God’s Will For Our Church

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Lord Jesus, that is the desire of our heart.

It is the longing of our soul to see you clearly.

And the place we see you most clearly is in your word, which is why we open it every Sunday when we stand up here.

Because this is our greatest hope of hearing the truth.

And the truth, Jesus, is what you said would set us free.

And so, Holy Spirit, come and open our eyes.

Let us see your will and your ways in the text today.

And let that become a part of our life.

Lord, we don't want just the big expression of God's will.

We want the little minute details of God's will to be seen and savored and experienced in our life.

And so, Lord, give us eyes to see.

We say with the psalmist, open my eyes so that we can see wonderful things in your law.

This book is full of wonder and wonderful things, and we want all of them today.

So, Holy Spirit, lead us.

Say something today that has our name on it.

This is our prayer, God.

We pray in Christ's name.

And everyone said, Amen, amen.

You could have a seat.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up the 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

First Thessalonians chapter 5.

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

And if you don't have a Bible, don't sweat it.

Everything I say will come up on the screen back here.

Before we get going, I want to say hi to my friends that are part of our online community, uh, Bob and Barbara in Iowa, who watch faithfully every Sunday afternoon.

And so, Bob and Barbara, I hope you're having a good day today.

Thanks for watching and keep the prayers coming.

We need them.

I need them.

Amen, church.

You shouldn't say that so so enthusiastically.

Uh, I want to talk to you this morning.

Uh, we've been going through the book of Acts.

We took a break for Advent.

We're gonna get back into Acts next Sunday, Acts chapter 13.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

But today I want to talk to you about God's will for our church.

God's will for our church.

A lot of people wonder about and think about God's will in terms of big life decisions, like where am I gonna go to college?

What am I gonna major in?

Who am I gonna marry?

Uh, what house am I gonna live in?

Where am I gonna live?

And all those things are great, but I want to suggest to you today that if we would be faithful in the little components of God's will, then we could be trusted with the bigger expressions of God's will.

So uh we all marry different people, we all go to different colleges, we live in different houses.

Uh, these expressions of God's will that we'll see in the text today, they apply to every one of us, okay?

And so here's what I want to say from the get-go.

Don't think in terms of God's will, and just only in terms of big life decisions.

Think in turn, think of God's will in terms of every command of the Bible is God's will for your life.

Do you hear the difference in those two things?

Every time the Bible says something to us, like, hey, do this, and it doesn't always use the language, this is God's will, but in the text today it does.

And I believe it doesn't just apply to the three things there that it immediately references.

I think it applies to this whole section of scripture.

So let me just jump in and start reading First Thessalonians chapter five.

I'll start in verse 12.

Paul records these words.

He says, We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Be at peace among yourselves, and we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

See, see that no one repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophecies, but test everything.

Hold fast to what is good, abstain from every form of evil.

And now may the God of peace sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus.

He who calls you is faithful, and he will surely do it.

Now, there's a lot in there.

You hear a lot of that and kind of go, man, I don't know what you're how you're gonna apply this to me.

But actually, if you just relax your eye, the the thing the text falls out into three sections.

Um, basically three parts where he's speaking to leadership uh about fellowship and worship.

And so the first thing I want to point out is leadership is verse 12 and 13.

He's talking about the people, in this case, we would call them pastors or elders nowadays.

And look at verse 12 and 13.

He says, We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you or are over you in the Lord and who admonish you.

Now, Paul uses three participles, not nouns, but three participles to introduce us to the leadership of the church by way of what they do.

Now, leadership of the church is not about a title or a position.

Have you noticed nowadays that preachers get fancier and fancier titles that have nothing to do with preaching?

Like one guy, his title, I uh somebody sent it to me because they know that I kind of collect these.

His title, he's not a pastor, he is a cultural architect.

And I'm just like, bro, what are you what are you doing?

You want to take on the responsibility saying, I built this culture?

Uh uh, but but but but in the in the New Testament, it wasn't about the title or the position.

It matters in fact, it was about how this person uh went about their business, what what they did on a daily basis.

So if you applied this to our church, I would say this is God's will.

I'm talking about leadership.

This is God's will in verse 12 and 13 for our staff and our elders.

And as you know, well, we we are open to look, we're looking to bring on another teaching pastor.

And so this is you say, What are you looking for in a teaching pastor?

These three things right here.

Let me just tick them off.

He says, number one, those who work hard among you, those who work hard among you.

The word most used by Paul to describe ministry is not reading, it's not coffee shop, it's not mental health day.

Now, by the way, I love to read, I love to drink coffee, and occasionally I need a mental health, a mental health day, just to just to unplug and just go out in the woods and stare, okay?

And so I'm not clowning on that at all.

But the word that Paul uses most consistently in the New Testament to describe ministry is this really sexy word, work.

Work, labor, not just labor, but strenuous labor.

This is what makes you a leader, not the title, but the track record of working hard.

So this is what you should expect.

This is God's will for our staff and elders that we be men and women who work hard among you.

Secondly, are over you in the Lord.

Now, this can sound like, what do you mean over you in the Lord?

This is not about status or position, but a responsibility to care for people.

If you've ever been in the hospital and you've had a nurse, they come in and they introduce themselves to you and say, especially during the day, it's okay because you're usually up.

But if you've ever been in the hospital and you stayed overnight and you're not in you're you're pretty sick or you had a pretty serious procedure or whatever, uh, you you don't sleep at night.

They come in about every two hours and wake you up and take your vitals, and you're like, don't come in here again, okay?

Do not come.

I'm gonna rip this IV out and scream, but they'll just come, oh, and they'll turn the light on.

Hello, Mr.

McClendon.

I'm here to get your vitals, I'm here to choke you out and get out of this room.

But here's the thing: look at me.

This nurse is over you, okay?

She has authority to tell you, now you're a fall risk, don't get out of bed.

And you push the little button, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, and nobody comes.

And so you just get up out of bed and you just roll the little IV pole into the bathroom, and then they come in there and they're scrolling, oh my gosh, get back in bed.

Like, here's the they talk that way and they act that way.

Look at me, because they are over you.

They they are there to care for you.

It's the same word picture in the Greek.

They said they're over you, not status or position.

But here's the thing: there, the way they care for you is healing to your soul.

This is what he means when he says they are over you in the Lord.

So, so those who work hard among you, those who are over you in the Lord, and then thirdly, those who admonish you.

Admonish you.

Have you been admonished lately?

Yeah, must be like, I don't know what that means.

Uh uh sometimes the work of caring for people means you have to admonish them, okay?

It's brotherly, but it's big brotherly.

It's somebody that loves you enough to bruise you now instead of watch you bleed later.

And this implies that you've earned the right to say the necessary things to people.

And so it I go back to the very first thing he talks about those who work among you.

If your work in ministry is always done in your office in solitude while you're staring at books, you're not among people.

So people don't know you enough to trust you to receive admonishment from you.

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

And so you should expect from us to be among you, to be among you till you know us.

And so one of our pastors or elders has to admonish you at some point.

You're not like, oh, oh, can you believe this?

Who does this person think he is?

No, you're like, no, you know what?

I know that man, I know that woman, I know they love me, and so I'm gonna receive this as coming from somebody who loves me.

Now the Bible says you should esteem these men right here very highly because of their work.

Look at it right there in the text, is what it says.

He says, to respect those, verse 12, who labor uh among you, who are over you in the Lord, and who admonish you, verse 13, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Now, see, if that's true, and it is, then the inverse is true.

If they don't work, you shouldn't respect them.

Like someone called about a year ago and said, Hey, hey, uh if you ever get an opening on your staff, you know, I'd be interested.

I said, tell them what you'd be interested in, because I I want to be developed.

This is the big thing.

Everyone's got what's called a residency at their church.

Uh, I want to be developed.

And I said, It's on-the-job training here, brother.

I don't have time to do my job and then teach you how to do the job you want to do one day.

That's not fair to my church for you to come here like you're going to night school and get paid to get better at something and then leave.

And he was, I well, I didn't mean to offend you.

You didn't offend me.

I'm very clear.

I'm not offended.

I'm very interested in somebody that wants to work, but it is on the job, on hands training, okay?

It's not you sitting there kind of going, hey, I need you to give me three hours a day.

I don't have three hours a day to give you.

I'm not running a residency program here.

I'm doing ministry.

Oh, oh, okay.

Well, it sounds like this is not a good fit for me.

You're welcome, church.

And I said back in the phone, and y'all, it sounds like you're not a good fit for us.

Because here's the thing you need to understand, and this is an old guy talking to a young guy.

I ain't hating on you, bro, okay?

Let me tell you something.

The church of the Lord Jesus doesn't exist to just to help you get better so you can move on to what's next for you.

Well, I mean, I mean, I don't know if you know, but residencies are very very popular now that yeah, and I would I I I wouldn't put water on most of them if they were on fire.

Well, oh, oh, oh, okay, well, I guess we could go now.

Okay, let's go.

Now, if you're visiting today, I'm a nice person.

I really am.

I buy things from your kids that come up to me selling junk for their school.

Uh and I'm like, yeah, but I just I have zero patience for 20-somethings that think the church exists to help them leverage their ministry career.

I got zero.

And putting residency on it doesn't make it any better.

Now, am I saying residence is a bad idea?

No, I'm just saying about 2% of them are run like a residency should be.

The rest, it's just, hey, look, we got a residency.

Okay, thanks for that.

You're gonna unleash all these uncalled men and women out and out into the on the church and make the church raise them.

Anyway, starts with leadership.

And then secondly, I wish I could see your faces.

You're like, you're a little compressed about that.

You you you don't know the conversations I've had.

Uh uh secondly, like one guy said, you know, I I study in a coffee shop, so I wouldn't be in the office, I'd be in a coffee shop two days a week.

And uh, yeah, I said, if you worked at Bank of America, could you do that?

Well, bro, that's just kind of the way ministry happens.

I said, Well, uh, here would happen if you came here.

Wade Burgess would have his hands around your neck in about a week.

And I had to pull him off.

He goes, Who is Wade Burgess?

I said, He's the Thor God of all details around here.

That's who he is.

So here's the thing, okay?

I'm not trying to be, I'm just this, this, this is this, it this applies to me.

This is what you should expect from the leadership of your church, that being your elders and and and your staff and the pastors here.

We should work hard, we should be uh caring for you.

Uh uh, and and and what was the third one I'd done for God?

Oh, we should we should have earned the right to admonish you.

So that's leadership.

The second section is fellowship.

It's verse 14, 15.

I'm about to get in your business now.

You're like, oh man, yeah.

Look at verse 14 and 15, the way it says, he says, and we urge you, brothers, and we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient uh with with with them all.

Uh, see that no one repays evil for evil.

Put a star by that phrase.

See that no one pays evil, anyone evil for evil, because you're like, yeah, I don't repay anyone evil or evil.

Yeah, you do.

And I'll show you how in just a minute.

Uh, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

This is fellowship.

This part is addressed to the entire believing community because we should be ministering to each other, not just waiting to be ministered to, okay?

The existence of pastors does not relieve members of their responsibility to care for one another.

Let me say that again.

The existence of pastors does not relieve members from their responsibility to care for one another.

Like some of you are creatures of habit, and I love this, and I think you should take advantage of this.

What do I might mean when I say you're creatures of habit?

You sit in the same seat every Sunday.

And I think that's great.

My favorite part is when visitors get here before you sit in your seat, and you walk in and you're like, I mean, I mean, clearly you don't know the rules.

Uh but here's the thing people ask me, does it bother you people sit in the same seat?

Not at all.

You should sit in the same seat.

So here's why.

Because you should learn to care for the people around you.

Now, if you're sitting over here, you may not even know people sit over here.

And if you're sitting waving the back back there, you you you you may not know Jack down here.

Uh, but you should look around and and and and like, hey, get to know, introduce yourself to the people around you.

Why?

Because the existence of pastors does not relieve you from your responsibility to care for one another.

I say it like this: impression, taking on new information, having things impressed upon you, put upon you.

Impression without expression leads to depression.

And if you don't start ministering to each other in the church, this is God's will for our church of the new year, by the way, is that we get better, uh, increase our capacity to minister to one another.

He says there, be at peace among yourselves.

It literally means cultivate peace and then live in it.

And you may be thinking, okay, so how how do we do that?

That's a great question.

Notice he began in the in verse 12 with, you know, we ask you, and now he says, we urge you.

He's kind of cranking up the intensity on this.

We urge you.

Uh, don't think you can accomplish peace through avoidance.

You get to peace because of engagement.

And here are the people that you need to engage.

Number one, admonish the idol.

Admonish the idol.

In this context, it was people that believed Jesus was coming back tomorrow, and so they quit their jobs and didn't work, and they just mooched off of community.

They're like, hey, Jesus' coming back.

So, you know, I'm not gonna work.

It could be any day now.

By the way, I'm not working, I don't have any food.

Can I come to your house?

This was happening in the New Testament.

That's why they're called the idol, the idol, not I D-O-L, but I d-L E.

The idol, people that weren't doing anything, they aren't living in biblical community, they're in a violation of community.

Now, you may be thinking, I don't know how that applies today.

Here's how you have to admonish the idol today.

It's the person that comes to your community group when we should be processing the sermon with sermon-based questions, and they're like, hey, bro, just chill.

Let's just socialize.

You're idol and you should be admonished.

Now, did you feel that?

Some of you just got a picture of somebody in your head.

Yes, that's a conversation you have to have.

Not me, but he says, admonish the idol.

Secondly, encourage the faint-hearted.

Faint-hearted refers to people who've grown spiritually tired.

The opposition that they face on a daily basis is again to get to them, and they could use some encouragement.

Just encourage the faint-hearted.

Now, and again, let me say it again.

People who've grown spiritually tired, okay?

They're not doing anything wrong.

They're just like, man, the opposition they face on a daily basis is again to get to them.

And they need a little encouragement.

Let me give you an example.

I was up at the Whataburger right up here on a mission trip a few months ago.

Uh, and I'm just I'm in there getting my order to go, and there's two policemen that are behind me actually, and they're they're in line.

They said, Hey, you can go, we can't make up our mind.

I said, You can't make up your mind.

Get a patty melt, okay?

That's what you get when you can't make up your mind.

And have them put some bacon on that bad boy.

It'll make your life better.

And one guy goes, Sounds good to me, but you go ahead.

And so I stepped up there and I got that little, I got that little rising in me.

And I just said, Hey, she said, Is that all?

I said, No, whatever these men are having.

And she said, Excuse me.

And the guy goes, No, you ain't got to do that.

I said, Listen, you guys face a lot of adversity.

I don't want you to think everybody in America is out to get you and thinks you're bad, corrupt, crooked cops, you're doing a good job.

I just want you to be encouraged.

Can I buy your lunch?

But one other guy stepped up and said, Absolutely, you can buy my lunch.

And he goes, I'm gonna go with that patty milton.

Put some bacon on that bad boy.

I was like, absolutely.

The other guy's like, uh, can I get a number two?

I said, That's a double meat cheeseburger.

He goes, Yeah.

I I'm not like the high school football coach.

We're gonna stop at bonanza.

You can get beef tips or a chicken fried steak.

Get whatever you want, man.

I want to bless you.

What would but I want you to know that you're appreciated.

I want to encourage you.

Well, can I get a chocolate shake to go with it?

Get whatever you want.

And the lady's like, Well, that that is very kind.

Are you doing that because they're policemen?

I'm doing that because they're underappreciated and overworked.

And people are like, okay, where's a cop I can buy lunch for?

Encourage the faint-hearted.

Thirdly, help the weak.

This refers to people we're starting to narrow the focus here.

This refers to people who struggle with the same sin over and over and over, and they can't get traction.

You ever look at the weak and think, man, just get it together.

Just get a plan.

Work the plan.

Your life will be so much better.

Why are you so undisciplined?

Help the weak.

And then, as if you kind of you think you've kind of recovered, he drops this bomb on us.

Be patient with them all.

All these people, you say, I don't know what you mean.

Here's the question that you got to think about when it comes to being patient with it all.

What bothers you more?

That people are not Christ-like or that they're not like you.

Yeah, because this is my compassion.

Sometimes I just think, hey, I say to my own wife, don't you want to be more like me?

And she's like, No, don't finish that sentence.

I don't want to be like you.

I've never had a day in my life where I wanted to be like you.

I love being like me.

To which I said, Well, you're a little not as efficient as you could be, but okay.

And here's the scary part.

I actually think that.

I think you could be so much more.

And she just laughs and rolls her eyes.

It's like, what an idiot.

Now, by the way, when you talk about be patient with them all, uh, here's where I'm gonna get at you just for a little bit.

Uh be patient, you think, oh, there's a difference in being patient and suffering long.

And sometimes you think the Bible is saying, just be patient, just keep your powder dry, just be patient, wait two more minutes.

No, no.

What the Bible is really saying is suffer long.

It's two different Greek words in the Greek.

The word when we say be patient, we think it it's the Greek word hypomone, which is patience, like we think of it, but it's being patient.

Uh be patient has to do with situations and circumstances.

But here the word that's used in the Greek when he says there, be patient with them all, is makrothemia.

And it means suffer long.

It has to do with people.

Patience is with circumstances and situations.

Suffering long has to do with people.

And here's the thing I want to tattoo on your brain.

When we suffer long with people, we have to face our own powerlessness to make them change.

This is why we don't suffer long with people because and it's not in the conscious, is it typically in the unconscious?

You you you feel it, but you don't have granularity around it.

You can't suffer long with people because it reminds you how powerless you are to make them change.

And the most galling of all human experiences is powerlessness.

It's just like I can't even I can't even be friends with you anymore because it's so disorienting to me because I can't fix you.

And then after you recover from that, verse 15 drops on us and says, See to it that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

Now, why does it say that?

Here's why.

Because it was tempting for these Gentile converts, these are people that are new to Christianity, not people that have been Christians 40 years like me, and should be so much more mature, who can very quickly repay evil for evil.

He has to, they want to re wanna revert back to the way they treated people before they came to faith.

Remind you of anyone?

You say, What do you mean?

The point is that what he's saying to these people is, hey, I know you're new to Christianity, but but now that you're a Christian, you have a capacity that only comes from the gospel.

So don't revert back to what you used to be and how you used to treat people who struggle and stumble.

Okay?

Uh uh and let me just this happened yesterday.

I think it was yesterday.

I tried to blot it out.

Um, my wife is over local missions, which means it's a lot of moving parts, and she does it and is great at it.

And one of the things is Oyster Creek Elementary is right here, and they give away bicycles for perfect attendance.

And uh, our lady, Mr.

Brock, said, Hey, I need 10 bicycles of this different.

And my wife said, How gotta get 10 bikes?

And I said, in a moment of weakness, you want me to go with you?

Uh, because we respond differently to situations, okay?

Like if you can't do your job, I'm out of Jesus with you, okay?

I need you to be able to do your job.

And so we go to Walmart, which that's another bad idea.

We go to Walmart and we're in Walmart and they got bikes and then they got four of them hanging from the ceiling.

They need to get those down.

They paid people.

I'm back there.

Not that I'm counting, but it's 16 minutes.

And in about eight minutes, the little pot is starting to rattle.

The water is boiling.

And I'm just standing there.

We rolled bikes up there.

And I'm like, just and finally they get somebody back there, and the guy gets a little thing, pulls it down, and we roll them up there.

We get in the 20 items or less line.

And the guy goes, uh no, uh not all these have uh uh uh price tags on them, uh a barcode.

I'm like, whose thoughts is that?

So I'll go over to get my my tax exempt little thing.

At this point, I'm just like, Wade Burgess and I could turn this thing around in 30 minutes.

I would fire half of your staff, coach up the rest of them, and this would be an efficiency model right here, a well-oiled machine.

Now, it's pushing an hour.

I've been in Walmart trying to get these bicycles, and there's football coming on.

And my wife over there, Mother Teresa, is like, well, let's be patient with her.

And I'm like, let's fire some of these people.

But I'm not saying any of this out loud, okay?

I didn't say anything out loud.

You can ask my wife.

But my wife knows me and she's just kind of like, okay, your response is becoming the issue, okay?

And so I'm back at the back, there's a big PVC pipe display of big balls.

I just start shaking it.

And the guy walks over because he said, I saw it moving, uh, you know, and I said, Yeah, because I need some bikes and I'm I'm tired of waiting.

I've got things to do.

Well, let me get somebody.

You're the fourth person who said that to me.

Don't make promises you can't keep.

And so finally, guy, we get the bike, roll them up there, and it's a fiasco.

One of them doesn't just scan them all out.

One of them doesn't have a barcode on it.

And the lady said, I said, Well, this one's red, this one's black, just that's the same bike, just scan this.

No, that'll mess up my inventory.

You mean the inventory?

You already have price tags on that inventory?

But I didn't say it, I just thought it.

And so finally I just said, and this is what my wife, here's what my wife, she just backs up, like, I don't want any of this to get on me.

Because I'm just like, hey, listen, I can't take this anymore, okay?

Uh just you keep that bike, we'll get the nine, I'll get the other one from Academy.

I bet they got price tags on theirs.

I didn't say that either, but I thought it.

And while I'm standing there at customer service at Walmart, which is like a mission field from hell, okay?

People are bringing half-eaten things back, this wasn't any good.

I'm like, oh, help me help you.

And I'm standing there, and I'm not gonna say anything to my wife because then she's winning with her little silent response.

Like, I'm standing there, customer service at Walmart, a seving cauldron because you can't do your job.

What are you doing?

Okay, just do your job, execute.

I'm Nick Saban, do your job.

But I'm just like, this is now 68 minutes of my life.

I'm never gonna get back.

And in that moment, I thought about verse 15.

See to it that no one repays evil for evil.

And this little voice in me said, Sometimes your response is as evil as people's behavior.

And I said, in my little heart of hearts, wherever that is, I hadn't said anything.

Yeah, but you and I both know what you're feeling right now.

Yes, don't you think I'm very desolate for not letting it out?

No, I I don't want it to be in you, Neil.

Okay, well, I got a ways to go.

Because dang.

I just want to say sometimes our response to people's behavior.

This is why it says in verse 15, and hey, see to it that no one repays anyone evil for evil.

Sometimes our response is just as evil as people's behavior.

This is why it says that in verse 15.

And then the third section is about worship, it's about leadership, it's about fellowship, and then thirdly, verses 16 and 22 is about worship, about public worship.

You know, this section speaks to the gathered community at worship.

And you got another list.

This is like the book checklist manifesto here.

Uh you say, what do you mean, another list?

Three things basically that happen in worship.

First of all, he says, rejoice always.

Rejoice always.

It's verse 16.

It just kind of turns the corner and he says, uh, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Rejoice always.

Two things about this, uh beloved.

Number one, the Bible's not saying be happy all the time.

Matter of fact, if you're happy all the time, I don't trust you.

I just think, bro, you don't live in this world where people can't do their job, and it's frustrating to people like me that can't do their job.

That's a joke, by the way.

Now, when I get home today, my wife's gonna say, Yeah, I was praying for you.

Keep it to yourself.

And now, but just for the record, I don't light people up.

I I was just like, I I just can't talk.

I just I just need to be quiet right now.

Because people like you tip people that don't know how to do their job, and so they think doing their job doesn't matter because they're gonna get tipped.

That's why I blame all of y'all.

Anyway, worship, worship, rejoice always.

This doesn't mean be happy all the time.

Now, here's the other thing I want you to understand about this that it's not about the experience of joy, but it's about the expression of joy.

It's not about the experience of joy.

Rejoicing always is not walking into the room every Sunday and thinking in terms of, am I gonna experience joy?

Are people gonna talk to me?

Are people gonna acknowledge me?

What a big deal it was to get my kids up and get them dressed and get here?

Am I going to experience joy?

If that's the way you think, then you will rarely rejoice always, okay?

But if you gather thinking, if you show up on Sunday thinking, how can I express the joy that is mine because of the gospel, regardless of my circumstances, then you will rejoice always.

When the Bible says rejoice always, you're like, oh, absolutely.

There's always some good in this.

You say, Well, what's the good in your little debacle?

Actually, I think it was on Friday.

On Friday, here was the good.

We pulled up to the elementary school, and probably 30 kids come piling out to get those bikes.

And this little voice of me just said, Hey, look at the joy on these kids' faces at the possibility they may get one of these.

Is it worth your 68 minutes now?

Okay, so shut up, Neil.

Yes, the Holy Spirit speaks to me in the living Bible translation, not the King James.

He doesn't say, Cease speaking, or no longer speaketh.

He just says, just shut your yapper.

And so I just begin to lift bikes out of the back of my truck and say, What's your name?

Okay, my name, my name's Harry.

I said, Harry, I hope you get one of these.

Me too.

I'm like, I'm going to hell on a slip and slide.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.

Pray without ceasing.

What do you mean?

It means that you have this attitude and this posture of prayer.

If I have a New Year's resolution, it's going to be around this.

I want to pray more.

And instead of say much about it, I want to just read to you from Luke 18.

Anytime I feel like my prayer life is kind of getting a little half a bubble off.

I come back to Luke 18 and I read the first eight verses, it says this.

Jesus is talking, and it says, and he told them a parable to the effect that they should always pray and not lose heart.

He said, In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man.

And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Give me justice against my adversary.

For a while he refused.

But afterwards he said to himself, Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.

And the Lord said, uh, excuse me, and the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says.

And will will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night?

Will he delay long over them?

I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

It's that part where Jesus says, Hey, listen to what the unjust judge says.

See, when we persist in prayer, we can change people's hearts and circumstances.

And I just wonder, because he says in the very beginning, the first sentence, and he told them a parable to the effect that they should always pray and not lose heart.

Have you prayed about anything for so long that you've just kind of lost heart towards it?

When your husband says, Hey, we should remember we're praying for this.

Yeah, whatever.

I got nothing.

You can pray for that.

Have you been knocking on the door of heaven for so long?

You're just like, I don't think anybody's home.

Let's go.

And the third thing he says is the will of God, you give thanks in all circumstances.

It's real simple.

Get the prepositions right.

It's not for, but in.

Not give thanks for all circumstances.

Oh, wrecked my car, totaled it.

Thank God.

No.

In all circumstances.

Joy, prayer, and thankfulness are all evidence that the Holy Spirit is at is at work among us.

This is why verse 19, the next verse says, and do not quench the spirit.

Why?

Because this is act, this is evidence that the spirit is at work within our church when we have joy and we're praying and we're thankful.

Do not quench the spirit.

Why?

How do we quench the spirit?

He goes on to say, do not despise prophecies, but test everything.

Hold fast to what is good.

Abstain from every form of evil.

There was a lot of evil taking place in this church because people were trying to say, they would get up and say, Well, I've got a word from the Lord.

The Lord said blah, blah, blah.

And it wasn't God speaking, okay?

And so just to clarify, because we'll pick up here next week, okay?

Listen very carefully.

Are you still with me?

Yeah, see, there's a difference every once in a while because a friend, somebody sent me a clip, uh, a video of a man who was like, I'm a prophet and I've got a word for the whole city of Amarillo.

God's going to use Amarillo, it's central to his second coming, his, you know, his end times plan.

I'm like, Amarillo?

Have you been to Amarillo?

I mean, really?

And the guy sent me this, he goes, Hey, is this true?

Uh, because this guy says he's a prophet.

I said, first of all, anytime, and you understand this, because this is what our church uh believes with the Bible teaches this, there's a difference in a prophet and the gift of prophecy.

Like every once in a while, people say to me, Well, I heard you, I heard you're a prophet.

No, I have the gift of prophecy, I'm not a prophet.

Because if you someone says they're a prophet, like in the Old Testament, prophets, they spoke the very oracles of God.

This this is what became portions of the Old Testament.

But someone says they're a prophet, if there's such a thing as a modern-day prophet, then we have to open the closed canon of scripture and write down what these people are saying.

And we're never going to do that, okay?

But stay with me, we do believe in the gift of prophecy, it's a spiritual gift, and some people have it and some people don't.

And what Paul's saying is, hey, uh could just because this is being abused, the gift of prophecy, oh, the Lord gave me a word.

I remember going to East Texas Baptist University, and guys would say to girls, the Lord's told me you're the girl I'm gonna marry.

Like on the second date, and the girls would come to me and my friends and go, hey, what do I do with that?

Punch him in the face and move on.

That's a guy that's not interested, and he's trying to say it's God's will that you find me interesting.

No, it's not.

No.

I love what Gordon Fee says when it comes to prophetic abuse.

He said the response to abuse is not disuse, but careful use.

The response to abuse is not disuse, like, oh, we don't do that anymore.

That's why he says, do not despise prophecies.

See, the church, we'll pick up the in Acts 13 next week, is where we left off.

In Acts 13, you'll see this next Sunday.

It says, In the church at Antioch, there were prophets and teachers.

The church needs both.

And by the grace of God, we have both on our staff.

We have people that are prophetic, and we have people that are teachers, and you need both because there's balance in that.

You don't despise just because, oh man, I've seen some crazy stuff, okay?

No, no, evidence that the Holy Spirit's at work among these people is that they experience joy, uh, they experience answered prayer, and they're so full of gratitude and thankfulness.

And the Bible, quickly on the heels of that, says, Hey, be careful you don't quench the spirit.

Some translations say grieve the spirit.

That means you become an obstacle to what the spirit's trying to do.

And so I just want to end today.

We'll pick up next week talking about a church that has prophets and teachers.

But I want to end today with just saying one of my prayers for us is that we have an increased sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

All right, let's pray together.

If you're our guest, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and then give you some soul space to think about it.

And so I'll voice a prayer and some questions come up on the screen that we process in our community groups.

You can take a discrete picture and just think about them, or you can just pick out one and say, Hey, I'm gonna meditate on that thing uh the rest of my day.

All right, let's pray, Lord.

Thank you for the word.

Thank you that it's full of truth, that it's nourishing, that we've got to sink our teeth into it, it but it sinks its teeth into us as well.

And so now, Lord, we want to pause just for a second.

And so we don't we don't want to be flippant with the phrase God's will, but we do believe that you you're very clear about what your will is for leadership of the church, for fellowship in the church, and for worship in the church.

And so, Holy Spirit, just kind of brood over us for a moment before we get out of here.

Father, we don't want to just focus on the big things that we can't manage and and call that God's will, or ask what is God's will for that when your will is all over the Bible, it's on every page of the Bible.

Everything the Bible commands us to do is your will for our life, and so we don't want to live in rejection of that and then try to get over here and say, But now, God, I need to know what college I'm supposed to go to.

Lord, we want to experience every facet of your will.

We believe your will for our church headed into this new year is what the Bible talked about this morning.

So, Lord, apply it to where it needs to be applied, let the rest just kind of fall to the wayside.

Holy Spirit, brood over us, continue to lead us, speak life into us so life can come out of us.

This is our prayer.

We pray it in Christ's name, and everyone said, Amen, amen.

If you're our guest today, I want to say thanks for being here.

You're always welcome.

I know some of you may be exploring a new church.

If you have any questions about our church or about anything you you you saw or heard today, some of our pastors will be down front at the conclusion of our service.

We'd love to meet you, to learn your name, uh, to pray with you, uh answer any questions you got going on that maybe stirred up in your head or in your heart.

If you would, just text welcome to that number.

It gives us a record of your presence here today.

We're not gonna show up unannounced.

Uh, we'll probably just shoot you back a text.

Uh, we want to help you take the next step in your spiritual journey, whatever that may look like, okay?

There's always things going on in the life of our church.

Uh, and so uh before I tell you, we're gonna check out our announcement video.

Just after the announcement video ends, just stay tuned in because you got a video coming from Romania because a long time ago we we took up an offering and to get a car for one of our missionaries, Pastor Daniel in Romania.

So we got an update on that as well.

So let's just check out what's coming up in the life of our church.

Here's what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

Big news! Grand Parkway is officially claiming the first Tuesday of the month to serve at the weekly Bible study at Neri's Promise beginning in February.

Every Tuesday, 50 to 70 children show up to read the Bible and learn about the love of Jesus.

We have the privilege of joining Neri and demonstrating that love simply by our willingness and presence on a consistent basis.

You do not need any special skills, just show up and be the friendly faces greeting the children, loving on them, or leading them in the simple Bible study.

If you have teens or older elementary kids, this is a great opportunity for your family to serve together.

During the four weeks leading up to Super Bowl Sunday, we'll be gathering soup cans to bless a local food bank.

So buy some soup cans, then drop them off at the Mission Center anytime between January 21st and February 11th.

Finally, DNO is our in-town overnight weekend-long experience.

It'll be on February 9th through the 11th.

If you're interested in serving, driving, or being a host home throughout the weekend, contact Annie at Grandparkway.org.

For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Thank you, Pastor Neil, for your friendship.

Thank you, Marcy.

Thank you, all of you, uh, Grand Parkway, for your partnership with us for uh so many years.

I'm here with Pastor Daniel.

He's so happy because he received your gift that you had for him three months ago.

We are sorry that it lasted so long.

But here we are with uh his new acquisition, the new car, and he wants to say thank you to all of you.

Thank you, thank you, brother.

Thank you for the car, and God bless you.

God bless you.

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

We are so happy that uh we can do more ministry now with a better car for Daniel, and uh we can hardly wait to see you coming here back to Romania in uh in a new mission trip next this year and in the years to come.

God bless you.

We love you.

I'll let you figure out which one does the talking in that relationship.

Now, a video sent me an email and said, Hey, I'm so sorry.

Pastor Daniel is not very confident in English, and so he looked kind of stiff.

He said he was overwhelmed with emotion.

Uh we sent 8,400 US dollars, which allowed him to buy that Volkswagen.

It's like a little small minivan thing because he carries people around.

But also, he had enough to get it uh registered in Romania.

They bought it in Germany, got it registered in Romania, and he had enough left over to buy some winter tires.

And so I wanted you to know that happened because you give.

And so when you give, it doesn't just stay here in this room, uh, that it goes all over the world.

So thank you for that, okay?

Stand to your feet.

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

So if you would stand to your feet and hold your hands out.

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Depart now and believe this simple fact that He is faithful, and He will surely do it.

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.