All In, All Flame | Through The Church - Pastor Scott Silcox

Welcome to the Rock Family Sermon of the Week.

For more information about our church, please visit therockfamily.tv.

Now join us for a message from Pastor Scott Silcox.

I am I am exceedingly overjoyed about where we're heading.

And and this is why.

Not just because we get to do it together, but because God's already there and He's already establishing Himself.

I just want to prepare you that over the next few weeks I'm going to be like a man from another world, likely.

I'm going to be speaking, shouting, preaching.

I may run.

I may get down there.

I may I may crawl.

I I who knows what will happen.

You just never know.

I can be in your seat next week, just like surprising you from the balcony.

I don't know.

I don't know what will happen, but I know this.

I'm excited about what the next couple weeks hold for us.

Next week, Vision Sunday.

Vision Sunday.

Vision Sunday.

It's the it's the nervous clap that gets me.

It's like Vision Sunday, like, oh my gosh.

I remember the last time we did that.

He asked for money.

Uh man, I get it.

I get it.

I get it.

You remember the last time you made a commitment or the last time, well, listen, I've I got news for you.

It's going to be an incredible time.

But over the next couple of days and a couple of weeks, really, we're going to be talking a lot about what the church looks like.

Amen.

And uh so let me let me let me do this before I forget to do this.

If you're in education, you're a teacher, you're principal, uh, you're serving in a school capacity, college, uh, elementary to high school, all of the above.

If you're here today and you're an educator and you're heading back into uh your new season or a season of teaching, would you just stand up right where you're at?

Wonderful.

Wonderful.

Remain, remain standing.

Remain standing, remain standing.

I want you to do me a favor.

If you're sitting near somebody who's standing up, would you just stretch your hand out towards them?

If you're close enough, place your hand on their shoulder as a way of support and prayer.

We are lifting you up because we know this.

Your job is not easy.

We know the kids we're sending to you.

Huh?

Anybody else know?

Come on, I know who I'm sending to the classroom.

You need prayer.

You need supernatural prayer.

And I'm not praying for deliverance because we need you.

I need prayer just to strengthen your heart as you give your life away to what I believe is the most one of the most important things that you can give your life to.

The education, the care for the next generation.

And I just want to pray for you today and ask God's favor on your life, that everything that you set your hand and your hearts to will be blessed, that you'll have favor in your classroom, that you'll have favor with the parents and with the students, and that the gift that God has placed in you, press that that thing will come up, and he will glorify through how you're obedient in serving the people he's given you.

The most vulnerable, the ones who are the most impressionable.

Well, that's who God called you to reach.

And with that, you need a fresh anointing to do it.

You need a fresh vision for that.

Because it can draw out of you some things, it can just weaken you over time.

But how many know God's called you to purpose in this?

And that He's gonna He's gonna make this year your very best year.

I believe that.

You're gonna have the greatest impact you've ever had this year in the classroom, in the hallways.

I'm even I'm even saying this: you're gonna have a greater impact in families, not just in students, in the moms and the dads.

I think your ministry is gonna reach far beyond the subject that you're gonna teach, and it's gonna move right into the household as a partner.

You're a partnering with moms and dads.

You're partnering with families as we raise up good, godly young men and women.

Amen?

Heavenly Father, we lift up every single person in this room that is standing.

For every single teacher, faculty member, God, for every dean, God, for every single educator in this room, God, I pray for a fresh anointing on their life today.

God, I thank you that you've gifted them, you've called them, you've set them apart for this time, for this season.

And God, you're bringing students from all over our community for their input, for their investment.

God, not just what they know, not just their knowledge, but what they carry.

What they carry in the spirit.

I pray it's transfused into every student, into every hour of the day, in the hallways, in the classrooms, God, in the lunchroom, on the sports field, God, I pray, God, that what they carry today is not a light thing, but it is an important thing, one that we need your grace to do again this year.

God, I pray for a new grace to see kids not as they present themselves, but what you see.

God, I pray for a sensitivity in the Holy Spirit, God, to be able to look into the hearts of the young, impressionable minds, and to speak truth and clarity.

And God, we thank you that through this act of obedience, this act of service to your little ones, God, I pray you would pour out your spirit, renew their minds.

God, I pray for their families and extended families, those who are equally making sacrifices because it's early hours and late hours and off hours and it never goes to sleep, God, as they lay down, they carry the burden of what it means to educate the next generation.

God, we thank you today for our teachers.

We thank you for those who are investing into the next generation, and we bless them today.

In Jesus' name, everybody said, Amen, amen, amen.

You may be seated.

All right, church.

Well, I tell you what, that's a good way to start.

That's a good way to start.

We're gonna start like this today, and we have this question.

What does God think about the church?

What does God think about the church?

This is a great question to ask ourselves.

What does he think about the church?

I I don't know about you, but I am I am I am very much aware what uh what my friends think about the church.

I'm very aware of what the world thinks about the church.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Anyone know what uh Instagram and Facebook have to say about the church?

How many know it's not all that good?

I know what my neighbor says or thinks about the church.

I know about the people that are close to me that are hurt that say the church did it.

I know what they feel about the church, but have you ever stopped to ask yourself, what does God say about the church?

What is this limitless, infinite God that Britt spoke of earlier?

How does he view the church and what does that mean to you?

Why does that matter to us?

It matters to us for a lot of reasons because mainly uh those who have called on the name of Jesus, those who have given their lives to Christ, are already under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

This is a a system, a model that he created that it no matter how frustrated you may be with it over time, how many know it's still his idea?

And you might say, why are we talking we already know who we are, Pastor Scott?

Great, great, you're ahead of it.

You're you're ahead of the curve.

You're gonna balance the room out.

Thank you.

It's amazing.

You just sit back and and and just and let us get caught up.

But I think it's a good reminder.

I I've had a good reminder the last couple of days.

I was at this uh uh we did this baby shower for my uh niece the other day.

I didn't do it, but I attended yesterday.

Uh and I got there and I immediately realized that baby showers are different than they used to be.

You know what I'm talking about?

Have y'all noticed that there's things are just different?

Um things that were always normal are like changing a little bit, right?

Like in and like it's like baby showers are like a show now.

You know, it's like it's like it's like elevated.

It's elevated.

I mean, we're used to be just, hey, we're we're asking, listen, when I grew up, baby showers were this.

It was us saying, we will give you a little sandwich if you'll bring a box of diapers.

I mean, in short, that's essentially that's it's an exchange.

We're going, we're going to give you Swiss cake rolls cut up with a toothpick, a gum cigar, and you're gonna bring me things that I need to raise this child.

It's such a bizarre thing, but like now it's like it's like a thing.

I mean, like there was a meet and greet station.

I was like a meet and greet.

That I I got invited because I know these people.

I didn't just show up.

But we we were shaking hands and we're loving people, we're just doing the thing, and there's the the the food.

The food.

Hey, if baby showers are like this, count me in.

You invite me.

We had we had custom special made coffee, like in little glass bottles.

Hey, from Mallard in Decatur, right?

My Decatur folks here.

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

They they got these like glass bottles and they custom drinks and they're all stacked up.

I was like, one for me, one for later, huh?

And two for right now.

And that that's about how I drink coffee anyway.

Man, it was awesome.

Listen to this.

They had avocado toast.

Yeah, that's a baby shower.

This is a baby shower.

Now, it had like guacamole kind of avocado, so it kind of looked like baby food.

So there was a little bit of.

I was kind of like, is that on purpose?

Is that a theme?

Is that what we're doing?

Everyone tries a little bit, and I'm gonna tell you what, it was fantastic.

Listen to this, listen to this.

You ready for this?

Baby shower.

Shrimp and grits.

What are we doing?

Shrimp and grits.

Talk about, I was fired up.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Things are different.

Like things are different.

You know what else is different and things like that?

Um anybody ever um have you seen lately engagement pictures and stuff?

Bro, people people be doing extra things.

Listen, I'm talking to all my single people right now.

Listen, all my single fellas out there, listen to me.

Don't don't be looking on the internet to you don't want to be seeing what other people are doing.

Because it'll make you it'll make you nervous.

Because you gotta level up.

Look, there I got a dude in here, I don't even know if he's back yet.

He's like in Rome asking his wife to marry him, his future wife.

I'm just like, what are y'all?

Y'all are like 22.

I didn't leave the county.

You know what I'm saying?

Like by age 22, I was just like, I don't think I saw the whole city yet.

You know?

But they'd be like, yeah, I got plans.

I'm flying them international to do to do.

Anybody know what I'm talking about?

It's just kind of bizarre.

Uh, and in a good way, in a good way.

I mean, it it it carries all the way over to prom dates and and and you just have to get yeah, every how many know you just have to level up, you have to get more uh uh uh creative, right?

And and and then that usually means more expensive, right?

I'm gonna talk about when I came up getting engaged was special, wasn't it, babe?

Like it was it was it was it was magic, you know?

It was it was the fireworks were there.

The I was uh I'll give you a little uh uh example when I'm talking about uh when it came time to ask Brit to marry me.

I I I always knew from the time I met her, this is my wife.

I was 14.

And I and listen to me.

Too soon.

It's too soon.

You can't be saying stuff like that.

You just it starts at 23.

Like, that's the new 14.

Man, I just knew I was gonna marry Britt, but I was finally getting to that point, and everybody knows the stress.

Anybody ever had to do this?

Anybody done the engagement ring thing yet?

So you know the stress of having to get a ring that matches.

See, here's what's weird now, Terry.

Everybody like the girl knows the ring already because she already picked it out.

See, that kind of stuff didn't exist.

The girl didn't pick it out, you picked it out.

It was an expression of your love.

It was it was a token of your appre it was your thing, right?

Now, now everybody already knows.

Mom's already weighed in on it, aunt and uncles have already decided.

There's a whole web group chat with the rings to be chosen.

There's voting.

You hear what I'm saying?

It's such a group project now.

It's a group project.

Family gets involved in this thing early.

And then people that you don't want involved, like friends who are jealous that you're getting engaged, hate every ring that comes in.

Right?

So you gotta be careful who you get.

You're gonna let the jelly ones in there.

Don't let them in there.

So it's different.

But man, I was going and I remember I was doing everything I could to get this ring.

Listen to me, I was I was bartering, I was taking stuff, we were selling things.

We were like, I don't think I need that anymore.

Let's sell it.

It's like, oh, uh uh, can I borrow this from my mom?

Well, my mom's like, well, I've got some jewelry.

Yeah, give me that.

I'll trade that in.

Come on, I'm talking about I'm scraping every penny that I make, every whatever I can I can get it.

I go down to the service merchandise.

Huh?

Come on, somebody.

See, see, y'all don't know nothing about that.

See, I can tell, I'm I can tell I'm I'm in I'm in a Tiffany world right here.

Uh but but you got a service merchandise pastor right here.

Uh and and this is where I spent my and man, I scraped up everything.

I even I even found we went service merchandise because I I knew the lady.

It was like, she'll give us a deal.

So I had to go to somebody I actually knew, took everything I had, sold things, borrowed things, and I picked out this ring and it was amazing.

And I thought it was fantastic.

It was I was scared to death.

I won't go into all the details, but I want to make a point to you today that when we talk about the church, the church, for lack of better words, is a lot like an engagement ring.

Now, there's two metaphors I'm gonna use today.

You know that the church is the bride.

We know that because that's Paul gives us that language.

We're gonna talk about that through the book of Ephesians here in just a second.

But for the sake of just getting your head around just an idea, here's something interesting.

No matter how you got to your engagement ring, no matter who you gave it to, you may be sitting next to that person right now and they're thinking of all those wonderful memories when you got down on one knee, right?

Or you fumbled and dropped it, right?

How cute that was.

Maybe it was a destination, maybe it was just, hey, do you want to do this?

Let's high five.

You know, because there's that guy in here too, right?

Right?

Rock, paper, scissors for it, like but here's what I've come to realize some things have not changed.

And you know what hasn't changed?

Every single time a young lady is wearing an engagement ring, I don't have to know the backstory.

I already know there's a promise given.

You know that every single one, it don't matter if it's 10 karat, 10 cc's, I mean, look, that thing could just be glass.

Just a glass piece on her hand.

But here's what everyone that sees it knows.

They don't have to ask any questions about its validity.

They know this that what's behind it is a promise.

It's a promise.

It is consistent no matter where you go.

When you see that, it says she's spoken for.

Now, let's talk about the church.

Talk about how Paul, through the book of Ephesians, riding to the church of Ephesus, and he's trying to explain himself.

And in fact, probably arguably the greatest passage in the Bible, in my opinion, groups of passages, is the whole book of Ephesians as it concerns the church.

Paul really does lay out our responsibility, our role, who we are, what we're supposed to do.

I would encourage you, if you haven't lately, go back, dust off your Bibles, open up, get to Ephesians, and take some time there.

Just about every single Bible I have, the whole book of Ephesians is just always highlighted, circled, read, pinned, and all the things, because it's since an early age, it really meant something to me.

And so today, I'm gonna do my very best, dead level best, to do it fast.

But I'm going through the entire book of Ephesians.

Um in the best way, the shortest way, the fastest route possible.

Uh, but I want to go through this because I want to get to this question.

What does God think about the church?

What's he think about the church?

Well, let's find out what Paul says.

Well, first we'll talk, John Stott.

I don't know if you know him or not, but he said this.

How dare we push to the circumference what God has placed in the center?

There is an attitude about the church.

There's an attitude in your world right now.

I guarantee you there's you don't have to look very far in your little ecosystem where you bump into somebody who has a strong opinion about what the church is and isn't.

Am I right?

I would bet that sometime in this last year you've already had either a heated debate or a conversation, or you've sat quietly while people talk about the church around you.

I'm just guessing because that's like everybody.

Everybody's had an encounter there.

And so let's look at what uh is being said in Ephesians 1.

If you go to Ephesians 1.10, I have some of these that are kind of paraphrased, so I want to get right to the point of it.

But this one is one of those.

1.10, it says, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Jump down, you get to Ephesians 1 22 and 23.

He gave him as head over all things to the church, which is the body.

Now, I I'm highlighting these two verses on purpose.

First of all, as a plan.

I want you to know that Paul understood something about what Christ was doing and establishing the church, and that is this that from the beginning of time the church was already in God's heart.

What does God think about the church?

Well, I don't know.

He was thinking about you before you ever thought about him.

And in fact, he was thinking about the institution of the church long before any of us knew, long before a sermon was going to be preached, long before we were going to do outreach, long before we were going to do missions, long before there were denominations, and the heart of God was the church.

Why does that matter?

Because I don't know about you, but but you can stay in the church so long you get too familiar.

You can get real lax about what this is because you might think this is about what you get today, but this has nothing to do about what you get today.

Church is not about gathering so that you get, it's gathering so he can be glorified.

And the reason he does that is because we're living into something.

We're being used, we are an expression, we are in many ways the engagement ring.

We're the ones that that through.

Doing church well, we give hope to a broken world.

This is what the church is.

So I'm here to, I guess maybe I should have done like a I could have done like a whole thing, this is what the church is, this is what it's not.

Um, but that would have been too chat GPT of me.

So instead, I I'm I'm just I'm gonna do my best to really shed light on who are you?

Why are you here?

Why is this here?

Is it so that we can have great men's ministry?

No, we love men's ministry, but that is not why we're here.

That's not why we're here.

We're here because at the beginning of time it was in God's heart.

Paul's trying to explain this to the church.

He's like, before you even knew you needed to be a church, Christ was already preparing for you to exist.

So, first thing you need to know today, you were already thought of.

God already saw this happening.

Why did why should I care about the church?

Well, I don't know.

God did.

Why should I care about the church?

Well, Jesus did.

He gave his life for it.

He says, For her, I will give my life.

Britt said so perfectly before service.

Who is that?

What is that?

It's us.

The church is us.

He says, I'm come to dwell in you.

I've come to build in you.

That's that's and I'm and I'm I'm gonna talk about this next week.

David wanted to build God a house.

God was saying, I was already building the house in you, David.

David was the house, but because you want to build it, your son's gonna do it.

I can't wait to talk about that next week.

What a letdown.

Right?

What an absolute letdown.

It's his dream, but he doesn't get to do it.

We're gonna talk about that.

But let's talk about where Paul's taking us here.

So we know this, he has a plan, and it's called what?

The church.

Who did he put over the church?

Christ as the head.

And we are the body, the body, the body.

We are not the most important thing.

Christ is the most important thing, and the body is brought together to function in a way that is healthy and gives life and expression to what the church is actually supposed to be.

And I got news for you for you.

Somebody is discounting their role here today, and I'm telling you, I'm calling you back in and out of retirement.

You've been sitting sideline, consuming the church.

He wants to use you in the church.

This is not a consumer thing, okay?

All right, so check this out.

Ephesians 2, we go there.

We're going through all six chapters, and I'll choose some verses, but in Ephesians 2, Paul says it like this you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are what?

Fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

Right?

In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

What is Paul trying to tell the church?

He's given us a metaphor, quite a few of them, actually, right?

It's interesting.

He says, You're what?

You're citizens.

You're no longer aliens.

You're not set apart.

Well, you know this that Paul's been anointed to deliver the message to the Gentiles.

He is he has gotten a revelation where in the Jewish mind it was sort of like us and the rest of the world.

And what Paul basically brings to us, us, specifically, the majority of us, if not all of us in this room, fit this.

What he brings to us in revelation is that we are no longer on the outside, but we're grafted in through Christ.

Do you know the greatest message probably you need to know today is this is that you are grafted in?

That God did not leave you on the outside, and that his sacrifice wasn't just for one group of people, but was for all people.

Come on, touch your neighbor and say, We're the church.

We're the church.

Now, isn't it interesting that he says this, fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household?

I like this.

He then compares us to what?

You're being joined together, and it grows into what?

A holy temple.

Come on, did you know that what God is actually building today isn't any different than what Paul was talking about?

He's actually creating a temple in us.

Do you know that there is a cathedral being built in this room?

That cathedral is not what we sit in, these four walls.

It is actually in you as the body of Christ.

It is in us, and together we bring a portion, a piece, to the table.

You guys, are you tracking with me today?

Right?

We are the church.

We have a role, we have a place.

Paul's trying to get us to wake up.

Wake up and recognize that this is not just a meeting and a gathering.

This is a this is a unit.

And every single person has a responsibility to bring what they have to the table.

Right?

Why?

Because he's building a temple.

What about this?

He didn't say it's just a temple, it's going to be a dwelling place.

Come on, somebody.

It's going to be a dwelling place, Coco.

This is not somewhere he's just going to build and empty out.

This isn't an empty place.

It's not an empty building, it's one he plans to fill.

How do we plan to do this?

How is he going to fill it?

The Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit is going to fill the temple.

To fill the temple.

We're building a temple.

That's what we bring.

Our gifts, our talents, our calling.

We're building what God's trying to do, but he says, I'm not going to leave you just to build something.

I'm actually going to fill it.

I've come to fill the church.

You know what's heartbreaking is to experience church that is empty.

I'm not talking about empty of people.

I'm talking about empty of spirit.

I've had uh the last few weeks, I've traveled around, I've gone to quite a few old churches.

That's kind of spent most of my time praying in old churches and old buildings.

And there's a part of me that gets a lot of excitement out of those places because there's such rich history there.

There's such an amazing effort.

In fact, when you go to like a cathedral, you realize there's so much investment early on.

Meaning there are people that are investing their lives, their money, their time in a building they'll never worship in.

I wonder how many things you have on your plate that you're investing into that you won't get the benefit of.

Come on, do a little self-assessment here.

When I think of how I spend my pie of time, right?

My day, I wonder how much of it actually goes to something that doesn't directly benefit me.

I wonder if anyone here has ever had a vision so strong, so great, that generations behind you pick it up, sight unseen.

You know, that's how cathedrals are built, hundreds of years.

Generations will pass by, and because their families believed in it, because the vision was so strong, they continue to see it to its fulfillment because of what it offers the community, not for what it offers us individually.

See, we've we've lost a value of church that we used to have back in the day.

The value of what church is, and listen, I'm not saying the value of brick and mortar, but it's but it's a it does speak to the heart of how we treat so frivolously, how loosely we hold the sacred part of what it means to be a part of the church.

When's the last time you got excited about doing life with the people next to you about church?

When's the last time you sat around and actually just thought about all the great things you love about the church instead of all the things you didn't get while you were here today?

Or the opportunities you keep saying pass you by.

Because no one saw you and no one noticed you, and and it all becomes about you being seen versus Christ being glorified.

Because that's the church when we bring our best to this environment, when we bring what God's gifted to us, it this is this is the thing that matters.

Paul Paul's trying to get them to understand.

Look at yourself differently.

You're not just a gathering of people.

No, you're you're a you're a you're a you're a citizen, you're you're grafted in.

You're you're a you're a temple, and and not only that, God's gonna fill you.

He's he's not gonna pass over you, he's actually gonna fill you.

I don't know about you, but I when I've been praying into what the big sea church is, I I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna knock off some bad thoughts.

Some some dust that started to settle, the ideas that I thought, like, yeah, the church used to be, or the church you I wish the church would do X like it used to do.

And I'm I started realizing I had more complaints than I had anything positive to say about it.

And maybe it's just me, but I'm trying to stir myself because this is God's idea.

Did anybody ever just kind of feel bad?

Like at some point, I'm just against what God wants.

We're setting us as society, we're setting our hearts against his plan.

Well, that's not exactly like that.

There's bad people.

Yeah, there's bad people.

Don't look to your left and right.

I would not suggest looking around right now.

You will get accused right now.

This is a this is a look straight ahead moment, right?

Come on, I'm saying that there are bad everywhere, but listen, that is not the church.

The mistake is that our bad experience, we keep saying, is the church, which means you don't know the God of the church.

Because if you knew the God of the church, you wouldn't get derailed by the person who's just representing the church poorly.

It gets easier the closer I am in relationship to God, I get less offended when people are human.

And instead, I lead with the fence, and now it becomes the thing that enters the room first.

Before I ever get into this room, I've already created barriers, walls.

You will not cross, you shall not cross.

There's a little bit in the I'm just telling you, you just gotta I just it gets me in a movie.

Anyway, I can't I'm I'm sorry, I'm in talking movies, but I just can't ever get past it.

Do you know which one I'm talking about?

Anyway, I can't believe it.

I cannot believe, do not touch.

Anyway, all right, sorry.

Okay, I gotta go move on.

I might play that clip next week just so that you guys can see it.

It's just so good, it's so good.

Okay, all right, all right.

Paul has already moved to chapter three.

Chapter three.

Check out this verse from chapter three.

Now listen, you need to go back and read the full context for all of these, right?

Because there's a lot that Paul's saying in the middle of all these things.

Scriptures that you guys all know near and dear to your heart.

But I want to just point out this one right here because I think it's interesting.

310.

So that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be what?

Known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places.

All right, all right, all right, all right.

Okay, so we've got to talk about this for just a second.

The manifold wisdom of God.

Uh, my wife loves this word.

Uh, she uses this uh about every other teaching, she uses it the multifaceted.

Uh, she loves that.

That's just the multi-faceted.

Um the manifold wisdom of God.

What what is what is the manifest?

It means that the image is like light into a diamond.

It's multi-prismed.

When light comes in, it shoots out many directions.

And so this is this kind of deal.

It says that the church is to be like the diamond when the light cast into it from here should release light into the world.

That when we meet with God, when God speaks, and when we're in worship together, and there is unity in the room, and the word is preached, the life of God illuminates through the body of Christ.

This is what it's supposed to look like.

It's as if you could zoom out, if we could get an aerial view on Sunday, every church should look like a beaming light.

Every church in our community, from that place, light should just be being just cast out as far as the eye can see.

The light of Christ.

And I'm that may be a little too extra for you who don't think like that.

But I need you to go with me here.

Like Paul's trying to get them to understand.

This is why the church exists, this manifold wisdom.

Now, this is more than just manifold wisdom of God, it's not just the knowledge of God, which I'm gonna read at the end, uh, the last part of chapter three here, but chapter three is like my favorite.

It's like my favorite.

I love it, it's right in the middle, it just kind of anchors everything.

Um, but but he talks about this.

He says, the manifold wisdom of God might be made known.

Now, get this, somebody get this, please.

Known to who it's on the screen right there.

See, it's right there.

You're not, it's not a we don't have to, you're not gonna, you're gonna pass this quiz because the answer is there, known to the rulers and authorities.

Now, this is interesting because most of the time we talk about church as being the thing uh that we we are, we're gonna tell the world.

Listen to me.

We're telling the world, we are this, we are that, it's the world, it's the world, it's the world.

But what Paul's trying to get you to understand, before you ever get moved out, before God ever uses you to be a testimony to the world, your unity, the way you treat one another, the way you talk, the way you act, the character of God that's inside of you, it is a testimony to what?

Principalities that are in the heavens.

Listen, there is an entire group of people, there's a whole world that you don't know anything about, the supernatural world, and the church is to be a testimony that the enemy has lost.

So, like, before it becomes, and listen, before it becomes an encouraging coffee sit with your friend, before it becomes any of that, before it becomes Hobby Lobby signs, before it becomes any of those things, before it becomes bumper stickers, right?

Before it becomes any great t-shirts, amazing t-shirts, Jesus is Lord, great.

What the church is actually supposed to do is to remind the devil that all of his effort and work, as best that he can give, is still failing miserably.

Should bring the church to a place where it models something that the enemy shivers when the church is even mentioned.

And instead, we do more time giving press to where the church misses it.

And you know why?

Because no one celebrates when planes land.

There's no news.

We only celebrate when planes crash.

We only have to put news out because, oh, they crash, it's newsworthy.

It's not newsworthy if they're safe.

So you ought to ask yourself this.

I ask myself this every day.

God, what are you doing?

I'm putting my attention on it.

I know that it didn't work there.

I know that it's not happening yet, but where are you working?

And I want to get behind that and celebrate it.

What are you doing?

Does that make sense?

The manifold wisdom of God, the multifaceted version of who he is, and that light shining through the multifaceted expression of the body of Christ, which is you, the church, ought to shed light on the darkest of places and where it originates, where sin, lifeless leadership, come on, somebody.

We're talking about supernatural powers and authorities.

For all you that don't think any of that stuff is real, well, Paul thought it was important.

And so I'm sorry you disagree with that, but I'm here to tell you, Paul, at the earliest stages, before the church is even where it is today, at the very impetus, the very beginning of what church looks like, is already under such massive stronghold and attack.

Because the enemy knows if I can kill it in seed form, I won't have to worry about it in tree form.

And so if Paul understands that, then we ought to wake up and recognize that what we're up against is not against flesh and blood, but it's against principalities.

We war on a different front.

It's a different battle.

Okay.

That's been in too long.

What's multifaceted?

Uh, here's a great example.

Old churches really understood this, okay?

And this is a great way for us to see it.

We don't have it in this room, so I brought one with me.

It looks like this.

This is multifaceted, it's what it looks like.

One single source of light.

See, in in this type of window, this is a window at a chapel that I was at praying.

Uh took a picture of it, and so it's a it's a little far away, so it's a little blurry, but you get the idea.

But the idea is is in these types of windows, they were always telling a story.

If you go back and look in all your old churches, uh, you look up and you see stained glass everywhere.

And in the stained glass, typically whoever is the designer, the artist, or whatever, they're telling a story.

One church I was in literally told like the entire history of like Christendom through one wall, and then it stops and it tells the whole story of Christ, and then every window is like a version of his story all the way through, and and then this side of the church was all the gospels played out all in art form through these types of windows.

This one is a Rose window right in the middle.

This is actually taken as a direct pull off of uh a church in London.

So, not that you care, but this is actually right down the road, and they got the inspiration from a church in London.

Uh, that said, what is this?

It's tiny pieces of glass that have been formed together that when the sun hits it at the right time, it will illuminate an image that you couldn't see before the sun.

Come on, somebody.

I want you to think about that.

Who is the church?

You're like, well, I'm I'm insignificant.

I don't, I don't do, I nobody even knows.

God knows.

God knows.

I'm seeing little babies in here, like that one, like that.

Little one over there.

I see you, Shep.

I got you, my boy.

I'm seeing these guys, they don't even know it yet, but they're all part of this.

They're a portion of what it takes when Christ puts the body together, when the sun shines through it, right?

What seems to be insignificant makes a really big difference when it's all pulled together.

It tells a much bigger story.

This is what that multifaceted idea is.

It's like when the light comes through, everything that I bring to the table has an opportunity when it's collectively pulled together to tell a better story than my own personal life.

If I take one little sliver of glass up here and shine the little, like my little iPhone light through it, everybody will be like, ooh.

You know, because it doesn't, it doesn't have it doesn't have the pow, it didn't have the like zine that it needs to have.

It's just like, okay, that's that's fun.

It's not until we get all of those together and we allow Christ to make his image bear through us till it actually starts to make sense, not just to us, but to the world as well.

Amen.

So this is a great example of that.

All right, what about Ephesians 4?

What time do we have?

Oh.

I'm gonna do it.

We can make it.

Just three more.

He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints.

Everyone say equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Right?

This is uh 11 through 13, and I'll jump down to 16b in just a second, but let me just talk about this for a second.

The idea is, is in what Paul's saying is like it's not enough for us just to know that it's God's idea.

We know that we're a multifaceted group of people.

We know that we're progressing.

When we get to chapter four, Paul's trying to tell us something is that the church is not built on one man.

That's what he's essentially trying to say.

It's not one man, it's all of us.

When the body of Christ will grow in maturity, and this has been the hardest part because most of most of the time in my life, I've I would say there's been a real deficit of the believer wanting to grow up.

No offense.

I'm I'm I am the I'm the worst of these.

Alright?

So I'm talking about myself right here.

I'm talking about there's I have spent more time avoiding the pain that correlates to change.

You see what I'm saying?

I've avoided that because it's too hard to confront who I'm not.

And that's usually the case because I don't know if I trust him to make me who I'm supposed to be.

I I will weigh out, as many of you have probably done in your life, is it worth the effort?

Because who will even know?

The sad part is we live in a society that anybody just mildly standing up for the gospel looks like a giant.

But when everybody's laying down, that's not a very big feat.

When everybody's just laying face down and nobody wants to admit they're even a Christian anymore, when one person wears a Christian t-shirt or reads a Bible on a cruise boat, everyone's like, oh God, there are others.

That happened to us on a cruise one time, right?

It was like a terrible cruise.

Yeah, I mean, I think we got the wrong one or whatever, but you know what I'm saying?

Like, it was bad.

People were there, not good.

Just saying, we are there to relax, and and I ever me and my wife are stressed out.

Like, dear Lord, like if there's if there's two righteous on this boat, will you will you say preserve us, Lord?

Lord, you know what I'm saying?

Have you ever been in a situation like that?

I mean, I'm just telling you, it got wild and crazy for a minute.

And then one lady came out, my wife's reading the Bible, and she burst out just like, oh God, thank you, God.

There are others who were like, oh my gosh, what are we doing anyway?

We're super Christian, so this is what we do.

But anyway, the idea is what Paul's trying to establish is this is that if you're not careful, you will in time try to make church about the people that lead it and not about the responsibility you have to actually build it.

You'll start to say to yourself, Well, that's what we pay them to do.

Well, I thought, hey, you keep saying we you we're doing tithes, that's what you said?

10%?

That that's what you that's what it is, that's what the Bible said.

Well, then then you need to fill in the blank.

And I and this is hard to hear, but but we can reduce church down to one single person.

And and then usually what happens at that point, um, the people that we're most disappointed in and mad at are are likely there because we help put them there.

Meaning, when your leaders fall at such a rapid speed and really off the rails, it's usually some accountability, but it's also there's an expectation to be more than they're actually called to be.

And because they take that on, which they should have never done that, and the expectation of the body to be more than they're really supposed to be, they find out that that their humanity can only sustain that over a long period of time or a short period of time.

And when they fall apart, we get disappointed in them, but they were only doing what I expected.

They were only giving what I was demanding.

And so what Paul's saying at the very beginning that we've got to relearn is that this church, every church, cannot be built on one single identity.

What is Paul trying to say?

Is that the the multifaceted idea and spirit of who God is is too big, too immense for one person to individualize that on their own.

It will take everybody doing their part to see the community strengthened and built.

So that when there is weakness, it gets the life of the church to be healing to it.

I I I I'm just trying to tell you, because if we're praying for Christ to come, and we are, we want the second coming.

Are we ready?

I'm ready.

Are we all ready?

All the single people are like, not quite.

Can I can we just can we just slow it down?

Can be ushering it in now.

Come on.

I used to be that way, right?

When I was a kid, I was like, I wish they'd stop praying for the end of time.

Right?

Although people are like, come Lord, now and what you don't know is they're fighting that battle.

There's another prayer going to God that says, Don't listen to them, God.

Right?

Who wins?

So far, the younger winning.

Um just saying we're still here.

So it's still I I'm being tongue in cheek, but I'm I'm are you are you tracking with me today?

Like we're learning how and what our responsibility is at the church.

And what Paul is saying here is like it's not enough, is that the equipping of the saints, what he's done is he's given teachers, apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, these people are here to equip the body to do the ministry.

Right?

So, so if we're not careful, if you work on a staff at a church, you start to think that that is that that's your your job, but that it really isn't your job, is to do the ministry.

Your job is to find people and to invest that into them.

You're to equip the body.

And so when when I look at my pastors, and they can tell you, they will tell you, I'm I've been a little bit of a you know a butt about it.

It's just like, who are you developing?

Don't tell me what you did, tell me who you taught, who are you spending time with?

How are you developing the body?

Because if you are not doing that, you're in a short-lived season.

I'm already thinking on how to replace you because you're a cog in the wheel that will get burned out.

Wow.

Now, it's hey, we love that.

Get them, Pastor.

Get them.

I hadn't heard from my elder ones.

Get them! Come on, y'all.

How many know it's not one-sided?

There's a recipient side of it.

There's a person who has to submit themselves to teaching and not walk in and be like, I already know everything.

If you already know everything, why are you not starting a Mr.

Mega Church down the street and be whoever God's called you to be and you've arrived.

I've already seen it, you can't teach me anything.

Well, listen, that that just means either life's coming to a very close, short close for you.

Seriously.

Or or or he's gonna he's gonna see you turned and submitted back to the body so that you can have the full expression of who he is intended to make in it.

And that's a decision.

And you can get mad at somebody, you can get mad that it didn't happen for you, but I'm gonna tell you, it always starts at home with you.

It is your hunger, your desire, your willingness that makes the space and makes the room.

Part B of 16, but uh, Britton, I went back and forth this morning.

How do you write this?

Because I only took the last part of the verse 16.

It says, when each part is working properly, it makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

So when you want to know, is the church growing?

It's real simple.

We just have to come back and look.

If the church is not growing, then we have to ask ourselves, is it working properly?

This is not rocket science, it's it's all right here for us.

It's real simple for us to look at.

It's like if the church is not working in me and through me, then I have to ask myself, why is it not working properly?

And if it is working properly, what can I expect?

What can I expect?

Growth.

Growth.

When it is alive and well in me and is operating in its right function in my life, when the church, me, the church, and me in the function of what God's called me in the community called the church, right?

The big sea church, the little sea church come together.

How do I know if it's really working?

I know this because there'll be growth in me, in the big sea church.

Come on.

Okay, I'm I'm I just I and the fact that everyone's giving me this, like, yeah, oh yeah, we know, we know.

It's like, well then do it.

You know, that's I feel like my mom and dad who told me a hundred, just do the thing then.

And I wouldn't have to waste time doing this.

You're like, oh yes, teach us, we know, like then do the thing.

Do this, Paul's gave it to just do the thing.

All right, golly.

That's what you feel like that as a parent sometimes.

Over like, like, hey, this is how we clean our room.

Oh, my son did this the other day.

Mm-hmm.

Yes, yes, yes, absolutely.

I'm like, you don't get to say absolutely.

I'm in here, your nasty room.

You can't say absolutely, absolutely means you understand.

Do the job, my dude.

Pick your stuff up.

Sorry.

I just got it.

I just I need to get that the life.

There was a life lesson that needed to be taught right there.

Huh?

So all my parents, you're welcome.

You're welcome.

I can tease you up for this afternoon.

That's the scripture reference you're gonna use right here.

Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 5.

Everybody say Ephesians 5.

Simplest, easiest, most direct to the point that you're gonna get all day.

This will be the shortest one we have.

You ready for it?

It's all here.

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

What does God think about the church?

What does God think about the church?

I'll tell you what God thinks about the church.

He gave his son up.

His son gave up his life for her.

Why does the church matter?

Well, I don't know, it seems irrelevant.

Does it?

Does it seem irrelevant to you?

Please don't have that conversation around me.

I will lose my junk.

Because it's not irrelevant.

We have allowed a society to make it irrelevant.

And you have allowed people around you to diminish the sacrifice he made.

And I'm just telling you, it's time for the church to step up and to be more bold, to be more, to be more understanding and knowing of who we are.

What Christ did for us, we couldn't do ourselves.

He loved me so much that he gave his life for me.

He did for he became everything you couldn't.

And he would do it again.

And we'll let people be like, well, the church, it's just out of touch.

Well, yeah, I know you're right.

It is out of touch.

No, don't ever say that.

Don't ever say that.

It says a lot about you and your lack of understanding of who you are in Christ to allow anybody to make that.

I'm trying to think of the right way to say this, but it's like, if you anybody, uh, anybody a real friend?

I mean, you know what I'm talking about, Daryl, like a real friend.

Not like a like a pretend friend, not like an acquaintance.

Let somebody be like, yeah, I know them.

I talked to him twice ever in my entire life.

Come on, you know, you still that person be like, Yeah, I know him.

You don't know him.

My wife does this.

Do you know him?

Do you really know him?

Well, I mean, I don't, I mean, I why are you why are we doing that right now?

Like, what like come on?

You ever been called out?

Like, you don't know them.

But then when you know somebody, you just know you know you're there for them, they're there for you.

You know what I'm talking about?

Here's what I here's what I'm telling you.

There are people in my life that I know, and the second somebody speaks about them in a way that that does not match what I know, I don't agree with it, I correct it.

I'm like, hey, hold up.

Don't let yourself go there because where you're going is to is to build a wall of offense.

What you need to do is slow the roll.

Let me tell you what I know about them.

This is what I know.

My life experience with them says this.

Now, you may have experienced something different, it could have been a tough day.

But I'm gonna tell you what, let's go with the person who has the relationship.

Let's go with the person who has the lungs, and let's just start there.

Let's start there.

Why is that important?

Because this is how the body's supposed to act, and instead we don't.

Now, I'm not shocked that we don't act this way because the second someone talks about Jesus in a way that doesn't really represent him, we don't say very much.

Because we're afraid it's gonna affect our platform, of the platform you don't have without him, anyway.

Hello.

Hello.

And so if I'm not gonna treat Christ in that manner, don't expect me to be a good friend either.

Because that that might that's even closer.

Hey, God, we can't even see.

Jesus, we can't even see him.

Come on, somebody, it's easy for me to turn my back on something I can't see.

Yeah, but boy, I'll turn my back on people around me.

If it feels like come on, I'm just trying to tell you something.

Paul's understanding.

There is something the church has got to do, got to be.

Why?

We have a reason.

What why does God love the church?

Because he made a sacrifice for it.

And far be it from me to diminish her.

I don't care if it didn't look perfect at this place or that place, or that leader isn't X, and this one is that.

I can spend all my time dissecting what people aren't, or I can get better acquainted with who he is.

Amen.

This this is what this is what Paul's saying.

He's like, Why should you care about the church?

He died for you, gave his life for you to give you a voice.

All right, Johnny, come help me, man.

Please, please help these people.

Help them.

They want to know they can go to lunch soon.

We are, we're we are closing.

See, we're chapter six.

Chapter six.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.

I love this, man.

Paul Paul's coming in strong right at the end of the letter.

Right?

Oh, there's all kinds of stuff in there, right?

I mean, like, yeah, you go back and read, like when he talks about putting on the full armor of God, right?

Right?

That's what we're talking about.

Put on the whole armor of God.

That you may be what?

Be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Come on, you're not armoring up for your neighbor.

I love it.

I love it.

That's what we do.

We go, I gotta get prepared when I walk in here.

I need to be prepared.

What I'm gonna face.

Negativity.

No, man.

You ain't you ain't you ain't putting on for that person.

What you you put an on because the enemy wants you to get derailed by somebody's attitude.

So you gotta know who you're fighting.

If you don't know who you're fighting, here's what happens: you end up putting a face to it that is the wrong face.

You've been enraged, frustrated, angry, and the sad part is if you were to tell the truth right now, there's a face to all of your hurt and frustration.

And it's keeping you from having the true victory you're supposed to have.

You're suppressing the light that Christ is trying to get through you.

You're squeezing out, you're closing in and not giving him the ability to shine through.

Why?

Because Paul's dealing with a community that he's saying, you know when the community's working right?

Back back to chapter five, you know when the community's working right?

When enemies can be in the same room.

What used to be hatred now is submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

How many know when you submit yourself to the lordship of Jesus Christ, you can't have hate?

There's no black and white, there's no there's none of that.

Uh-uh.

No, no, no.

Oh, yeah, there's black and white.

I'm black there.

Yeah, I get okay.

Yes.

Like everybody that wants to make it that thing.

I'm talking about when you lead with the offended heart.

But you're already making an assumption.

See, that that's that's I I'm using my experience to cloud what Christ wants to do through me.

Come on, somebody.

This is this is real, and if the church will get it, we'll see the revivals we've been praying for.

If the church will get it, there'll be there'll be such a massive move in our city that there will be people running to the church instead away from the church.

You won't have to worry when you go to work if you can talk about it.

You everybody will be talking about it when the church is healthy, when it's working the right way.

Right?

And this is what he's saying: put on the full armor of God.

He says, For we do not wrestle against what?

Flesh and blood.

I'm not wrestling flesh and blood.

I'm wrestling again.

He repeats himself against what?

The rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness.

Cosmic powers.

Can I tell you something?

There is there's a lot more happening over your head right now than you even understand.

Yeah.

There's a few books out there, Heisner.

You can get those guys, they'll take you there.

They'll take you up in the clouds and you can get an idea about what it is.

But I'm just telling you, there's a there's a greater battle.

Now, the good news is he's already overcome.

What's my job?

To be the expression of a kingdom that's to come that is now lived out presently through the body of Christ here.

That's that's that's what we eventually become.

We begin to be, we get to partner with God and be his expression to the earth.

How we treat one another, how we live, how we worship, how we how we how we build and we grow together, how we mature.

All of that says it's a testimony to the devil, but it gives it gives light to our community, causes people to hunger for something beyond themselves.

It's a partnership with him.

Pull on the f put on the full armor of God.

Says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God at the end of that.

Paul mentions it twice.

Put on, put on and take up.

Put on, take up, put on, take up.

It's it's the same, right?

He's saying, I I'm gonna repeat myself here, is that it is anybody see a theme here?

Uh I'm gonna help you.

Okay, Brittany.

He is not going to put it on you.

If you're praying that God, oh I need all of the things.

God, just give me all the things.

So they say, No, no, no, no.

It's a choice.

Put it on.

Put on the armor.

I I wish I I if I were if I were Pastor Rusty, if I were Pastor Rusty, I would have like uh the whole armor laid out here on the Thing because that's what he would do.

He'd have all that armor laid out here.

So just imagine it with me.

If I had all that armor laid out here and just walking around it, get on me.

Come on.

Come on.

You know I need you right now.

Get up here.

Well, I guess it's not meant for me.

See, what did I do?

I give myself the get out of jail card.

I take zero responsibility, and now I have full rights to act a fool in the situation.

Because if God really wanted it, he would have given it to me.

No, he's inviting you to pick it up.

Put on the armor of God.

Take up what you need for the day.

Take up this shield.

Take up the sword.

You can't just.

My dad tells a story about our uncle, Corky.

Yeah, man.

What a legend this guy was.

But there was a time where Corky would sleep with the Bible on him.

Do you remember this?

He would sleep with the Bible.

You go to his house, the Bible is on top of him.

And as a kid, it's a little morbid, right?

It's a little like you want to believe that he was, he's found himself asleep as he's been in the word.

No, no.

It's not even open.

It's just laying.

It's just laying on him.

As though I hope it sinks in while I'm at rest.

I'm gonna sleep and I'm just gonna let it sink into me.

Can I tell you something?

It don't work like that.

You can't just be around the word.

You gotta be in it.

You can't be a you can't be around.

Right.

So here's here's something interesting.

It's like I need peace.

Anyone need peace?

Come on, if you need peace, raise your hand.

I want you to- Oh, good.

I'm talking to so many of you right now.

Right now.

You need peace?

Let me tell you what, let me tell you how that happens.

Okay, you're gonna tell yourself this week, I need to change my atmosphere.

This is what you're gonna say.

You're gonna say to yourself, I need to change my atmosphere, and I need to be around people that have peace.

And and I'm I'm gonna give you some good news and I'm gonna give you some bad news.

Which one you want first?

The bad news.

Okay.

The bad news is the peace you seek, right, can't be found in somebody else's commitment to carry peace.

Meaning, if you choose peace, I'm not choosing it.

I just want to be in your sphere, your ecosystem while you choose it, then I can have temporary relief when I'm in an environment where other people have chosen peace.

The problem is it won't go home with you.

It won't go home with you.

And so you'll tell yourself it's an environment thing.

And I'm I'm gonna say it's both.

That's the good news.

It's actually both.

You're making the right decision to get in a better environment, but you're still not choosing the first things first.

You pick up peace.

You have to pick it up, you have to put it on.

Are you tracking with me today?

Okay.

I want to stay here so long.

All right, here we go.

What does God think about the church?

This is what we know.

Chapter 1, he says the church was God's idea before it was ours.

It was already.

Why does God care about what you're doing here today?

Is because this is his idea.

And I, for one, celebrate it.

Not because I'm the pastor, not because you're amazing people, as I stated earlier, but because he's worthy.

And because his ideas are way better than my ideas, and I don't want to be the person who constantly undermines what our God is trying to do on the earth.

And he's asking to do it with me, and that's an invitation.

God isn't just saving individuals, he's building people.

He doesn't intend just to save our souls.

He made the sacrifice, but he intends for us to grow up, mature.

He wants to build us, he wants to create a building in us.

Why?

Because when we live this thing out, we bring our stone to the table.

Isn't it interesting that if you're not careful, you'll think following Christ is a heavy weight.

But that's because you don't understand he's building a cathedral.

See, the difference is, Josh, like when I understand he's building a cathedral, the weight of this responsibility feels less because it has purpose.

But if I don't understand that he's building a cathedral in all of us, right, collectively, then it feels like the weight of responsibility is too heavy.

And that's all about having a vision for what God has.

So you I'm asking yourself, do you have a vision of what the church is supposed to be?

Do you have a vision of what you do here?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I do a small group.

That is not what I'm talking about.

That is an expression of what you do, and we we are glad to have it.

I'm talking about when you walk in here, do you understand that you bring your best in there?

And every single person, when I look around you, I don't look at men and women and children.

I look at stones that are being brought together to build the cathedral of God.

This is what we get to do.

God reveals himself.

Chapter 3.

God reveals himself through what?

God reveals himself through the anybody want to see Christ revealed?

Fall in love with the church again.

Fall in love with the church again.

Yeah, but you don't understand.

I don't fall in love with the church again.

I want to see him revealed.

Fall in love with the church again.

Chapter 4.

Christ is too magnificent for one person to display him fully.

What Pastor Scott, what are you saying?

I'm saying me and Britt and our team aren't enough.

We're never going to be enough if everyone else sits on their hands and everybody else is just like, well, we'll just see how long they'll shine.

We will dim quicker than you want and quicker than we want.

Why is it important?

Because God did not call single individuals and say they're the single, only most important thing.

No, he brings us into a place of leadership, but he requires from every believer to make themselves available to be the church.

Amen.

Chapter 5.

Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.

It's real simple.

He loved you that much.

And verse uh chapter six, the church stands together.

Would you guys stand with me?

Why is it important?

That last one is that you don't have to do this alone.

You're not by yourself.

You're not by yourself.

Come on, touch your neighbor, say we're not alone.

We're not alone.

Come on, the person behind you, let them know you're not alone, even though you're now talking to a back.

Tell them.

Where does it lead me to?

This is where all of this leads us to this morning.

You ready?

This question right here.

You ready?

You ready?

Ready?

Can you see it up there if you can't see it?

Try to get it on the screen.

It says this do I believe enough in what God is building to give myself to it?

Come on, let's just take that in for just a second.

Do I believe enough in what God is building to give myself to?

I think when the rubber meets the road, when life really is being confronted, where this topic is really gonna hit ahead, is how you answer this question.

I was talking to the young adults a few weeks ago in my house.

It was awesome.

We had a wonderful time together.

Didn't we?

It was good, right?

We spent some time, we were motivated.

I'm excited because I believe this is your season to serve.

I believe this is your season to get in, carry weight in this church.

Stop waiting for someone to give you permission.

Come join us.

Let the light of Christ shine through you.

And this is the question we are tackling right here.

Do I believe enough in what God is building?

Or am I just content to just consume and to siphon off what I need?

And I'm just telling you, that's not the church he died for.

The church he died for is to awaken it into action.

One that you'd give your life away for it.

Amen.

Would you bow your heads with me?

Heavenly Father, we love you today.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you for what you're doing in this church.

God, we do ask that you would help us.

You'd help us to see what it is that you're building.

God, we we thank you that you want to partner with us and it is our greatest desire is to do work with you.

Oh, we love you, Lord, and we are so excited to be able to do it here at the Rock Family Worship Center.

God, I pray for every single person in this room.

God, I pray that you would awaken them to their purpose and their callings and all the things that you have for them.

But God, I pray that they would start to see themselves as the body, the church, the real church, not just an institution, not just a great sermon, not just good worship.

No, God, we we collectively build the kingdom of God together.

And as we come into this room, we humble ourselves before a mighty God.

You are Lord, and we are not.

You are the king of this kingdom.

This is not our kingdom.

This is not where we get ours.

This is where you get yours.

Your flowers, your worship, your people, your sacrifice made this possible.

And we will not take glory unto ourselves.

We recognize, God, as we have submitted our life to you, God, we we've recognized you are the true authority of this house.

You are the shepherd.

You are guiding us, you're directing us, you're leading your work globally.

And we come into agreement with a healthy church, one that is thriving, one that is exciting, one that you've dreamt of, one you saw before we could actually see it.

And God, you invite us today, you're inviting every single person in this room to partner with you.

My prayer is that not one person will be left out, not one person will be on the sidelines, not one person will look up and say, Yeah, that's not for me.

How is that gonna happen?

It only happens when you have a revelation that comes from the Holy Spirit.

I'm praying for a fresh revelation of who the church is and our responsibility.

And we say collectively as a church, it's worth it.

It's worth it, it's worth it.

We'll give our life away to seeing your idea come to life.

It's worth it.

We'll make the sacrifices, God, that you can begin the glory.

We will be a body where the light of Jesus explodes out of these four walls, transforms, illuminates every dark hidden place, not for exposure, but for mercy to enter in, for your grace to cover, for your spirit to fill every void, every cavernous thought, every idea that does not exalt you and speak to the sacrifices you made.

God, we we will not give ear, credence, attention, time to the people who are intent on wasting our precious time that we have here to be your expression.

God, this is your kingdom, and our heart's desire is that you would manifest through us your manifold, multi-prism light of Christ, illuminate through the lives of the people in this room.

And we will count ourselves the church, the one that you dreamed of, the one you prayed for, the one you sacrificed for.

And you and you alone will get the glory.

You and you alone will get the glory.

In Jesus' name, everyone said, Amen.

Paul says this, chapter 3, verse 14.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant to you be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted, every say rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, the height, the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.

Come on, do you receive this prayer today?

To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.

Amen.

We hope and pray this message was encouraging and impactful.

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