KICKOFF SUNDAY | Part 2 | He’s Not Sending Someone Else

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Wow. What does this mean? It means it's

NFL kickoff Sunday. I would have wore a

jersey, but Notre Dame didn't do so hot

last night, so I thought I'd rep GSC.

But with that, I want everybody to stand

back up for me. We're going to have some

fun. Bring some hype into this place

today. And I know you guys all may have

a team that you represent, whether it's

football, basketball, hockey, what

whatever it might be. I on the count of

three, I want everybody to say it the

loudest that they can say their favorite

team. And I might have a little special

gift if I can hear the loudest person.

So on the count of three, one, two,

three.

[Music]

>> All right. Hey. All right, let's do it

one more time. One, two, three.

All right. Well, hey, let's put our

hands together. We're going to call up

Coach Ben as he kicks us off here as we

just see what's going on at GSC. Let's

go.

>> Y'all are too crazy for me. Praise the

Lord. We have a seat this morning.

>> You know, I just get to be the

undercoach. The father in heaven's the

coach. Amen.

>> Amen.

>> Well, hey, we're kicking off uh week two

of our uh Capitol campaign and and uh

kind of fun with the football theme. And

uh I want to share with you talked last

week a little bit about the the why

behind the what and we had uh 90%

positive feedback from you guys. U we've

been working on this for uh three years,

four years and over this last year God's

really challenged us to get serious

about it. And so uh man, we just got a a

good uh positive feedback. And uh you

know the heart of this church and and

let me just share with you there's

different models of church and different

things of church. We are an evangelistic

church.

>> Amen.

>> It's in our DNA. It's just kind of who

we are and uh you know we're God's

growing the church over 50 plus percent

over the last 18 months. We we've seen

an increase and and thankful for that.

Uh but what the church that we're now,

we joke around with pastors, uh we don't

want to be sheep thieves.

In other words, we don't want people

that, you know, they they got saved in

this church, they've been serving there,

that maybe they've been to two or three

churches, and then they they don't like

their church anymore, and so they come

because they like our flavor of church,

our brand of church a little bit better.

Uh and so that's not our main mission.

It's not to say that, hey, if you've

been in another church and you that God

called you here, man, we're going to

embrace you and love you. Uh because I

I've been to several different churches

over my years of salvation and and uh

man, there there's uh some churches that

I know of that I'd say, "Get out of that

church and come to a lifegiving church."

You know what I mean? Because uh but but

here's the mission is that sinners

become saints,

>> saints become disciples, and create

other saints.

>> Amen. Amen.

>> And so, man, we're just experiencing

growth. That's that's the heart of the

vision. We're we're looking at what we

don't want to be as a a church that uh

uh are we're limited uh of who we can

reach and who we can have impact for the

gospel by the amount of seats we have in

a room. You know, we don't want to be at

capacity and and having to tell people

no or tell the community no, tell

sinners no, we don't have the space, you

know, to do that. Man, we we want to

keep up with what God's doing. and and

you guys have been around here the last

year, man. You've seen souls getting

saved and and households getting saved,

people getting delivered and freedom and

plugging into connection groups and all

the amazing things happening and and

what God's calling us to do is say,

"Hey, that let's let's expand the box a

little bit and let's keep throwing fuel

on the fire." And so that's the why

behind the what. And so I'm going to

invite our our campaign chair, Capitol

campaign chair, Miss Loretta. Let's

celebrate her as she comes.

>> Thank you. Woo. There we go. I did that

better the second time. So, hey.

All right. Well, thank you guys. I just

am very, uh, humbled and, um, just very

appreciative to be able to serve in this

capacity, in this role. So, um, coming

in here, it's been amazing to watch what

God is doing because we are truly, um,

focused on what GSC is, the DNA. We are

really, um, going to use those values.

Those values have been the driving force

between for our goals that are financial

and both uh non-financial. So, let me

see if I can move this here.

There we go. Now I'm better. I couldn't

see my notes. So, um with that, the

non-financial goals that comes right

from the vision here. And so basically

we are bringing people together to grow

and serve in the way that Jesus taught.

And with that we are going forward. We

are sharing a life-giving message that

Jesus um put on us through his word to

become fully devoted followers of

Christ. And I know that right there that

just makes my heart be like yes. Thank

you God. Does that excite you guys and

put that on your heart to be a fellow

follower that is fully devoted for

Christ? That's what I know what um I

want here at GSC and that's what we're

striving for. So with this campaign um

this campaign is just that. It is to

live sacrificially. Um it is to leave uh

an internal investment for our legacy.

And our legacy that's our kids. We're

busting at the seams and we need room,

right? Anybody feel a little cramped in

here sometimes? Yeah, me too. Um, and so

you might be wondering, what am I

sporting? Okay, so I have some wonderful

bouquet of flowers is what I'm calling

it. So this is from our our legacy. So I

had some wonderful kids that were

helping and they brought me a bouquet of

flowers. So hey, I had to represent, you

know. So yeah, I know everybody a Okay,

I love it. Um and so you know that right

there, our driving force, the legacy, um

that's that's that's our goal. And our

other goals are going to be um you know,

for God to grow us stronger in faith, uh

to live in purpose, to build each other

up, to stay unified, to trust in God's

vision, and to share who Jesus is. And I

really want to trust in his vision

because this vision uh like pastor Ben

said, this has been uh stirring, being

prayed over for the last 3, four years.

So this isn't something we're like, oh

hey, you know, this has been really

sought after by God. And we want to

continue to do that. And so I ask that

you jump on this journey, continue this

journey with us to reach our goal of 2.1

million. That's a pretty big goal,

right? Pretty quiet in here, right?

Okay. Exactly. But that's how God does

stuff. He does things that we cannot do.

We need him. If we didn't need him and a

savior, then, you know, there we go. We

wouldn't we wouldn't be sitting here. We

wouldn't be serving. But we need him. We

need him to to do this for us. And so,

um, as we do that, I'm going to, um, ask

our team to go ahead and put the chart

of gifts up here. I'm a visual person.

So, I like to see what uh what does that

kind of look like? What how do we reach

that? And so, after lots of prayer,

we've come up with a chart of gifts. And

so, you can see up here um we have these

available out here in the lobby. And we

do ask that you take one, take that with

you, pray over it because, you know, I

kind of look here, I examine, I'm like,

"Oh, hey, yeah, I could probably do that

2,000. I know some maybe can do like a

whole lot more in three years. But then

I'm like, "Oh yeah, that's right. I'm

doing it in my own power, my own might."

That's not what we want to do. That's

not at all. We're not just building a

building. That's not what it's about. It

is truly about the biggest ask that we

can do. And that biggest ask is saying,

"Hey, God, humble me. Show me. Grow me."

And we want God to put on us what he

wants us to do. And so that's our

biggest ask. And we believe with

everything that we can do that because

he we ask right we do the immeasure he

does the immeasurable because we cannot

we cannot lean in our own power and

might. We must lean on his. And so

together we can do this because we're

seeking him. We are truly one summit

every generation. And as we go through

this campaign we are inspired. We're

encouraged. And so today, we want to

share some other people's passion um for

what God is doing and and just why

they're actually excited. So, would you

guys join me in welcoming some of our

team leads to the stage? Mr. John Gross,

come on up. All right. All right. There

we go.

And Mr. Chris Hannah, come on up,

gentlemen. All right.

>> Thank you, Loretta. Um, I just want to

quickly share a little bit. We want

besides I mean obviously money has to do

with this to try to build something. You

have to be able to pay for it. But we

also through this time particularly in

the next three or four months as we

build a lot of things into this

campaign. We want spiritual growth to

happen. We want people to grow deeper in

Christ. And in those things to have

growth to have a deeper connection to

Christ takes resistance. Just like a

butterfly trying to break out of its

crystals. It needs that resistance to

make it beautiful. If you want to tone

your body and be more healthy, it takes

resistance to help you do that. Lifting

weights, doing push-ups. If I have a

goal, 50 push-ups, and I get down and I

I got to 40 and my arms are telling me

you can't do anymore. You are done. But

you discipline yourself and you push my

massive weight up and down 10 more times

and I hit the 10th one and I pass out

and fall on the floor. But when I wake

up, I have won. I have done what I

wanted to do. And spiritual growth

happens a lot the same. Satan's going to

bring resistance. The world's going to

bring resistance to the things God wants

to do in us and through us. And it takes

a spiritual discipline, a mental

discipline to stick at and then

persevere. If I do 50 push-ups once,

that's an amazing feat. But if I do it

over 10, 12 months, I get some guns, you

know,

for an old man with, you know, have you

seen those commercials where the

80year-old man with the six-pack? No,

that's not real. But

you can build up. It takes not only the

discipline to do it the first time, but

then the perseverance to keep doing it.

And at the end comes joy. At the end

comes the victory. And that's what we're

shooting for. And be it through the

disciplines of prayer, through

discipline of reading God's word

consistently every day, getting some of

him into you. the devotion to the

fellowship, being a part of us, being

involved, as Pastor Ben's going to talk

about in a few minutes, getting yourself

off the bench and into the game. All

those things take a discipline because

we're our own selves resist giving in.

But if we discipline ourselves and then

persevere at it, in the end, we get a

closer walk with Christ, we get joy we

can't imagine and victories we didn't

expect that God brings. So, we pray for

all of us through this time. I'm excited

about it that we'll all grow closer to

Christ, closer to each other, and to

have joy at the end in a great victory

celebration.

And I would like to pray for our

congregation, Lord, through this

campaign. Lord, we humbly come before

you, Lord. And we pray Lord God that you

will give us the vision along with our

leadership and our pastors and our

congregation

of this building that we can build to

help the next generation. Lord God, you

spoken and the word I heard was

forerunner. Lord, that we need to be

like forunners like Adam and Noah and

Abraham and Elijah and Moses and John

the Baptist and Jesus that we go before

Lord God. And there's many of us that

have gone before, but there's others

that will follow. And this campaign is

for us to build a building and lobby

that can be inviting for those that are

bringing their children and new people

that are coming to our church that have

never been to church before. Lord, that

they may be ministered in an appropriate

space. Lord God, we pray for

supernatural blessing upon our

congregation. We pray for supernatural

assets to be developed, supernatural

giving to happen that we don't know

where it comes from, Lord God, but we

know it does come through you, Lord God.

We're going to be surprised at the

miracles that are going to happen in

this church, but we shouldn't be

surprised, Lord, because you are the

miracle giver. Lord, we pray that each

person here will fill the tug in their

heart, Lord God, that they need to step

up and step into your vision, Lord God,

as we reach the lost. And we just thank

you for all that you're going to do

through our congregation as we touch

others. In name we pray. Amen.

>> All right. Thank you, gentlemen. Can we

give them a big round of applause?

All right. Thank you. Thank you guys for

sharing your passion, uh, for

challenging us. And so, you guys are

going to be challenged through this.

And, and that challenge is going to

result in God growing you. So, I'm very

excited about that. And, uh, we have

another treat for you guys today. Um, as

we go throughout this campaign, a lot of

people are very passionate about it. We

are learning, very passionate. And so,

we have, uh, Mr. Joe Khan that is

actually going to share his uh testimony

with us today. Thank you.

[Music]

>> And I've been with GSU since this has

been started. I serve on the security

team. I am part of the board of council.

I am on the legacy team. Uh I also help

cut grass. Uh we pack backpacks and we

serve a kidmen uh every once in a month.

GSC has helped facilitate made me uh to

believe in Christ and actually get

baptized two years ago. So it's been so

influential of GSC and all the

leadership here uh just the men and

women that have helped me grow and just

love on Christ and get to know him

better and be more faithful to serve

too.

I support Florida leaves a legacy for

our children. So Mark Kidman just needs

uh more room and support and through

supporting the Kidman. It's just going

to create that next level of love for

for the generation. Finally, legacy work

for the children.

[Music]

Well, praise the Lord.

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Did you guys have a hard time hearing

Joe?

>> Okay. I was just making sure I wasn't

getting too old and can't hear anymore.

>> Yeah. Good testimony, though. Uh, and I

know there's testimonies all across this

room of what God's been speaking to your

heart as God is moving us forward. Well,

I want to get in the word of God today.

Would you pray with me? Father, we thank

you, Lord, for a stirring in our

spirits, Lord. We're thankful, God, for

a revelation of your word. And so, Lord,

as you have been drawing us and calling

us, Father, we pray today that we would

leave here even more equipped than we

ever have been to serve you with

faithfulness, to serve you with

authority and power of heaven. And so,

Lord, I thank you for your written word,

but Lord, we're praying now for an

ontime word, an inseason word that would

minister grace to our spirit, to our

soul, to our hearts. Father, we thank

you for it now in Jesus name.

Amen. Well,

>> hey guys, we're in week two of uh

kicking off this Capitol campaign and

and uh kind of stepping into the second

half uh this week. I hope you had a good

halftime show. Uh but uh today we're

we're going to continue on the journey

and uh the whole kind of idea that God's

given us is to get in the game.

Last week uh we looked at the playbook.

Uh we broke down Ephesians chapter 2 uh

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

verses 8-10. And just to recap if you

weren't here, man, I want to take a look

at those scriptures and and give you the

foundation of what God's been doing

here. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8 uh

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

says this, for it is by grace you have

been saved through faith, and this not

of yourselves.

Isn't that good news

that we didn't have to save ourselves?

I mean, I I look at me and I go, I'm a

pretty terrible savior.

I mean, it's just not It wasn't by

works. It wasn't by our great effort. It

wasn't because we had some great mental

capacity to seek out and find God. But

but we were saved by grace through

faith. And this not from yourself.

It is a gift of God. Say gift.

>> Verse nine said this, "Not by works

so that anyone can boast.

If we could save ourselves, we'd be

going to tell the world how great

ourselves are. But we were saved through

Jesus Christ. And so now we go tell the

world how great Jesus is.

>> In verse 10 is where God really had us

kind of land things.

Says this, for we are God's handiwork

created in Christ Jesus. Catch this. To

do good works.

To do good works.

to do good works.

>> That's why we got saved through grace,

faith, not of ourselves. That there's a

purpose behind this thing.

We are God's handiwork created in Christ

Jesus to do good works. Catch this.

Which God prepared in advance for us to

do.

Our heart's cry in our relationship to

God should be, "Father, what would you

have me to do?

What would you have me to do? We're not

just saved from something, but we're

saved for something. And you were saved

for a purpose. So today, I want us to

dig a little bit deeper into the

purpose. Say purpose.

>> Purpose.

>> What is the purpose of the church?

What's the what's the reason for it all?

I mean, I know each of us probably have

our own ideas about this.

And if we were challenged to sit down

and write those out, why do I come to

church? Well, it feels good. I enjoy it.

Uh maybe it's I have some friends that

go there. I like the social connection.

Uh I feel good when I leave there every

Sunday.

You know, those are all good things, but

that's not the purpose of the church. so

that you feel good every Sunday when you

go home.

I'm saved, but I'm not soft. And I'm

going to preach to you this morning.

>> Amen.

>> What is the purpose of all of this?

Ephesians chapter 4, favorite portion of

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

scripture of mine, talks about apostles,

prophets, evangelists, pastors,

teachers. Talks about that Jesus kind of

gave these to the church. And then it

gives us the why behind the what. And

catch this. Ephesians chapter 4 and

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

verse 12 gives us the purpose. Catch

this. To equip the saints.

To equip the saints. Sounds like we're

going to battle. Need some equipment. To

equip the saints for the work of

ministry.

For the work of ministry. And there's

this idea. I'm so glad it's uh God had

challenged leaders and Christians over

the generations to get it out of the

church. But there's this uh old

mentality. There was a movement that uh

we know in church, modern church history

was called the shephering movement.

And what it looked like was that you

would have one supreme leader in the

church. Often times we would call him

pastor. He's the one that had went

through seminary

and he is more holy than the rest of us.

And God has called him to lead our

flock. It's that shephering movement,

right? And what came out of that was

some different lingo that you cannot

find in scripture. I looked, we have

this idea of clergy,

the ordained, and then we had this idea

of ley,

which means, well, I just come to church

here. I don't know.

That's what it created in the church

world. Why don't I go down to the

Baptist church? I don't I don't know.

can't find it in scripture. You know

what we can find in scripture is that

every single one of us were called and

equipped and sent.

>> Every one of us have giftings and

abilities that came from heaven.

And and so the the the whole purpose of

all of this is not big eyes and little

U's.

I remember the first time when I first

got ordained. It feels like a hundred

years ago. And they they sent me the

letter upon ordination and it said,

"Reverend Benjamin E. Lee Hugh." And I'm

going, "Reverend,

that sounds funky.

I'm a preacher, man. I'm called to

preach. I wasn't called to be revered."

Yeah. And then I'd be out in public and

uh I learned this from my pastor and

they they're pretty much non-existent

now. Really hard to find. But it used to

be back in the days when when I first

got into ministry that there was clergy

discounts.

Yeah. My pastor, he traveled a lot for

ministry and he knew all the hotel

stops.

Yeah. You get a clergy discount. And I

go, "Well, I guess I'm clergy because I

like discounts." Amen.

I'm thankful that this body of Christ

is biblical

to equip the saints. That's our goal. To

get you not only delivered from sin, set

and established in Christ. That's the

starting line.

but to get you equipped. Not because we

got great programs and great disciplehip

and great but in your relationship with

God that you get equipped by him. That

in your prayer life and in your

devotion, God begins to minister to you,

reveal to you who you are. Do you know I

didn't even know who I was until I got

saved

>> to equip you. The saints, you're the

saints.

Oh, I'm just a sinner saved by grace,

pastor.

Okay. But are you also a saint equipped

for ministry?

Y'all are too quiet this morning. Man, I

keep threatening them. We're going to

get espresso shots and start handing

them out in church.

And y'all woke up

to equip the saints for the work of

ministry. Catch this. For the building

up of the body of Christ.

We're called to be bodybuilders.

All right. Who in here? Who's the

bodybuilders? Let's see some muscles.

Come on. Let's see him. Oh man, back

here. Pastor Jack's rocking the rocking

the guns. You got Hey, you got a

concealed carry permit for that gun.

Security. Watch this guy.

Got tickets to the gun show. Kapow.

Bodybuilders.

We are the body of Christ. Now, catch

this. When we're called to to build the

body, that's that's a couple of things

meant there. It means that uh not just

the pastor, not just the leadership

team, but all of you are called and

equipped by God to build the body up.

That means as iron sharpens iron, so one

man sharpens another. And we do this

thing together. And man, we got brothers

and sisters in the faith that encourage

us that comfort us that God speaks

through that calls us out on our junk if

need be. But but we get strengthened by

being with each other spiritually and

emotionally and mentally.

But it also means building the body

means that the body gets bigger. Say

bigger.

>> Bigger.

>> That means that sinners are becoming

saints.

>> Bodybuilders

for the building up of the body of

Christ is the purpose. Now we hear

the length of time.

Verse 13 it says until. Say until.

>> Until until we all attain the unity

of the faith and the knowledge of the

son of God to mature manhood. We have

some destinations.

Mature manhood to the measure of the

stature of the fullness of Christ.

That's the purpose

of the body of Christ. That it builds

itself up together in love. Last week we

talked about getting off the bench,

getting in the game. God has a game plan

for us. And today I want to move us a

little bit from invitation

to assignment.

Invitation

to assignment. Now, if you've been

sitting on the bench

in the game, you've been cheering your

team on. You got the jersey on, cheering

team, and the coach says, "All right."

and calls your name and says, "Get in

the game." And you don't have a clue

what you're supposed to do. You don't

have the assignment. Uh you're going to

look like a fool out there.

You guys, I love sports. I played sports

at school and and know what that feels

like. Especially especially when you're

little and you're playing sports and

you're still learning the game and and

uh I had some daughters play basketball,

some playing football. And my favorite

is to watch little kids playing sports

for the first time, right? Have you guys

ever watched the basketball game or the

they go in and they're and they're they

get the ball and you can tell it's like

the first time they've ever had the ball

in their entire life and they start

running the wrong way down the court and

they're getting ready to take the shot

and the whole room's like, "No, no." And

that look on their face when they're

like they catch the revelation like,

"Oh, what's my assignment? That way is

my" and they start going the other way.

Yeah, man. If you're going to get out

there, you better have the assignment.

I don't want to look like a fool.

God has a game plan for you. We're

moving from invitation to assignment. We

know the playbook.

A lot of us in this room have studied

the playbook for years and years and

years. Some of you have studied the

playbook longer than I've been alive.

It's the Bible. We sit around in small

groups. We study the playbook.

And it's not just to get more

information.

But it's to get the assignment.

>> Father, what am I supposed to do?

We wear the jersey. We root for the

team.

God says, "Now it's your turn."

Say, "My turn."

>> My turn.

>> It's my turn to get in the game. And God

isn't just looking to fill the stands.

He's recruiting players for the field.

I need you to hear this word and I want

you to let it sink down into your

spirit. It's the title of the message

today is he's not sending someone else.

He's not sending someone else. We're

going to spend some time in Exodus going

to begin in chapter 3 and verse one.

says this. Says, "Now Moses

was keeping the flock of his

father-in-law, Jethro."

Man, did you guys hear that name?

>> Are there hillbillies in the Bible?

Jethro. Man,

keeping flock. They still use that name

today. Does anyone in here know a human

named Jethro? You do.

>> Is he a hillbilly?

>> That's awesome.

I want to meet this said Jethro that's

not a hillbilly. It just s from it

Beverly Hillbillies that had Jethro in

it. Is that where is that where I got

that from?

>> Yeah. Father forgive me. All Jethros are

not hillbillies.

We have proof.

Ah. Okay. Where in the world were we?

Let's just start that scripture over.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his

father-in-law Jethro, the priest of

Midian. Look at this. Jethro was a

priest. It's not a hillbilly. Come on,

the priest of Midian. And Moses, he led

his flock to the west side of the

wilderness and came to Horeb, the

mountain of God. And the angel of the

Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire

out of the midst of a bush. He looked,

and behold, the bush was burning. yet it

was not consumed. And Moses said, "I

will turn aside to see this great sight,

why the bush is not burned." When the

Lord saw that he turned aside to see,

God called to him out of the bush.

Moses, Moses.

And he said, "Here I am." Then he said,

"Do not come near. Take off your

sandals. Take your sandals off your

feet. the place on which you're standing

is holy ground. And he said,"I am the

God of your father, the God of Abraham,

the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

And Moses hid his face, for he was

afraid to look at God.

So, here we have this man named Moses.

And and if you know Moses's story, his

testimony, uh Moses had a sketchy past.

Uh he had what we would be sharing. We

had he had a testimony and it wasn't a

good pass. He was a man that had was

very familiar with failure and not just

failure in the natural like hey keeps

losing his job and doesn't know how to

but it was failure in the spiritual side

of things between him and God. He was

very well acquainted with with with

failure and struggle. a man uh really at

this point who had been on the sidelines

for 40 years just tending sheep

really probably thinking that his best

days were behind him.

I didn't share this in the first

service, but just being sensitive to

God. There's somebody in here that's

been on the sidelines

and God says, "I'm not finished with you

yet.

I'm not finished with you yet.

I've got more.

Moses has been on the sidelines for 40

years.

So, he sees this burning bush.

God speaks to him through the flames.

And in that, God begins to lay out a

fresh vision, what we could call a game

plan. A game plan. Verse 7. Then the

Lord said, I have surely seen the

affliction of my people who are in

Egypt, and I have heard their cry

because of their task masters.

Many translations say slave masters or

slave owners.

says, "I know their suffering, and I

have come down to deliver them out of

the hand of the Egyptians and to bring

them up out of that land to a good and

broad land, a land flowing with milk and

honey."

Man, that's good news.

That's that's positive. That's a good

vision. Uh, you know, man, today we have

people, we don't have to look very far.

We have hurting people everywhere. And

and really in this context, man, I mean,

it's there's people that are slaves to

sin. They are puppets on a string, to

their own flesh, to the own to the evil

that's influencing them, to to the

secular culture that that keeps telling

them who they need to be and what they

need to do. We have slaves to sin

everywhere.

You don't have to go very far to see

that.

H I think about if God spoke to us this

fresh vision. Man, I want to lead those

I want to get those slaves free from the

power of the devil.

You know that

scripturally we're a type of Moses.

We'll talk about Pharaoh in a minute,

but Pharaoh is a type of Satan. Yeah.

Think about that, man. What if God

showed up and said, "I have this I have

this vision. I have this plan."

I'm guessing Moses is hearing this and

he's getting pretty stirred up, pretty

excited,

right? I mean, number one, God's

speaking to him out of a bush.

That's crazy.

This bush is on fire, but it's not being

consumed. It's not burning up. Says the

angel of the Lord, that references Jesus

Christ being there. And through that,

God's voice comes to him. I'm guessing,

man, that this isn't just some neat

idea, but that he's catching revelation.

He's getting stirred up in this going,

"Yes,

yes."

Catch this.

God says it this way. He says, "I've

seen the misery of my people in Egypt.

I've heard them crying out and I'm

concerned about their suffering. So,

I've come to rescue them." And Moses is

getting stirred up saying, "Yes, Lord,

finally."

But then God says something

that changes everything. Say everything.

Says it in Exodus 3:10.

Exodus 3:10

If you have your Bibles, underline it.

Write this down. Highlight it. He says

in verse 10, "Come,

I will send you."

Hold up.

Wait a minute.

So, I picture Moses going through this

stir of emotions like, "Yes, finally all

of the people get to get freed from this

from this heavy-handed Pharaoh that's c

making them slaves. They bringing my

people out and this is awesome, God. And

man, I want to be on the sidelines. I'm

going to be your best cheerleader and

man, we're we're going to watch you get

this thing done because you're God." And

God says, "Come, I will send you."

Wait a minute.

H.

He's not sending someone else, Moses.

He says, "Come,

I will send you to Pharaoh that you may

bring my people, the children of Israel,

out of Egypt." Wait a minute. You're

sending me so that I may bring them out?

God, I thought you said you were going

to bring them out. And God says, "Yeah,

but I'm going to use you.

I'm going to use you.

Do you catch that divine pivot? It's

what I call when I read scripture, man.

I call it the holy transfer of

responsibility.

Yeah.

Yeah. The Asary pastor, I feel like I do

that sometimes. I don't do it

intentionally, but I come up with this

great idea and I'm like, "All right,

team, make it happen."

And they're all like stressed out like,

"How are we going to do this?" Sorry,

guys.

That's what God's doing. He has this

grandiose awesome vision that he's

released and he says, "Okay, Moses. Now,

now go fulfill it."

God says, "I've seen. I've heard. I'm

concerned. So now go. I'm sending you."

He's not sending someone else. I just

picture Moses standing there. I picture

his jaw just hitting the desert floor.

>> Sending me. God says, "Come. I'll send

you to Pharaoh that you may bring my

people, the children of Israel,

out of Egypt. Verse 11. But Moses said

to God, "Who am I that I should go to

Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel

out of Egypt?" He starts right out of

the gates making excuses. He hasn't even

thought about this. I mean, right out of

the gates, God, you got the wrong guy.

Who in the world am I uh to go do this?

Why would you send me? I I mean, I want

the team to win, but I want you to do

it, God.

Or there's a lot of other people around.

I want them to do it. I want the team to

win, but I want them to do it. I want

you to hear this. What if you're the

them?

What if you're the them? And I believe

that God today wants to break the

they'll do it off of us.

>> Amen.

>> Someone else will do it.

You're not ley.

You're called to ministry.

What if God is saying, "Come, I'll send

you. I've called you. I've equipped you.

I've given you the playbook. Do you have

purpose on your life? Now go." Yeah.

Listen to what God says in verse 12. He

says,

"But I will be with you. I will be with

you." This is one of the things that

I've experienced over and over and over

again that if God brings me to it, God

will get me through it.

>> You guys experienced that? Yeah.

>> And and man, I mean, if if serving God

was like, "Uh, hey, I need you to do

this, and well, that makes sense, and I

got I got some resources, and I can I I

got the mental capacity. I I can do

that, God. If that was serving God, it'd

be pretty easy. God calls me over and

over and over again to do things that

are far outside of my natural means,

outside of my capacity. Matter of fact,

I am the least likely to be a preacher.

I was not smart in school

at all.

And I and I love that God chose the

least likely to use for something

powerful.

God chose you. No matter what your

abilities or talents, and I'm thankful

that he didn't just do it out of the

gates, but over and over and over again,

I'm standing up against these things and

I go, God, there's only one way that

it'll get done. and and it's if you show

up in a huge way. And God says, if I

bring you to it, I'm going to take you

through it.

Verse 12, he said, "But I will be with

you, and this shall be the sign for you

that I have sent you. When you have

brought the people out of Egypt, you

shall serve God on this mountain."

I love the victory language that God's

doing.

You know, he's not saying, you know, if

you if you do real good, Moses, and get

get some of them out, we'll uh we'll see

about throwing a party at the end of

this thing.

I mean, Moses has to be in utter shock

right now. God speaking to him, releases

this thing. Hey, God, God says, I want

to get my people out of slavery. I've

heard their cries and and

getting excited about this. God says,

Moses, I'm sending you to do it. You go

fight Pharaoh. you go mess with Pharaoh

and and do this thing, I'll be with you.

And then he says, when say when

>> when you have brought the people out of

Egypt,

you guys are going to serve God on this

mountain.

One summit every generation. Isn't it

interesting that the same vision that

God had for the people in Moses's day is

the same vision that God has for this

people

>> in this room in this culture that hey,

we're going to worship God together on

this mountain. And man, when you he

who's forgiven much loveth much when

when when slaves get set free, there's

some worship that's about to break

loose.

>> One summit every generation. That's our

mission that we can serve God on this

mountain together.

Then Moses says, let me paraphrase a

little bit just for time sake. Moses

says this. He says, he says, "Hey God,

what if they don't believe me?"

So we we get some excuses

building up here. I don't know about

you, but it's easy for me to make

excuses.

Is it for you guys?

I mean, if I wasn't in ministry, I'd

have probably been in sales because I

can I can tell I can talk an Eskimo into

buying ice cream.

I can talk myself in or out of anything,

you guys.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and I've got some

that are just they're legit. They're

solid uh excuses for why I'm not doing

what God has called me to do.

And man, that's that's the that's the

natural human sinful fleshly side of me

to giving God all the reasons why I

can't when God is saying, "I'll be with

you now go. I'll be with you now go."

But God, I don't have the time, but I'll

be with you now go. I don't have the

money. I'll be with you now go. It's too

big for me. It doesn't make sense. I

don't understand. I'm just not the God

says I'll be with you. Get up and go.

We all have more excuses.

He says, "Man, what what if they don't

believe me?" God's response, he says,

"What is that in your hand?"

God says, "I I'll use what you already

have. You don't have to go get the

education or the ordination and become

clergy.

You don't have to win the lottery."

Well, if I ever win the lottery, I'm

going to give I'm going to tithe to the

church, pastor.

You know how many times I've heard that

in 20 years of ministry.

And I pray, man, like, I hope that guy

hits the lottery. She

church. Church could use some resources.

And what are you doing now with the

resources that you do have? What are you

doing now with the time that you do

have? Time, treasure, talents. God says,

"I'll use it if you'll make it available

to me." Then Moses pulls out the big one

in Exodus chapter 4. He says this. He

Exodus 4 · chapter mention

says, "I'm not eloquent. I'm slow of

speech and tongue." And I just picture

this thing. God's going, "Hey, Moses,

I'm sending you to go do this." And I I

just picture Moses like a babbling at it

like I can't even talk right you don't

you're not going to use me. You know,

probably stepping back a little bit as

this this is unfolding. You know, I

don't not eloquent of speech. I

basically God, you've got the wrong guy.

Exodus 4:12. Now therefore go. I love

Exodus 4:12

how God doesn't sit down and have a

conversation with Moses. Oh, you really

don't feel like you're eloquent of

speech. Maybe we could put you through

some speech classes and we could get

you.

Moses releases these what he feels like

are legitimate excuses.

And God says, "Okay, now go."

I love God. Now therefore go and I will

be with your mouth and I will teach you

what you shall speak. But he said, "Oh

my Lord, please send someone else."

Moses ain't having it.

Oh my Lord, please.

Please. Have you ever been there with

God? It's like, please, if there's any,

please send somebody else. I remember

when I first stepped into uh street

evangelism and being scared for my life.

I mean, you guys, you've heard part of

the type of testament I came out of

extreme uh cocaine, drug dealing, all

this stuff. I don't I I could lose count

on my hands how many times I've had a

gun right here and I was just this

arrogant whatever, do it, punk. You know

what I mean? Like, and now here I am a

Christian and I'm with a with a team of

pastors and we're going out to tell

people about Jesus and my heart's about

to thump out of my chest and I'm like,

"Please send somebody else."

Isn't that bizarre?

You ever had that in your heart? Moses

is crying out, "Please, oh Lord, please

send someone else." He says, "Man, man,

send my brother. Send send the pastor.

Send the evangelist. Send somebody

that's got a better resume that's that's

better equipped. Somebody can even talk,

right? Lord, send anyone besides me.

Verse 13, but he said, "Oh my Lord,

please send someone else." Then verse

14, then the anger of the Lord

was kindled against Moses.

Man, I've had some powerful people that

I've been on the wrong side of make them

angry.

God's not one that I want to be on the

wrong side of,

right?

I don't even like it when my wife's

upset with me.

We like to make sure to get that

straightened out.

Don't want to make God angry. And the

anger of the Lord was kindled against

Moses. And in that moment right there is

the crossroads for every single one of

us.

God's calling us to go.

God has a plan and a purpose, a playbook

laid out specifically for you and

specifically for us. And that's the

crossroads we find oursel at.

Am I going to continue to make excuses?

Am I going to get to the point where I'm

desperate and pleading with God, let

somebody else do it, or am I going to

step up and let God be God in my life

because I understand my salvation

to do works, good works prepared for me

that God prepared in advance for me to

do.

We make ourselves available to God.

You know, I believe this that when God

presents us with the problem, a lot of

times he makes us the solution.

Man, you can write that down and take it

to the bank.

That's another thing I've learned to do

in ministry.

Man, I got this great idea, pastor. We

should do this. And I'm thinking, we

don't have the staff or the money to do

that. We we should do this. And I go,

you nominating yourself?

You you you got you you you you have the

burden. You have the you caught the

problem, but are you going to let God

use you to be the solution?

It's one of my favorite things when

people come and tell us all the things

that we should be doing as a church.

That was sarcasm. Forgive me.

God presents us with the problem and

makes us the solution.

You know, we see the need in our

America.

We see the need everywhere. The

addiction,

the broken,

the lonely,

suicidal. I mean, we see you don't have

to go very far to see the need.

Are you part of the solution?

Sometimes we see the the need and we'll

get in a kind of a heavy place or a

place of even complaining and we'll even

get, man, I'm wearing the jersey. I'm on

the team and I'll start praying to God.

God, God, I don't like what I see going

on in this nation. And God says, well,

I'm sending you.

We see a generation

of young people

that are walking away from the faith. We

pray, "God, send revival." And God says,

"I am. I'm starting with you. I'm

starting in your home with your kids,

your grandkids."

[Music]

We see injustice and we cry, God. We

plead with God, "Fix the system.

Fix the system.

fix our country.

You guys see my shirt I got on today.

If you know, you know.

We cry out and we go, "God,

fix it."

God says, "I will. I'm appointing you.

I'm appointing you to be the agent of

change

right where you are."

He doesn't just reveal needs to make us

aware.

He reveals needs to deploy us there.

And that rhymed. I feel like Dr. Seuss.

[Music]

I'm just showing you things so we can

complain about it.

How many believers I know? That's as far

as it goes. That's their That's their

their resolution.

see the problem, complain about it.

Can I say this?

Don't wear the jersey and root for the

team if you're not willing to get on the

field.

[Music]

Felt a bunch of toes go,

I want to get on the field, man.

God's answer to Moses with every single

excuse that he threw out there and God's

answer to us to every single excuse that

we can throw at him. It's found in

Exodus 4:12.

Exodus 4:12

Write this down. This is the promise

for your game. This is the promise of

the playbook. He says, "Now go. I will

help you speak and I will teach you what

to say."

Now go.

[Music]

God isn't looking for the most

qualified.

He's looking for those that are willing

to serve.

He's looking for those that'll make

themselves available.

And and I'll be real honest. I said this

last week about sometimes I can gauge my

spirituality on my spending. I can look

through my budget and see where all am I

am I spending more on on all the

distractions and all the luxuries and

the vacation. Am I spending more there

than I am

on eternal things for God

looking for those that are available.

And when I think about being available,

I' I've had this in seasons of my life

where I go, "Well, I'm available."

God so says, "Are you?"

There was one season just before I went

through a major burnout in ministry. I

have workaholic tendencies and I I'll go

80 hours a week if if I could.

[Music]

And God was challenging me

and asking me to do things, simple

things, spend more time in prayer. I was

sensing burnout.

spend more time with your family. Spend

more time on your Sabbath. Make that a

priority.

I looked at my calendar and got

overwhelmed. And I said, "God, I would,

but

God, I would, but

I've made myself available to God, but

if I made my calendar available to God,

I've made myself available to God. I I

get in that kind of mindset where Pat

boy, I made myself available to God."

And God says, "Have you made your wallet

available to me?"

Whoa.

Time, treasure, talents. You've made

yourself available to me. But if you

allowed the gifts that I put on the

inside of you, have you made those

available to me?

There's somebody in here that has the

gift of singing.

Can I just prophesy for a minute? You

have the gift of singing and you are

scared to death to get up here and lead

worship.

And God says, "Will you make that gift

available to me?"

[Music]

God gave you that talent, that gift.

I don't know who you are, but I want to

hear you. I bet you sound beautiful.

Everything that God gave you, are you

making it available?

[Music]

This isn't just an Old Testament idea.

This is

new covenant.

Matthew 28:16,

Matthew 28:16

Jesus gives us the great commission. He

says, "Now the 11 disciples went to

Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus

had directed them." There's lots of

mountains in scripture, isn't there?

And when they saw him, they worshiped

him, but some doubted.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All

authority in heaven and on earth has

been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all

nations, baptizing them in the name of

the Father and of the Son and of the

Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe

all that I have commanded you. And

behold, I am with you always.

to the end of the age. Boy, it sounds

very reminiscent

of what God spoke to Moses. It sounds

very reminiscent of what God's speaking

to us.

He doesn't say some of you, as you feel

led,

might consider going to tell some

people. He he he says to these 11, "Now

listen, uh these are flawed,

very immature disciples,

doubting right there. They're standing

there face to face with our savior and

doubting."

And Jesus says, "All authority in heaven

has been given to me." He doesn't say,

"Hey, I put you through disciplehip

training and and man, I've given you the

resources. I've given you all this

stuff." He says, "All authority from the

Father has been given to me. Now get up

and go and make disciples of every

nation. Go tell them about me because

the power from heaven." Listen, the same

spirit that rose Jesus from the dead is

now dwelling on the inside of you. And

we have a lost and dying world out there

that needs the power of God in their

life. And you have it living on the

inside of you. If you would just show up

and open your mouth and tell your

testimony, tell the story, tell what God

has put on your heart, you would watch

the entire nation get saved.

>> I promise.

>> Yes.

>> I promise. I am tired of the devil

holding us in fear and insecurity.

There are people going to hell. And we

have the message.

We have the answer. We have the

resource.

says, "All authority

I have, therefore you

go."

That conversation with those 11

disciples changed the world as we knew

it.

Cuz not long after they went,

Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, you shall be

Acts 1 · chapter mention

my witnesses. They they heard that from

God and they lived it out and and there

were thousands being added daily to

those that were being saved.

The call is personal. The assignment is

specific. And the messenger is you.

[Music]

I'm going to ask the worship team to

join us up here.

Our purpose

as a body of believers is to equip the

saints for the work of ministry,

for the building up of the body of

Christ.

And here's my sense spiritually

that the game clock is ticking.

We're in the last days.

The need has never been greater. The

fields are ripe for the harvest.

The laborers are few. Listen to this.

The missionary to your neighborhood is

you.

The minister to your coworker is you.

The salvation for your family

is you.

The peacemaker in conflict

is you.

The volunteer that this church needs to

serve

is you.

The tithe that fuels

the vision, the ministry to reach more

is from you. The prayer that shifts the

atmosphere of this city and this nation

is from you. He's not sending someone

else.

I believe that God has called us to this

kickoff moment, this burning bush

moment, and has laid it plain before us.

I've seen, I've heard, I'm concerned.

So now go.

The world is waiting for the version of

you that says yes to God.

Let's stand to our feet all over this

house.

Praise you, Jesus.

Thank you, Lord.

Father, I thank you, Lord, for revival

breaking loose in this nation. And I'm

thankful that it starts in me. I'm

thankful that it starts in us.

Lord, I pray, God, that you would allow

us,

God, to not only see the problem, but

God, through your power, through your

strength, God, that you would allow us

to be the solution. Father, we're

thankful for Jesus, God, how you've

saved us from something, but Lord, I'm

thankful even more that you've saved us

for something.

And Lord, I pray God that the light of

God would shine through us. Father, that

we would push back the darkness of the

evil one.

Lord, I thank you that you've called us

for such a time as this to get off the

bench and get in the game. And Lord,

we're lifting our hands today, Lord.

We're saying, "Send us. Use us. Here's

every part of me. I'm available to you."

I thank you for it, Lord. Father, I am

excited to see what the next few months

and next few years look like, God, as we

unify in faith under the uncction of the

Holy Spirit to see people come to the

saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Father, I'm thankful to be a part of a

revival.

So Lord, we bless your name today. Thank

you for it in Jesus name. Amen.

Heat. Hey, Heat.

[Music]