Romans 11 | Clayton Hentzel

Crossing family, it is good to see you.

I want to welcome those of you joining here at 48th St. those

of you at Macomb and Kirksville, 929 Pike County, Hannibal, Lima,

Mount Sterling, Keokuk, Monmouth, Jacksonville, to those

of you watching online, to those of you are part of the Crossing

inside. And I also want to welcome those

of you who are joining us for the first time or the first time

in a long time. And if you fall into one of

those two categories, I want to encourage you to take advantage

of the QR code on the seat in front of you.

It is a great way to get more connected to our church and to

help you take your next steps spiritually.

If you're new to our church, we are in the middle of a series.

Then you can go and watch all of those online under the one

crossing for our YouTube archives, or you can find them

on our website. But today we are in Romans

Romans 11 · chapter mention

Chapter 11, and for those of you who have been going through the

Bible reading plan and doing your devotions, I'm just going

to tell you up front. Romans Chapter 11 is a bit of a

Romans 11 · chapter mention

hill to climb. It's not necessarily the easiest

chunk of scripture to navigate. However, I think there are four

phrases that will give you clarity on this chapter and also

inspire you to either start a relationship with Jesus Christ

or in increase your commitment to your faith journey.

You've heard us talk about this at the Crossing before.

If you call the crossing home. And that is the spiritual

spectrum, that here at the Crossing we want to help people

find an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

And there's some you or maybe you know, somebody who will you

classify or maybe you classify yourself as a -. 5.

Like you hate God. And then there's those of you

who you kind of think you, you know, you are God.

Somewhere in between. Our church exists for all of

those people, and I think no matter where you are on this

spiritual spectrum, one, we're so glad you're here, and two, I

think there is something in here for you.

So this sermon has four phrases, which means if you pay

attention, we get out of here early.

OK. The first phrase is wish you

versus I can turn your neighbor, say wish you versus I can.

Romans Chapter 11 verse one says This I ask Then this is Paul

Romans 11 · chapter mention

speaking. Did God reject his people?

By no means. I am an Israelite myself, a

descendant of Abraham from the tribe of Benjamin.

This might sound a little weird to you, but if you've been

following during the sermon series, Paul has been taking a

swing at the Jewish nation and the Jewish believers in Romans.

He has been so hard that his listeners might be thinking that

God has rejected the Israelite, the Jewish community, the Jewish

people. But Paul answers this with a

resounding no. Paul's going unproof, and then

he pulls out his birth certificate and reminds everyone

that he is a Jew himself. Paul is saying I'm the proof

that God has not rejected the people of Israel.

And what makes this so beautiful is that Paul has a heart for the

Jewish people, even though he's doing ministry to the Gentiles.

Look what he says here in Romans Chapter 11, verses 13 through

Romans 11:13–14

14. I'm talking to you, Gentiles.

Insomuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles.

I take pride in my ministry, in the Everybody say that word in

the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and

save some of them. Paul was a minister primarily to

the Gentiles. That's like you and me, unless

you're a Jew. And he never stopped having a

heart and a desire to reach his own people.

When Paul speaks to Jewish people, he speaks as an insider

to insiders. He knows their struggles, their

frustrations, their objections, their pain.

He knows them because he's one of them.

And one of the things I noticed sometimes in ministry.

And I'm not scolding you. But sometimes you can have a

wish you faith versus an I can faith.

Here's what I mean by wish you you'll call me up.

Clayton. I wish you could talk to my

husband. I wish you would meet with my

friend. I wish you could pray with my

wife. I wish you could counsel my

coworker and hear me hear me. That's fine and we love those

opportunities to opportunities to do that.

In fact, we have capable staff at all of our locations.

We even have a team of people who help minister to those of

you who are watching online that can and will and love to be part

of those moments. However, I don't want you to

ever think that God can do more through us than he can do

through you. Instead of I wish you could

minister to my family. Clayton, I want you to hear me

say you can minister to your family.

I want you to be going. I can minister to my family

instead of. I wish you could talk to them

about Jesus. I want you going.

I can talk to them about Jesus instead of.

I wish you could pray for them. I want you to be going.

I can pray for them. I want you to know this.

When you become a pastor, we don't get like a special phone

number like I don't. You know, you guys are calling.

Like, yeah, we're trying to still.

We're still on hold, waiting for God to give us the extension.

And like we are over here, we just have them on speed dial.

It doesn't work that way. Like, God loves all of us

equally. And so while I have no problem

praying with you and praying alongside of you, I just need

you to know God doesn't go. Oh, now that Clayton's praying,

watch out, OK? Because I'll tell you, I think

sometimes we'd be better off if you just did the praying.

OK, hear me? One of the best ways to reach

people is not an outsider. It's not having the smartest

person. Here's how you reach people.

It's when you put the power of a transformed life right in front

of them, People who are filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit

living out a crossshaped love right in front of them.

When you who you know their struggles, their fears, their

objections, their challenges, you know what it's like to be

them. Because you're one of them.

You get where they're coming from and you go.

I can be a minister in this, in this moment.

I can lead people through this. It's when you take

responsibility. One of the themes in my

preaching, and I hope you're hearing it, is God has equipped

you to be the pastor. Wherever you go in your sphere

of influence, God has equipped you to be the pastor, the

spiritual leader, the minister of your home, your workplace,

your friend group. He's empowered you.

And while I would love to come alongside of you, and while I

enjoy those ministry moments where you're like, hey, I want

you to meet, I love all that stuff.

I just don't want you to ever think that God uses me because

he you think I'm special. I'm just like you.

I put my pants on one sleeve at a time, just like everybody

else. When you when you fall in love

with Jesus Christ, the same power that is in that raised

Jesus from the dead is in you and it's in me.

And together when we go out and we recognize that we are pastors

wherever we go, God uses that to bring about redemption in the

lives of people we care about. I do not want you to be thinking

all the time. I wish I could get somebody else

on the phone. I wish I could get somebody else

in the moment. I want you to realize that I can

lead through this. I can point people to Jesus.

The second phrase that I want you to use to kind of drive

home, this chapter is alone versus surrounded.

Look what it says in Romans Chapter 11, verses 2 through 5.

Romans 11:2–5

God did not reject his people whom he for knew.

Don't you know what scripture says in the passage about

Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel?

This is what Elijah said. Lord, they have killed your

prophets and torn down your altars.

I am the only one left and they are trying to kill me.

And what was God's answer to him?

Paul said This is God saying, I have reserved myself for myself

7000 who have not bowed the need to bail.

That was the idol that they were worshiping at the time.

So too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

Elijah was navigating a difficult situation and he was

under the impression that he was all alone.

But God is always drawing himself to people and people are

always responding to God. We had some pastors here from

around the country this past weekend and they saw our baptism

video and I think Brett, our campus pastor from Kirksville,

said it's been 10 years. I think that our church has

gone, hasn't gone a single weekend without a baptism video

being played because all the time there are people coming to

relationship with Jesus Christ. But Elijah was feeling the pain

of being all alone. However, God reminds him that

there are 7000 people around him that he doesn't know, that are

still committed to their faith. Satan would like you to think

that you are alone, that you are the only one, that you are the

only one left navigating A struggling marriage, a bad

diagnosis while still trying to hold on to your faith.

Satan would like you to think that you are the only one

clinging to the promises of God in the middle of a storm.

Satan would like you to think that you are the only one who is

giving and praying and inviting and serving.

Satan would like you to think that you are the only one still

committed to your faith, still standing on biblical values.

I don't know if you're like me, but I can scroll through social

media, or I can scroll through the news.

And I come to this conclusion frequently.

I must be the only sane person left on planet Earth.

Have you ever felt that way? Look around the room.

You're not alone. There are other people just like

you who are pursuing God. Satan wants you to think that

you're the only one, but God wants you to know that you are

surrounded. It may not make the news.

It may not make the headlines, but there are more people like

you than you can possibly imagine right now.

Wherever you are watching from, if you are at one of our

physical locations, I want you to look down your row.

This is just one service out of 26 services at 11 locations in

three states in an area over 10,000 square miles.

There are that does not even include the 3000 people that

watch online and that's just our church.

But in our movement of churches there are millions who are

walking by The Walking the same faith journey that you are.

You can go to any state in almost any town and there is God

fearing Jesus serving Holy Spirit empowered group of

believers that each week are lifting high the beautiful

gospel of Jesus Christ. This doesn't even begin to start

taking into account what God is still doing in Central and South

America. I don't have time to get into

what he's doing in Europe or through the underground church

in Asia. If you want to get even more

impressed, there are moves of God that are too beautiful to

comprehend in Africa. You are not alone.

You're surrounded right now, All across the globe, there are

people sitting in a seat right now just like you, listening to

the word of God being proclaimed.

They're going to respond in worship.

They're going to pray to God. They're going to take communion

just like you. And throughout the week they're

going to open their Bible. They're going to spend time

reading it and being transformed by it.

You are not alone. You are not the only crazy

person left on earth. You are the same one who is

pursuing the same God that they are. .3 I'm moving folks have to

versus get to, have to versus get to Romans.

Romans 11:5–6

Chapter 11 verse 5 through 6 says this so too.

At the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace, and if

by grace then it cannot be based on works.

If it were, grace would no longer be grace.

Paul goes out of his way again and again in Romans to let you

know that the way into the Kingdom of heaven is by grace

through faith. It is not based on works because

if your salvation was based on works, grace would no longer be

grace. And some of you, you have the

same struggle that I have that you live in a half two world

instead of a get to reality. You're showing up for church

because you have to. You're giving because you have

to. You might be serving in the

early childhood room, wiping baby butts because you have to.

You're praying because you have to.

Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. If I just give enough, if I just

wipe enough baby butts, if I just pray enough, show up

enough, then eventually God will love me.

I'll do enough stuff to get into heaven.

But I need you to hear me say this.

You don't have enough money to buy Your Holiness.

You don't have enough time to pray, enough prayers to make you

righteous. There are not enough baby butts

in the world for you to wipe, to make you clean.

The dividing line for those who are in and out of the Kingdom of

God is faith and the means of accessing the grace that we're

talking about is through this faith.

It is once you come to the realization that God has

purchased this on your behalf that He has lavished us, poured

out His love on us, that we move from a have to to get to.

In other words, you realize that by God's grace, you get to

serve. You get to give, You get to

love, You get to care. You get to worship.

You get to invite. You get to.

And for a lot of us, we can't wait to.

We can't believe that God took the broken, messed up pieces of

us, wrote it into his story, and allowed us to be a part of his

salvation mandate. We can't wait to tell people

about what Jesus did in our lives because we can't get over

what He did in our lives. Next one, is this.

Used to versus still can? Used to versus still can.

Romans Chapter 11 verse seven through 10 says this.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

What then? What the people of Israel sought

so earnestly? They did not obtain.

The elect among them did, but the others were hardened.

We're going to circle back on that one a little bit.

As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that

could not see and ears that could not hear to this very day.

And, David says, may their table become a snare and a trap, a

stumbling block and retribution for them.

May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see and their backs

be bent forever. This might sound a little harsh.

That's because it is. It's incredibly harsh because

God doesn't want anybody to leave his family.

God has the heart of a father. But if you choose to walk out of

his house, if you choose to leave what he has for you, he

may harden you in that position. You're going to experience what

it's like with life without God. Those of you who've been around

here before, you've heard this story.

But I know there's a lot of you that are that are new from time

to time. My house does not look like the

godly house that it should. We've been known to have

problems. And one night we were having

problems with one of our kids, and I'm sitting in my chair

eating some ice cream as things are escalating, and he decides

he's going to leave. Leave us.

And he was maybe 6:00 or 8:00 at the time.

And he goes, I don't want to be a part of his family anymore.

I'm out of here. I'm just eating ice cream.

All right. Love you.

And so he's walking to the door, and before he leaves, I go.

Hold on a second. What?

Are you leaving? Yeah, not right now.

Why? Well, those are my clothes.

You don't want to be a thief, do you?

What do you mean? I go.

You can leave, but you got to leave with the clothes that you

bought. Those are my clothes.

So he goes upstairs and I think I can't wait to do the parenting

series at church. He comes downstairs in a towel

wrapped around his waist, opens the front door, leaves the towel

in the house, and shuts the door.

Yeah, so if you'd have driven by the pastor's house, my kid was

standing outside naked. Little bit later, the door opens

and he slams and he stomps up the stairs.

I'm leaving. Just not tonight.

Did I make it easy for him to leave?

If you want to leave my house, you can, but I'm not paying for

your rent in your apartment. The blessings of my home flow in

the direction of obedience, just like they do with God.

God is not going to bless your life.

He's not going to lead you if you step out of obedience.

If you want to experience the blessings of God and life with

God, that happens when you are in the family of God.

And the way you find out whether or not you are in the family of

God or not is through faith. We God saying everybody can come

in, but he's not going to handcuff you to the banister and

never let you out. He hardens you so that way when

you leave, he's going, listen, I want you to know what it's like

when you're out there. So that way you want to come

home. And the story of the prodigal

son, the father allows the son to leave, but he doesn't make it

easy on him. He doesn't keep him out of the

trophy, doesn't keep him out of the hard work.

And eventually he comes to his senses because it's hard and he

comes home. Look what happens in Romans

Romans 11:11–12

Chapter 11, verse 11 through 12. Again, I asked did they stumble

so as to fall beyond recovery? Did they screw up too bad?

Did they make too big of a mistake?

Did they run so far away that God can't bring them back?

The answer is not at all. Rather, because of their

transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make

Israel envious. But if their transgressions

means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the

Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion

bring? No one, no one, no one, is too

far gone from God's redemptive work.

God doesn't want anybody to leave his family and the

parable, the lost son. Not only does he allow him to go

through what he's going through, but when the son returns, while

he's still a long way off, the father comes running.

If you want to know the heart of God, he is waiting for his lost

children to come home. And the moment they decide that

they want to come home, he comes running.

God is so good and so powerful that he can redeem any

situation. This is what he's unpacking in

Romans Chapter 11. This is what he's saying.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

God used the Jewish people to bring Jesus Christ into the

world. Then the Jewish people, because

of their hard hearts, they crucified the very one that he

sent. They crucified Jesus Christ, but

through their sinful act of crucifying Jesus, he brought

salvation to you and I. He took the very mistake that

they made and turned it into a beautiful mystery that you and I

can be included into the household of God.

If God can redeem the dying of a son, he can redeem anything

that's happening in your life. There is nothing and there is no

one better at restoration because God doesn't want anybody

to leave his family. He keeps unpacking this in

Romans Chapter 11, verses 17 through 23.

Romans 11:17–23

This is what he says. If some of the branches have

been broken off and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been

grafted in, and share among the others, now share in the

nourishing SAP from the olive root.

Do not consider yourself to be superior to those other

branches. If you do consider this, you do

not support the route, but the route supports you.

You will say. Then branches were broken off,

so that I could be grafted in. Granted.

But if they were broken off because of unbelief, and you

stand by faith, do not be arrogant but tremble.

For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not

spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness

and the sternness of God, sternness to those who fell, but

kindness to you, provided that you continue in His kindness,

otherwise you also will be cut off.

And if they do not persist in unbelief, if they don't keep

running away from Him, they will be grafted in, for God is able

to graft them in again. Here's what he's saying.

You and I must persist in our faith.

We must continue in our faith because those who are in and out

of the family of God are identified through faith.

Let me unpack it a little bit this way.

Here is a here is a big old tree.

And this grass line represents here's the Old Testament and

here's the New Testament. And what God has always been

doing is he is making a family tree.

This is what it is. And he's talking about the root.

And he's saying if the root is holy, everything's holy, and the

root supports you. You do not support the root

saying, here's the Jewish people, when you're reading in

your Old Testament, you're reading through all the

genealogies. He's he's telling you about the

root. And out of this root came Jesus,

and the root of this tree are the patriarchs like Abraham and

Isaac and Jacob and David, these people.

But then here in the New Testament, God's making a tree,

a family tree, and some branches have been grafted in, been added

to it like you and me. And the way you become a part of

God's family tree is through faith.

And some of you, you've fallen off.

You didn't continue in your faith.

You didn't continue in your belief until we cut you off.

He hardened your position and a desire that you turn around and

then God would graft you back in.

He would bring you back into his fold.

I was working on this sermon and my boys came and were asking me,

I was working in my Home Office and they asked me if they could

borrow my my loppers because they were going to do some some

landscaping stuff. And I I they assured me that it

wasn't going to be a big deal. And I, you know, I believed

them. And but over the course of like

3 days, they were just outside for hours on end and they were

sweating up a storm. And when I was outside my house,

I after they were all done, they were talking about how cool what

they had made was. And every time I looked at my

house, it didn't look all that cool.

In fact, I'll show it to you. I was like, okay, That's where

they're at. This is all that this was

supposed to be put in the trailer.

They didn't put it in the trailer, but that was all they

did. And I'm like, that's not three

days worth of work. I'm like, what did they do?

And so I'm here on my property line and I'm like, what are you,

what do you got going on here? I'm trying to see it.

I mean, it looks like they opened up a little bit of stuff

down here, which these trees are dead.

They need to come out anyway. But Okay, that's a little bit

weird. Okay, that's a little bit more

serious. What do we got now?

We're on the neighbor's property, Okay.

So there's where some more of the branches are that they've

piled up. What do we have going on here,

Okay? We've got some benches.

We've we've got a blanket. Okay.

This is a little bit more than I was anticipating.

Where where are still all of these branches?

OK, the Oh my goodness, what have they done?

Well, come over here. Turns out they're listening to

praise and worship music and they were building a church.

This is the foyer. This is where you hang out and

get your coffee. And before church starts and

then in Gandalf's house that they created over here they've

got a cross and this is where the church is.

My boys made a church in the neighbor's yard, and we're going

to, we're going to take up an offering because they don't come

to our church and they may never will, because I'm going to have

to figure out how to fix that. Here's my devotion.

If my boys can make a church out of the neighbors shrubs, what

can God do with you? Some of you listen to my voice.

You used to, you used to come to church.

You used to come to church in person.

You used to come regularly. You used to serve.

You used to give, You used to pray.

You used to make a difference. Some of you, you might know

someone who used to lead you used to sit with you and some of

you listening to my voice, you're going, yeah, I still

believe in God. But I have a hard truth for you.

A belief in God that does not transform the way we live our

lives. A belief in God that does not

order our priorities is not a true belief in God.

The bottom line is, is some of you, if you were to be honest,

you know you've been cut off. You know you've fallen off, and

you find yourself on the ground wondering if the nourishing SAP

will ever run through your branches again.

You're wondering, can I ever come back because of all that

I've done? You might be thinking, I'm here

on the ground and there's no way I can come back to this church.

There's no way I can start praying again.

Some of you, this message isn't for you, but it's a message that

you have to carry. Because what are the chances

that the people who need to hear this part of the message the

most are actually in this church right now?

But you as a pastor, you can carry this message that they

might be stuck and used to, but they still can.

They used to be one of the branches, and by God's grace

they still can. He can graph them back in at a

moment's notice. God can put them back together

again. And this church won't be

frustrated when you show back up.

This church won't be frustrated when you start to give and serve

and love and care and minister and invite.

In fact, this church has been waiting on you to come back the

whole time. Final message or final point is

better than versus Same as Romans 11 versus 18 through 21

says this. Do not consider yourself to be

superior to those other branches.

If you do consider this, you do not support the route, but the

route supports you and you might be tempted to say then branches

were broken off so that I could be grafted in.

I'm in ministry now because somebody else quit being in the

ministry, granted, but they were broken off because of unbelief.

Here it is again. And you, you and I, we stand by

faith. Don't be arrogant but tremble.

For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not

spare you either. This is the sternest part of my

message. But I'm just choosing to believe

that you know I care about you. There are some of you who maybe

you've been tempted to become arrogant and prideful about how

good of a Christian you've been. You see some of the other people

around you. You know all of the used two

stories because you've been here for so long and unlike them, you

have not left your post. You're still holding on to your

faith, and you might be tempted to think that you're better than

them. You might be tempted to think

that you're more loved by them. You might be tempted to think,

Boy, I'm so glad that I'm like me and not like them.

I'm better than them. God loves me more than them.

Look at how good I've been. You might even be frustrated

with when some of the used to people start showing up and they

sit in the seat that's was supposed to be your seat.

And you're like I've been sitting in this seat ever since

you left. And now you come back and think

you get a sit right here. The back rows reserved for me.

I'm better than you. I'm better than you.

Because I serve more than you. And I give more than you.

And I pray more than you. I'm better than you.

And I'm here to tell you you're the same as, you're the same as.

You're not better than, You're the same as.

And I'll tell you why You're the same as because it was the same

God who created you that created them.

The same God who sent Jesus to the earth to die for you, died

for them. It was the same nails, same

spirit, same faith, same baptism, same cross, and the

same blood that covers you, covers them.

And if we ever forget that message, we will never be who

God created us to be. We're moving to a time of

decision. There are some of you in here

who have never started an intimate, personal relationship

with Jesus Christ, and I'm here to tell you you don't have to

wait any longer. You can be grafted into God's

family tree because of the grace of God that was leveled out

through Jesus Christ on the cross.

And the same blood that covers me can cover you and you might

be tempted to think so You've got to get it all dialed in

first. I keep saying the same thing

during invitations because that's what Romans keeps trying

to drive into our hearts, that you don't have to get it all

figured out before you start your relationship with Jesus

Christ. If you could figure it out, he

wouldn't have sent his son. But we go to him and we give him

our lives and he gives us his spirit and he figures it out and

we obey. And if you're here today and

you've never started that relationship with Jesus Christ,

my encouragement to you is don't wait, don't put it off.

If you're going. I still have some questions.

Then ask the questions to those of you watching online right now

in the chat, someone just put up an opportunity for you to click

on a button and they'll take you into a private chat so they can

talk to you about specifically what you're going through.

And there's a team of people, and we'll either get you

connected to people here at our church or to one of the partner

churches we have around the country.

So you don't have to do life alone.

But to those of you who are in the room right here at 48th St.

in just a few moments, the people around you are going to

stand up and they're going to start singing.

Some of them are going to come to the steps and start praying.

And I would encourage you to go right over to the Baptistry.

If you came here by yourself, that's fine.

Maybe you came here with somebody.

Maybe they'll come with you. There's going to be somebody

right over the baptistry who would love an opportunity to

talk with you about what it means to start an intimate,

personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

I do this every so often at our church if you're new here, but

it's because sometimes I think that you might be tempted to go,

yeah, well, that's that's true for you, Clayton.

It's just not true for normal people.

So I'm just going to. I'm just going to show you

something. I know in my experience that the

greatest decision I ever made was making Jesus Christ, my Lord

and Savior to starting an intimate, personal relationship

with him. And if you would say that that's

your story too, Would you raise your hand?

See, it's not just me. Alright, I got another question

for you. I know in my life my biggest

regret is that I didn't start that relationship sooner.

You see, I knew about God from a pretty early age.

I even had moments where I trusted God at a pretty early

age. But the amount of damage I did

between the time I knew about God and the time I believed and

followed God, I caused a lot of pain.

I endured a lot of hardship. My biggest regret is I didn't

start that relationship with Jesus Christ sooner.

And you know what? I don't think I'm the only one.

If that's your story too, would you put your hand up just so

they know I'm not crazy? All right, you guys, put your

hands down so you don't have to believe me.

Believe your row. Believe your section.

They're telling you what I'm telling you.

That the best decision they ever made was a Jesus decision.

And the biggest regret was putting it off.

We have these crazy stories in our church.

They drive me crazy, but I love them.

So I don't want you to not make a decision because you're like,

I don't want to make Clayton mad.

It makes me happy. I just don't understand.

Sometimes you'll. I'll be talking to somebody

before they get baptized. Like, yeah, we've been coming

here for like, 6 years. Six years.

How'd you hear about this for six years?

And wait it off. But Satan's crafty.

He'll get you to wait. He'll get you to hold off all of

Satan's replies that you are not now.

And God's answer is always right here, right now.

The only thing keeping you from starting the relationship that

you are destined to have is you making a decision right now to

believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living

God, and that you want him as your Lord and Savior.

And if that's where you are, where you are today, in just a

few moments you can walk over there and talk to somebody and

start that path forward to the rest of you in the room.

To those of you here at 48th St. want you to hear me?

We have to get our hearts right before God.

We have to live the life that he's calling us to live, not

better than other people, but on behalf of other people.

Man, we can't keep showing up and doing all the things we do

trying to earn our salvation. That's not the kind of spirit

that is going to grow a church and reach the people around

them. It's going to require a bunch of

people who can't wait to be a part of what God is doing.

And so maybe as we go into this invitation time, you would spend

some time on your knees or maybe over where you're at in your

chair. You're going, God, what kind of

work needs to happen in my heart today to make a difference to

the people that you've put around me?

That you would actually be the pastor to the people that God

has put around you? Because chances are I'm not

going to your workplace tomorrow.

Neither's our staff, but you are.

You are God's appointed messenger to make a difference.

And how could we not? Would you stand with me,

Heavenly Father? I'm asking you to do a work

right now. God, wipe away the excuses.

Fire up our passions. God, help us to be the people

that you have called us to be, to reach the people you've

called us to reach. And your name, I pray.

Amen.