Unexpected Part 4 | Unexpected Self-Denial with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. To get connected

or to give online, go to connect .hcv .church

or give .hcv .church. If at any point during

this message you feel called to make a change

in your life, text change me to 9700. Thank you

and enjoy the message. Good morning, everyone.

And there's just something about live announcements,

man. When you get a drum solo, you just roll

into it. So we're just so glad you're here. We

made it through Easter. We have lights. We have

power. The unexpected happened. But it didn't

stop from advancing the kingdom of God. If you

are joining us from home, thank you for welcoming

us into your space. So I want to start this morning

by telling you a story. A story about a guy named

Harry Winston. Harry Winston became famous in

the 1950s as the King of Jewelry. And if you're

going to have a nickname, why not the King of

Jewelry, right? It's like a fire nickname. So

he got the nickname because of his incredible

diamond collection. And in 1958, Harry donated

the Hope Diamond to the Museum of Natural History

in Washington, D .C. Now the Hope Diamond is

worth $300 million. It is 45 and a half carats.

It's just slightly larger than the engagement

ring on Jess's finger that you saw shining. And

I think we can all agree that it's pretty amazing

that one person could own something like that,

but he did. And the most incredible part of the

story is how Harry sent the Hope Diamond from

New York City to Washington, D .C. Anyone want

to guess how Harry sent the diamond from New

York to Washington, D .C.? Anyone want to guess?

An envelope. He literally, all right, I'm not

making this up. Harry took the Hope Diamond,

$300 million. put it in an envelope, put stamps

on it, and put it into a mailman's hand and said,

please deliver this to Washington, D .C. Now,

I don't know about you, but I'm not even comfortable

sending gift cards through the mail, right? I

could not imagine sending a diamond worth $300

million through the mail. Now, the story continues.

There was an interview with the mailman that

actually carried the diamond, and he was asked,

What did you think about the whole experience?

His first response was, I just didn't want to

lose it. And I think that's a pretty honest response,

and we can all agree that we wouldn't want to

lose it. But later in the interview, he actually

talked about the privilege and the weight of

carrying something so valuable. So when I was

reading that story this week, I began to think

about the mission. That Jesus has given us. Meaning,

if you're in a relationship with Jesus, this

includes you. I want us to reflect on the weight

of what we have been entrusted with. Because

I believe what we have been entrusted with is

of far greater value than any one single diamond.

The mission of the good news of God's kingdom

has been entrusted to you and me if you're in

a relationship with God. The extraordinary has

been entrusted with the ordinary. And do we truly

understand? Have we experienced the weight and

the privilege that comes along with this truth?

And my question for all of us this morning is

this. Why don't we see the mission of sharing

the good news of the kingdom of God with the

same kind of value? that this mailman experienced

by carrying a diamond. So this morning, we're

closing out our April series, The Unexpected,

with a talk on the unexpected mission. And I

want to begin by jumping into the book of Acts,

which is part two of Luke's gospel that we were

reading last Sunday for Easter Sunday when we

took a walk with Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

So the book of Acts opens not with a principle,

not with an idea, not even with a memory. The

book of Acts opens with an impossible reality.

The one who was dead is now alive. And he's eating

breakfast with the disciples. So the story opens

with Jesus in Acts 1, verses 3 through 4, when

Acts 1:3–4

we read, He appeared to the apostles from time

to time, and he proved to them in many ways that

he was actually alive. And he talked to them

about the kingdom of God. And I just want to

pause there a minute. Now the word used here

for proved in the Greek is the only time that

this word is used in the entire New Testament.

And it refers to not the kind of evidence you

collect or the data that is collected. It actually

refers to touch. or sight, as in seeing or touching

something. And in this case, it would be with

Jesus. So I want you to just pause for a second

and imagine being one of these first followers

of Jesus, one of the disciples. You saw your

friend, your rabbi, your teacher, executed and

buried. Then a few days later, you're having

breakfast with him on the beach. I mean, I don't

know about you, but I can only imagine what was

going through their head. It had to be just spinning

a little. Because last Sunday, we even spoke

about, they weren't even expecting the resurrection

to happen. So there's probably all sorts of emotions

like joy and elation, while at the same time

feeling fear, concern, doubt, and confusion.

Now at this point, there's only 120. 120 Jesus

followers on the planet. And they're experiencing

this flood of emotions while they're eating breakfast

with Jesus. And let's continue in verse 4. Once,

when he was eating with them, he commanded them,

do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends

you the gift he promised. You will receive power

when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you

will be my witnesses, telling people about me

everywhere, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and

Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Again,

I just want to pause there for a second. Notice

that Jesus tells them to wait. And I found it

interesting because if I was one of those disciples

and I'm having breakfast with Jesus, who was

dead and is alive now, the last thing I want

to do is wait. I mean, I would be like, let's

go. Let's change the world with this news. But

see, Jesus is simply reminding them that they

can't go and change the world in their own strength.

They needed to wait on the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And this is important. It's important to all

of us. Because apart from the Holy Spirit, following

Jesus isn't difficult. It's impossible. Trying

to follow Jesus without the Holy Spirit is miserable.

Because it's just simply moralism. It's trying

really hard in our own strength and constantly

not being successful. So he's reminding us, church,

Be filled. So let's continue. After saying this,

he was taken up into a cloud while they were

watching and they could no longer see him. As

they strained to see him rising into heaven,

two white robed men suddenly stood among them.

Men of Galilee, they said. Why are you standing

here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken

from you into the heaven, but someday he will

return from heaven in the same way you saw him

ago. So again, imagine being one of these 120

disciples. And Jesus is looking at them. He looked

at them and said, you are responsible for sharing

the good news of the kingdom of God to the ends

of the earth. I'm sure they're looking around

at each other thinking, there's only 120 of us.

This is completely unexpected. And probably the

reason they were standing there staring up in

heaven like, Jesus, what are you doing? There's

120 of us. It took two angels, again, unexpected,

to remind them of what they were supposed to

do. They were supposed to go and wait. So these

disciples would go, they would wait, they would

pray, and they would be filled. They would be

empowered by the Holy Spirit becoming the church.

And every single one of them. saw themselves

as everyday missionaries or carriers of the good

news. See, back then there was no such thing

as spectator Christianity. The early church saw

the good news as being way, way, way more valuable

than any one diamond. And listen, if you're here

this morning and you're a follower of Jesus,

I want to challenge you today. I want to step

on your toes. And challenge you to keep moving

forward. Because, see, there's some requirements

that Jesus charges us with in order to be a people

that are daily living on mission and sharing

the good news about Jesus. In fact, there's three

requirements that I want to address and challenge

you with this morning. But before we jump into

those, let's open in prayer. Holy Spirit come.

God, I'm just thankful for this word that you've...

Given to us, God. I just pray that you would

open our minds, our hearts, God. Unplug our ears.

Silence distractions to receive all that you

have for us, God. May we be changed. May we be

transformed, God. May the light come on in our

minds and in our hearts. Of the power, of the

importance, of the good news of God's kingdom.

In Jesus' name, amen. So before we jump into

the requirements, we have to realize our human

nature, which leads to thought number one. See,

people focus on their own self -interest. Because

of our fallen nature, we always have a bend towards

self. And we're going to jump into Matthew chapter

Matthew 16:21–23

16, verses 21 to 23. From then on, Jesus began

to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary

for him to go to Jerusalem. And that he would

suffer many terrible things at the hands of the

elders, the leading priests, and the teachers

of religious law. He would be killed. But on

the third day, he would be raised from the dead.

But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand

him for saying such things. Heaven forbid, Lord,

he said, this will never happen to you. Jesus

turned to Peter and said, get away from me, Satan.

You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing

things merely from a human point of view, not

from God's. And listen, it would be really easy

for me to stand up here and point fingers at

Peter. And I've probably done it before. I mean,

how could he rebuke Jesus? He's Jesus, right?

He's God. What is he thinking? But here's the

reality. If I was one of those first disciples,

I probably would have did the same thing. Because

quite often we take Peter's statement and we

take it out of context. And remember, context

is important when reading the Bible. Remember

what Jesus just told his disciples, that the

Pharisees, the chief priests, the elders, they

were going to kill him. Now the disciples, they

left everything to follow Jesus. Their jobs,

their families, their homes, they left everything.

everything, believing that Jesus was the Messiah.

Peter, he was simply standing up and saying,

no one is going to kill you, Lord. Not on my

watch. Not while I'm around. And I don't know

about you, but I believe many of us would have

done or would do the same thing. And then Jesus,

he looks at Peter and he says, no, get behind

me, Satan, because you are thinking about the

things of the world, not the kingdom. And if

we're all really truly honest with ourselves,

I believe there's not a follower of Jesus in

this room or watching online that does not continue

to struggle with this reality. We are constantly

being torn between these two realities, the world

and the kingdom of God. And Peter was simply

trying to save the Savior who came to save the

world. Peter is trying to protect Jesus not knowing

that his shed blood would protect us from the

full wrath of God through faith. Peter simply

had a misunderstanding. Yet he's constantly being

made fun of and fingers pointed at. And Jesus

is saying to you and me, if you desire to follow

me, you must deny the world and focus on the

kingdom of God. He is challenging the disciples

and you and me. To get our self -interest out

of the way. To get rid of it. And focus on the

kingdom. Because that's the most important thing

in this world. Later in Matthew 16, 26, he says,

What do you benefit if you gain the whole world

but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more

than your own soul? And see, this is a question

that Jesus poses to all of those who are following

Jesus gathered here today. I'm watching online.

If we desire to follow Jesus, we have to deal

with our sin nature that pulls us towards self.

Self -interest, self -serving, self -gratitude,

selfishness. And this is a constant struggle

because the message woven into our very society

says, hey, just go live your best life. Do whatever

makes you happy. Do whatever it takes to be successful.

Well, Jesus. looks at us and says, no, die to

self, serve others. That is the way of the kingdom.

It's not about what Chris wants. It's about what

God wants to do through Chris at all times. Philippians

chapter two reminds us, don't be selfish. Don't

try to impress others. Be humble. Thinking of

others is better than yourselves. Don't look

out only for your own interests, but take an

interest in others too. I love how theologian

Charles Spurgeon writes it. He says, every Christian

is either a missionary or an imposter. A missionary

or an imposter. I wonder where you are today.

See, to know God is to love God. To know Jesus

is to be known by him. And there's a big difference

between a missionary and an imposter. An imposter

may know about God. I mean, we can all Google

Jesus. Maybe they read the Bible or study devotionals.

But they're not in a life -changing relationship

with him. Meaning communing with him daily, speaking

with him, receiving his love, grace, and forgiveness.

I mean, an imposter, they can say all the right

things and appear to be godly. But we quickly

learn that they hide or cover up what's in their

heart because they don't want to change. Who

are you today, an imposter? Or a missionary.

Now some of you may be thinking, why one or the

other? Why isn't there any middle ground? There

can't be. I mean, we learned in the book of Acts

that Jesus charges those who are following him

with an unexpected mission. And it doesn't matter

how long you've been in a relationship with God.

It doesn't matter if it just started or you've

been in a relationship with God for 40 years.

The mission is the same. To share the good news

to the ends of the earth. To daily live on mission,

which brings us to our three requirements that

we're going to discover in Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Jesus first invites us to deny ourselves. Then

Jesus said to his disciples, if any of you wants

to be my follower, you must give up your own

way. See, Jesus simply invites us to experience

an abundant life by denying ourselves. Coming

to learn, to love, and experience the beauty

of God and his call, the important call that's

on all of our lives. Denying ourselves is letting

Jesus take the lead in our life, meaning he is

first. Denying ourselves is following his lead

instead of following our own. Denying self means

that we surrender our plans, our desires, our

wants, our needs, and we follow him. We allow

Jesus to be the center of our life, not just

an add -on, not just an addition on Sunday morning.

Denying ourself is a gift that opens up our life

to all that God has for us. Author C .S. Lewis

puts it this way. The real test of being in the

presence of God is that you either forget about

yourself altogether or you see yourself as a

small, dirty object. It is much better to forget

about yourself altogether. Now, some of you are

sitting there thinking, well, Chris, what is

the positive outcome of denying yourself? Well,

Jesus goes on to say in verse 25, if you try

to hang on to your life, you'll lose it. But

if you give up your life for my sake, you will

save it. And the word for life there in the original

Greek, which is pronounced psuche, meaning Soul

life literally means our will, our ambition,

our goal, and our desires. When you give that

up to allow yourself to be conformed in the image

of Jesus, you will discover his plan and his

purpose for your life. And what is that plan?

Mark chapter 10, 43 to 44. But among you will

Mark 10 · chapter mention

be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among

you must be your servant. And whoever wants to

be first among you must be a slave to everyone.

else. If we want to live daily on mission for

Jesus, we first must deny ourselves. Which leads

us to our next requirement. Jesus challenges

us to die to self. Then Jesus said to his disciples,

now notice who he's speaking to here. He's speaking

directly to his disciples. If anyone wants to

be my follower, you must give up your own way,

deny yourself, and take up your cross. let's

be honest, denying ourself, that's a lot. It's

difficult to do. And now Jesus tells us, oh yeah,

take up your cross. And please notice, it's not

one or the other. It's both and. And when Jesus

tells us to take up our cross daily, he is challenging

us to live on mission, which means we are called

to die. Because our natural instincts as human

beings is not to live on mission, it's to live

for self. Self -preservation, self -happiness.

But Jesus says, no, give up yourself completely

because it's worth it. This mission that you

have been given, that we have been given, it's

all about eternity. Jesus is not telling us that

we need to adopt a few minor discomforts. Well,

I'll take up my cross when the life gets hard.

When there's tension in my life, when my spouse

and I are arguing, I'll take up my cross, I'll

ask for forgiveness. Well, when I'm sick and

I'm struggling and I'm in a hospital bed, oh,

I'm going to take up my cross. When I'm getting

made fun of or rejected, I'll take up my cross.

But this is not what Jesus is saying in this

text. If you live within the Roman Empire during

Jesus' time on earth, Everyone knew that when

he said, take up your cross, that cross meant

crucifixion. See, under Roman rule, criminals

took up their crosses to be executed for their

transgressions. Jesus, he's challenging those

in a relationship with him to be completely executed

of yourself and filled completely with the power

of the Holy Spirit. In other words, I can't.

Deny it. There's no room for us and God. Jesus

is challenging us. Die to comforts. Die to self.

Die to ease. Die to temptation. Die to riches.

Die to fame. Be different. 1 John 3, 16 through

18. We know what real love is because Jesus gave

up his life for us. So we also ought to give

up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If

someone has enough money to live well and sees

a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion,

how can God's love be in that person? Dear children,

let's not merely say that we love each other.

Let us show the truth by our actions. See, we're

called to give it all up so the kingdom of God

can be expressed through us. God wants to use

everything that we have, everything that we are,

for his glory. I mean, you heard Jess share that

next weekend we have two incredible events, two

incredible opportunities where we can serve together

as a community of faith. Friday night's the story

tour. I'll tell you what, last year I've never

seen this room so full. I mean, there was like

650 people, standing room only. It was the loudest

worship setup I think I've ever heard. I was

talking to John back there. Please don't blow

up our speakers. I have no idea what's going

on. But the results, results were amazing. Literally

hundreds of people giving their life to Jesus.

Experiencing God in the midst of testimonies

and stories. We just need you to serve on Friday

night. And you get a free worship set. And then

on Saturday, we're doing a bed build from 8 to

12. And you say, Chris, why are you doing a bed

build? Because there's children in Washington

County in the tri -state area that don't have

a bed to sleep in. The last time I checked, that's

an important necessity. True or false? Well,

we need 30 more people to sign up today. Will

you and your family be one of them? Because it's

10 and up. And there's no better way, listen

to me parents, than to raise your children up

and teaching them to serve than having them serve

by building a bed for a child that will sleep

in it at their same age. Yes, we do a lot of

stuff in the area. Yes, we serve the community.

Why did you schedule all these things, Chris?

Because we believe the kingdom of God is forcefully

advancing in the tri -state area. And we will

continue to serve and serve and serve because

we want to see people meet Jesus. There is no

room for ease and comfort in a relationship with

Jesus. We are called to be living on mission,

and Jesus challenges us to have the same attitude

that he had, Philippians 2, 5 through 8. You

must have the same attitude that Jesus had. Though

he was God, he did not think of equality with

God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave

up his divine privileges. He took the humble

position of a slave and was born as a human being.

And when he appeared in human form, he humbled

himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's

death on a cross. See, dying to self means we

make time for that cashier that checks us out

at the store we visit every single week. Dying

to self means that we learn the names of our

neighbors who we don't even know. Dying to self

means that we bless that teacher that teaches

our children every single day. Dying to self

means we smile at that barista that makes our

lattes so we can wake up in the morning. Dying

to self means that we speak life to a co -worker

that is struggling. Dying to self means that

we pray for a classmate that is overwhelmed with

identity issues, even though we know the entire

school is going to make fun of us because we

prayed for them. Dying to self means that we

are inviting friends and family members to sit

with me at HCV because we know they're going

to hear the good news. When Jesus says die, We

are to die to our time, our convenience, our

comforts, our schedules, our plans, our wants.

And we are called to give it all up for the kingdom

of God. Again, Matthew 16, 25. If you try to

hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if

you give up your life for my sake, you will save

it. Church, we have to realize we're going to

lose it all anyway. We're all going to come to

a point in time where we pass on and we are buried.

And everything that we have in this life, we

can't take with us. The only thing that will

go with us is the message of the good news about

God's kingdom, which is salvation. And let me

paint a picture for you. Wouldn't it be amazing

if when we get into heaven and we experience

glory, Jesus reveals to us the good news that

we shared with that co -worker. You remember

that co -worker? That co -worker then shared

that good news with her sister. And that good

news was then shared with her spouse and they

had children. And those children grew up in a

godly home where they fell in love with Jesus.

And those kids went to school and they shared

the good news with their friends. And their lives

were changed for a change. Wouldn't it be amazing

if we got into heaven and we saw thousands of

people who are spending their lives with Jesus

in eternity because we were faithful to die for

ourselves? That, friends, is what it's all about.

When Jesus calls us to die to ourselves, We're

to run away from convenience. We're to run away

from comfort. And we're to run towards him and

say, Jesus, it's all yours. Which leads us to

our final requirement. Jesus commands us to follow

him. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Matthew

16, 24, if any of you wants to be my follower,

you must give up your own way, deny yourself,

take up your cross, die to self, and follow me.

And some of you are thinking, well, Chris, I'm

already following Jesus. What does it mean to

follow Jesus? Well, think about it. In our social

media world, it is so easy to follow people.

We follow friends. We follow family members.

We follow influencers. It's easy to follow. But

it's also really easy to unfollow and dislike.

I mean, let's be honest. The moment someone says

something that we don't agree with, that judges

us, that points fingers at us, what do we do?

Unfollow. It's real easy. It's real easy to accept

and reject. But see, this is not the kind of

following that Jesus is talking about. This is

not the easy click of a button. When Jesus says,

follow me to his disciples, he wrote this in

the present imperative tense. You're like, who

cares? Well, it's important. Because what it

means is 2 ,000 years ago, Jesus gave this message

to his followers and presently is giving the

same message to us today. When it's written in

the present imperative, it means that presently

the challenge still applies to you and me. And

the imperative, you know what that means? It

means it's a command. It's a command that we

live by, that we don't have a choice. Jesus is

saying to us, if you believe in me, then every

single day you need to make the choice to follow

Jesus. Every hour, every minute, every second

of our lives, we need to declare that we are

following Jesus. And some of you are sitting

there thinking, well, Chris, that's a little

overboard. Why is this so important? Newsflash,

we easily forget. Everyone just nod their head.

Oh, yeah, I'm following Jesus. And you say, well,

Chris, why is it so easy to forget? Because we

have schedules and we have jobs and we have children

and we have ball games and we have Netflix and

we have social media. We have all these things

that are pursuing our heart. And we have to make

a choice and declare that, no, we're following

Jesus. I'm following Jesus in my home. I'm following

Jesus while I parent. I'm following Jesus in

my conversations with my spouse. I'm following

Jesus while I love my neighbor. I'm following

Jesus while I honor my parents. I'm following

Jesus even when I'm driving. You guys are laughing.

I will follow Jesus when no one else is looking.

I will follow Jesus while I'm scrolling on my

phone. I'll follow Jesus while I'm working on

my computer even though no one else is watching.

I will follow Jesus while interacting with a

co -worker that no one else likes. I will follow

Jesus till I take my last breath. John Mark Comer

writes it this way. Christ -likeness is possible.

but it's not natural. Christ -likeness is possible,

but it's not natural. And see, unfortunately,

there are many people trying to follow Jesus

in their own strength, in the natural. Well,

if I go to church, I'm following Jesus. Check

that box. Well, if I read my Bible, I'm following

Jesus. Chris, check that box. Oh, I prayed this

morning for 15 minutes, Chris. I'm following

Jesus. Check that box. And yet, that's all true.

Those three practices are a part of following

Jesus. But truly following Jesus means that he

has my mind, my eyes, my mouth, my words, my

heart, my time, my schedule, my entire life.

That is following Jesus. All of me, God, is for

your glory. And I want to follow you wherever

you lead. And that is why it was so important

for those 120 disciples, hear this, to wait.

They had to wait on the Holy Spirit. And as they

waited on the Holy Spirit, they were filled and

they were empowered to follow Jesus. Where? To

the ends of the earth. And how do I know that?

Because fast forward 2 ,000 years, here we are

in Hagerstown, Maryland, on the other side of

the world, worshiping and celebrating Jesus every

single day. And that is the reason that Jesus

says to deny, to die, and to follow him. We have

to get out of the way so Jesus can lead the way.

And listen, it's all worth it. It's all worth

it. How do I know? Let me share with you Revelation

Revelation 7:9–12

chapter 7, verses 9 through 12. After this, everyone

say after this. After this, that means that something

happened before after this. And you know what

happened? The end of time. After this, I saw

a vast crowd, too great to count, from every

nation and tribe and people and language, standing

in front of the throne and before the Lamb. So

we can look out at this crowd and say, there's

roughly 450 people in here. But notice, vast

crowd, too great to count, full of color, right?

Nothing like me, nothing like you. All different.

Standing before the throne. They were clothed

in white robes and held palm branches in their

hands. And they were shouting with a great roar.

With a great what? A great roar. And we struggle

to worship on a Sunday morning. Salvation comes

from our God who sits on the throne and from

the Lamb. And all the angels are standing around

the throne. It means they were standing around

Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father,

and around the elders and the four living beings,

and they all fell before the throne with their

faces on the ground, and they worshiped God.

They sang, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom

and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength

belong to our God forever and ever. Amen. Let

that be the vision for why we deny ourselves.

Let that be the vision for why we die daily.

Let that be the vision for why we follow Jesus

every single day, every minute, every second,

every hour. Let it be about the mission. The

mission to share the good news with our coworkers,

our classmates, our friends, our families. And

I get it. You hear that all the time in church.

You hear that all the time from Chris. All right,

make it personal. I dare you. I challenge you.

Make it personal. Start speaking specific names

of people, of individuals that you know. Could

be friends, could be family that are not in a

relationship with Jesus. And when you start speaking

names, that's when it gets personal. When you

start sharing names and praying for names, that's

when it gets personal. And that's when you want

to do everything you can to serve them, love

on them, and be different so that one day they

will enter into eternity. Now, many of you know

that I'm a baseball fan. Softball, of course.

Well, a few weeks ago, a friend shared a social

media post with me. And this social media post,

they texted it to me, had this image of a player

that was rounding third and heading for home.

And the teammates were waiting for him. And the

caption on the social media post said this. I

recently read about a man who collects pictures

of hitters who had hit walk -off home runs. He

said the reason he did this is because this is

how he views us entering heaven. Is it okay if

I give you a picture of what that might look

like? Can I give you a picture of that? All right,

let's watch. Travis Ishikawa. That's heaven.

Now, some of you are sitting there thinking,

oh, you just chose that, Chris, because you're

a Giants fan. Now, listen. I'm going to be honest

with you. I watched probably 20 walk -off home

runs on Thursday. I cried in every one. I chose

that video. Because of the person. Because that

person, none of you know. He's not a star. In

fact, he's a nobody. Some guy named Travis Ishikawa.

He was a career minor league baseball player

where he's now currently coaching. That's his

job now. And that moment was the shining moment

of his career. He played. professional baseball

from 2002 to 2016. He actually played here in

Hagerstown for the Suns in 2003. But he only

played in the majors for a total of three years

over that time. In the majors, in the big leagues.

And in that time, he didn't find much success.

But on the biggest stage, he had one of the biggest

hits. And see, I believe that's how God sees

you in me. Many days we don't feel like we're

good enough. We don't say the right things. We

don't do the right things. We don't have the

right words. God can't use me. I'm never going

to make it. But God sees so much more in you.

He sees so much more in you that he trusted you

with the mission. Of sharing God's kingdom. To

the ends of the earth. And all we have to do.

Is learn to deny ourselves. Die to ourselves.

And follow him. Will you stand with me? So there's

three categories of people. That I want to specifically

address. In prayer. For some of you, you're here

this morning, maybe you're watching online, and

you're new to this Jesus thing. Maybe you just

got baptized on Good Friday. Maybe you got baptized

at the New Year. And your prayer is, well, I

want to do this, but God, I need your help. Listen,

I want to encourage you. We all do. We all do.

But I believe when I give you the time, if you

invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, he'll empower

you to go and live on mission. My second group

of people is those that have been in relationship

with Jesus for a while. You may be 10, 20, 30

years. And I want to challenge you to repent.

And why I want to challenge you to repent. is

because there's been many times in those 10,

20, and 30 years that the Holy Spirit has whispered

into your ear to go and serve, go and share,

go and invite. And instead of doing it, you said,

oh, that's not God, that's me. Listen, that's

not you. Because our natural tendency as human

beings is to focus on self. Whenever there's

an inclination or a whispering that we should

go and serve and... And advance God's kingdom.

Guess what that is? That's the Holy Spirit. And

we need to be obedient. And when we're obedient,

that's when he uses us. Amen? But for those of

you who have been in a relationship with Jesus

for a while, he's probably bringing back to memory

times that you've said, nah. We've got to repent

for that. That's sin. Say, God, forgive me. Give

me another chance. Give me another chance. And

then the third group of people is those of you

that are kind of checking out this Jesus thing.

Let me just tell you, it's all worth it. Because

that's what heaven looks like. I mean, my man

barely made it around the basis. Because there

was such a celebration and excitement to come

home. Amen? So we're going to pray a simple prayer.

Because I believe there's people in here that

are going to start that journey with Jesus today.

And then I'm going to give you a moment of silence

for you to deal with God in your own way, in

your own time. Some of you need to repent. Some

of you need to invite the Holy Spirit to fill

you. Let's pray together. Jesus, I'm broken.

I'm full of doubt, shame, regret, sin. Change

me. I believe you're God's son. I believe you

died for me. Make me new. Set me free. Fill me

with your spirit. Empower me, God, to serve others

and live on mission. In Jesus' name, amen. So

if you prayed that prayer for the first time,

welcome to the family. Welcome. And for the rest

of us, I'm going to say three simple words. Come,

Holy Spirit. And I want you to deal. With whatever

God is impressing on your heart in your own way.

In your own way. Holy Spirit come. And before

we go, there are several words of knowledge I

want to share with you that if any of these line

up with what you're struggling with, I believe

God wants to heal you this morning. You currently

have some sort of glandular condition. There's

a tendon in your right hand near the middle finger

joint that's causing you pain. You have a dull

pain in the left corner of your eye, in your

left eye. You have right hip pain towards the

front. You have pain in your left knee that could

be from an old sports injury. You have issues

with organs in your throat that's making your

throat sore. You have right elbow tendinitis,

like tennis elbow, and the lower part of your

colon is causing you pain. So if any of those

are you, our prayer team would be here on the

right to pray for you or any other need that

you may have. And listen, I want to send you

on mission next Sunday. we kick off our inked

series. Now, many of you know that I'm going

to be sharing stories of why people have tattoos

and their story behind them. I've been reading

the submissions. We've had over 80 submissions.

Okay, so it's a lot of tattoos. I have four weeks.

So listen, there's a good chance if you submitted

your tattoo, I'm not going to talk about it.

So don't get mad at me. Don't get mad at me.

I can only do like five or six at the most. Now,

many of you know that there's controversy in

the church about tattoos. I've already been accused

of going to hell because I'm doing this series.

I had to address that. You know that. There's

also a lot of people outside of the church that

may not be in a relationship with God that have

tattoos and don't feel like they're welcome.

Invite them because they're going to hear people's

stories. And more importantly, they're going

to hear the story of the kingdom of God. where

they are welcomed, embraced, loved, and God wants

to use them to further his kingdom. Amen? So

there isn't any reason you're not inviting and

including people to be here next month. True

or false? Okay, good. Frank, I'm coming to your

door, my friend. So anybody on this side, just

high -five people around you because I'm going

to that door to say goodbye to you, and you're

not getting out anyway. So just take your time.

God bless you guys. Look forward to the new series

next week. There's no impossible. I believe that

you are working now to pour it out. Oh, pour

it out.