September 28, 2025 | Understanding My Christian Life | Pastor Lynn | TMBC Sunday Morning

Good morning, everyone. So nice to be back with you.

Let's all stand together. We're going to sing when the

roll is called up Yonder. What's going to happen?

I'm going to be there. Are you going to be there?

Thank God. We're going to be there in the

presence of the Lord. Jasper, this is for you.

OK, all right, all right. Are we ready?

Let's do it. Sing it like you mean it.

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound.

And time shall be no more. And the morning breaks eternal

bride and fair. When the same numbers shall

gather over on the other sword. And the roll is called a Yonder.

I'll be there when the roll, the rule is called a Yonder when the

rule is called Yonder, when the rule is called Yonder, when the

rule is called Yonder out there on that bright and cloudless

morning when the dead in Christ shall rise, and the glory of his

resurrection share. Amen.

When his chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the

skies. And the role is called upon your

army there when the road is called upon, when the road is

called upon, when the road the world is called upon.

When the world is called the beyond your army man shall now

let us leave before the master from the dancers said it's life

and us talk of all his wondrous love and care.

And when all of life is over and overcomer is done.

And the world is called the beyond your army, man.

When the road is called up Yonder.

And the road is called up Yonder.

When the road is called up Yonder.

Anybody want to say Amen, Amen. Thank you.

Please be seated. Hey.

Hey, Harold, Have you thought about when the roll is called up

Yonder? Have you thought about that yet?

He'll be there. You're going to be there.

He's 101 1/2, by the way. Amen.

All right, Where's that Mister Jasper at?

Oh, it's actually ladies first. Ladies first.

OK. Harvest Fest Friday, October

31st from 5:30 to 7:30. We're going to be doing a, a

slash mini harvest festival slash trunk or treat for the

trunk or treat if you would, there's sign up sheets in the

back. We just like to get a be able to

reserve the spaces for you. So if you're really and we'd

love to have a lot of trunk or treaters.

The kids really enjoyed that. And if you are doing trunk or

treaters, you bring your own candy sign up sheets back there

for that, sign up sheets for the games for the harvest, best sign

up sheets for Cakewalk and any extra help, Jasper and Iris are

going to be helping this year and I really appreciate that.

And there's also a jar back there for the treasure dig.

Excuse me for Lynn Baker, so for your spare change.

So when they do the dig, they can dig and find some money.

They really enjoy that. I think that's it except for

sorry, we will be needing extra candy too.

So thank you very much for all your help.

By the way, somebody announced that Jesus will come on 2020.

Third, it didn't happen, so today is the day.

If you haven't accepted Lord Jesus Christ, accept him today.

Double announcement Creative Crafters will be starting back

on Tuesday. If you joining that group, you

guys will be back on Tuesday. And also this is from Gaslight

Theatre from Donna Rogers. October 4th van will leave at

church at 2:00 PM. You get a ride in the van.

So be here at 2 and there will be two to four more tickets for

free. So first comes first search as

approach Don Rogers and also Elwin's Joy Card assembly

October 3rd at 6:00 PM. And shall we pray?

Let's pray. Father, we thank you Lord for

this wonderful day where we could come to you and worship

you Lord like praise and thank you Lord for giving the Lord

Jesus Christ to die the cross for our sins.

We believe that even though we are not worthy of their God.

But thank you so much. Thank you for your love, for

your sacrifice, that indeed through him, through His blood,

we can able to possess the salvation.

Father, we ask for Your guidance, especially in

difficult times, reminding us that Your love and grace are

greater than any challenge we face in life.

We ask that you will continue to speak to us personally as we

listen to Your Word. We ask, Lord, that you will

continue to empower us, continue to comfort us and continue to

motivate us. Inspire us, Lord, to live a life

like the Lord Jesus Christ. Let the Holy Spirit guide our

decision in action so that we may leave lives that honour and

glorify You. Lord, bless our service and each

one of us here. Lord, don't let the enemy defeat

us. Help us Lord, not to leave this

place unchanged. And we put everything to you.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen. And also, if this is your first

time, we encourage you to fill out our guest registration card.

All right. Do you have an announcement?

Oh, OK, hey there. I don't know where all the

announcements are coming from. Oh, we have scripture.

I knew there was something else coming up.

Here are these words from Romans 12, verse 1.

Romans 12:1

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to

give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you.

Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind He will find

acceptable. This is truly the way to worship

Him. Amen.

All right, Well, let's sing to the How many of you have

blessings from God that you know?

You recognize that you give thanks to him?

Well, let's count them. All right, Count them every day.

Sing that. When you are discouraged

sleeping holy is lost. Has your many blessings, name

them one by one, and it will surprise you.

What the Lord hath done has your blessings name been one by one.

Has your blessings See what God has done.

Has your blessings, Name them 1 by 1.

Count your many blessings In what God had time.

Are you ever burdened with a Lord of care?

Does the crossing heavy, or called to bear?

Count your many blessings. Every doubt will fight, and you

will be singing as the days go by.

Count your blessings in them 1 by 1.

Count your blessings, she would God have done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one.

Count your many blessings she would God have done so in the

conflict where they're great or small.

Do not be discouraged all these over all.

Count your many blessings. Angels with hearts and helping

comfort into your Chinese and count your blessings.

Name in one by one. Count your blessings, see what

God has done. Count your blessings, name them

one by one. Count your many blessings, see

what God has done, Amen. Count them all, but count them

quick because there's so many or it'll take a long time.

All right, you know, the Bible says that we are all sinners and

yet God sent his Son Jesus Christ to come to this earth,

live a perfect life and die as a sacrifice for our sins and be

raised on the third day to conquer sin and death so that we

also can conquer sin and death through faith in Him that our

sin will be overcome by his righteousness.

He will take sin upon himself so that we could be given his

righteousness so that God can look at us as his children and

as looking ahead to being holy and sanctified.

Isn't that amazing that God can can.

I can't even look at myself that way because I'd remind myself of

my sin too much every day. But God looks at us to the

future, what Christ has accomplished for us so that we

are accepted in his presence. And but every day we want to

confess our sins, right to repent of our sins, to deny

ourselves, take up our cross and and follow him.

And so to do that we need to have a change in our heart,

don't we? Everyday because we're sinful

and we have to keep renewing our minds and renewing our hearts to

to be in fellowship with God in obedience to God.

And so the Bible says if we confess our sins, he is faithful

and he is just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all

unrighteousness. That's something really

important for believers to know because Satan might want to hold

you down with guilt and shame because we all have guilt and

shame, right? It's easy.

But we know if we confess our sins, he's faithful every time

and he's just, it's right for him to forgive our sins.

Why? Because Jesus paid the price

it's been paid, thank God. So we need to walk in that

victory and we walk in that constant renewing of our

fellowship and with God. So this song, if we sing it like

we mean it, is very, very meaningful.

Change my heart, oh God. Change my heart O God, and may I

be like you. You are the ponder.

I am the clay. Mosey make me.

This is what I pray. Change my heart oh God, and make

it ever true. Change my heart, oh God, may I

behind you and you are the part I the clay

holds me and make me this is what I bring.

Change my heart of God and make it ever true.

Change my heart of mind. Amen.

There's there's no greater prayer than that, is there?

Like Jesus said, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord

your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.

That means you want to be because you love him, you want

to obey Him, and you want to be like Him, like he wants you to

be like he wants us to be because we love the Lord because

he first loved us. I I love you, Lord, and I lift

my voice to worship you. O my soul, rejoice, destroy my

key in what you hear made me your sweet, sweet sound in

glory. I love you Lord, Sing to the

Lord, and I stand amazed My seeds are gone.

May your name be praised and sold my soul as behold his face

I will ever say, O my King of your grace, I love you all, and

for you I wait your promise and your heart are raised.

May hate my heart.

May I taste your way? We're Dave and Norma Turner, and

we'd like to talk about Arizona Southern Baptist disaster relief

and how we got involved. We were in Hurricane Andrew in

1992 in Miami when Hurricane Andrew went through, and that

was our first experience with Southern Baptist disaster

relief. Our church was destroyed, Our

house fared pretty well, but the church was destroyed and the

storm hit about midnight and left about 5:00 and we made our

way to the church around noon and there was already a tractor

trailer in the parking lot setting up a disaster relief

feeding unit. So it was our first experience

with them. Our church had about 12 acres

and within a few weeks they were filled with cars, trucks and

campers. People came from all over the

country and they started rebuilding our church.

Anybody could come and get a meal three times a day, no

questions to ask. The, the line was like a block

long sometimes and we kind of made a promise and both of us

did to the Lord that this is something that we were going to

do. And so he blessed us with being

able to retire for Leon. And so we moved here to Arizona

and we reached out and we got involved and it just went from

there. And the reason that that you

want to be involved in disaster relief, it's not about the work,

it's about Christ. And it's about bringing the love

of Christ to somebody, to some family when they are completely

devastated, when they've lost everything in a fire, you lose

everything. There's nothing left that you

didn't take with you. It's all gone.

And then they tell us their story.

And that's where Norma comes in. That's a very important part for

them to be able to tell their story, to get that out and not

have to just hold it in. They have somebody to talk to.

Every team in Arizona goes out with a chaplain that enables the

people, the homeowners, to talk. And we're there to plant the

seed. When the seed got planted and

Dave and I in Miami, now we're taking it out and hopefully

planting the seed of Jesus Christ with every property owner

we come in contact with. We did recently the Pacific

Palisades fire in California and I took a team of brand new

people had never been in the field before We, we were able to

go to these, these terrific burn sites and, and it and you know,

and it doesn't really matter whether you had $1,000,000 home

or you had a $50,000 home, everyone's the same when their

home is destroyed and. And even if you had a $50

million home, which many of them were, that we worked on, they

still need the love of Christ and they still needed that

ministry at that time. And it's not, it's, it's called

disaster relief, but it's really mission work.

That's what we're doing. We're we're only going to spread

the gospel to show the love of Christ when these people are,

when you're at your lowest, He's doing his best work.

Right. And, and the property owner, you

go and, and you're always helping to in a fire to recover

some personal property that they're asking you to find.

And just the fact that we came and we cared enough to do that

for the property owner means more to them than really

anything else. Good morning Tucson Mountain.

Y'all are awake this morning. Coffee was good.

You know, I, I'm going to give you guys and share some things

with you because I shared with you not quite three years ago

and some of this may be familiar to you, but I I need it again.

You know, we want you to be able to fulfill God's purpose in your

life. Every single one of us have a

purpose. God has a plan for every single

one of us. The church exists for his people

to help build up the body of Christ, but also reach the World

for Christ. That's what part of disaster

relief does. That's what part of we connect

does it. This is this is the last Sunday

officially we're taking offering for we connect and it's in your

bulletins and it says a lot. It covers a lot of different

ground and we need to remember those things.

But there's four basic pillars, if you would.

There's five actually, but there's four basic goals that

God has given us. And that forms the foundation,

if you would, for what we are supposed to be doing as a

church. And I think in a lot of ways

we're doing that, but in some ways we're missing the boat.

Now, listen, this is going to be a helicopter ride, so you have

to stay with me, OK? Don't nobody jump ship.

God's basic goals for my life, number one is I have to commit

my life to Christ. That is the very first absolute

thing we have to do. The second thing is we have to

become part of a church family. And like I said, I've told you

these things over the course of the last three years off and on,

but this is a condensed version. Then maybe it'll remind us what

we're we need to be doing and what we need to be focusing on.

We call this first step a membership.

Membership. We've become part of God's

family through accepting Christ as our Savior and by becoming

part of a local body of believers.

Now, most of you have done that. You know, you can say I've given

my life to Christ, I'm part of this church family.

But some people come along and they say, you know what?

I'm part of the universal church and I don't need a family.

Well, I thought about this and that's like a soldier saying I'm

a soldier, but I'm not in anybody's army and I'm not tied

to any unit or an NFL football player saying I play for the

NFL, but they're not part of a team.

That's not it's not possible to say that and do that.

You need to find an army. You need to locate a team and

you need to be part of that team.

The very first basic commitment that Christ gives us other than

loving the Lord God with all your heart and all your soul and

loving others as yourself is this.

Ephesians 213 and 19 says this. But now in Christ Jesus, who you

were once were far away from, have been brought near through

the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who

has made the two one, and has destroyed the barrier, the

dividing wall of a hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law

with its commandments and regulations.

His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the

two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both

of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their

hostility. He came and preached peace to

you who were far away, and peace to those who were near, for

through Him we both have access to the Father by 1 Spirit.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but

fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's

household. We need to be part of that

household. The Bible says there's no such

thing as an independent Lone Ranger Christian.

We need each other in order to be part of the body of Christ.

Each one of us has specific functions.

Each one of us have different things to do.

Listen, your nose is used to smell and your feet are used to

run. Sometimes it's reversed.

Sometimes your feet smell and your nose runs.

But it doesn't matter. Those parts are all important.

There's no such thing as somebody coming along and

saying, well, I'm not important to the body of Christ because

you are. Every single one of us, Romans

12/1 and five says, therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of

God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy

and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of

worship. Do not conform any longer to the

pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of

your mind. Then you will be able to test

and approve what God's will is, His good, pleasing, and perfect

will. For by the grace given me, I say

to everyone of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you

ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in

accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these

members do not have all the same function, so in Christ we who

are many form 1 body, and each member belongs to all the

others. If you've got a great big jigsaw

puzzle and you've got it all put together, the first thing you

notice is that there's a piece missing.

It's the same thing in the body of Christ.

The first thing we notice if something is not right is the

thing that's missing, not all the other components that are

tied together. It's the same way with us.

No person or no position in the body of Christ except for Jesus

himself is more important than the other, and we need to

understand that. We all need to be committed

first to the Christ and then second to the body of Christ to

the church. The second thing we need to do

is I will commit myself to the habits necessary for spiritual

growth, habits necessary for spiritual growth.

We call that maturity. God wants us to be complete and

mature and whole. Once you become a Christian and

you become a part of that family of God, He wants you to grow up.

He wants you to be stronger as a Christian.

Second, Peter 318 says, But grow in the grace and knowledge of

our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To Him be glory both now and forever.

Amen. Listen, God wants you to not

only be committed to the Christ, to be committed to the body, but

He wants you to be committed, totally committed to grow

spiritually. First Timothy chapter 4 says For

1 Timothy 4 · chapter mention

everything God has created is good, and nothing is to be

rejected if it is received with Thanksgiving, because it is

consecrated by the word of God in prayer.

If you point these things out to your brothers, to the brothers

you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the

truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have

followed have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives

tales. Rather, train yourself to be

godly, for physical training is of some value, but godliness has

value for all things, holding promise for both present life

and the life to come. Their habits when I do them and

you do them, we know we're going to help us grow in Christ.

That's the second goal of the church, not only corporately,

but personally for each and every one of us.

We are to help people grow spiritually.

We're to help people grow and develop to maturity.

But the third thing is I will commit myself to using my

God-given gifts, talents and abilities in serving God and

others. God-given gifts.

If you accepted Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit gave you

a gift of some kind and you need to use that gift.

If you're not using that gift and you're hiding it, you're

putting it under the bushel barrel like Scripture says,

you're hiding it. We call that ministry.

Look first, Peter 47 and 11 says this.

The end of all things is near. How many of you believe that?

Therefore, be alert and sober minded so that you can pray.

Above all, love each other deeply.

Because lover covers a multitude of sins, we need to keep that

one in mind. Offer hospitality to one another

without grumbling. Each one should use whatever

gift he has received to serve others as faithful stewards of

God's grace in its various forms.

If anyone speaks, he should do it as he's speaking the very

words of God. If anyone serves, he should do

it with the strength that God provides, so that in all things

God may be praised through Christ Jesus.

To him be the glory and power forever and ever.

Amen. Listen, when I don't use my

spiritual gifts, I rob you. When you don't use your

spiritual gifts, you rob me. We cheat one another by not

using our spiritual gifts, and that's not what we're called to

do. He calls us to use those gifts

to serve. We all have a place of

influence. We all have a place we can make

an impact. It may not be where you think it

should be because God is going to help you find that particular

gift. 1st Corinthians 12 says this.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit

distributes them. There are different kinds of

service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of

working, but in all of them and in everyone is the same God at

work. We need to remember that.

So we have the membership, we have maturity, we have ministry,

and then finally I need to commit myself to sharing Christ

with others. We call that evangelism and

mission. Look, the Great Commission of

the church is to do just that. Matthew 2819 says, then go then

to all people everywhere and make them my disciples.

Acts 18 says, but you will receive power.

I have people tell me from time to time, well, I don't know how

to do that. I don't have the strength to do

that. I don't have the courage to do

that. God will give it to you if you

put it into practice, 18 says in Acts.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you,

and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all the Judea's

and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

Listen, we're to go out in these ever ending concentric circles

to spread God's word. Think about it this way.

They were in Jerusalem, that's where they were at right then.

And he says you start where you're at.

We start in the Tucson mountain community.

We start in Tucson and we start telling others about Jesus.

And we start doing that in a way that they can understand.

It simply not complicated. It's not complicated.

Then you go outside of the city to the county, to Tujiya.

They went into Judea. Then the next thing is like the

county next door, Samaria, and then the next place is into the

whole wide world. But we're doing that.

This map back here on the wall, I don't know how many of you pay

attention to it, but our tech team tells me every once in a

while they put little stickers up there for me to see where

people are watching online. They're watching in different

places all over the world. Boggled my mind.

Look, we have to be telling others about Jesus.

That's what we're here for. That's part of the purpose and

plan is God has given us. There's four particular personal

goals that He's given each and every one of us.

Membership, maturity, ministry, and missions.

Those form the foundation of what we do here at the church.

They should form the foundation of what we do in our lives.

Some of you sitting there, well, that's great for corporate

goals, but why does that have to be my personal goal?

Because God said so. Pretty simple.

The very next thing that comes up though, is you ask yourself,

how can God use me here at this church?

Well, I'm going to tell you the very first thing you need to do

is you need to deepen that commitment.

I need to deepen my commitment. I need to understand these four

steps more appropriately. I need to understand membership,

maturity, and missions all have to do with different degrees and

levels of commitment. OK, different levels of

commitment. Romans 12/1 and the good news

translation says so. Then, my friends, because of

God's great mercy to us, I appeal to you.

Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to

His service and pleasing to Him. This is the true worship that

you should offer. OK, grasp the concept for a

moment. At the at the center of the

church, we have the core. That's the core group of people.

They're the ones that are already involved in leadership

and already involved in ministry.

They're committed to a place of service.

They're committed to the body of Christ.

They say, this is my home church.

This is where I have planted my roots and this is where I intend

to grow. That's the core.

But what takes place is they're highly committed to that

personal spiritual growth first. The next group is the

congregation. The congregation comes together

and those are the members of the church that have that maybe have

taken the membership class, maybe they're new members and

you haven't been able to do that yet.

Carefully. We'll be doing a new members

class again soon. But you know what they say, I'm

committed to this spiritual family.

They're learning to grow. They may not keep completely

there yet, but they're learning to grow.

And the next group is a little bit larger.

That's the crowd Now. The crowd that comes in is what

comes in on Sunday morning. As I look out at the crowd, I

don't expect that every single one is here.

Every single one watching or listening online is a Christian.

Yet some of them are still seeking, some of them are still

looking to figure this all out, and that's OK.

But we want to encourage them to move from the crowd to the

congregation, and we're going to talk about that in a minute.

Now, look, the crowd is not necessarily the congregation.

The crowd is a little bit bigger.

But if we're going to become a larger body, a larger

congregation, we have to have a bigger crowd.

Then the largest group we have is the community outside the

crowd. Now that community maybe the

largest group because they have a casual conversation or a

casual relationship, if you would, with Tucson Mountain

Church. If you run into them at the

grocery store and you say, hey, by the church, by the way, what

church do you attend? They might say, oh, I go to

Tucson Mountain Church and you may look around and think I've

never seen that person here before.

But that's because what they do is they come on special times.

They'll come at Christmas, they'll come at Easter, they'll

come at Mother's Day or Father's Day.

They'll come on a particular day.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that they attend regularly.

That doesn't necessarily even mean they're a Christian.

But if they, if they're going to go to church, this is where

they're going to go to church. Now, listen, our goal is to move

the community into the crowd, and we want them to do more than

just come once in a while. We want them to come.

We want to encourage them to start coming on a regular basis.

And that takes every single one of us, not just the two pastors

or not just the staff or the Sunday school teacher.

That takes everybody to move that crowd next into the

congregation. Listen, we're thrilled when

someone comes along and says, you know what?

I need a new church family. I need a church family.

We've had people come in the last 2 1/2 years that said, you

know, I've, I've never quite been to a church like this that

loves on me and cares for me and shows me what they're showing

me. But that's because that's what

God wants us to do. It's important, we pray that

you'll begin to make these commitments in your life.

Grow spiritually, develop those habits.

These are the things that are a solid foundation.

We want to move those people that are in the crowd to the

congregation, and then we want to move those from the

congregation into the core. And as they develop those

habits, they start to grow spiritually and they become

stronger in their faith and they become stronger in telling

others about Jesus. They become stronger in their

ministries and their mission. These are the things that give

us the foundation of our Christian life.

They all have to do with our time, talents, gifts and

abilities and relationships. When those are in control of

God, you are going to grow. It's going to be inevitable.

We want to move that congregation into the committed

and then move the committed end to the core.

That means we bring and allow everybody to come in at whatever

level they're at so that they can start the process.

They can start their faith journey with God.

We love people whether they're having a quiet time or not.

We love people where they're learning how to pray.

We love people when they're in a small group or not.

We love people if they're not even members yet or not.

We love other people because God commanded us to love other

people. A fact of life is we become what

we are genuinely committed to. Think about this for a second.

It's true in business, it's true in school, it's true at home.

It doesn't matter. Our commitments determine the

type of people we're going to be.

The second thing I need to do is I need to deepen my

understanding. I need to deepen my

understanding. We need to grow in the grace and

knowledge Second Peter 3 says of the Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ. God wants us to grow.

He wants us to understand those things, but He also wants us to

understand contentment in our Christian life.

As we make this and take this walk together, He shows us that

we need to develop spiritually all these different phases of

this journey. There are 4 disciplines also

that we need to understand. There's knowing, there's

growing, they're serving, and they're sharing Christ.

Knowing, growing, serving and sharing Christ.

Romans 12/2 again says do not conform yourself to the

standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by

the complete change of your mind.

Then you will be able to know the will of God, what is good

and what is pleasing to Him and is perfect.

And because of God's gracious gift to me, I say to everyone of

you, do not think of yourselves more highly than you should.

Instead, be modest in your thinking and judge yourself

according to the amount of faith that God has given you.

I know I've given you several scriptures from several

different versions, different ways that have repeated

themselves, but I wanted you to see the context of what it says.

It goes deeper. Anything that has the potential,

anything can have the potential to introduce people to Jesus.

If your world is off, if the world is offering a class on how

to live better, why couldn't or shouldn't we offer the same

class with a more godly base? Think about this for a second.

Things like parenting classes, things like childcare.

Or how about planning your wedding?

I know some of you ladies like that.

How about infant safety? How about classes for moms that

need help? New moms?

How about a financial planning class?

How about things on how to live in this world we live in today?

And when you have those kind of classes for the community, that

draws the community into the crowd and you say, oh, by the

way, guess what? We're having a new class in a

couple of weeks here before we class on, on what it means to be

a Christian or we're having a, if they're a Christian, we're

we're having a new class on spiritual maturity.

You have pre evangelism classes and then you have classes that

are basically led by other believers to help other

believers grow. Why shouldn't we do that?

Why couldn't we do that? Listen, we do things to bring

about maturity. These are courses that would be

specifically for the development of one another.

And then when we get to the higher levels, we have classes

on the overview of the Old Testament and New Testament.

We have basic Bible study variations.

We have studies and prophecies, studies on the great doctrines

of Scripture or how do I understand temptation and how do

I handle it? We have studies on those type of

things. Any kind of class, any kind of

course, that would help people grow as a Christian.

Why can't we do that? But the higher level classes

would be for those that are really delving into missions and

ministry to become Sunday school teachers.

They've become future leaders, to become youth leaders,

whatever. These level of courses would

help them find their mission in life.

Classes on how to develop your testimony and share your faith.

Classes on how to start Bible studies in the home or at work

or at school, maybe backyard Bible clubs or maybe

neighborhood outreach. Anything that would help equip

us to do what we need to do better.

You know the worship service. I used to believe the worship

service was at all where all this started.

But I believe now that it starts with you guys.

You guys have to make that initial reach.

You have to bring the crowd in the community into the crowd and

then the crowd comes into the congregation.

Nothing on Sunday morning is designed by accident, though,

just so you guys understand, nothing is designed by accident.

We're called to reach those who are unchurched, and Sunday

mornings are designed for those that may be unchurched to come

in from the community, to come into the crowd, and then from

the crowd to the congregation, and then from the congregation

to the committed and from the committed to the core.

It's an ongoing movement. We're never supposed to stop

moving because when you stop moving, you become stagnant, and

then when you become stagnant, you become stinky.

Listen, we want them to understand from the start.

We don't want it to be complicated.

I told you this before. I believe the church must grow

smaller and larger at the same time.

We grow smaller by adding more small groups, having home

groups, having small groups that meet here at church.

We already have those. Some of these, some of these

things I've been talking about are already taking place in

small group meetings in people's homes, in small group meetings

here during the week, in small group meetings here in the

evenings. But we need more.

It's caring for each other. The third thing is I need to

discover my ministry. I need to discover my ministry

and get involved. How do we do that?

You have to experiment. Sometimes it's not going to be a

good fit. You may start working in a

ministry and realize, well, this ain't for me because it's just

doesn't fit. And that's OK.

We don't call anything a failure around here.

I can't tell you how many experiments we've had.

Everything is experiment. First Corinthians 1212 and 13

says the body is a unit, though it's made-up of many parts, and

through all its parts are many. They form 1 body.

So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by 1

spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greek, slave or free,

and we're all given the one Spirit to drink.

Listen, do you know how the politics behind churches work?

Think about this for a second. And I'm not going off on a

political tangent. So breathe easy when when we

come together as an institution, and I don't like to call it

that, I believe it's a living, breathing Organism.

But a lot of churches operate as institutions and they operate

with the institution mindset is we need ushers, we need readers,

we need kitchen help, we need, we need, we need, we need.

So what do they do? They form a committee.

Now we're guilty of this. Sometimes I don't like

committees. If you want to elongate

something and make it take five times as long as it should be,

form a committee. Listen, they form a nominating

committee and they ask, no, dare I say they beg people to serve

in different positions. And this may go on for months.

It's the institutional approach. Here's the institution.

Here's what the people need. And we need you as the people to

meet those needs. OK.

I think we ought to work at the way the Bible says to do it and

look at the individual gifts, talents and abilities of the

people and allow them to serve in the areas they desire to

serve in. And God has given them those

gifts and talents and abilities to serve in.

But we need to do that in a wise way.

The Bible says pastors and teachers are to equip the Saints

for the work of the ministry. It does not say the pastors and

teachers are supposed to do all the work.

So guess what that means? Y'all are supposed to help do

the work. But I still believe we need to

focus on the individuals. We need to focus on the fact

that everybody is the 10 in some area of life.

Some of you have some unbelievable talent, skills and

gifts and abilities, but you're not using them.

You're hiding them under that bushel basket.

We need to do our best. We need to remember to think

about the fact. How can you use what only you

can do for the glory of God? How can you do what you need to

do for the glory of God every single time you come through the

doors? Listen, it's all put together

for the growth of His church. Romans 12/4 and five says we

have many parts in the one body, and all these parts have

different functions. In the same way, though we are

many, we are one body in the union with Christ and we are all

joined to each other as different parts of one body.

There's three specific things that we need to remember that

determine what we do for the Lord.

One is your spiritual gift. The second thing is your

passion. The third thing is your

motivation in life. What are those three things?

Those three things combined are basically your temperament, your

spiritual gift, your passion, and your motivation.

They're all tied together and they all form your temperament.

Those things are very important for you to understand what God's

will is in your life, and we all need those things.

Listen, some people are good with tools, some people are good

with figures, math. Some people work better by

themselves, some people work better in the group.

Some people are good with words. But every single one of us has

some talent, gifts, and abilities.

Listen, there's a lot of people that like to start things, like

to design things, but they don't want to operate it.

There's people that do that and they like to develop it and get

it going, but then they want to hand it off somebody else.

And that's fine because we're all different.

We all have different gifts, talents and abilities.

But we want you to understand and we want you to be able to

find what those talents, gifts, and abilities are and those

skills, especially that spiritual gift, to be able to

use to serve God. What motivates you?

What fires you up? The gift that God's given you

through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We need to find it and develop it.

It's not only going to help you in your ministry, it's going to

help you in your home life. It's going to help you in your

work life. It's going to help you in every

other facet of your walk. When you understand what

motivates each and every person, it helps you deal with those

individuals in different ways. Listen, as a Christian, you have

a gift. We all have passions.

We all have that basic temperament tied together, and

we need to utilize those to serve one another and to serve

God because that's what He calls us to do.

Those things together help you determine what God wants you to

do. Who or what are you in Christ

today? Who or what are you in Christ?

Do you realize most of the ministries that are here we're

started by someone that had a dream and a vision.

I've been talking to you about this for weeks.

They had a dream, they had a vision, and they were motivated.

They got passionate about it and God gave them a particular gift.

And because of that, they moved to start that ministry or

continue that ministry or develop that ministry.

All of those things tied together, whether it's the

homeless ministry, the food bank, the ladies quilting

ministries, the crafters, it doesn't matter.

They had a dream and they had a vision and they were motivated

and they were given a spiritual gift by God to move forward with

it. That's what we need to do.

A dream desire that burden, whatever it might have been.

Our purpose is to help you find that and work you through that

till that ministry is real and tangible.

Romans 12/6 and seven says so we are to use our different gifts

in accordance with the grace that God has given us.

If your gift is to speak God's message, we should do it

according to the faith we have. It is to serve.

We should serve. If it is to teach, we should

teach. Listen, the fourth thing we need

to do is we need to develop our gifts to fulfill the mission.

The last thing we need to develop our gifts to fulfill the

mission. The best way to discover your

gift is through trial and error. I can give you spiritual gift

profiles, I can give you different surveys.

We can go through the various things like that, but the best

way is trial and error. What happens if you have already

found a place and a plan for service?

You continue developing your leadership skills and your

leadership abilities. Second Timothy 316 says this all

Scripture is God breathes and is useful for teaching, rebuking,

correcting, and training in righteousness so that the

servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

That's us in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who will

judge the living and the dead in view of his appearing and His

Kingdom. I give you this charge.

Preach the Word, be prepared in season and out of season,

correct rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful

instruction. Now, I know a lot of that was

geared towards preachers and teachers, but you know what?

Every single one of us need to do that.

The purpose of the Bible is so that we can be fully equipped to

do God's good work. He calls us all to do that.

We need to offer some, maybe some different kind of training

and we're looking at that. We need advanced Christian

beliefs, you know, assuming the fact that you already understand

that Jesus is the Son of God and, and the Bible is God's word

and those type of things. But we need to make sure that

everybody can answer some basic questions like, you know, why do

bad things happen to good people?

That's one of the ones that come up a lot.

You know why the issue of pain? How do you explain God's in

control, yet every single one of us have a free will?

How do you help somebody realize they can't lose their salvation?

These are questions that every single one of us should be able

to answer if somebody asks us that question.

Those are things. Every believer who is a leader

in this church should be able to answer that question.

We need to teach the basic biblical character traits.

Galatians 522 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is

Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Against such things, there is no law.

Look, those character qualities are what the world needs most

right now. We're we're praying about this

right now. I'm starting my own additional

list. Things like loyalty,

sensitivity, discernment, and integrity.

Those are skills that every single leader definitely needs.

But the most important one, the most important that every single

leader in this body of Christ should know is how to lead

someone to the Lord, how to make sure they understand the

decision they're making. How do they understand and know

without a shot of a doubt who they are in Christ and who

they're going to be giving their life to?

Listen, every leader in this church should know what to say

and what not to say when it comes to talking to someone

about Jesus. They should know how to talk to

someone when they go on a hospital visit.

They should know how to talk to someone that's grieving because

the loss of a loved one. Those are the things we need to

put into practice all the basic skills of ministry, how to

define and describe the functions and purposes of the

church. Those five things that we talked

about, you need to deepen your commitment.

It all starts with that deeper commitment to deepen your

understanding. Listen, if God's going to use

you, you must deepen your commitment to Him, and you must

deepen your understanding of what it is He wants you to do.

And then you have to discover your ministry.

You have to if, if God's going to use you in your life, you

have to figure out what it is. He can only use you to serve Him

if you decide to be willing to serve Him.

And then you have to develop your skills and abilities to

fulfill your life mission. Everybody has the potential to

be the leader somewhere. Listen, leadership is influence.

How do you know if you're a leader?

Just turn around and look over your shoulder.

If nobody is following you, you're just taking a walk.

You may not be the leader you think you are, but if somebody's

following you, and it doesn't matter if it's a little child or

another adult, if somebody's following you, you're a leader

of some kind somewhere. Listen, God has called all of us

as his children to develop our leadership abilities and skills

to serve others. You know, when you were a baby

Christian, God gave you a lot of confirming emotions.

He often answered some of the most immature prayers we could

ever pray, those self-centered prayers.

So you knew? That he would exist.

But as you grew in your faith. And you matured some he.

Weaned you off of all those. Dependencies.

And he did it with the purpose in mind of making sure that you

were able to be faithful. God wants us to sense His

presence. Much more than he and and trust

him. Much more than he wants us to

feel Him. The situations that are going to

stretch our faith are going. To be those situations when it

feels like the world is falling apart around you, that's when

it's going to stretch your. Faith that.

Happened to Job. He he had nowhere to go.

Think about it. Job on one single day lost

everything. He had everything, his family,

his business, his health, everything.

He owned everything. So the question I have and it's

in your outline. Is is, you know, how do you

praise God when you don't understand what's happening and

when God is completely silenced? For 37 chapters, God said

nothing and Job is. Crying out to him Job is.

Talking to him, Job is job. Job's friends come along.

They're a bunch of good guys. They didn't help much.

How do you? Stay connected in a crisis

without. Some kind of communication?

How do you keep your eyes on Jesus when they're so?

Full of tears. That's where Job was at.

But you know what Job did? Again, it's in your outline.

What did he do? He fell to the ground in worship

and said, naked, I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will

depart. The Lord gave and the Lord is

taken away. May the name of the Lord be

praised. Listen, he remembered who the

Lord was. He praised God, He worshiped

God. That's what we.

Need to do we need to continue. Praising God and worshipping

God. But it's OK because Job, in the

midst of all this, he also poured out his heart and he said

he needed to unload those emotions.

And he did that in Job 711. He said I can't be quiet.

I am angry and bitter. I have to speak.

You know what? When you need to cry.

Out to God, God. Wants you to cry out to him.

He wants you to tell him. How you hurt he?

Wants you to tell him what's going on in your mind.

He already knows it anyway, who you trying to hide it from?

And in Job 29 for the last. Verse for today He cried out

when God seemed distance. He said, oh, for the days when I

was in my prime, when God's intimate friendship blessed my

house. Listen, we need to continue to

praise and worship God. No matter what's going on in

your life, no matter what the crazy world around us is looking

like, we need to praise and worship.

God. Let's pray.

Father God, there's a lot of things that.

We know you're giving us blessing, for we thank you for

all the ministries we're here. We thank you for all the

volunteers and and individuals that pour their hearts into the

trees in the lives of others. I thank you for the the

community that we serve. I thank you for the crowd that

comes in. I thank you for the congregation

that is here so faithfully. And I thank you for those

committed in those ministries. And Lord, I thank you for the

core group. That is so instilled in loving

you and loving others that they lead in so many various ways.

This church could not function without all those things proving

to me that every single. Part is important.

And I pray. Lord that somehow through this

message. That that point was driven home.

Today, every single person is. Here is important.

Some way, somehow. And Father, I pray.

That you would touch hearts and. Minds and remind them that you

love them and you care for them and you only want the best for

them. Father, maybe there's those

today that need to. Make that commitment to you to

become that Christian we were talking about.

Maybe there's a void in their heart and their life.

That they know has been there and it needs to be filled and we

know. Lord, that the only.

Thing that can fill that void is you, and I pray that you would

just. Touch their hearts and.

Minds and help them understand that and know that also.

Maybe there's those that are Christians.

That have made that decision long time ago but they've never

been baptized as you were baptized father we.

Offer them that opportunity. Also that it it'd be our honor

to baptize them the same way you were baptized.

Reflecting. The fact that they have.

Buried their old life underneath the water and come up a new a

new creation and been born again.

And father, maybe? There's those that have been.

Have done all that, but they have just never.

Ever been? Part of a church family?

Or maybe they're in need of. A new church family.

Maybe they just recently moved here.

We'd like. To welcome them to this family.

Lord, Father, whatever the need is, I pray that you.

Would fulfill that need today. And I pray that the as that need

is fulfilled, they would be willing to share it with us so

that we can share it with this body of believers today.

And we ask these things. In the name of.

Jesus, Amen. If you can and would stand

please. Without.

Him I could do nothing. Without him I should leave.

Without him I would be drifting like a ship.

Without us, say Jesus, oh Jesus, us.

Do you know him today? Do not turn him away.

Oh Jesus, Jesus, Oh Jesus, without him, how lost I would be

without him. I would be dying without him.

I be in sleep with our life would be hopeless but Jesus

thank God I say Jesus oh Jesus to know him today till I turn

him on me. Oh Jesus, oh Jesus, we found

him. I lost.

Hey, hey, I'm going to. Ask Miss Kathy.

If she'd stand out. Here with Miss Myrna and Justine

if you stand out here with Miss Lynn.

Move into the middle, ladies there.

You go let them get a good look at you.

Listen, this is. Lynn Markley, she's been coming.

For quite a while now and yeah, you just wave at everybody.

Yeah, do do do the do the miss universally?

And she's coming on. Promise of a letter from her

previous church in Tennessee and she knows what a shout of a

doubt. We've had a couple of

conversations with her and brother Tim was able to visit

with her and. She wants to be a part of this.

Body of believers, all those in favor say Amen and.

Of course. This is Miss Myrna Welton.

She is back from wherever she was at, but you know she's.

Coming back, she'd like to transfer.

Her membership back here. So all those in favor of her

becoming a member again say Amen.

Now as we sing our last song, come by and shake these ladies

hands, let's sing it together. Oh Lord our Lord, how majestic

is your name in all the earth. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic

is your name in all the earth. Oh Lord, Lord, we praise your

name. Oh Lord, we magnify your name.

Prince of Peace, Mighty God. Oh Lord God Almighty, one more

time now. Oh Lord our Lord, how majestic

is your name in all the earth? Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic

is your name in all the earth. Oh Lord, we praise your name.

Oh Lord, by your name, Prince of Peace, mighty God, oh Lord God

Almighty, Amen. God bless you.

Have a great week.