February 18 // What is a Tribe?

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead

pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth

for the life we're searching for. If you have your Bibles, please take them and turn

to the book of Philippians today, the book of Philippians, as we kick off our series

called the Find Your Tribe series. And I have all kinds of questions about what is the tribe

and who's my tribe, where's my tribe, and we'll get into all that in just a few moments,

but the way I walk through a book is break that book up into several series and the first

one will be about the tribe, Find Your Tribe, and it's all the way through chapter one of

the book of Philippians. By the time we get to chapter two, we're in a whole new series

and they all work together so that by the time that we're in the end of this great,

great letter, you have four large keys to living the Christian life and we're going

to be excited to walk through this together. Please stand with me as we read Philippians

chapter one, beginning in verse one, which is all we're going to cover, all the way through

verse eight. Now you may notice a little different look today because we have a little bit of

a hardware problem and so my image will not be on the screen so you have to look directly

at me, which is unfortunate for you, but that's how it will have to be. I'm told I look better

from a distance anyway so I'm sure it will all work out in the end, but it's a little

different look today, but just know we'll be back with our regular programming next week.

Alright, Philippians chapter one. I'm going to read the first eight verses, but the first

verse is all we're focused on this morning. And here's what it says, Paul and Timothy

bond servants of Christ Jesus to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including

the overseers and the deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord

Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in

my every prayer for you all. Now this is the first of three you alls. This is definitely

a Texas letter and you'll see how that unfolds in a moment. Every prayer for you all in view

of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now, for I'm confident of

this very thing that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ

Jesus. For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all because I have you

in my heart since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the

gospel, you are our partakers of grace with me. For God is my witness. How long for you

all with the affection of Christ Jesus. You just can't avoid the y'alls in this, can you?

Alright, so we've got this amazing letter that Paul is writing to a group of people,

a small church in Philippi and we're asking what does that mean for us? Father, today

in Jesus name I pray you'll bless this reading, bless this letter from Paul to Philippi, bless

this word today. Help us to know Father what a tribe is, what our tribe is, what it means

to be a part of the church of Jesus Christ. Father I ask that your Holy Spirit illumine

the passages not only for our understanding but also illumine our hearts to know what

we need to do. We ask this in Jesus name and everybody said amen. Please be seated if you

would. A tribe is kind of a popular term today. I think it's a popular term because people

are looking for those niche relationships that kind of fit them. Where's my tribe? Where's

my tribe of a certain kind of football fan that roots for the same team as I root for

or where's the tribe of people that have the same common interest I have? But a greater

question to ask is where's my tribe for those that have a common faith with me, who have

common beliefs with me, a common source of truth with me? And when we talk about the

tribe that way we talk about the church of Jesus Christ which is what Paul is doing,

writing a letter to a church, to a tribe of people at a community called Philippi. Now

today as I walk through this text today it's really going to focus simply on verse one

and I'm going to rant just a little bit. Now the definition of a rant is someone speaking

negatively about something else but I'm going to flip that a bit. I'm going to speak positively

about something else and that something else is the church of Jesus Christ. Are you with

me today in that you hear people today criticizing the church in so many ways for so many things

and so much disillusionment and disappointment sometimes and that may be the experience of

many but when I look at the church in over 40 some years of pasturing I look back and

I have a rant in a positive way. I believe the church is the greatest organization on

the planet to accomplish what God wants in the kingdom of God. The church is the place

and the way and sometimes the means for the gospel to get to a person where they can find

Jesus personally and come to faith in Christ, forgiveness of sin, have a home in eternity

because of the witness of the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the author of salvation but

we are the ambassadors for Christ who are sharing that message and I'm going to rant

in a positive way so just forgive me if I rant. If you're with me just say amen today.

That would be a good way to say that. So as Paul opens his letter up he begins to talk

about the church in very simple ways and in a sense in an organized fashion showing how

the church unfolds and I want you to see today what he does in describing what the tribe

or what the church of Jesus Christ is as he writes to the people of Philippi. So I'm

going to break it down three different ways. First of all I want you to notice that the

tribe is a people sent to reach. A people sent to reach. It begins with Paul and Timothy

bond servants of Christ Jesus and that answers the question where did this letter come from?

It came from the apostle whose name is Paul and Timothy he was his son in the faith and

Paul was an apostle sent out by the church at Antioch in order to take the gospel wherever

he could go. We're going to hear the story of how that unfolds in just a few moments

but the important piece of this is that God raised this man Paul up to be an apostle and

a sent out one. In the original language apostolo is really the word for apostle. It almost

transliterates exactly but it means one sent out. So here's Paul he's been sent out and

when you read about the missionary journeys of Paul and the churches that were established

as a result of that he's just doing what God called him to do he was sent to reach. But

here's what's interesting about this line here. Paul and Timothy bond servants of Christ

Jesus. Now you would think that the apostle Paul who is the one that we attribute most

of the writing of the New Testament under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is coming

from you would think that he would have a little bit more ambitious title a little bit

more honorable title for him but here's how he introduces himself to a group of people

who knew him really well. He says bond servants of Christ Jesus. I want you to pause for just

a moment about that title for a second I want you to think about that when it comes to great

high honorable church leadership that God is using in powerful ways he would embrace this

title this word this description. The word bond servant shows that leadership in the

church was not a title of ambition or honor but of sacrifice and service to the Lord and

to the church. The most honorable leader in the kingdom of God today is the greatest servant

in the kingdom of God today. It's not the most famous it's not the most celebrity it's

not the pastor or leader who preaches to more people than anyone else it is the one who

serves the pleasure of the Lord and the need of the people in the greatest way where they

can claim the title bond servants of Jesus Christ. Now when a person's been there as

Paul has been there for him to use the title bond servant and be a hypocritical kind of

title because he didn't live it out it would be counterproductive for his letter so he

writes a title and claims to be bond servant and the people knew he was saying the thing

the truth that he was truly a bond servant to them. Now it's important for you to know

that because as you view leaders in the kingdom of God they need to be able to fit that title

and that description of being a bond servant. A bond servant simply means we have no rights

of our own. It simply means that we have met the master that we're willing to serve and

the Old Testament version of the bond servant was a slave that found an owner who would

so take care of he and his family that he would step up and voluntarily take it all

pierce his ear on the door frame and say I'm a bond servant with you for life and I think

you as a believer in Jesus Christ can understand that context and that meaning and you probably

in the same way say I am a bond servant of Jesus Christ for life because of what he's

done for me on the cross. We're not bond servants because we hope to get something we're bond

servants because we already have something and that's our salvation our forgiveness in

Jesus Christ amen are you with me this morning? So bond servants of Christ is how he begins

to describe that and as you read the story of how the Philippian church was begun you

realize that Paul truly is a bond servant because the church began as a result of the

Macedonian vision. How many of you have heard that term before the Macedonian vision? In

Acts chapter 16 and following Paul and Timothy and Silas and most believed Luke was there

Acts 16 · chapter mention

the author of Acts as well. They were praying about where they were to go with the gospel.

They knew they were sent out but they didn't know exactly where they needed to go yet they

hadn't gotten the final direction from God just yet so they went in one direction and

the door was closed another direction and the Holy Spirit forbade them to go that way.

Still a third direction and still no open door and finally in the night as the scripture

describes it Paul received a vision in the night a dream of a man in Macedonia saying

come over and help us and so the next morning he gets up and he says to those companions

of his the Lord showed me this dream this vision of a man calling us to Macedonia which

was a further distance from all these other places they were trying to go across the sea

over to Macedonia and these men got together and prayed and they came to a common conclusion

that God was calling them to this place called Macedonia and what happened as a result of

that was the planting of a church at Philippi. So we have sent out ones that really begin

churches and I think it's really important for us to take just a moment and say every

church was begun by someone that was sent out to plant seeds of the gospel so that someone

could come to faith in Christ and for Philippi it was this group of super church planters

you know these guys if you read your Bible you know about Paul you know about Timothy

you know about Silas and you'll read if you read Acts 16 them singing hymns in prison

with Paul he's famous for that duet in prison that opened prison door and then you

got the gospel of Luke and you've got the book of Acts which is Luke's authorship as

well but that's how Christianity advanced God sends people out to reach other people.

This church was begun by someone who was sent out to reach the people of this area. Our

church was begun in 1904. Nobody in the room was here at that time. 1904 it was begun about

a mile away from here where the McDonald's is on Main Street and 183. The person that

planted that church planted it in the home of a lady whose last name was Jordan or Jornican

and she was the great great grandmother of Sherri Green who attends here now. When that

church was planted it was actually on the front porch of Mr. Jornican's home and there

were a grand total of 18 people in the city of Ulus. I'm thinking you know anybody that

plants a church where there's a community of only 18 people really must have a burden

for those 18 people. 18 people but more than that they were sent by God so God knew what

the future of this city would be like right. We don't know what's in the future but God

does and so they planted this church where there was a community of 18 people and a handful

of them started and from there it just kept on going and of course the city kept going.

The airport came, the community grew and all of a sudden we're in the middle of a thriving

metropolis with the gospel of Jesus Christ sharing everywhere we go with people from

all over the world. I thank God for people who are sent out by God to plant seeds of

the gospel so that a thriving church community can take place. And what we do is essentially

the same. This church has planted a number of smaller churches in the area today. I just

got back from a north campus where we ordained two deacons there at the north campus today

and the reason we do that is because we know a gospel witness in that population area needs

to happen. A few years ago I met a man who was sent out from a church in India and he

had personally been responsible for planting 2,000 congregations in about 20 years. Can

you imagine 2,000 churches in 20 years? Yeah somebody clap, that's a hero of the faith

right there. So when we talk about a tribe we talk about how it begins and it begins

first of all by people sent to reach. Most of you realize this that our name is Cross

City Church but we're also a part of a denomination of more than 48,000 different churches called

the Southern Baptist Convention and over the last 10 years 10,000 church plants have been

planted successfully through this cooperation of churches all over America. In addition

to that 21,000 new congregations were planted overseas through the International Mission

Board. I mean that's a pretty significant thing for all over the world. Churches begin

to be planted because of the gospel of Jesus Christ and you're really a part of that. You're

really a part of that by being a part of this church. I mean that's exciting to me to know

we're part of something bigger than ourselves to impact more people than we can possibly

imagine and that's what happens when God uses the church. He sends people out to begin that

church. But let's scale back for just a moment. The church at Philippi in its early days

never became large at all and yet was a very influential church. A church planted in a

thriving Roman colony and most soldiers who retired in that area retired to Philippi.

There was a church built around a gold mine. It wasn't a wealthy church but a gold mine

was in the area. They actually minted the coins that the Romans used, the gold coin,

and so it was an influential area where the gospel was planted there. Philippi has a Roman

feel to it. When Paul was in prison he appealed to his Roman citizenship because of that very

thing and God was at work there. But what you need to know is that this church never

reached more than 100 people at all and yet God used the church at Philippi to impact

many many in that region and it was the very first church in Europe. If Paul had not received

the Macedonian vision, if he had not gone across, if he had not planted seeds of the

gospel on the other side of the sea, you have to wonder which direction that the church

would have taken from that point on. But as it were, it eventually reached you because

Paul heard the Macedonian vision and went west and eventually up to the area that we

call Great Britain today and then across the sea. You know, God strung all this together

so that ultimately you could hear about Jesus Christ and know him as Lord and Savior. Your

tribe has come a long way to help you be part of the church of Jesus Christ. So this little

church of about 100 was getting a letter from Paul. When you read this letter it is helpful

to you for you to know it is not a large church, it is not a mega church. When you read this

letter, read it in small group form. Read it as one of 75 or 100 people or read it as

a small group of people. That is why we like to bring people into small groups so you can

know somebody's name and you can walk with them and pray with them and they can help

carry you through the tough times in life. That is what the church is all about. But

when you read it, read it that way. Secondly, the tribe involves people set apart to salvation.

Notice what is next. He says to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi. Now I

know you have heard this many times but who are the saints? The question who are the saints

can be answered by saying those who make up the tribe called the church. The word saint

actually means one set apart or consecrated, one made clean and pure. I like that term

personally even though we don't think we feel like saints most of the time. Most of you

would not say when you introduce yourself to somebody else, hey my name is John, I am

a saint. That wouldn't come across well would it? It wouldn't make a lot of sense. But

if you know the word saint means one set apart, one called out, one made clean, one made pure

by the blood of Jesus Christ you would know that is accurate. That is accurate terminology.

And so if you understand that is accurate terminology, how many saints do we have in

the room today? Are you a saint of God? Would you raise your hand if you are a saint of

Jesus Christ? There you go. Don't be shy. Raise your hand. You are a saint even though

sometimes you don't act like you are. You are a saint even if someone else says you

aren't. You are a saint because you put your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

He makes you a saint. You don't make you a saint. He makes you clean. You don't make

you clean. So here Paul is writing to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi.

This is what the cross does for us. It changes us from being a sinner to being a saint. Now

Paul could have said to all the sinners who are in Philippi and everybody would have nodded

their head and said yeah I know what he means. But because of Jesus Christ in our life, that's

not how the terminology doesn't work on you anymore. Do I still sin? Yes I still sin.

Do I sin more than I want to sin? Yes I sin more than I want to sin. Am I only a sinner?

No I'm not. I'm a sinner saved and now a saint and so are you. So Paul writes to a group

of people that we are going to come to know as a tribe or the church of Jesus Christ and

they are saints. So the way this all began when he heard the Macedonian vision he came

across and he couldn't find a gathering spot where people were gathering but he went down

by the river and there was a lady named Lydia who was meeting with a group of other God

seekers and they were praying. And as Paul and Silas and Timothy and Luke come across

and get up on that river bank there they see these women and they realize they have a welcome

audience there and they share the gospel with them. They tell them about Jesus Christ. And

the Bible says in verses 14 and 15 of Acts 16 a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatara

a seller of purple fabrics a worshiper of God was listening and the Lord opened her

heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. So all he did was bring a gospel witness and

God had already prepared her heart. And when she and her household had been baptized that

is after they responded by faith they were baptized she urged us saying if you have judged

me to be faithful in the Lord come into my house and stay. This church began the same

way as that church did. Come into my house come on my porch and stay and meet and let's

tell other people about what I just heard about Jesus Christ. Now that's extremely interesting

to me to watch how small that seems to begin and yet how big of an impact it has on people

life. Saints are set apart. The church is the term that's used for people who are called

out from the world. Paul uses it in chapter 4 and verse 15 and other places. But you're

the saint and you are the church. You're born into your biological family but you're born

again into your spiritual family and that makes you a part of the church of Jesus Christ.

And you have brothers and sisters from other mothers and dads but you all have one father

and that is God the father who birthed you into the kingdom of God. Isn't that a great

thing to celebrate today? You're a part of the tribe of Jesus Christ. Now it doesn't

really matter what your biological family was like. I've had great biological families.

I had a phenomenal father, a phenomenal mother. When I was born I was born into that family

but when I was born again I was born into a perfect father situation. My heavenly father

would make up for anything that my earthly father had gaps on. If you were born into

a really rough biological family you get the same spiritual father that I do. And your

father will take care of you in every way. He will watch over you. He will become more

important to you than anybody else biologically is to you. Your spiritual family will be of

greater importance to you than you can possibly imagine and that's why we use the word tribe

because it's our tribe. We are a part of this people. Peter in 1 Peter 2 is writing about

the church itself and he's trying to give the folks in his day an idea of what they

are, who they are. He reaches all the way back into the Old Testament to describe who the

church is and I want you to notice his words here. In 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9 and 10

1 Peter 2:9

he said but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's

own possession. I love that. I love that idea that God loves me so much that I'm his possession.

I belong to him and he belongs to me. A people for God's own possession so that you may proclaim

the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light for

you were once not a people at all but now you are the people of God. Man what a great

line. You once have not received mercy but now you have received mercy. That's the tribe

right there. That's the church of Jesus Christ as Peter describes it and he's using the Old

Testament to illustrate the New Testament principle of the family of God. Now what Peter

was doing was quoting the book of Deuteronomy where God calls Israel out of Egypt, out of

bondage, out of sin and out of bondage. Remember Moses goes and leads them out, the plugs,

the Egyptians chase after them, the parting of the sea, all that. And God says you once

were not a people at all now you are a people. You once had no identity at all now you're

the people of God. You're my people. You're my people. So Peter uses that to say those

of us who put our faith in Christ Jesus we're now a part of what God says my people. My

people. So if I ask you who are your people your answer needs to be I'm God's people.

I'm part of God's people. God's my father. My family is a family of faith. I'm part of

the tribe that he has set out for me. I'm part of the church of Jesus Christ. I've been

called out of the world. I've been set apart from where I was and I am now part of the

tribe of Jesus Christ the family of God. Now some of us have read the Old Testament book

of Ruth and it's a phenomenal book. A great story of Naomi and Ruth. Naomi is widowed

and Ruth is her daughter-in-law and now Ruth's husband has died as well. It was a rough world.

And so the other daughter of Naomi says I'm going to go back to my people and Ruth says

I'm going to stay with Naomi. I'm going to stay with you. And Naomi says no you need

to go back to your people. You need to go back to where you came from. And she makes

this great great statement. Ruth responds with this great great statement that we hear

about in weddings. We hear about it when we describe really special relationships and

I want you to read what it is because it really describes who we are. But Ruth said do not

urge me to leave you or turn back from following you for where you go I will go. Where you

lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people. Your God my God. What a great picture

of the importance of you needing to know who your people are. What a great picture of being

committed to someone who's a part of your tribe a part of your people. Over the last

few years I've been sharing these five questions that I believe God placed on my heart as the

five most important questions people can ask and answer. And if you don't have the answers

to these you're going to be moving in a direction far from where you need to be. And the first

question is who is God and what is truth. You've got to settle that from the beginning.

Who is God and what is truth. You don't answer that question accurately. It's almost impossible

to predict where you'll end up but it won't be good. A second question is what is my

purpose in life. You need to know your purpose in life. A third question is what was I created

to be. We spent some time talking about two weeks ago. What was I created to be in God

revelation and God's creating me in the first place. The fourth question is about relationships.

Can I have healthy relationships. Do I know what they are. Do I know how to have them.

But the fifth question of those five and the one we're focusing on right here it's a question

who are my people. Who do I look around me and see as my people in a world that's filled

with people. You have relationships at work. You have relationships in the neighborhood.

You have relationships with biological family. You have relationships that are friends from

the past. You have Facebook friends. You have followers on Twitter. You have all kinds of

people that are around you. But who are your people. Do you know who your people are. People

you can count on. People who will give you wise counsel. People who will stand with you

in the tough time and rejoice in the great time. Do you have those people around you

because you were created for a people. That's what the church of Jesus Christ is all about.

That's who Paul is writing to. To all the saints at Philippi. That's what he's saying.

You've got to have a people. Could you imagine that 75 people in that Roman city with all

the Roman influence with all the soldiers and all of the secular approaches to life

and the Greek influence of mythology and and and hedonism and all those other things. Can

you imagine them thriving without the church. They could not thrive without the church.

And the reason Paul said in verse 6 I'm confident of this very thing. He that began a good work

in you all will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. You need the church. You

need the tribe that is around you. God has always had a people for his people. And the

more you read the Bible the more you understand it. So the church is a tribe your people your

spiritual family from which you get comfort encouragement counsel warning and everything

else you need. In the tribe we have common faith. We have common truth. We have a common

book that we hold on to common values. We have a common purpose. We have a common mission.

We have a common future in heaven. One day we'll be in heaven together with all the saints

rejoicing and worshiping the Lord that brought us there for time and time forever and ever

without end. All those things are part of what we call the forever family. Now you may

be new to Christ. You may be new to this community. You may be new to this church. But I'm gonna

tell you something. If you are in this church today and you are a part of this church as

a believer in Jesus Christ you are home. This is your family. This is the family of faith

in Jesus Christ. I'm glad I have a family of faith. Aren't you glad you have a family

of faith? And that's what God has done in bringing the church together. You need to

know you need to get to know your family and faith. Most of you know that my mother-in-law

passed away a few weeks ago. My wife and I were preparing for the funeral and getting

some photos put together on slide, photos on slide so that we could show everyone just

kind of what Dixie, that was her name, what Dixie was like from early girlhood onward.

And as we were talking we were talking about the move that their family made from Missouri

to Texas. And they settled in Irving, Texas when Kim was a little girl and they joined

the church not far from them called MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church. And in that church

at that time God was moving in such a big way. Ron Dunn was the pastor and I've quoted

him so many times. You're probably tired of hearing his name Ron Dunn but man what an

influence he was. And I knew nothing about this church of course. I grew up in Oklahoma

you know the promised land. That's where I was. My wife is in Texas. We were talking

about her upbringing. And as we talked about the church she kind of said something under

her breath. Not really communicating to me but just saying what she felt. She said man

that was the best decision my family ever made to join that church. That was the best

decision we made because there I found faith. I learned how to grow in faith. I heard incredible

teaching and preaching. I learned to worship. I met people who parted my friendship circles.

I watched my family and God at work in my family. Man that was the best decision we

ever made. Now my wife is a wise woman and she doesn't often make a lot of statements

like that that are absolute but when she does then she's right on target. What a great decision

to surround yourself with a family of faith that will help you during all those times

when you wonder where is my tribe? Where is my family? Now remember this letter is written

for the church to find the joy of God. Joy that he has for us. And I shared four things

last week that I'll run through very quickly. These four things are essential. His people,

his perspective that is the mindset that we're to be serving others. His purpose that he

has for each one of us. His presence. All those things are important for your joy and

we'll cover these over the course of many weeks but the bottom line is his people are

a big part of that. You won't find joy fulfilled without the people that God is intending to

surround you with unless you allow that to happen. What you experience, you experience

in the church in a fruitful way is one of those things that you look back and say man

that was a great decision to be a part of a family of faith. You can't do it alone.

He never said you could. Why are you trying? Not only is it people sent out by God, not

only is the tribe people set apart salvation but it's also people selected to lead. You

see the last line there it says including the overseers and deacons. So God wants his

people cared for. That's what these two titles describe. Overseers refer to pastors and shepherds

who lead and feed the flock while deacons refer to servant leaders who support and care

for them. They really began to do this at the beginning. For the Holy Spirit they were

seeing this church expand rapidly. Three thousand were saved and baptized at Pentecost and all

the set ministry was happening and these were taking place and very early on in Acts chapter

Acts 6 · chapter mention

6 there was a group of widows who were being neglected in the daily serving of food. They

were actually serving food day by day because of the conditions in Jerusalem at the time.

The apostles ran out of energy in doing it but they just couldn't do it all. So here's

what they said in Acts chapter 6 verse 2 through 4. So the twelve summoned the congregation

Acts 6:2–4

of the disciples and said it's not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order

to serve tables therefore brethren select from among you seven men of good reputation

full of the spirit and wisdom whom we may put in charge of this task but we will devote

ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. The qualifications for overseers and

deacons are in 1 Timothy chapter 3 you can look at that at another time but the reason

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

for all this is to meet needs and shepherd the flock because God wants his people cared

for. You say we're overseers and deacons the only ones that do this? Absolutely not. But

they are called to do this alongside the rest of the congregation because God wants his

tribe encouraged or warned or taught or prayed for. He wants their needs met in every way.

Paul riding to the church at Thessalonica called himself a spiritual father and yet

at the same time gentle as a nursing mother. That's kind of an interesting term there.

I'm going to love on you like a spiritual mom and a spiritual dad and that's what overseers

deacons and the rest of the congregation are to do. Now you notice the first part of that

line he's writing to all the saints and then he says including the overseers and the deacon

the word including simply helps us be reminded that God when he sees the church sees us all

as one. There are not two classes, three classes, four classes of people. We're just all saints

and next week when you hear my y'all message you'll understand that better. We're all

part of the body of Christ but God does raise some up to lead in certain ways. I'm very

thankful to be a senior pastor here or an overseer here. I was doing some calculating

the other day. Do you realize that this church has only had four senior pastors in the last

sixty years? Sixty years. And the interesting thing about it is three of them are still

in the church. Two are retired. I'm just tired, not retired, just tired. I preach in a service

at 8.30 where Dr. Bill Anderson, Dr. Jimmy Draper are. They still have an incredible

love for this church. They give me all kinds of advice on how to lead it and it's always

welcome. It's always welcome. Countless pastors over the years have been here in various support

rows. Hundreds of deacons have worked together to meet the needs of the church and all that

because God set this up from the beginning to care for His body. You want to know the

value of a tribe. The value of a tribe is that God calls people out of the body to help

meet the needs of the body in a very personal way in order to represent His love for you

through those leaders. Ideally that's how a church operates. And that allows all of us

to love one another in an incredible way that supersedes anything the world has to offer.

That means there needs to be love in the church and there is love in the church between pastors

and deacons and congregations that help change the world. There's love and we all work together

to help raise children whose parents bring them. We're part of the discipleship process

as we teach them to know Jesus and to know the love and the joy of the Lord in the tribe.

Of course we don't take the role or take the place of parents but we come alongside them

and hope and encourage them and pray for them. We love caring for widows because God has

given us the responsibility to do that. We love helping people struggling with finances

and equipping them for the word for life in general. We love doing all those things at

the church. We look out for one another and that's what the tribe is supposed to do. You

need to know people have your back. I want to tell a story that I don't often tell, this

kind of story but some time ago a widow in this church had been widowed for several years

and she met a man on Facebook which always is a way to have successful relationships,

right? You meet somebody on Facebook. And this guy without having ever met her proposed

online. So I found out about it from a deacon that had been calling her and encouraging

her in every way. So we put on our detective glasses and we did some investigation. And

we made the right phone calls and found out that this guy was not going to be a threat

to her. He was independently wealthy. He didn't need her money. He didn't need anything she

had but really began to connect on Facebook. And I called her one day and talked through

a phone conversation with her with another person in the room to help me kind of read

between the lines. And at the end of my interrogation which is what I would call it, I asked her

like 40 questions about her finances, about this guy, about all these things. I said,

do you understand why I'm asking these questions? Because she got kind of quiet and I thought

she's going to hang up on me. And she didn't even hesitate. She said, because you love

me. And I said, you know who gave me your name? She said, that deacon, he loves me too.

I said, you're right. All we want to do is make sure you're fine. And if you're fine,

we're fine. But if you're not, we're not. You know that ought to happen every day in

the tribe. That kind of thing ought to happen all around us. When we're looking out for

someone, when we're looking out for their well-being. That kind of stuff inside the

church. I've not even gotten started. I've not got on my rant yet. Think about what happens

outside the church. When I think about what happens outside the church, it's really incredible

what the tribe of the people of Jesus Christ see God do through them outside the walls

of the church. And when I hear criticism about the church being insensitive or judgmental

or selfish or something like that or being out of touch, I say, where do you get your

information? Because the experience I have is very different from that. Because I see

a church, not just this one, but certainly this one, that's helped feed more than 40,000

people a year for decades now. We have done that and continue to do that as the church

of Jesus Christ at Cross City Church. I see the church that rescued, helped rescue 38,000

babies in the last 40 years through MCWC, which we helped fund and which we had started

years ago. Who helps people with grieving. Who gives counsel to those that are in confusion.

A church that's helped repair and rebuild more than 900 homes in the last 12 years in

this community. A church that embraces new moms at decision points and help them know

what's next. Come alongside teenagers that may have no support at home, no help at home,

maybe not even parents at home, and give them love. A tribe that goes into schools after

school and teaches Bible clubs and teaches kids what it means to have a relationship

with Jesus Christ. I'm a part of a church that dug wells in India to feed villages that

didn't have any water at all and watched them celebrate as that water came bubbling up out

of that well. I've seen us go disaster relief in Haiti when nobody else was going and nobody

else wanted to go. We feed clean water, provide clean water to more than 50,000 people in

the largest slum in the world in Africa and we do it at our own expense. Who else does

that? And I say to you, nobody else does that but the Church of Jesus Christ and we do it

around the world no matter who it is. A few years ago when we started Six Stones, I sat

out with Gary McCamey, the city manager, and we asked the question, several of our leaders

asked the question, what can we do to bless the city? And he said, there are so many homes

in this city, viewless, that were under code, the people couldn't afford to upgrade their

homes, they were being fined, in some cases they were losing their homes. He said, if

you could come alongside and help these homes be repaired, then you're free to help them

know the message of whatever you would share with them. Of course, Gary was a member of

the church and he was basically saying you can share the gospel with them if you help

them rebuild their homes. And as we started this, and it's now called CPR, community powered

revitalization, but as we started this, I said, this is going to cost a lot of money,

Gary. He said, you know what, the government has money but the government doesn't have

manpower. We can't find volunteers who care enough about these people who come out and

rebuild their homes for them. He said, do you think you can find that in your church?

And I said, we can find that in this church. We can find this in the group of churches,

now more than a hundred now walk with six stones, 900 homes later. We're doing what

the government can't do. We're doing what the church of Jesus Christ can't do. I'm

just giving you examples of what the church does and maybe you never see it. And maybe

you never hear about it. When someone pops up and says this or that about it, they don't

maybe really know what's going on. But the tribe of believers in Jesus Christ do this

inside their community of faith and outside their community of faith and their physical

community in which they live. And we do that for the cause of Christ, for the opportunity

of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pastor Jay Johns, who has kind of gotten notoriety

for a few Facebook messages and some of them are very, very good, was frequently asked

the question in his travels, what do you do? And whenever he answered that question, it

was sometimes awkward because when he said, I'm a pastor, then people shut down or something.

And so he got the perfect answer for that. And here's what he says when people say, what

do you do? He said, I work for a global enterprise. We've got outlets in every country of the

world. We've got hospitals, hospices, homeless shelters, orphanages. We do marriage work.

We have feeding programs. We do justice work. Basically, we look after people from birth

to death and we deal with the area of behavioral alterations. And the lady he asked or he was

talking to, he said, what was it called? He said, the church of Jesus Christ. That's what

we do all around the world. And we do it free of charge for the purpose of sharing the gospel

of Jesus. I heard a speaker say something recently and I'm going to repeat it to you.

And then I'm done. He said, the church on her worst day is still the best thing that's

happening in this world. You think you think about the world that needs hope, they need

love, they need truth. The church on her waste day is better than any other organization

on this planet. It's not because we're great. It's because he is. It's because Jesus Christ,

God the father called us to live in a different way. And he's calling you to be a part of

his tribe. Suckle back around. Are you part of the tribe? Do you know you're in the tribe?

Do you know you're in the church and that God is your father? And this is a family of

faith. And when you wonder where are your people, do you know where you can go to find them?

You come right here. The relationships you build here, the influence you feel here will

guide your life on the path that God has for you if you begin that relationship with Him.

I've got to close. I could keep going with this little rant, but I could close.

And let me just tell you this. At the end of this service, at the end of my prayer, I encourage you,

if you've not made the decision to put your faith and trust in Christ, to stop at a decision

station, talk to someone and say, I need to make sure I'm part of this tribe, part of this church,

part of the faith in Jesus Christ family. And if that's never happened to you, we would rejoice

to let that happen and help you let that happen today. The decision you need to make on your own.

We invite you to that. I invite you to our guest reception room outside the center exit doors

across the hallway, glassed in room. I'd love to tell you more about Cross City Church and how to

be a bigger part of that if you want. I invite you to come back next week as we get into those other

verses about the tribe and what it means to be a tribe of Jesus Christ. But right now, would you

stand with me and let's have a closing word of prayer. Father, thank you so much that today we

can be in this place and we can look across the room and see members of our spiritual family.

Thank you that you've made it possible for us to be surrounded by others of like faith and like

belief, a common understanding of truth, a common destination in heaven. Father, I pray that we can

learn to value this tribe and value the church. And Father, where we are detached or remote,

where we are aloof, help us to take steps into fellowship so that we can gain the joy that comes

from walking with a family of faith today, move in a powerful way in these lives. We ask this in

Jesus' name, amen. God bless you. Have a wonderful day.