A Tale of Two Churches

Hello and welcome back to the Live Boldly Podcast, brought to you by Celebration Baptist Church.

My name is Jessica, and today I am once again joined by Pastor Doug.

Today we're talking about a tale of two churches.

So, Pastor Doug, in your article from the Live Boldly magazine, you juxtaposed your experience at a church in Kentucky and at a church in Ethiopia.

Why do you think that there was more spiritual growth in the in one church that was on the other side of the world?

Well, whenever I remember those experiences, I remember in Kentucky that it was just a you know a great opportunity to help build a church and everything there.

But as we built the church, we were just there for a week and we helped uh construct the building and everything.

We were part of one team that came in and did the main part of the building.

But I was thinking, you know, this looks like a lot of the churches right down the road.

This looks like, you know, they're probably going to do the same kind of church programming and stuff like that, you know, that the churches right near them were doing.

And, you know, I was I was at that time in life where I was really kind of struggling with why we get so busy in churches and get so involved in all these different programs, but we're not really accomplishing, we're not really seeing, you know, hundreds of people come to Christ, hundreds of people growing in Christ, uh, going out and changing their world.

And so that to me was was kind of a haunting question, you know, because the church in America is really not uh I don't see that great spiritual movement like we see in the book of Acts.

And so when I went to Ethiopia, you know, we were we were in a world that was completely different.

Um we were there not to build a church building, we were there to do uh medical uh missions, but also we were there to uh to train church leaders, and we had to train them orally because you know there's not uh a lot of the people in their churches are um liter are not literate, and so we were trying to teach them the book of Acts by storying, which it works pretty good in that culture because they're used to orality, they're used to doing stories orally.

But in going through that, we were seeing happening in that church and in that whole area God's movement where you know hundreds of people were coming to Christ.

And we were seeing uh churches springing up all over the place that were, you know, had very poor facilities, if any facilities, um, and yet the gospel was really growing among those people there.

And so I was looking at that and really and really saying, you know, we could learn a lot from our Ethiopian uh brothers in Christ, even though they were new believers and young believers, uh they were really seeing the Spirit of God move in some incredible ways.

And uh so that that just kind of makes me sad in some ways because you know, uh I love America, I love the church here, um, but in some ways uh I think we're missing out on the what God is doing through his spirit um, you know, around the world, and uh that we should hunger for that same thing to happen, you know, right here.

For sure.

Yeah, I think I went to Ethiopia maybe the year after you did on a similar mission, and there was so much hunger for discipleship there, and it was amazing.

What do you think that level of discipleship could look like here, either at celebration in Tallahassee in the United States?

Yes, um, discipleship is really um the antidote to the biggest problem Christians have today, and that's distraction.

Oof, yeah.

Especially in our Western culture, we are so distracted.

You know, people even that are that are regular, engaged in church, and very busy in church, um they're just distracted by so many things.

You know, their focus is just going all over the place.

And so it's really important uh that we take time to focus on growing as a disciple.

Uh, number one, we need to take time each day, you know, I believe, to just really set aside to say, this is your time, God.

I'm gonna I'm gonna focus on you.

I'm gonna focus on your word, I'm gonna focus on talking to you, to listening to you, and you know, walk with him throughout the day.

Uh but also we need to we need to set aside time to talk with other believers about what we're learning in the word and applying that in their lives and living life together as believers and to look at how we are uh we are sharing Christ with those around us.

You know, how many people know who their neighbor is?

You know, how many people know what's happening in everybody's life?

Right.

You know, how many people uh know what that coworker down in the two cubes down is going through?

You know, we have to be intentional about building relationships to share Christ.

And so so that that takes intentionality, that takes, you know, uh really the Spirit of God working through it, but it really does take a focus.

And so, you know, I would say that that in America we need to get back to being a disciple of Christ and focusing on Christ and not get caught up in the distractions that are that are really uh sidelining and really taking the power out of a lot of Christians' lives.

Yeah.

So say I'm looking for someone to disciple me, and I'm also looking to disciple someone.

What are some traits that I should look for in someone that I'm hoping will disciple me?

And then on the flip side, what should I look for in someone that I'm looking to disciple?

And this is where you need to start not with what you see, but what God sees.

Yeah.

And so that's why it's so important to be talking to God because He knows that.

You know, and then to keep your radar on and look for who God's bringing in your path, you know.

Uh Jesus told us, you know, that uh we should love our neighbor.

Well, who's our neighbor?

Well, our neighbor is that person that's in front of us that's in need, you know?

And so it may not, it may be your physical neighbor, you know, it may be the person next door, or it may be uh the person that comes across your path, you know.

And then you look and say, okay, Lord, is this is this who you want me to disciple?

Is this who you want me to build a relationship so I can grow?

You know, and that's really important that we have both of those going on in our life because life's about relationships, it's not about stuff.

Right?

Everything that we spend so much time and and emphasis on, you know, it's about those relationships.

Yeah.

So, Pastor Doug, can you tell us some of the uh discipleship opportunities that we have here at Celebration?

How can people get involved?

Yes, uh we really want people to understand that that first of all they've got to take ownership of their own discipleship.

You know, because it's I can't I can't grow in Christ for you, and you can't grow in Christ for me, but I have to decide this is what I want to do.

And discipleship really takes uh what I call them, you know, kind of like them in vigor, them, V-I-M.

And that is uh when the V stands for vision.

So we gotta have a clear vision of where we're going.

And so for a believer that's committed their life to Christ, our vision is for if if Christ was living in my shoes, what would my life look like?

You know, what would Doug, you know, it being Christ like look like?

That's my vision, that's my goal.

I want to be like Christ.

I you know, it doesn't change my personality, doesn't change, you know, my circumstances, but it does change how I how I act, how I think, my attitudes, my reactions.

All that is changed because Christ is in me.

You know, and so so it's really important to have that vision locked in.

And then the second uh uh letter is I, which is intentionality.

I have to intend to do it.

I think so many Christians they have good intentions, you know.

They say, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I really need to do that, yeah, I really need to be more like Christ.

Yeah, that's that's great.

You know, that, yeah, I'm gonna do that, yeah, I'll sign that card, I'll do that one more thing, you know.

But they really don't intend to do it.

You know, and one thing that might you might be able to relate to is when you go to a foreign country, uh, especially a third world country, when they take on learning English, they do it.

Yes.

Whereas me learning, say, like uh French Creole, when I went to went to Haiti, you know, I went to Haiti, you know, I tried to pick up some words in French Creole, you know.

I have Babel, I have all these different, you know, Rosetta Stone, you know, I got all these different things that I can learn from, so I got plenty of methods, but I, you know, it's it sounds good, but I'm not really not depending on it.

Yeah.

There was a little boy in Haiti that um that, you know, he was just a little bitty kid, but he would run up to me and uh and he would try to talk English to me.

And he was it was broken English, you know, and he would just want to talk to me.

Uh and so, you know, I said, uh I said, you really want to learn English, don't you?

And he says, he says, yes, yes.

He says, that's why, you know, I'm talking to you.

I want to learn more and more about English.

And I says, How did you learn English?

You know, because this is Haiti, you know, very, very impoverished.

And after a while, he finally sheepishly pulled out a little piece of paper.

Uh actually it was a little booklet-like thing that was all tattered and everything.

And he said he found this little booklet, and he was teaching himself English by going up and asking people to help him to learn it.

So he had the worst method possible for learning English.

But what he knew, he knew that would transform his life.

He knew that if he could learn English, it would help him to maybe have a future.

What we have to get to the point in our lives is where we say, I want Jesus Christ more than anything.

You know, that I have to have that.

You know, that's a deep desire.

And I intend to do whatever it takes to get there.

You know, and so, but we don't have that thirst.

You know, and so that's that really makes all the difference.

The M and Vim stands for method.

So, you know, you got this vision of being Christ-like, yeah.

I'm I'm gonna do it.

You know, I'm intending to do it fully, completely, I'm sold out.

But M stands for method.

What is the methods that's gonna get me there?

Yeah.

And this is spiritual disciplines.

This is where you as a disciple are doing the things uh in your life that are gonna help you uh to become more like Christ.

And so spiritual disciplines are simply those tools the Holy Spirit uses in your life.

You know, uh prayer, Bible study, uh fellowshipping with believers, fasting, um, solitude and silence, which we really need in the Western world.

We need some solitude and silence.

Um, you know, all these things God uh can use in your life to transform you from the inside out.

And all these things are things that that take time, that take intentionality.

But what'll happen is as you as you really delve into these and grow in these, guess what happens?

It transforms you so that when life squeezes you next time, what pops out is not that angry interaction that is, you know, typical of yourself.

What pops out is Christ-like, you know, patience, long-suffering, mercy, gentleness, you know, pops out.

Why?

Because that's what's in you.

How'd it get there?

It didn't get there because you, by your willpower, said, Oh, I'm gonna be better.

No, it's because God's been changing you from the inside out.

But you gotta be willing to pay the price to get there.

You know, it's kind of like uh somebody, if I said, you know, I'm gonna run the marathon.

Yay, you know, let's let's let's let's sign up, I'm gonna run the marathon, and I'm gonna run it tomorrow.

You know, of course, everybody would die laughing because they know that you can't set that kind of goal.

No.

And just because of your good intentions, because of your willpower, you're gonna do it.

They know that there's gonna have to be a diet change.

They know there's gonna have to be uh, you know, conditioning, uh you're probably gonna have to get a trainer to help you with this.

And, you know, and so you know, when we when we say, I'm gonna be like Christ, that's like saying I'm gonna run a marathon.

I mean, that's a huge goal, you know.

Uh, and yet we don't realize that it's gonna take special diet, it's gonna take a special relationship, you know, it's going to uh really take, you know, a course of uh training and building up to, you know.

And so in the same way as a believer, we have to get involved in the spiritual disciplines to help us become like Christ.

Yeah.

Pastor Doug, that's also good.

Thank you for joining us the past three days.

Uh to everyone who's listening, make sure you follow Celebration Baptist Church.

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Pastor Doug, would you pray for us one last time today?

Yes.

Dear Father, uh Lord, we come before you.

And Lord, I just pray, um, Lord, especially as uh we have experienced the Easter celebration, that you would just put Jesus in front of our eyes.

That he would just uh become so real to us, your perfect Son who paid the price for each one of us.

And Father, I just pray that you would just put into our hearts just such a burning vision of Him, uh, that we would give our lives to follow after Him, that we would give our lives to be transformed by your Spirit.

Father, I just pray that as we think about being His disciple and making disciples of others, that Father, you would just fuel us with your love, and that we would in turn love those around us enough to tell them the truth and to help them find the way.

Father, we ask this because we want you to be glorified.

We want you to be praised, we want your fame to spread.

Father, we just ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Pastor Doug.

Be sure to tune in again tomorrow, and we'll be talking about discipleship with Pastor Aaron.

See you then.