a good service so far? Amen, I agree. Let's go to, in your Bibles, to Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

Matthew 22. I want to read this by way of introduction to kind of set up what we're going to talk about today.

Matthew chapter 22 and verse 34. Jesus is meeting with the Pharisees. The Pharisees had heard that Jesus, by his wisdom and his knowledge of the law and his divine wisdom and understanding, had silenced the Sadducees, another group of religious leaders.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

And so this kind of foremost group of religious leaders, the Pharisees, came together and they wanted to question Jesus and tried to nail him on something, try to catch him off guard and make him slip up.

And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question of Jesus to test him.

Verse 36. Teacher, which command of the law is the greatest?

Which command in all of the law? Talking about the Mosaic law that God gave to the children of Israel way back in the Old Testament.

And then many more laws were given over the period of the next many hundred years.

And so what do we see here? They're trying to trip him up.

They say, which one of these is the greatest?

Jesus says in verse 37, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the greatest and most important command.

Verse 39. The second is like it.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

All the law and the prophets depend on these two commands.

All of the law.

All of the prophecies.

Everything that was given depend, hinge on those two commands.

Let me tell you, if man-made religion had followed that,

if they had wrapped their minds around what Jesus just said,

then religion on this earth would look very different than it has over the history of the church.

Oftentimes, what has been done in the name of Jesus has been nothing like what Jesus commanded.

Oftentimes, what has happened, what has been taught,

and what has been enacted in churches around the world

had nothing to do with loving the Lord or loving our neighbor as ourselves.

So, Jesus came to change it.

Jesus came to introduce, to reshape, to reform our thinking.

He came to ask us to pivot from something else.

So, let's get into it.

This morning, we're talking about ecclesiology.

We're talking about the doctrine of the church.

Our little introduction video reminded us that we are the church,

reminded us that the church is not a place.

It is a people, right?

So, this is a practical preaching series on we are the church.

Let's all say it together.

Ready?

We don't just go to church.

We are the church.

Y'all are going to get it on the first try next week, okay?

Let's do it again together.

Here we go.

We don't just go to church.

We are the church.

That's right.

And so, that kind of is a pivot away from the thinking that says the church is the place,

the church is a building,

it's somewhere we go.

Well, actually, it's a group of people.

One of the questions that the kids have submitted recently said something along the lines of,

I'm trying to remember the exact wording and I can't,

but basically, it was kind of like,

where is the church?

And where can we have church?

I think that was the question.

Where can we have church?

And my answer to that is anywhere.

You can have church as the body of Christ anywhere.

If we wanted to go have it at the park, we could, but we'd get a little warm.

We could have church anywhere, but we are grateful that God has provided this beautiful place for us to assemble.

It is certainly very functional for our needs.

It's got classroom space.

It's got a nice fellowship hall.

We can gather together and break bread, which is biblical.

All right.

It's not just Baptist.

It's biblical.

All right.

We can get together and eat together.

It's in the Bible.

Jesus did it.

It's okay.

It's all right for us to do it.

So, the church building provides all sorts of advantages and is a blessing for the church.

But the church building is not the church, is it?

We are the church.

This thing skipped ahead.

There we go.

Just as a reminder, again, ekklesia, that is the Greek word that we find in the Bible for the church,

and it literally means an assembly, a congregation.

And so, again, it is the gathering of people.

It is not the building.

So, ecclesiology is what we're talking about throughout this series, the doctrine of the church.

Two weeks ago, we talked about the church.

It's not about me.

It's about God.

Okay?

The church is not there to please me.

It's not all hinging on what I think, et cetera.

It's about God.

And so, everything we do in the church should be, first and foremost, bringing honor and glory to God.

If it's not, then we've got to put it on the magnifying glass and say,

Huh.

God isn't really getting glorified from this, so should we be doing it?

Or should we be changing it?

Should we be tweaking it to make sure that God gets the glory in whatever we're doing in this church?

All right?

Secondly, last week, we talked about how the church should find unity in its diversity.

Guess what?

We're not all the same.

I know that's shocking as you look around here that we've got kind of a colorful group of folks here this morning.

Colorful is a nice way to put it, isn't it?

Everybody's a little different.

Everybody does things a little differently.

We're all a little unique.

Come from unique backgrounds.

We've got different ideas about things.

And that's okay as long as that diversity brings us together in the body of Christ.

That in and of itself should bring glory to God and saying,

Wow.

How could God bring this diverse group of people together?

What binds them together to keep coming and hanging out each week?

Coming together on Sunday night, on Wednesday night.

Getting together in the community and doing things together.

Why are we all hanging out so much?

Because it's God that binds us together.

It's not necessarily common backgrounds.

It's not necessarily we're all in agreement and everything all the time.

We're certainly not.

But that's okay.

We can agree that God is good.

That God loves us.

That Jesus died for us.

That he rose again.

That he wants to save us.

He wants to change our lives.

He wants to mold us into his image.

And we're going to walk this road together as the body of Christ.

So there is unity in that diversity which brings glory to God.

Which is the purpose of the church.

So today we're talking about the church customer or minister.

Customer or minister.

We're going to fly through some of this.

So y'all hang with me if you will.

The church.

Customer or minister.

Turn it over in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 5.18.

Listen, I'm going to give you a lot of different scriptures today.

You don't have to turn to each one physically in your Bible.

We have a good amount of material to cover today that I'd love to give to you.

And so if you just want to jot references down in your bulletin or wherever you'd like to do it, that's fine.

But we are going to bounce through several different parts of scripture.

Because we're teaching some biblical principles about the church.

And if we had about three hours, we could take the time to give the full context of each passage.

And teach that whole truth.

But in our limited time this morning, I just want to kind of spark your thinking about the church.

Mark some things down.

And then in your own personal quiet time or family devotional time, if you'd like to go back and study more about this, we certainly can.

So 2 Corinthians 5.18, let's look at it.

Everything is from God who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry.

See that word?

The ministry of reconciliation.

When he says us, he's talking about the children of God.

He's talking about the people of God.

The church of God.

Our First Baptist Church here in Henrietta, Texas is an expression, a local expression of the greater church, the body of Christ.

So we can self-identify with this.

As Paul was writing this in his second letter to the church at Corinth, the church in Henrietta can also take this and adapt it to us.

We can identify with what Paul's talking about.

So he says, God, Christ has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

Well, that right there qualifies you for ministry.

You are a minister.

Okay?

That doesn't mean you're a pastor.

That doesn't mean you get up and preach on Sunday mornings in a church.

But if you are a child of God, then you are a minister of God.

And you have a ministry that God has given you.

The grander spectrum of ministry that God has assigned to you is this ministry of reconciliation.

What does that mean?

Reconciliation means restoring a relationship, right?

Being reconciled.

Well, the first need of reconciliation for you and for me is reconciling God away from our sin and back into unity and fellowship with God.

So he does that at the moment of salvation.

He offers reconciliation.

He says he wants to reconcile us from darkness into light, from sin into salvation.

So that is the first reconciliation that we have.

Well, so how are you and I ministers of that reconciliation?

We get to go share that message with others.

We get to go take that gospel message and share it with people who have not yet been reconciled.

We thank God that somebody shared it with us.

But let that not die with us.

Let that be a ministry that continues on through us, our ministry.

And then the second reconciliation is reconciling each other to ourselves.

Making sure that there is no strife between one another.

Oftentimes in a church, as we're all striving toward the same goal,

sometimes we'll have different ideas on how to reach that goal.

Sometimes we'll be in disagreement with one another.

Being in disagreement is okay, isn't it?

Being in discord is not okay.

Disagreeing is fine.

But living in contention with each other, living in anger and strife with each other,

bitterness, that is not okay.

And so reconciliation must happen between each other.

So much of the thoughts that I'm giving you today come from this church.

It's one of the most effective books written about the church.

That has been, it's principles put into practice in thousands of churches across our nation

and around the world.

And so I want to let you know this is a good read for those who are interested in diving

more deeply into some of these subjects.

And we drew much of what we're talking about today from the principles of that book.

So number one, every Christian is created for ministry.

Every Christian is created for ministry.

How do we know that?

Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

We, you and I, are his workmanship.

We are his creation.

Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

From the very beginning, God knew that he had a plan and a purpose for you and for me.

And if you are still breathing, then his plan and purpose for you is not done.

Okay?

Say, man, my time's over.

It's time for the young people to step up and take it.

Well, you're half right.

It is time for the young people to step up and take it.

But your time is not over.

God is still wanting to work through you.

God still has a plan and purpose.

It might look differently for you now than it did 30 years ago.

But God still has a purpose for you.

He still has good works that he created you for.

A ministry that he created you for.

So he created us, all of us, for ministry.

We find that in the Bible.

Number two, every Christian is saved for ministry.

We are saved for ministry.

Guess what?

God didn't just save you to keep you out of hell.

We believe in this church because it teaches in the Bible that if you sin, if you break

God's law, which guess what?

We all have.

Every one of us are in the same boat in that regard.

We've all done wrong.

We've all failed.

Not one of us are perfect.

If you say you are, you're lying and everybody knows it.

Okay?

You're not fooling anybody into thinking that you're perfect.

All of us have made mistakes.

And all of those sins, all of that wrongdoing has qualified us for punishment for our sin,

which is death in a terrible place called hell that God created for Satan and his demons.

But if we choose Satan's way, which is sin, which all of us do, even if we don't want to,

we find ourselves doing it.

The Apostle Paul wrote about that in the New Testament.

He said, the things that I want to do, I end up not doing.

And the things that I don't want to do, that's what I find myself doing.

I can identify with that.

Right?

Because we are surrounded by this weak flesh that ends up sinning.

So we are qualified for hell.

That is the punishment that God has prescribed for our sin.

That's why Jesus came.

Jesus came as the one sinless one.

The only one who didn't have to go to hell.

The only one who didn't sin.

He came down here.

He wasn't just God looking down at us and saying, why can't you be like me?

He came down here, was born.

As a little baby.

Grew up as a child.

Became a man.

Walked around on this earth.

Was tempted in all the same ways you and I are tempted.

And yet he never sinned.

Because of course, he was 100% man, but he was also 100% God.

So he could be perfect.

He could be sinless.

So even though he didn't deserve any punishment.

He didn't do anything wrong.

He allowed himself to be crucified.

Put to death.

Laid in the grave.

And then he came out of the grave.

To prove he is God.

He can conquer anything.

He can conquer death.

He can conquer sin.

He can conquer the grave.

And now he offers salvation to us.

And he says, since I took the punishment,

I died so you don't have to die that spiritual death.

So you don't have to suffer the punishment for your sins.

He says, now I offer you forgiveness.

I offer you salvation.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

And you believe in your heart that God did raise him up from the dead.

Then you can be saved.

God can forgive you.

Cleanse you from all your unrighteousness.

Okay?

So he does that.

He offers that.

And if someone is in this room today,

I ask it every Sunday.

And I'm convinced that there are still people in the room

that haven't yet put that faith in Jesus to say,

God, I believe.

Okay?

I believe.

Sign me up.

I believe that you are God.

I believe you died on the cross.

You rose from the grave.

And I want you to forgive my sins.

Make me your child.

Part of your family.

If you have not done that,

don't leave here today without doing it.

In just a couple of minutes, we'll pray.

We'll have a time that you can come down.

I'll talk to you.

We can sit down.

We can pray.

We can pray together.

And we can work through that.

But please, please don't leave this place today

without making that most important decision.

Everything else we're talking about hinges

on that relationship with Jesus.

Okay?

And so when God saves us,

He saves us for a purpose.

It's not just to keep us out of hell.

It's not just to say,

okay, you're good now.

You don't have to pay the punishment

for your sins anymore.

Go have fun.

He's got a plan for you.

He's got a purpose for you.

How cruel would it be

for God to take you away from one master

and not give you another?

Now, sin is a terrible master.

It is a terrible boss.

Okay?

When you do what you want to do,

what sin wants you to do,

what your weak, sinful flesh wants you to do,

that gets you in all kinds of trouble.

That gets you in all kinds of places

that you don't want to be.

So when God frees you from that

and says, you don't have to serve that master anymore,

and then if He just left you and said,

okay, figure it out,

how cruel would that be?

But instead, He gives us the Holy Spirit.

He gives us His presence inside us

to go with us everywhere,

to admonish us,

to help guide us,

to help lead us,

to help us make decisions then

according to His will,

which is always right.

So that is what He saves us to do,

and those purposes that He has for us

is your ministry.

This comes from 2 Timothy 1 and verse 9.

He has saved us,

and He has called us with a holy calling,

not according to our works.

We're leaving that alone, right?

That gets us in trouble.

But according to His own purpose and grace,

which was given to us in Christ Jesus

before time began.

You notice a theme there?

All this was planned out.

We saw it in Ephesians.

We saw it in 2 Timothy here.

All this was planned out

before we were ever even created.

God knew what He was going to do with us.

He knew the job you'd be working.

He knew the kids you'd have.

He knew what you'd name them.

He knew the struggle that you would have

between husband and wife.

He knew the friendships.

He knew everything that would come into your life,

and He tailored it all for His divine purpose.

Are you fulfilling that purpose?

Are you fulfilling your ministry?

Number three,

every Christian is called into ministry.

Every Christian has a divine calling.

We just saw it a moment ago in 2 Timothy.

Did you see that?

Here we go.

There we are.

He has saved us and called us

with a holy calling.

So that's why we say

every Christian is called into ministry.

Over in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9,

you are a chosen race,

a royal priesthood,

a holy nation,

a people for God's own possession,

so that you may proclaim

the praises of Him,

the One who called you

out of darkness

into His marvelous light.

That is our ministry.

Proclaim the praises of God.

Okay?

Proclaim the praises of God.

In your relationships,

are you praising God?

Are you proclaiming His praises?

In your workplace,

are you proclaiming His praises?

Do His praises enter your mouth?

Are they on your lips?

Let His praise be forever on my lips.

None of us are praising God

as we should,

but we are called to do just that.

Number four,

every Christian is gifted for ministry.

We got into this extensively last week

when we talked about spiritual gifts,

and Sunday night,

we dove into it even more

and passed out individual spiritual gifts.

I don't know,

tests, exams,

whatever you want to call them.

Surveys,

just to kind of go through

and answer questions

that might help reveal to you

what God has gifted you,

prepared you,

equipped you for.

And so every Christian

is gifted for ministry.

How do we know that?

1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 10.

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

Each one,

each one has received a gift,

so we should use it

to serve others

as good stewards

of the buried grace of God.

The buried grace of God

is what God has given each one of us.

It's various.

It's changing.

It's different.

It's unique.

Each one of us

does not have the same gifts,

but each one of our gifts

are valuable.

And each one of us

has received a gift from God.

We are gifted for ministry.

That's not just to make you look good.

That's not to just impress people.

That gift that God has given you,

whatever it is,

that isn't just to help people like you

and raise you in the estimation of others.

It's to serve.

It's to serve others.

So if you don't find yourself

increasing in service each year,

then go back and say,

God, help me use my gift

more effectively for you.

I don't want my gift to go to waste.

Every year, we should walk

a little more closely with God.

Every year, He should work

a little more through us.

It's not a zero to a hundred overnight.

It's a slow, progressive walk

and journey with the Lord.

But we must be improving.

Otherwise, we start slipping back.

We start slipping back.

We start becoming more selfish,

more self-focused.

It starts becoming more about us.

The cares of this life,

the fear that is so tempting

to give into,

starts to distract us

from the purpose,

that great and glorious purpose

that God has given to us.

So if you don't feel like

you're accomplishing your purpose,

if you don't feel like maybe

that's what best describes

your life at this moment,

let's go back to the drawing board.

Let's sit down.

Let's sit down and talk.

But let's let the Scripture

be the magnifying glass

that shows us exactly

where we went wrong,

how we can go back

and start using our gifts for service.

And then number five,

every Christian is authorized

for ministry.

This doesn't mean that every Christian

is authorized for every ministry.

Okay?

There are some ministries

that I should not do.

If y'all put me in the kitchen to cook,

it's not going to work.

Okay?

I will come out with some

microwave cheese quesadillas

or something, okay,

for everybody.

Open up a can of salsa,

we're good.

But if you put me in the nursery,

you know,

that would maybe not be

the best fit for me.

Not everybody is authorized

for every ministry,

but everyone is authorized

for ministry.

Okay?

Don't let anybody tell you

you can't be a minister.

Don't let anybody tell you

you can't serve

with the gifts

that God has given you

in the local church.

Okay?

Every Christian is authorized

for ministry.

We know that from Matthew 28.

We call it the Great Commission.

That's where we received

our commission from God.

Jesus said,

all authority

has been given to me.

Say, well, that's great.

We know that Jesus is authorized.

Okay?

We know that God authorized Jesus.

What does that have to do with us?

Well, in verse 19,

he says,

you go.

Go.

Go, the royal you out there,

the church, us.

He says, go.

Because I have all authority,

you go.

What does that make sense?

How does that work?

You're the one

that has the authority.

Why don't you do it?

Because Jesus says,

you go,

make disciples,

baptize them

in the name of the Father,

the Son,

the Holy Spirit.

Teach them

to do all the things

I've commanded you

because he is with us.

I think I forgot

to put verse 20 in there.

He says,

I am with you.

The one who has

all the authority,

the one who's been authorized,

I go with you.

You have access

to all that power,

all that authority.

You are authorized to go.

So that's how we know.

Anybody says,

you shouldn't do that.

God says,

I sent you.

I sent you

to fulfill

your ministry.

You know,

the reality is,

sometimes we fail

on this earth.

Sometimes we fall

on this earth.

Sometimes the consequences

of what we do

disqualify us

from doing certain things

in the church for God.

You know why that happens?

You know why

it disqualifies us?

Because it hurts

our testimony.

We're going out

and presenting ourselves

as ambassadors

for Jesus Christ.

And so certain things

can compromise that.

So your ministry

might be limited

in certain areas.

But God never

takes back

his callings

on your life.

God never removed

his ministry

that he has

for you.

You can still minister.

You can still serve.

You can still fulfill

your purpose

even though

you might have messed up.

Guess what?

Everybody in here

is messed up.

There's not a man,

woman, or child

in this room

that hasn't messed up.

So whatever God

is still allowing you

to do,

don't let that

responsibility,

don't let that

ministry slide.

Fulfill your ministry.

ministry.

Because number six,

every Christian

is needed

for ministry.

We are all

needed.

Every single one

of you,

from Billy Carlton

who stands out there

and hands out

bulletins

when people come in,

to every one

of our children's

volunteers.

God bless

those people.

Those people

who will go in there

and from the babies

all the way up

to teenagers

and beyond,

that is such

a vital ministry

in this church.

To the people

who pick up trash,

to the people

who cook

on Wednesday nights,

to the people

who do

all the different

things

that make

this church tick,

that make us

keep going,

the kindness ministry

goes out

and sometimes

not everybody

jumps in and helps,

but they're out there

spreading the love

of Jesus

in the community.

I can tell you

that every single role

is needed.

It's vital.

And there are roles

that are currently

unfulfilled

that are needed.

There are slots

that we have

nobody in

that are absolutely

needed.

1 Corinthians 12, 27,

you are the body.

It is you.

If you come,

if you're a part

of this church,

then you're the body.

You're individual

members of the body.

Guess what?

We need all the parts

of our body, right?

If you lose

one of the parts

of your body,

you notice it.

Even the tiniest

little part,

you still notice it.

One time,

I just about

lost a toenail.

Stubbed my toe

so bad,

it just,

yeah,

it's not fun

to think about.

Just about

ripped that thing off.

That is a very,

very small part

of my body,

but I was very aware

of it in that moment.

I absolutely

noticed that

that part of the body

was just about gone

and it was not enjoyable.

Every single part

of our body

is essential

and every single

part of our church,

every single member

of our church

is needed.

Number seven,

every Christian

is accountable

for ministry.

We are accountable

for it.

God has given you

a ministry

and he wants to know

that you're going

to do it.

Okay?

First Corinthians,

I'm sorry,

second Corinthians

chapter five,

for we must all

appear before

the judgment seat

of Christ.

It's not just

the pastor,

it's not just

the staff,

it's not just

the committee members,

it's not just

the deacons

or trustees

or anybody else,

it's not just

the ministry team

leaders.

Every one of us

is going to appear

before the judgment

seat of Christ.

This is not

the great white throne

judgment.

That's where the lost

must be held

accountable for their sins.

Those who rejected

Jesus,

those who never

got saved

is what we like

to call it,

but putting our faith

in Jesus Christ,

they have to stand

before the great

white throne

seat of judgment

before Christ

and be judged

according to their sins.

You and I

will not be judged

according to our sins

if we put our faith

in Christ.

We then go to the

judgment seat of Christ.

We are judged

for the good

that we did for Christ

so that each one

may receive

what is due

for what he has done

in the body

whether good or evil.

The things we did

for ourselves,

that will be burned up.

We're not going to be

judged for it

and sent to hell.

That's all done.

Jesus paid that.

But it's not going

to produce anything good.

The things that we did

for God,

the work that we did

for him,

that will produce

gold, silver,

precious stones,

things of great value

and God will reward us

for that.

He will give us crowns.

He will reward us greatly

and we'll then turn around

and cast those crowns

at Jesus' feet

because we know

it was all through

his power.

We're accountable

for what we do

with the ministry

that God has given to us.

And then number eight,

every Christian

will be rewarded

for ministry.

We just talked about it

a moment ago

but in Colossians 3,

Paul writes about it.

He says,

whatever you do,

do it from the heart

as something done

for the Lord

and not for people

knowing that you will

receive the reward

of an inheritance

from the Lord.

You serve

the Lord Christ.

Guess what folks?

God is going to reward you

for ministry.

It doesn't matter

if you get all the pats

on the back

that you think you should

on this earth,

in this church.

We're not doing it

for each other.

We're doing it,

number one,

for the Lord.

Okay?

Now we should love each other.

We should try to help each other.

We should try to serve each other

but our motivation

is we are serving

Jesus Christ

and He is the one

who will reward us.

We will receive

the reward

of our ministry

from God.

Anybody know

what this stuff is?

Take a wild guess.

It's purposefully small.

Okay?

Because I'm not doing

advertisements here.

Okay?

The one on the left

is Southwest Airlines.

The one on the right

is Sam's Club.

Okay?

These are the two memberships

that I have

that I've reached

a certain status in.

Okay?

Let me tell you,

back in my previous job

when I was working

for Southwestern Seminary,

I was doing a lot of traveling

and I will never forget

the day

that I became

A-list

on Southwest Airlines.

Okay?

It was just a special moment.

Now unfortunately,

I was not A-list preferred

because of course

there's always another tier up

from where you are,

you know?

But still,

I wasn't just one

of those ragtag passengers

who had to like

board later,

you know?

I got to go on

in like the third

boarding group

or something.

It was really important.

How many of you guys

have flown

Southwest Airlines?

Slip your hands up

real quick.

I love it in the Metroplex

especially

because I get to go

to Love Field

and avoid the nightmare

that is DFW.

But yeah,

so you know

on Southwest Airlines

you have to check in

on the app

or whatever

when.

Anybody know?

24 hours in advance,

right?

If you want to get

any kind of decent seat,

you got to check in then.

Now they have

A group,

they have B group,

they have C group.

I quit paying attention

after that.

I don't know

how far it goes.

How many of you guys

have made A group

every time?

Just like every time.

Wow.

Okay,

Laura Lee,

just flex on everybody

right now.

That's called

blessed and highly favored

right there.

Yeah,

it's,

you know,

it's annoying

because you sit there

and my flight leaves

at 327.

So at 327

the day before,

I'm going to click

the button

and check in.

Man,

I still got B group.

How did that work,

right?

Because all us

A list people,

we don't have to check in.

It does it automatically

for us.

So we're guaranteed

to get A list.

I'm doing all this

like I still have it

and my A list

definitely expired

so it's gone now.

But let me tell you

it was so fun.

It was so fun.

The other one here,

I've reached a certain level

of financial prosperity

because I went from

Sam's Club club membership

to plus membership.

Yes,

that's the kind of coin

I got,

okay?

Sam's Club plus.

It's amazing,

I think.

I'm not 100% sure.

I'm looking at the X's.

Yeah,

the big thing we got it for

is the free shipping

that they do.

That's cool.

Yeah,

there's optical savings.

I don't even wear glasses.

So anyway,

I don't know.

But you know what?

It felt good to me

to be a plus member

and guess what?

You get a black card

instead of a blue card.

So that's always great.

Where am I going

with all this, right?

Most of you are wondering

where are you going

with all this?

We were on a roll

and now we're talking

about Southwest Airlines

and Sam's Club.

The idea here is

these are clubs, right?

These are members.

These are memberships.

It's really special

to be a part of this.

The problem is

no matter what level

I get to,

there's always

something better.

And those memberships

expire.

I was a Hilton Hotel

Diamond member

or whatever

for a while.

It was great.

Sort of.

It wasn't really worth it.

Then it expired.

The week after

my Diamond membership

expired,

they started putting in

this new policy

at Hilton Hotels

where they have

reserved parking

for Diamond members

right up next to the door.

the week after

my Diamond membership

expired.

I roll up to the hotel.

Again, I was doing

a lot of traveling.

Roll up to my next hotel

and right up there

I see Reserve

for Diamond members.

Platinum,

whatever they call it.

And I'm like,

are you kidding me?

I've been one

for a calendar year

and yeah.

Anyway,

it was a rough moment.

Y'all feel bad for me,

don't you?

First world problem.

Look,

those things

are more silly

than they are

anything else really.

Often,

usually,

especially with the

airlines and hotels,

what that means is

you're probably

traveling too much,

you're away from your family

more than you would

want to be

and that's certainly true.

And now I'm not

a Diamond member

with Hilton

and I'm not even

A-list with Southwest

Airlines anymore.

I'm just a regular

old person.

But listen,

the idea is

you and I

are members

of an exclusive

club.

But this is the

most inclusive,

exclusive club

you'll ever find.

It's the body

of Christ.

we are members

of it.

When man

puts a club

together,

he puts all

these strict

policies attached

to it.

He puts all

these hoops

that you gotta

jump through,

you gotta qualify,

you gotta spend

a certain amount

of money,

you gotta do

all this stuff

to be part of

their club

because the reality

is they're not

doing that club

or giving you

those perks

just because they

think you're cool.

they're not

doing it just

to be your buddy

and be nice

to you.

The reality is

they want more

customers,

they want you

to keep doing

your business

only with them

and they want

you to tell

other people

to come do

business with

them.

They want to

make money

off of it,

right?

I mean,

that's the point

of the workplace

is usually

to make money.

So they attract

us in by,

hey,

spend a certain

amount,

you can become

this important

person,

VIP.

VIP.

Jesus says,

come be part

of my club.

It's exclusive.

It is exclusive.

It excludes

all those

who will not

put their faith

in Jesus.

So it might

be excluding

some of you

here this morning.

But you get

a constant

24-hour,

never expires

invitation

to join the

club.

But there is

an expiration date

on that.

And that's

when your

death occurs.

There is

an expiration

date on the

offer to join

the club.

That's when

your time on

earth is over

and none of

us know

when that

will be.

So Jesus

wants you

in his

club.

And then

once you're

in,

you get to

go try to

bring in as

many other

members as

possible.

and it's

free.

There's no

cost to

join.

There's no

obligations.

But once you

become a

member,

you got some

assignments.

That's the

difference in

human membership

and church,

godly,

divine,

spiritual

membership of

the body.

when we

think of

the word

member,

we think

of perks.

We think,

what am I

getting from

this?

The church,

membership

versus

partnership.

membership.

I want to

introduce a

concept to

you.

What do you

think of

when you

think of

membership?

Leave church

out of it for

a minute.

When I think

of membership,

I think of

benefits.

I think,

how does it

benefit me?

What are the

perks?

When I think

of partnership,

I think of

responsibilities.

responsibilities.

So the

Bible says we

are individual

members of

the body of

Christ.

But we,

as members of

the church,

are supposed

to partner.

We are supposed

to partner with

one another

because we have

responsibilities.

We have a

ministry with

the church.

Members have

privileges.

Partners have

responsibilities.

Whether you

have officially

joined this

church as a

member or

not, I'm

talking to

everybody in

the room right

now.

That's not

what I'm

talking about.

I encourage

you to take

that step if

you haven't.

I encourage

you right now

today at the

close of the

service, if you

have not yet

put your

membership in

this church,

go ahead and

take that step.

I urge you to

do that.

And if God is

urging you to

do the same

thing, then

please step out

as soon as the

music starts.

Come talk to

me and we'll

get that taken

care of today.

But every

person who

attends this

church has a

responsibility.

responsibility in

this church, a

ministry that God

has given you.

So here's the

question, what's

the next step for

you?

What's the next

step for you?

Would you bow your

heads with me?

What's the next

step in your

ministry?

What's the next

step in this

church for you?

are you a customer

of the church or a

minister?

When we're

customers, whether

it's Southwest

Airlines or Sam's

Club or whatever

it is, those people

will do everything,

they will bend over

backwards to keep

our business to get

us to spend more

money with them.

And oftentimes, the

perks that sound so

great kind of leave

you feeling empty

afterwards.

Was it really worth

it?

We don't have

customers in the

church.

We are called to

minister.

Maybe you've been

in this church for a

long time and you've

been acting more like

a customer.

Where are my

membership privileges?

Where are my

benefits?

As opposed to saying

I am a God-called

minister in this

church.

Doesn't mean I'm up

on the platform

preaching, doesn't

mean I'm even

necessarily teaching

in a class.

It doesn't mean I'm

in charge of

something, but I

understand that Jesus

saved me and called

me and equipped me

and authorized me to

be a minister of

the gospel, a minister

of reconciliation.

So what's my next

step?

Every man, woman,

every teen, every

child must ask

themselves this

question this morning.

What is my next

step?

Every one of you

have one.

Has one.

It does not matter

how long you've been

a Christian.

It doesn't matter

how long you've been

in this church or

another one.

It doesn't matter

how short you've been

a Christian.

Every one of us,

myself included,

has something that

God wants us to do

next for him.

And it's going to

benefit all of us.

It's going to benefit

the whole church.

We need each other.

Lord, I ask that you

would work in each

heart right now.

Whether somebody needs

to step out of the

aisle in just a moment,

I know we're a little

past our time today,

but whether somebody

needs to step out of

the aisle in just a

moment and come down

and put their official

membership in this

church and join

together, partner

together with us for

this common ministry,

I ask that you would

give them the boldness

to go ahead and do

that today.

Let them understand

that, humanly speaking,

that's a big move to

identify and say,

you know what,

this is my church.

I'm going to be part

of this church.

It's not required in

scripture that we come

transfer a letter or

something like that,

but that is an

outstanding way to

signify this church is

my family, this is a

part of my life, and I

want to be a part of the

life of this church.

God, whether you've got

something else that

somebody needs to do,

start serving in a

ministry here.

Start telling others

about you.

Start inviting people to

come.

See what God's doing in

this church.

Start giving more.

Start giving it all.

There are all kinds of

ways to partner, to

minister, and I ask that

you would give us the

boldness to say yes to

whatever that next step

is.

Put our yes on the table

and then you tell us what

it's going to be.

That's what we pray right

now in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Brother Greg's going to

come sing.

We'll have just a moment,

so don't wait too long.

Just a moment.

I'll be right down

front.

You come talk to me if

you'd like to talk about

putting your faith in

Jesus, putting your

membership in this church

or something else

entirely.

Y'all stand together.

Come down here.

if you like, you're given a

accord.

You're so bloom.

You're damn good.

I'm gonna be right there.

Have just a moment.