Core Values: Mission

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Lord, we say yes and amen to everything you say.

And so we've come today to uh to have our minds provoked towards godly thinking and then towards right living.

It's not enough to just think certain things and believe certain things if they don't show up in our lives.

That makes us hypocrites.

And there's enough of those in the church in America today.

And so, Lord, we've come just to lay down our intellect and our preferences and say, speak.

Your servants are listening.

Say something today that is so consequential that it's provoking how we live on Thursday.

This is our prayer, God.

Make it our experience, we pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, don't sweat it.

It doesn't mean you're a bad person.

Everything I say is going to come up on one of these screens here behind me with it with this screen that we got at Jerry Jones' garage sale.

And so we're in a series right now.

Typically, if you're visiting our church, let me just tell you a little bit about our church.

We're typically preaching through a book of the Bible.

It's called Expository Preaching.

But every once in a while we take a break between books and cover a certain topic.

Right now, we're covering, we're talking about our church's core values.

These are the things that we value.

Should be a picture on the screen behind me of a man pouring concrete.

As fun as that looks, you don't want that job.

That stuff is wet and heavy, and you got to move it all.

But core values are not like concrete.

They're like the rebar, that cross-patterned grid of the metal rods that go in the middle of the concrete that reinforce it and keep it from cracking and shifting.

Core values, the things that we value as a church are deep in the DNA of our church, okay?

They're not always on display.

We don't use them like a club, but they guide the decisions that we make.

And so if you want to know about our church, we have four core values: gospel, community, mission, and then blessing.

We believe the gospel, the good news of Christianity, produces this community of people that are on this shared mission, not missions, but mission.

And central to that mission is to be a blessing.

Today I'll talk about our third core value, our got the our value of mission.

And this is the way I want to talk about it.

I want to distinguish, first of all, before we get to the text, about the difference in mission and missions.

And then I want to show you a picture of what it looks like to be on mission from the Bible, okay?

And so don't try to write all this stuff down here in the beginning.

Just some ways to help us kind of process and get to a clear definition of what we're talking about.

Because if you're not careful, we say mission, and you hear missions, and you're like, ah, I can't go overseas, or I can't go to Costa Rica, or I can't go to Portland.

No, no.

Everybody in this room can live and should live on mission.

And so a couple of things to help us clarify how we think.

First of all, when you think of mission, we think of the all-encompassing mission of God to redeem mankind and bring healing to the land.

It's reflected in the Lord's Prayer.

We just prayed, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Now, when we pray that, we need to realize that we are the medium through which both king and kingdom find expression.

And thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

When we talk about the kingdom of God, it's very simply put, the kingdom of God is the realm which in within which what God wants done gets done.

And that sounds fuzzy and nebulous.

Let me clarify it.

Standing in line at HEB uh just the other day, uh, and there's a mom and her son, single mom and her son in line in front of me.

And the mom's checking out, and the son's like, oh mom, gotta get some candy.

And she says, No, we can't afford that.

And then she kind of looked at me and was like, you know, inflation, everything.

I said, that's all right.

We're gonna get the right president in 2024, and everything's gonna be cheaper.

Ron DeSantis.

No, no, just checking.

Uh anyway, and so uh some of you know this, some of you don't.

I was raised by my mom, and I had that experience so many times, it is etched in my mind.

And so all of a sudden I just heard that, I just sense the Holy Spirit go, let's set the kingdom down.

And I said, ma'am, I don't want to embarrass you.

And the kids look at the candy, I said, Can I I mean I'd be glad to pay for it?

I mean, I and she goes, Well, I mean, you know, I mean I said, You ain't got to explain.

We've all been there, okay?

The man got his foot on all of our deck right now.

Inflation is up nine percent.

I saw a little sticker next to the candy bar.

Joe Biden, I did this.

But I I don't care about that.

I just care the kid can't can't get him candy.

And she said, Well, you don't have to do it.

I know I don't have to.

That's what makes doing it so enjoyable.

So I just got to say the kid, hey, just get whatever you want, man.

And the mom said, easy, don't say that.

And I said, Yeah, yeah, it's okay.

And the kid just like a spider monkey, he's climbing up on stuff.

You got another box of these?

And just throwing it up on the conveyor belt.

And I just thought, yes, this is what the kingdom, the realm within which what God wants done, gets done.

Now, if you're a parent, you're thinking, I don't think God wants that kid to have all that candy.

No, no, that's not the kingdom in that moment.

The kingdom in that moment is God wants a single mom not to be overwhelmed.

And then the guy checking out with the red shirt on, it's like, that was awesome, by the way.

And I said, Oh, listen, that's who God is.

God makes me not so selfish because left to myself, I'd be the stingiest person in the world.

And he's like, Okay, cool.

Didn't know what to do with that.

And so I think it's gonna sound the kingdom of God can sound no, it's this it's the realm within which what God wants done gets done.

And every one of you in this room that are Christians have the capacity to set the kingdom down on a daily basis.

Uh, here's another clarifying thing missions is ministry which fulfills the Great Commission by proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ cross-culturally through evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and church leadership development, giving priority to the least reached.

Missions is a part of the church's total mission.

That's why the first week of October, Travis Dunham and I will get on a plane and fly to Vermont to meet with an organization called Nets.

They're establishing God-centered, gospel-driven churches in all 56 counties of New England, where two to four percent of the population attend church every Sunday.

It is the most unreached area of our country.

And they have this ministry is dedicated to raising up theologically rigorous men to lead these churches to preach the gospel in the counties of New England.

And we're looking, we're considering partner with them.

Like Travis is going because he's looking taking a men's construction trip to Vermont next summer when it's 117 or 90% humidity in Houston.

They're gonna go to Vermont where it's 62.

Yes, yes, Chris Camardo is going.

I'm already signed up.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, because they said we have a facility and it needs some maintenance.

And like, dude, I got chucks and trucks, they'll drive up there, okay?

Yes, yes.

So that's missions.

Here's the third thing.

Mission, no ass, mission describes who the church is and what the church does to advance Christ's kingdom for his glory.

Missions describes the church's activity to advance Christ's kingdom across language, cultural, social, economic, ethnic, and spiritual boundaries.

Now, who wants to hear a confession?

Say amen.

Somebody else wrote all those things.

I wrote this one.

Mission is being.

Missions is going.

Every one of you can be.

I'm going to show you a picture in the Bible.

We talk about our core value of mission.

This is a picture of what it looks like to be on mission, to be a missional people.

Mark chapter 2, verse 1.

Mark 2:1

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.

And many were gathered together so that there was no more room, not even at the door.

And he was preaching the word to them.

And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four of them.

And when they could not get him near because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him.

And when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven.

Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, Why does this man speak like that?

He's blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, Why do you question these things in your hearts?

Which is easier?

To say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise, take up your bed and walk, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.

And he arose immediately, picked up his bed, and went out before them all.

So they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this.

When's the last time that phrase came out of your mouth?

We've never seen anything like this.

See, when when we live on mission, those kind of things get said.

And the guy's like, uh, that's pretty cool.

That's pretty cool.

Yeah, anybody can do this.

Here's five components of living on mission.

Number one is exposure.

Exposure.

It's verse one.

And when they returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home, and many were gathered together, so there's no more room, not even at the door.

Now I say exposure, I mean exposure to Jesus.

This means we're consistently exposing people to Jesus, whether it's on the golf course, in conversations, laying out by the pool, in the boardroom at Starbucks, over dinner.

Uh, exposure comes in what we say, how we live, who we love, what we say no to, what we say yes to, how we spend our money.

All of these things are exposing people to Jesus.

If you're a Christ follower, you have not only the capacity, but the command to expose people to Jesus.

Now, you don't have to do it.

Exposing people to Jesus is not becoming some mean-spirited religious jerk who just beats people and uses truth like a club.

No, I expose people to Jesus differently than my wife exposes people to Jesus.

I do a lot of counseling, I call it pastoral care, just caring for people and their souls.

And I ask this question a lot when people say, Here's my situation.

And I just say, Is this the world, the flesh, or the devil?

And everybody looks at me like, what?

And I said, the Bible talks about in Ephesians chapter 2 that there's three enemies against humanity: the world, which is external, the flesh, which is internal, and the devil, which is spiritual.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

You've got to discern which realm this comes from because you approach each one differently.

And they're just like, I just want my wife to not leave me.

Oh, okay.

It sounds like this is in your flesh.

But anyway, and away we go.

But that's the way I expose people to Jesus.

I'm not harsh, I'm not heavy-handed.

I actually try to be helpful.

This is the way my wife exposes people to Jesus.

Hey, would you guys like to come to dinner on Tuesday?

And I'm like, because if I had my way, I'd dig a moat around my house and put a drawbridge, and no one would ever get let in.

Because I work hard all day, every day.

You people don't stop sinning.

And I'm saying, don't stop.

I need the job security.

But I go home, I'm just like dragging in the driveway, like this past week it happened.

We have an we had an elder meeting on Tuesday night, and my wife, who through hospitality, loves to expose people to Jesus, she says, Hey, we usually we have a tradition.

We have Wade Burgess, who's an elder, and he lives in Greatwood.

We're like, hey, Wade, I just live right here.

We want to come to dinner.

And so Wade's now on the elder meeting dinner list.

And so this past week, my wife's like, is there anybody else we can invite?

No, no, there's not.

Oh, Jeff Wood, he works all day as a spine surgeon.

He probably, I said, Jeff grabs a hamburger and comes to elderly.

Jeff needs to be exposed to our dinner.

So this past Tuesday night, they both come to our house.

My wife, this is exposure to Jesus.

My wife made crunchy chicken with party potatoes, which have cream cheese and sour cream in them, okay?

That's all I need to say.

And some flash-fried green beans or whatever, and a salad with mandarin oranges and walnuts and little goat cheese, seared goat cheese medallions, and crusty bread.

And Wade Burgess is over there, and I swear I heard this.

He's just scarfing it in.

And I'm just kind of looking.

I grew up the youngest of uh uh in my family, and so I always did the food math.

I would look when people got served and see how much is left.

And so our guest went first, and then I got there, and then I'm looking, and Wade's not his food's not balancing out like he's got more of one thing and the other things are gone.

So he goes back and replenishes his plate, and I'm like, meh.

Because I love leftovers, and I'm just like, are you kidding me?

I mean, come on, bro, where are you putting this?

You weigh like a buck 20 soaking wet.

My wife wears bigger pants than you.

I didn't say that out.

Well, I just said that out loud, didn't I?

Never mind.

I was gonna now Jeff Wood looks at me and he goes, You eat like this all the time?

How do you not weigh 400 pounds?

I said, I know, right?

And so we're I'm just like, yeah, help yourself.

They're getting more.

And then we're leaving, and I'm looking, I'm consoling myself with this thought.

There's one seared goat cheese medallion left.

When I get home from the elder meeting, I'm gonna reward myself, popping the microwave for like 10 seconds, and it gets hot and gooey on the inside, but it's crispy on the outside.

But no, Jeff Wood's walking out and he goes, Oh, there's one of those left, and pops it in his mouth and just walks out.

And I am a seething cauldron of resentment.

I'm like, are you kidding, bud?

I take it a raise.

And so now we get here, and the other elder says, Hey, y'all had dinner meals out.

That must be nice.

And my wife's like, Oh, let's invite all of them next time.

No, let's not.

But my wife is that way because this is the way she exposes people to Jesus.

She loves hospitality.

She loves, hey, don't mind our dog, go jump all over you for the first five minutes, and after that, he calms down.

It's okay.

So here's my point.

You don't have to be like anybody else to expose people to Jesus, but people need to get a whiff of the fragrant aroma of who God is.

And this is what exposure is.

You say, I don't know what you mean.

Now I realize it can sound innocuous when I say exposure to Jesus.

So let me just demonstrate from the Bible three different instances where people got exposed to Jesus.

No one took a bullhorn and said, Hey, you sinners, you're going to hell.

You better stop what you're doing and do.

No.

Here's one Luke chapter 19, the guy named Zacchaeus.

Luke 19 · chapter mention

Remember Zacchaeus?

Zacchaeus was a wee little man and yeah, somebody grew up in church.

Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.

Yeah, Zacchaeus was short, okay?

We would be sued for saying that nowadays, but he was underdeveloped.

Jesus was coming to town, okay?

Jesus was coming to town.

Stop laughing, you're in church.

Uh uh, we're such a litigious society.

I'm gonna sue you for that.

Okay.

Uh Jesus coming to town, and it looks like a big and rich video.

I mean, there's the bearded lady, there's a fire-eating midget from the from the carnival.

I mean, they were walking into the room, passing out hundred dollar bills, and it thrills and it chills like the horns on my Silverado grill.

It's this rolling parade of dysfunction and need.

So many people that Jesus can't be seen.

It's like eight deep until Zacchaeus climbs a tree and he's just looking, and all of a sudden Jesus is in the parade, and he just detours and goes to the tree and says, Hey, Zacchaeus, come down.

I want to go to your house tonight and have dinner.

Because, like my wife, Jesus exposes people to himself through hospitality, not hate.

And Zacchaeus is like, has Jesus ever come up to the bottom of your tree and said, Hey, I see you.

And by the way, this is a little fun fact Jesus knew his name.

He wasn't wearing a name tag.

Hello, my name is Zacchaeus, and I'm a chief tax collector.

And I skim 2% off the top.

That's how I have everything I have.

No, Jesus did, he gets exposed.

This is why exposure to Jesus is so profound and so powerful.

Jesus just says, Hey, I want to eat dinner at your house tonight.

Can your wife make these little seared goat cheese medallions to go with that salad?

And Zacchaeus calms down and he says, This, this is exposure to Jesus.

No sermon, no nothing.

He just gets exposed.

He goes, Oh Lord, if I've cheated anybody, I'll give back fourfold.

And Jesus is like, if you've cheated.

Listen, you're a chief tax collector, okay?

Of course you've cheated, you little weasel.

It'll be like the IRS calling you tomorrow and saying, you know what, we've overcharged you every day you've been working since you've been working.

We're gonna give you four times back what you paid over the span of your life.

Don't hold your breath.

But this is the thing.

Don't miss this.

This is the power of exposure to Jesus.

Jesus walks over to the tree and says, Hey, is that kids?

Can you come down on and go have dinner at your house?

Yes.

There's a woman in Luke 7.

We don't know her name, she's called the Sinful Woman.

Now, by the way, when you read the Bible, let your curiosity get rampant and get the better of you.

Verse 2, it says that many were gathered together so that there was no room.

And then it says this little comma, not even at the door.

Not even.

Why does the Bible say that?

Because the social custom of the day, when you had a dignitary or guest of honor at your house, or an important person, you would leave the door open and riffraff could come in off the street and they couldn't sit or recline at table with everybody else, but they could stand by the door, signifying, I don't need, I don't deserve to be here, but I had to be here because I want to hear this person talk.

And so the right here in Mark chapter 2, the room's already filled, riffraff has already come in.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

There's people everywhere.

The sinful woman is the person standing at the door in Luke chapter 7.

Luke 7 · chapter mention

She's the woman that what happened is she heard Jesus at the temple.

Best we can tell he talked about forgiveness because she went home and got a little box as her dowry, her saving it for her wedding.

And it was like a scented ointment perfume, uh, like tootie fruity Vaseline.

She can't help herself.

Jesus is talking to a bunch of religious people that are always sitting down and God is on the move.

They're sitting there, and the woman comes in behind Jesus in Luke 7 and starts slathering the stuff on her feet, on his feet, crying and wiping his feet with her hair.

And Jesus is just talking, and they're thinking to themselves, the Bible says.

Oh, if he was a prophet, he would know what kind of woman's touching him.

And Jesus says, Hey, Simon, I've got something to tell you.

Oh, yes, Lord, tell me.

And he says, I'll tell you a story.

A guy owed five bucks and he got forgiven.

They forgave the debt, and another guy owed five million.

Which one is more grateful?

Oh, I guess the one that had the bigger debt.

You're right, you little weasel.

That's why this woman's wiping my feet with her hair, and you didn't do anything for me since I came to your house.

She's not stopped weeping over me.

Why?

Because whoever's been forgiven much loves much.

This is why you're not very loving, you religious jerk.

You are not understand forgiveness.

But she does.

She just got exposed to Jesus.

Here's a question for all of us: How did you so quickly recover from exposure to Jesus?

And this woman loses her mind.

And then there's on the road to Emmaus, Luke chapter 24.

Luke 24 · chapter mention

The disciples are walking with Jesus and they didn't recognize him.

This is post-resurrection.

They didn't recognize him.

Then he walks off and they're like, Did not our hearts burn within us as he opened up the scriptures to us?

You know how you feel on Sundays here?

When you walk out, did not our hearts burn within us?

What was that?

That's just exposure to Jesus.

So when I say exposure, don't go, okay, I'll write that down.

That's not very important.

Are you kidding me?

It's exposure.

Second component is truth.

Truth.

And there were many gathered together so that there was no room, not even at the door.

And what was Jesus doing?

He was preaching the word to them.

Don't picture in your mind Jesus with a bullhorn.

Close the door, I've got a captive audience.

Let me tell you, you people are gonna go to hell and you're gonna burn.

No, no, no.

The word that he was preaching the word to them, preaching that word in the Greek, the Bible is originally written in Greek.

That Greek word that's used right there is so random and so seldomly used that it's hard to understand.

But it's not preaching like proclamation or declaration or even what I'm doing now.

It's talking about spiritual things in such a way that nobody wants to leave the room.

So when four guys show up and they got a guy duct taped to a single bed who's paralyzed and he's like, just don't drop me.

They can't even get him in the room.

The riffra section by the door is already filled up.

And so they go on the stairs on the side and they start digging a hole in the roof to lower the man down into the presence of Jesus.

Truth.

And he was preaching the word to them, not to win arguments, but to testify to a reality.

Ask yourself this question.

Now, you you you had this happen before.

If you're talking to somebody and all of a sudden you start mixing a little spiritual truth into the dialogue, what do they say?

Something like this.

Oh, now you're preaching.

You're preaching now, you're starting to preach to me.

Jesus was telling them the truth, and they were so overwhelmed.

Verse 2 says that the place was packed.

Maybe Jesus was so consistently speaking in the truth because he knew the day would come that God foresaw and foretold us about.

Ask yourself today, how often do you talk about uh intentionally about spiritual things?

How often do you sit down to lunch and say, hey, hey, Bill, we can talk about a lot of things, but here's two things I want to make sure we get to, okay?

Number one is this, and number two is this.

And so let's just let this thing go where it needs to go.

But before we get up and tip our waitress, we're gonna talk about these two.

So you tell them when you're ready.

Jesus was very intentional.

Why?

Why would he get a captive audience and preach the word to them because he never wasted a crowd?

He never was like, Oh, look at this, man.

Hey, hey, hey, give me a selfie.

I'm gonna put this on my gram.

This is gonna look awesome.

No, he never wasted a crowd.

A crowd of people need to understand the truth.

Why?

Because God understood what we need to understand, and you need to understand it because this is in the day in which we live.

Amos chapter 8, Old Testament, God foresaw the day, and I think we're living in it.

Amos 8 · chapter mention

God said this would happen.

He said, The days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land.

Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

They shall wander from sea to sea and from north to east.

They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.

In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst.

You say, What do you mean?

Some of you understand this more than I do.

I don't get to go to other churches because I work at one.

Yeah.

And these elders they expect you to show up.

And what's up with that?

Legalist?

And so what happens is that so many people come and a guy the other day said, We visited nine different churches.

And I said, What do you see out there?

And he goes, Man, people aren't preaching the Bible.

Now, when we hear that, we're like, Yeah, we're awesome.

I'm sad.

I'm sad because I think Amos A, oh, we're in the famine.

We're in the famine.

You're crying.

Need is to find if you're visiting today.

I would love this to be a church, a place that you feel comfortable coming and joining and helping us row the boat.

But but if you're like, man, this is not my cup of tea.

This is like, whoa, oh my goodness, cello, hip-hop, and then this guy, no, thank you.

Now, let me just say this: find a church that teaches the Bible.

Because the Bible is the only thing that goes out and never comes back void that accomplishes the purpose for which God sent it.

Truth.

Here's the third component belief.

Belief.

Look at verse three and four.

It says they came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four of them.

And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him.

And when they made it open and they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.

It'd be like me preaching right now, and all of a sudden you hear something happening on the roof, and then all of a sudden Wade Burgess rushes the stave and says, We've got insurance, stop that.

And all of a sudden, the guy, duct taped to a single bed, just winches down.

You're like, what do you mean?

Belief.

They come bringing their friend because they believe something about Jesus.

What's true about the paralyzed guy is obvious.

Who cannot see that?

He's paralyzed.

He needs to be healed.

No duh.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

But what they do, don't miss this, what they do is not motivated because of what they believe about their friend.

What they do is motivated because of what they believe about Jesus.

Could it be that the reason that we don't bring needy people is not because we don't know needy people, we don't know people who aren't far from God, but we don't believe the right things about Jesus?

Do you still hold on to biblical beliefs, to Christian doctrine when it comes to God and Jesus?

Do you understand that?

Is there anything about Jesus you should believe that you don't?

Or to ask it a different way, what is the most consequential thing you believe about Jesus right now?

For me, it's very simple.

I believe that Jesus Christ is God's Son, and as such, he is the only way to a relationship with God the Father.

And so that just shows up in any conversation I have where people say things like, Well, you know, I'm I'm a good person and so I know I'm going to heaven.

And I don't go, whoa, I just say, hey, if that wasn't true, would you want to know?

And people are like, What?

If that wasn't true, would you want to know?

Because I can't, I can't call myself loving you when I do, and you believe something that's a lie.

And they're like, Oh, well, sure, go ahead.

See, here's the thing.

We're talking about believing.

The behavior of these four men makes no sense apart from what they believe about Jesus.

It just doesn't.

You should ask yourself, does my life make sense apart from what I believe about Jesus?

Could your life be explained if Jesus never existed?

Here's another question we got to ask ourselves: Am I moved more by need or capacity?

It's an important question because if you look around and you're moved by need, that will drain you.

You'll eventually become bitter and jaded and cynical.

And like Reinhold Nieber, the theologian, said back in the 60s, if you scratch the surface of a cynic, you'll find an idealist who's been disillusioned.

See, if you're moved by need, it's just a matter of time, you'll get weared out, but worn out.

But if you're moved by capacity, these four men, don't miss this.

These four men were not moved by the need of their friend.

They're moved by the capacity of God.

This is why the room was full, even by the door.

This is why they can't get him in, and they got to punch a hole in the roof and lower him down, because Jesus Christ has a capacity that cannot be found anywhere else.

The fourth component is simply faith.

It's faith.

Verse five, look at this.

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic son, Your sins are forgiven.

When Jesus saw their faith, again, there's a man being lowered on a bed through the ceiling while you're preaching, and you don't even notice this.

No.

What Jesus values, loves, looks for, and notices is faith.

And when he sees faith, he acts.

Okay, let me say this again, because I'm about to dig a hole and jump in it.

And as many as you want to can jump in it with me.

We can fill it with water and call it a swimming pool, or you can just put me in it and call it a grave.

Amen?

Are you with me?

Say yes.

Or like it all depends on where you're going with this.

Here's what I when I say faith, here's what I mean.

What God loves, values, and looks for is faith.

And if we're not careful in the church, we teach you that what God loves, values, and looks for is need.

And so you think that because I have need, God's gonna respond to me.

And biblically speaking, that's not always correct, okay?

You you you should think about faith as a very causal thing, not just comfort.

Think more about faith because it's the one thing that moves the heart of God like nothing else.

Okay?

Now, listen very carefully.

God is more moved by faith than need.

Said differently or in a cultural way, God is not moved by intersectionality.

You're like, okay, I don't even know what that is.

I don't know if God's moved by it or not.

Intersectionality is very popular right now, okay?

I brought you a definition right out of the world's handbook, okay?

This is intersectionality.

Stay with me.

Intersectionality is the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, gender, and they apply to a given individual or group regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

Yes.

Yes.

Y'all are like, you read stuff like this during the week?

Yes, I do.

Yes.

Now let me put it down to where you live, okay?

And where I live.

Translation, the biggest victim gets to be in charge.

Intersectionality says this.

Oh, you had this issue.

That's why trans rights are so big right now.

You're the biggest victims in the world.

No one understands you.

Oh my gosh, we better just shut up and listen to you.

You get to run the world.

No, you don't.

No, you don't.

There's man and woman, male and female, he created them.

In his image, he created them.

If you're born a man, you're gonna be a man to the day you die.

Or when you stand before God on judgment day, you're gonna be judged as a man.

Now look at me.

If you're visiting today, I'm not mad at the trans community.

I don't live in fear of them, though.

Intersectionality says whoever has the most issues, this is what it sounds like equity, diversion, and inclusion.

And it's being crammed down your throat at the company you work for, oh, at the stock market you invest in, oh, these companies don't practice this.

We're gonna not let them be publicly traded.

Oh, yes, this is the dialogue because the biggest victim.

So if you're this, oh, you were abandoned by your dad, oh, your parents are divorced, oh, you're a certain race, oh you're this, oh, oh, oh, you get to be in charge.

And so what you have is stay with me.

I know it's hard, but just stay with me.

Intersectionality says the biggest victim gets the most authority.

And do you want people who've never had authority and who've just been a victim their whole life running your country?

This is where we live.

Now look at me.

The key is not to get mad about this, the key is to occupy your space out of your identity and with authority and just say, hey, and here's what I'm saying: uh a man comes to me after the first service, he goes, Hey, the whole trans intersectionality and faith, I didn't get that.

God is not moved by victimhood, God is moved by faith.

And if you're not careful, what we see in the world creeps into the church, and that's why some of you are stuck in the same place you've been for years because you think, hey God, I'm over here and I'm really hurting and I'm emotionally dysregulated today.

Could you come help me?

And God is like, hey, I see you.

You've been the same way forever.

That's not working for you.

Why don't you be something different?

Can you feel the room right now?

Some of you are like, dude, why are you hating?

I'm not hating.

I'm trying to set you free from something that's why we gotta have, oh, now we need air traffic controllers that are of a certain demographic.

Oh, they don't meet the standard.

Okay, but still they gotta be in there.

That's intersectionality, it's victimhood on steroids.

And God doesn't practice that.

What moves God is faith.

You say, What do you mean?

Matthew chapter 8, verse 5.

Matthew 8:5

When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.

And he said to him, I will come and heal him.

But the centurion replied, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.

I say to one, go and he goes, and to another come and he comes, and to my servant, do this and he does it.

When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, Truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

I tell you, many will come from the east and the west and recline at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And to the centurion, Jesus said, Go, let it be done for you as you have believed.

And the servant was healed at that very moment.

See, what moves the heart of God is not our victimhood, it's our faith.

Now, am I saying, say with me, am I saying there's people that have it that there's not people that are victims and experiences?

No, absolutely.

But victimhood is an experience, it's not an identity.

Do you hear the difference?

Let me ask that again.

Do you hear the difference?

See, it's already creeping in.

Some of you in this room, you think you're offended.

You're not, you're really convicted.

But it's just kind of like, oh, well, this is this is the way you're empowering victims to run a country.

And you don't want that.

You don't want to raise your kids in that.

This is why criminals have more rights than law-abiding citizens.

This is why no one wants to live in New York because marauding gangs of young men in hoodies go around and just pillage at random.

And cowardly DAs who rich people bought and put in office don't enforce the law.

They don't care about those people.

They want to get re-elected.

They want to change.

They say, Oh, well, let's let you out of prison.

That's why the lady in Memphis was killed by a man who should still be in prison serving time on a murder charge.

But he got out because he's a victim.

It's everywhere.

Whether you agree with it or not, it's everywhere.

The last component of mission is authority.

It's authority.

It's verse 6, where Jesus, the scribes and the Pharisees were sitting there questioning in their hearts, why does this man speak like that?

He's blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, he said to them, Why do you question these things in your hearts?

Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise, take up your bed and walk, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.

Authority.

He says in verse 6 that verse 8, Jesus was perceiving.

That's the Greek word, epigenosis, epi before Gnosis, knowledge.

I knew this before.

They didn't inform him.

He didn't read the room.

He didn't stalk them on social media to see what they were like and then show up at a dinner party and act like he knows their business.

No, no.

He knew.

And so this sort of shaped the way you think about Jesus.

Because they're questioning things in their heart.

Ask yourself this morning, is there anything that you question in your heart but you don't put words to?

Is he just up there right now?

Is there something, you know, I think this?

I would never say that loud because it sounds bad.

That question doesn't bother God at all.

Notice, speaking of questions in verse 9, they said, uh, Jesus says, which is easier?

To say to this guy, your sins are forgiven?

Or to say, hey, take up your mat and go home.

By the way, the answer is the easiest one is the one that can't be discerned.

You can say to the guy, your sins are forgiven.

Now you got to ask yourself, why would Jesus see a paralyzed man and talk to him about his sins, not his need?

Because in New Testament culture, if people have a physical malady, they thought that it was because of sin.

It's like in John 9, they're walking into the city and they see a blind guy, and disciples are like, hey, Jesus, why is this guy sin?

Why is this guy blind?

Is it because of his sin or his parents' sin?

And Jesus said, it's because of neither, so that the works of God may be manifest in him.

And so this is why the guy comes down and Jesus says, Your sins are forgiven.

But they asked the guy, he's like, which is easier?

The easiest one is the one that you can't verify.

Okay, your sins are forgiven.

You're still paralyzed.

But then Jesus kills the man physically and says, Pick up your bed and walk, get out of here, go home.

Now, why does he do that?

Because he's answering the question from verse 7 that the Pharisees ask.

Here's the question we'll be done this morning.

They said, Who can forgive sins but God alone?

See, Jesus is always appealing to the bigger reality in the room.

It's not just forgiveness, it's not just physical healing.

The bigger reality in the room is what do you think about Jesus?

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

And by God healing and forgiving this person, Jesus is saying, I'm God.

And they missed it.

Right in front of them, and they missed it.

Obviously.

Great question, fellas.

Who can agree with?

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

Me.

Because I'm God.

Now, why is that a big deal?

That's a big deal, beloved.

This authority.

Who who can what do you what do you mean?

How do you get this authority?

What are you doing here?

And once you believe, see, they missed it, so don't you miss it today?

Because once you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He really is God, not a prophet, not a moral teacher, not a good example.

Jesus is God.

Then you've got to ask, why would God leave heaven and come to earth?

Live a sinless life, die on a cross in our place and for our sins.

One simple reason we need forgiveness just like this guy in Mark II needs forgiveness.

And that's why he does it.

This is why Jesus leaves heaven and comes to earth, sheds blood.

Why?

Because it's central to our mission.

Because everybody, one of humanity's core needs is forgiveness.

And so if you're here today and you've done anything and you think, ma'am, no one knows about this, but I don't know what I'm gonna do to get forgiveness.

There's nothing you can do to balance out the scales of God's justice except have faith in Jesus.

That what he did on the cross was enough for your sins and my sins.

And so you don't have to you don't have to spend your life as a victim looking around asking for pity when what you need is peace.

Big difference in the two.

And so central to the mission of Jesus was forgiveness.

Central to our mission as the people of God is forgiveness.

So when religious people ask who can forgive sins but God alone, Jesus says, I'm God.

That's the reality that's in the room for them and for us.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

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

Some questions come up on the screen.

Let's just kind of say, hey, let's think about this.

How does this impact how we live?

Lord, thanks for the Bible.

Thanks for it's thought-provoking.

And thank you that it kind of interrupts us and says, Hey, stop fashioning for yourself an ideology that's not an identity.

You did not create us to be victims and depend on people's generosity and non-discerning charity.

You created us to be sons and daughters of God.

There's so much atonement through activism going on in our culture today, God.

It's creeping into the church and informing the way people relate to you.

And you're not a God of pity, you're a God of power.

Are you compassionate?

Absolutely.

But you know the motives of our heart.

You know that if given the option just to look sad and get stuff from people versus get up and go and do it ourselves and get a job, we would steal from people.

And even think it's alright.

So, Holy Spirit, sprood over us for a few moments before we're dismissed.

Clarify our thinking where it needs to be clarified.

Speak truth into us.

Father, days like today, remind me of the parable of the talents.

You didn't reward the guy that lived in fear.

You rewarded the most successful guy in the room.

We are not a culture that does that because it makes us feel good.

But it doesn't make you look great.

And that's hard, Lord.

We can feel it in the room right now.

That's hard for some of us to swallow.

Because we've begun to swallow the cultural lie of intersectionality.

All hail the victims.

And the gospel says no to that.

Love the victim, pray for the downtrodden and the outcast.

Bind up their wounds.

But don't let that become their identity.

God, only you can restore that which the locusts have eaten.

We ask you to do that.

Lord, rescue us from stopping short of an identity.

This is our prayer.

We pray in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say welcome and thanks for being part of our service.

You're always welcome here.

We'd love to meet you.

If this is your first, second, or third time, we're dismissed here in a second.

If you'll just come up here to the stage, some of our pastors will be here.

Just introduce yourself.

We want to put a name with a face.

If you have any questions about anything you heard today, uh, we also like to process your questions, let you take your next step in your faith journey.

All right.

We always have things going on in our church.

Here's a few things we want to make you aware of by way of announcement.

So give your attention to the screens.

Thank you for joining us today.

Here's a look at what's happening.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.

Things are in full gear as midweeks begin this week for kids, students, women, and all adults.

The midweek meal will return as well.

To get plugged in, head to grandparkway.org.

Community groups begin next week as well.

Here's a look.

Hey guys, we are Michelle and Zach Calhoun, and we have been attending Grand Parkway for about two years.

We go to Morgan and Brett Daniels' small group that meets in our neighborhood, and we've also been going to that for about two years.

I think we hopped in right when we started coming to Grandway.

Maybe the second week we were there.

We just knew to do life.

Together, we need to be a part of a community group.

So we found it was so important to dive right in.

Yeah, we we really love showing up every other Sunday to our community group.

Um folks in there really do like give over their time and they give over a lot of like love and they pray for us and they're there for us.

And um I personally have have found that it's hard at first when you don't know anyone to show up and to meet new new men, especially, like and have to be out of your comfort zone.

But I think Michelle's taught me a long time ago that like if I keep showing up and I keep um you know just having those conversations with folks, especially around gospel community, uh relationships are born out of that.

And uh we've definitely seen that.

We we've had uh such a wonderful experience with with Brett and Morgan and as our leaders over there, and just um it's something that we can consistently do as a couple as well, um, and we really have enjoyed it so far.

Yeah, it has been very life-giving for our marriage and for our family.

We have three young kids, and I'm sure most of y'all know who have three three young kids or any kids at all, it's very hard, and a lot of things in life are not convenient, but showing up to small group was something that we just made a promise that we would do, and it has brought our marriage a lot of joy, and we've been able to pour that joy out to those in our small group, and from that make relationships with those people that carried into the week.

Yeah, so for us, I mean, you know, going to Grand Parkway is a wonderful experience, but also like taking what we what we learn, what we experience into community, it does require showing up in person and participating and praying for others and and being honest about who you are and um and giving over your time.

Um so I if you're considering uh going to community group, or should I check it out, or should I, you know, you know, take the next step, I highly encourage you to do it.

It may be uncomfortable at first, um, but I am want to really encourage you, like um the people of God will love you well, hopefully you'll get some food in you and then uh have a good time and get the and build some friendship that lasts forever.

To check out community groups, head to grandparkway.org and find your group today.

If you have any questions about what you heard today or would like someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Those of you who may be new to our church, community groups meet in homes all over our city, start next week, and they process the sermon.

The questions that come up on the screen, that's what for the next two, the last two Sundays, that's what they'll talk about or today and next Sunday, the sermon about blessing.

And so they meet homes all over the city.

If you have any questions, Brent, one of our teaching pastors, is over community groups, he'll be standing right down here.

Brent, would you stand up uh so people can kind of see what you look like?

That's Brent right there.

He would love to get you connected to a community group.

Uh, midweek meal meets in the the building next door with the green roof starting on Wednesday.

The meal's at 5 45, and then we have Chick-fil-A.

It's$5 a person,$20 for a whole family.

Uh, we'd love for you to come and then we have classes that we classes meet from 6 30 to 8, okay?

We'd love you to be a part of that.

All the information's on our website, all right?

We'd like to conclude our service with a smoking blessing, so stand to your feet.

Hold your hands out.

Your father so loves and trusts you that he believes you can expose people to him.

Depart now.

And in everything you do, expose people to Jesus.

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

Amen.

Bless you.