Replay | GRACE BOMBS AWAY! with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. To get connected or to give online, go to hcv.church or give.htv.church.

If at any point during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text

change me to 970-00. Thank you and enjoy the message. So you know that happened to be my

three daughters and the outfits that they were wearing or the shirts they were mine they just

decided to raid my closet so that they would look Hawaiian and summery for the announcements. We

love them so much. If you're joining us from home thank you for welcoming us into your home. It's

going to be a beautiful weekend. Hopefully you have a few days off and you can just celebrate

the warmth of summer. Now according to George Barna, almost all practicing Christians believe

that part of their faith means being a witness about Jesus. Now that this these numbers are

across all age ranges from young to old. 97 percent believe that this is a part of their

relationship with God and the best thing yet 95 percent of those people believe that others

are going to be better if they develop a relationship with God. However a survey from

Nashville-based LifeWay Research found that only 60 percent of churchgoers feel comfortable in

effectively sharing their faith. That's just over half but yet the numbers get a little worse.

80 percent have not shared their faith in the last year and more than half, 60 percent haven't even

invited anyone to church. So if it's such a big important part of a relationship with God

why is no one doing it? Well Roxanne Stone editor-in-chief at Barna Group says this,

truth is most Christians are busy with other things. The day-to-day normal life, jobs, kids,

budgets, sports, weather and what's premiering on Netflix this week. None of this is bad but the

unfortunate reality is that most adults don't seem to connect their everyday experiences with their

faith or at least they aren't talking about it if they do and the article continues to answer the

question why aren't people sharing their faith and Ed Stetzer points out that the four top reasons

people don't talk about Jesus in their everyday life is I'm afraid they'll ask me questions I

can't answer. I struggle with my own faith how can I share it with others? I never learned how it's

the church's fault and I don't know how to start a conversation with someone. Now if you're anything

like me when I saw those that list I thought that's some pretty lame excuses but here's the

problem if I'm to look out into this crowd 80 percent of you have not shared your faith in the

last year and some of you in fact connected with those reasons this morning so what we're going to

do for the month of July we're launching a new series called Grace Bomb and this series is going

to challenge us to get outside of our comfort zone and to move forward in sharing the good news

that God wants us to about his son Jesus and to do that it's a very challenging topic of which many

Jesus followers do not put into practice I want to invite the Holy Spirit to come to prepare our

hearts and more importantly to challenge us to get outward is it okay if we do that so Holy Spirit

come. God I just pray that you would fill this room fill this place with your presence as we launch

out into this new series as we launch out into this new phase for our community of faith of living

outward focused lives desiring to see those in our community experience your goodness your grace

and more importantly new life in Jesus name and we all said together amen all of that leads us to

our first thought this morning you see Jesus followers are built with grace Jesus followers

are built with grace and this morning we're simply going to focus on one verse from Paul's letter to

the church in Ephesus and we're going to particularly focus on chapter two and to begin chapter two Paul

summarizes the gospel he talks about the good news about Jesus and and he shares at the beginning

of chapter two of how all of us were once dead in our sin and many of us know if you were here last

week that this room is full of horrible sinners and if you missed the talk go back and listen to

it I'm not judging you you can go back to our YouTube channel and watch and many of us were

living in a world living in the world full of disobedience we had nothing to do with God

and then Paul writes this in verses four through five of chapter two but God's so rich in mercy

and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins he gave us life when he

raised Christ from the dead and it's only by God's grace that you have been saved now notice we

experience this new life not through anything we did or will do but through Jesus's actions on the

cross Paul continues in verses eight through ten God saved you by his grace when you believed you

can't take credit for this it's a gift from God everyone say gift salvation is not a reward for

the good things we have done so none of us can boast about it for we are God's masterpieces and

this is just an important reminder that we do not have to strive we don't have to be religious we

we do not earn our way into a relationship with Jesus we do not earn God's forgiveness Jesus

followers are built with grace which we just learned is a gift from God now question this

morning if you all would amuse me and participate what do we do with gifts

okay if you are getting let me rephrase the question I know it's going over your head I'm

sorry it's so difficult this morning if you receive a gift what do you do with it open it

thank you okay some of you are trying to be non-selfish oh we give gifts oh yeah we give them

away come on when we get those gifts you rip them open it's not like you put it up on your bookshelf

I'm gonna wait for a few years you know I got my Christmas collection my birthday collection that

when you're giving a gift you rip that thing open right but like some of you said gifts are also to

be given right in fact many of you know that you can't give gifts to people who are not

right in fact many of you know that we can experience much more joy and happiness as a

giver of gifts rather than a receiver which leads us to our next stop look grace built people

grace bomb others now say that three times if you can grace built people grace bomb others

Ephesians 2 10 for we are God's masterpiece the niv translation uses the word workmanship there

he has created us a new in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us

long ago now the word masterpiece or workmanship means that Jesus followers have been assembled

or built for a purpose see when we begin a relationship with Jesus we become new spiritually

we become new spiritually built people that starts from the inside out as we're filled with the

Holy Spirit now when something is built it is built for a purpose and I grabbed a couple things

out of our shed this morning I thought I could use for example I happen to grab my daughter's

softball bat okay now this is an eastern ghost and what is this softball bat designed or built to do

hit a ball right when that ball is pitched this bat is designed to hit a ball into the field of

play or out of the field of play so that your team can score runs if this bat doesn't touch the ball

does anything happen of course not this bat is designed to hit a softball I also happen to grab

my snowboard okay this snowboard was was given to me by Steve Wilcox who I'm thankful that he did

that for me and this snowboard is designed to what slide down a mountain on top of snow at a rate of

anywhere from 30 to 45 miles an hour just praying and hoping you don't fall over because it probably

would hurt real bad and it just so happens that Chris has now chosen with his son Nolan to learn

this sport and to put his life at risk you simply strap your feet into the board start at the top of

the mountain and quickly go to the bottom now if I did not have this on my feet would I go anywhere

no I would just be standing in snow this board was designed and built for a purpose the purpose

is that a person can slide down a mountain while standing up hoping that they survive so all of you

can pray for me in the winter and for those of you that are now thinking about snow because you

hate the summer boohoo I love the summer bring on the heat okay which brings us to our big question

this morning what is our purpose as grace-built people well last week we began to touch on this

a little bit when we looked at Jesus's two commands of loving God and loving others first

and loving God were to be active in a relationship with God okay this happens we love God when we

communicate with him through the Bible through prayer through corporate worship when we gather

to sing through connection with other believers that is loving God that is growing our relationship

with God but it doesn't end there so many people put those things in the practice and then stop but

Paul he focused in on one specific function or purpose for a grace-built person and this is what

he said so we meaning Jesus followers can do good things he planned for us long ago again good things

works or deeds do not get us into heaven they do not start a relationship with Jesus however

somehow we have been built we have been designed for good works in other words we are called to

drop grace bombs doesn't that sound a lot better good works grace bombs I'll go with grace bombs

so what is a grace bomb a grace bomb is a random surprising act of kindness that is meant to brighten

and change a person's day simply think about a bomb when we were discussing doing this series

just was kind of like I don't know if you should use the word bomb because there's a war going on

and bombs are kind of negative and they are negative what is a bomb okay a bomb is dropped

from above out of nowhere to blow up destroy or negatively impact something on the ground

okay however we want to turn that around and we want to do the same thing with grace

drop from above out of nowhere not to negatively impact but to positively impact someone's life

for God's kingdom we can look at Paul the author of this letter his own life is an example of a

grace bomb we're going to go into Acts 22 and in Acts 22 Paul is actually describing

his encounter and how he began a relationship with Jesus let's look at it Acts 22 6 through 16 and

this is what Paul says as I was on the road approaching Damascus about noon a very bright

light from heaven suddenly shone down around me now think about this it's it's lunchtime

it's bright sunlight and suddenly Paul's talking about a bright light shining on him I fell to the

ground I heard a voice saying to me Saul Saul why are you persecuting me and remember Saul if you

don't know anything about him Saul was a persecutor of the church of Christians he murdered the early

church and desired to eradicate it Paul responds who are you Lord I asked and the voice replied I

am Jesus the Nazarene the one you are persecuting Paul continues I was blinded by the intense light

and had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions a man named Ananias lived there he was

a godly man deeply devoted to the law and well regoated wrote well regoated you know I'm learning

I'm listening myself more people say there's a lot of chrissisms out there I'm learning I am making

up my own language so if you want to use that please reference that I created it okay

the god of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous one and hear

him speak for you to be his witness telling everyone what you have seen and heard what are

you waiting for get up be baptized have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord

so remember Saul murdering people killing people suddenly it's transformed his life is turned upside

down by what grace he experienced a grace bomb it wasn't negative it was positive God broke in

and provided the power that Saul's life would be changed so much that his name would become Paul

and then he would go on to write more than half the New Testament see once in a relationship with

Jesus right these grace bombs don't stop we are called as Jesus followers to participate with the

Holy Spirit to release bombs on others I mean remember what Paul said we can do the good things

he meaning God planned for us long ago it's almost as if Paul is saying there are divine appointments

available to you and me every day and I'm talking about in our walking around lives that we if we

open our eyes and see the opportunities God will place them before us and we simply just have to

walk in them and release God's grace onto others and you're like well just give me an example of

course well many of you will go out to lunch after this it just may so happen that your server

whether it be a male or female is just having a really bad day and for many people when your

server is having a bad day it negatively impacts your lunch well what if instead of us getting a

bad attitude we see this as a divine opportunity to release God's grace how about the barista who

makes your Starbucks coffee or Dunkin coffee on your morning route to work how do we not know that

God has placed that individual in our lives as an opportunity for God's grace to be released

how about the soccer or baseball coaches volunteers to serve your kids how about the person that just

started at work last week that you have to train and you think I don't want to train anyone

how do you not know God has not ordained that person to be in your life for the very reason

to release a grace bomb or dare I say those neighbors that absolutely drive you crazy because

they're so loud God has placed there for a divine opportunity for you to release grace

and bring change into their lives I believe friends there is nothing random about people

in our everyday walk of life that if we see our lives as living in God's kingdom God will bring

people into our path so that we can release grace into their lives now the English standard version

of the Bible translates verse 10 of chapter 2 in Ephesians this way for we are his workmanship

created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in and I

just thought it was interesting I found that that we should walk in them why I began to pray like

God why is that added there why is that added to this translation well I believe it was added

because we were created designed and built to share the good news wherever we go and it's not

just written in the letter to the Ephesians which leads us to our next thought the Bible challenges

us to drop grace bombs in fact 2nd Corinthians 9 8 challenges us to abound in good works and God

is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times having all you need you will

abound in every good work now abound is defined as exist in large numbers in other words God's gonna

just bless us abundantly so that our good deeds our good works our grace bombs are just happening

all the time in our everyday walk of life we are challenging Colossians 1 tend to be fruitful

so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way bearing fruit in every

good work growing in the knowledge of God fruitful means producing good or helpful results

in Titus we are challenged to be committed he gave his life to free us from every kind of sin

to cleanse us and to make us his very own people totally committed to doing good deeds committed

is defined as to be all in to be dedicated to a cause Hebrews tells us to sacrifice in order to

share the good deeds don't forget to do good and to share with those in need these are the sacrifices

that pleases God and finally in 1st Peter 2 12 we're challenged to be a good example when it's

written to be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors then even if they accuse you

of doing wrong they will see your honorable behavior and they will give honor to God when

he judges the world so all throughout the Bible we are challenged to be living with good deeds

to be dropping grace bombs on others and Jesus even takes it further which leads us to our next

thought see Jesus challenges us to live out grace every single day look at Matthew 5 14 through 16

you are the light of the world like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden no one lights a lamp

and then puts it under a basket instead a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone

in the house in the same way let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will

praise your heavenly father see Jesus challenges us and he says if you're in a relationship with me

you're to be light you're to be light to the world and if we think about light light is warm

light feels good I mean there's a reason that during the wintertime it's all cloudy and cold

and overcast that people go into hibernation and depression there's a reason because there's not

enough light and see our good deeds are to be impactful they're positive the others are to feel

good when they receive them and you say well Chris why would I do that because that's what God's grace

is God's grace is warm and refreshing God's grace is just full of mercy it feels good I love gathering

with you and worshiping together light also points to a reality see without light if we were to turn

out all the lights in this room all of us would stumble around in the dark trying to find our way

out and with light though we can see the direction that God is calling us to do therefore our good

deeds should point people to Jesus someone is greater than ourselves listen the kindness movement

is all over our culture you can buy kindness shirts to challenge people to be kind even though you

yell at them and curse them right you you can buy a bag of Doritos that tells you to be kind

as you eat this Dorito when in reality that bag of Doritos is causing you to get high cholesterol

and to gain weight okay that bag of Doritos even though it says be kind on the packaging

it's not kind to your body okay our good deeds are caused what it causes us to point others to God

it causes us to point others to someone greater than ourselves that he is the source of light

for ourselves that he is the source of our kindness he is the source of our love and our goodness

now as I was preparing this talk and going through this I was like man these four points

these are good points this sounds so easy right doesn't it sound easy it does it's like biblical

all the scriptures are there let's just go live these outward focused lives but yet

80 percent of the church never does it and I just began to pray I'm like God why are we not outward

focused why is it that we don't desire to see other people changed by God yet when all the statistics

say 98 percent of you believe that it's good for someone to begin a relationship with Jesus if I

was actually to raise your hand again it's good I want to see people changed okay well if you want

to see people changed we have to realize this we have to break out of our comfortable Sunday routines

okay and hear me out I love our community of faith okay I love gathering together with you

it's it's it's there's nothing like worshiping together there's nothing like praying with you

however we can get comfortable in going through that routine because see when we get outside of

these walls and we get in our workplaces or we get in our neighborhoods there's those people that

annoy us get on our nerves and then we get intimidated by them and then we don't ever share

our faith as a community of faith what do we do we try to push you out we schedule different

opportunities for for you all throughout the year like for example the last several months we've

given away flowers in the squares right oh we have these glow bracelets we have these glow

bracelets we want to challenge you to give out at the fire there's some fireworks in clear spring

tonight there's fireworks in Eggers Town tomorrow Williamsburg tomorrow I'm sure there's many other

places too probably Martinsburg take these glow bracelets and give them out to people as a means

to what share with them God's love okay we've given out water bottles many of you know that our

backpack giveaways coming up it's our biggest outreach of the year we give away thousands of

backpacks okay we challenge you to be a part all good things right however those events are all

around us right we're comfortable around us we're confident around us we're confident why is it that

when we're out by ourselves we can't see ourselves as being instrument or tools being used by God

when that's how he desires for us to live see God desires for us as a community of faith to put on

these big events to reach our community but God also desires that within our everyday lives us

individually are reaching out so that we are making a difference as well does that make sense

all of that I'm saying leads to our final thought I believe many of us would begin to live outward

focused if we realized that living an outward focused life challenges us to change see I feel

God challenged us to use this series as a means of our community of faith growing to the next level

this this series isn't necessarily for the people outside these walls this series is for you and me

because when we get outward guess what we grow our relationship with God right last week I shared that

Jesus challenged us to simply said the whole Bible is two commands love God and love others

right and and I believe that if we take Jesus seriously in those two commands this series is

going to be a tool right to impact and change our lives by loving our neighbors but going vertical

and growing our relationship with him I'm all about loving God I'm all about reading the Bible

I'm all about going through devotions I'm all about praying for people praying for others

worshiping I'm all about being in growth groups they're all good things but there's something

powerful when we step out of our comfort zone and share our Jesus story with someone else

there's something powerful when we get out of our comfort zone and pray for a neighbor

there's something powerful when we step out of our comfort zone and meet the need of someone in

our community when we put ourselves out there to be used by God we are changed from the inside out

and you heard in those excuses why people don't share a lot of it is all fear-based but yet in

second Timothy 1 7 for God has not given us the spirit of fear and timidity but of power and

love and self-discipline there's so many people that say well I'm insecure I'm an introvert I'm

not extroverted I don't know how to talk to people good depend on God because he will use you when we

try to do it in our own strength guess what we get in our way God and the Holy Spirit has a way of

overcoming our insecurities our insecure our introvertedness and our fears of man but here's

the deal when we're being outward we have to remember to activate the Holy Spirit we have to

remember to begin to listen and discern to him as we're walking through our everyday lives

not telling the Holy Spirit what we want to do we have to be obedient to activate the spirit and

then Jesus even takes it a step further in Matthew 9 36 to 38 when he said when he saw the crowds he

had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless like sheep without a shepherd he said

to his disciples the harvest is great but the workers are few so pray to the Lord who is in

charge of the harvest ask him to send more workers into the fields see I believe when we step out and

live outward focused lives it makes us aware of the people around us right that God's kingdom is

available to all people and we simply have to be generous with our time with our resources with

our energy to impact others we have to be willing to step out friends we have to be willing to allow

our lives to change our relationship with God to grow and that happens when we step out because

look at first Corinthians 9 27 I discipline my body like an athlete training it to do what it

should otherwise I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified listen

in a culture that is just desperate for truth people are spiritually hungry they're spiritually

hungry but they're all so skeptical they want to see you living this out if this whole Jesus

thing is so good and he's changed your life and and he's the good news then you're going to be

and he's the good news then why isn't your life changing does that make sense so so we are held

accountable to grow in our relationship with God when we're outward focused which leads us to our

action steps living a grace bomb life we are to live a grace bomb life so all of you we're giving

these cards on the way in did everybody get a set of cards so this is your grace bomb cards and all

these grace bomb cards do is they are used as a tool to challenge you to be outward I mean basically

what we're doing is we're living Hebrews 10 24 let us think of ways to motivate one another to

acts of love and good works so these cards when we say to load it simply means that you have cards

on you wherever you go so typically when I have cards whether it be hdv invite cards or grace bomb

cards I put them in my car near my radio that I control and change songs so that everywhere I go

I see them sitting there and when I say load all that does is it triggers my mind to remind myself

that I need to be aware of what's happening around me so that I can look for opportunities

to serve others so I can look for opportunities to pray for others so I can look for opportunities

to buy something for someone and let's be in our busy lives sometimes all it takes is a simple card

a simple reminder that we are called to live outward focus lives now don't get me wrong listen

there's going to be days when you don't feel like grace bombing okay there's going to be days when

you wake up on the wrong side of the bed you have a bad attitude you have a grump on your face

you're depressed the world is against you it's all the government's fault you know when you're

having one of those days just leave your grace bomb cards at home okay because you're not going

to grace bomb anyone anyway okay and it's better for them just to just to judge you than for you

to give them a card with a smirk on your face they're like who's that that that's being

hypocritical right so just leave your grace bomb cards at home when we load it's a reminder that

we're called to share the good news to have opportunities presented to us by the Holy Spirit

which leads us to our next step we listen these cards are a reminder to listen look at Romans 8

11 and 14 the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you and friends I don't know

about you but that's good news that I hang on to every day and just as God raised Jesus from the

dead He will give life to your mortal bodies by the same Spirit living within you for all who are

led by the Spirit of God are children of God and what these cards do again is we load we see them

that we listen we listen for opportunities that God is going to give us in our everyday lives

that He's going to present to us a person that we're going to run into we need to listen to his still

small voice see here's the reality the Holy Spirit speaks to us with encouragement with love

He gives us wisdom to make wise decisions but He also gives us opportunity but so often we're so

busy we have our music up so loud we're watching the next show we're on our social media we miss

the opportunities because we're in a fast-paced culture that steals the opportunities from us

we need to listen for example simply think about the last time you are waiting to check out could

be at Walmart, Sam's or simply think about the last time you're waiting to pick up food from a restaurant

what was everybody doing while they were waiting in line?

Oh I can

right true or false?

That's what everybody does now while you're waiting to pick up your food or you're waiting in line

you're looking down our phones have trained us not to engage with other people

Did everyone see that? Not to engage

Leave me alone

Leave me alone. I love my news feed it's my story it's my highlight reel right that's what everyone's

doing God's challenge you to listen and change so this week when you're waiting in line put your

phones away when you're waiting to pick up your food put your phones away and look around and 90

you're not going to see anything except tops of heads you're like man that's an ugly head you might

see some dandruff right it's okay you may make eye contact with someone that's having a really bad

day and how do you not know that that person was not put in your life and you took the time

to engage them so you got load listen and then let her go right now in the first gathering I shared

I don't like let her go I don't think that's hcv so we're gonna go let her rip okay that that feels

better that's more us we're gonna let her rip Acts 10 38 as you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth

with the Holy Spirit with power now notice what happens then Jesus went around doing good everyone

say doing good and healing all who are oppressed by the devil for God was with him now notice Jesus

was constantly walking around doing good he was dropping grace bombs he was the original grace

bomber and and it wasn't just that he was praying for people and healing people he was doing good

right and all of us have the ability to do good with our time our treasure and our talent and

and listen it doesn't have to be all about money right you can bless your neighbors by simply

inviting them over for dinner one night you're gonna eat anyway you already spent the money

right so it's not even that you're blessing that you're just having them over for connection and

for relationship it could be that you just simply donate the talent that you've been given to someone

younger than you or or a child that would desires to grow up and learn the guitar and you just

donate your ability to teach them the guitar now typically grace bombing and what these cards are

for right you load you listen you let her rip okay so so many of you this is a great way to start

doing this the next time you're in line at a coffee shop okay make sure you have a card with you order

your coffee whatever it may be i don't care where you are you can be in any coffee shop look behind

you and pay for the next person's coffee that's behind you leave a card and ask the person to give

that person the card that's all you have to do and then sprint out of there so they don't talk to you

because you're all introverted right i can't talk to anyone so you just let her rip right and you

don't even have to do that with coffee you could do it you could do it wherever you eat i mean i was

going to say chick-fil-a but many of us can't afford to do that chick-fil-a the prices of

of the food there i would love to do it but it'd be like 200 bucks but anyway maybe god's calling

us to be really a blessing to people but but you start by grace bombing people in that way

it's just simply anonymous you leave a card you get out of the way because this card points them

to simply looking up grace bomb there's a video on there that points them to jesus and our church

and it's a great tool to get you outside of your box but the anonymous can then move in their

interaction for example i felt like god highlighted this to me today many of the many of you you stop

and grab coffee or you take coffee with you on your way to work every morning what if once a month

instead of just having coffee for yourself you got coffee for all your employees or the people you

work with wouldn't that be cool and listen i even said this to the first gathering stop here i'll

give you the code come in make a big pump of coffee take it with you to work but you have to bring it

back okay you can't steal the pump you have to bring it back rinse it out and have it ready for

sunday morning but if you want to do that i'll make it so you can take coffee to your employees

leave cards on the tables and they say well why are you doing this because god loves you

but it starts interaction does that make sense starts interaction some of you like duncan right

you can buy like a 20 cup pouch just leave it at your office drop some cards you've been grace

bombed does that make sense but it starts interaction with other people then suddenly

you're like wait a minute i like the anonymous thing that's fun and and now my employees know

that i'm bringing coffee once a month this is going to move to opportunities where you actually

engage in the kingdom okay because now you you like it you're enjoying being outward you're going

to start praying for the sick you're talking to your neighbor their kids are struggling you're

praying for your neighbors and you begin to interact and allow god to use you with the power

of his spirit does that make sense like it's it's it's a domino effect that we begin to live these

that we begin to live these outward focused lives and here's the reality friends

our community needs us okay look i'm the president of a local little leg okay

we don't have enough umpires we don't have enough coaches there's no one to serve no one wants to

serve in the concession stand there's no like the whole idea of volunteering or serving others

is nowhere in our culture i mean it's gone

why can't the church fill those needs because i believe that's what we're called to do

you know what i mean i believe we are called to use our talents our gifts our finances a means as a

means of living outward lives so that god uses us to just grow and explode his kingdom are you with

me all right so here's what we're gonna do take out your cards take one card out okay grab a pen

if you would if you need a pen we have pens here maybe you can use your neighbor's pen or your

wife's pen or your husband's pen we want to use pens okay so you might have to borrow you might

have to meet someone it's okay like introduce yourself be like hey when you're done writing

can i use it i'm susie what's your name oh i met someone new look you're being outward already

look i'm training you in the church okay so here's what we're going to do listen

i'm going to invite the holy spirit to come and i'm going to ask him to reveal names to you

in your everyday walk of life that god is calling you to interact with this week and then i want you

to write those names down you got it oh my goodness okay i'm gonna go down to first grade okay

holy spirit come i'm gonna invite the holy spirit to come we're gonna be silent

we're gonna be silent we're gonna listen for names that god gives us in his still small voice

that we know in our everyday lives that he's calling us to make a difference in

holy spirit come speak to us god speak to us

co-workers friends

friends

you said the coffee shop

and

i failed a thousand time

I just give you an opportunity of what God just did to me.

I'm giving examples.

As I was praying, God highlighted some neighbors for me, but he also highlighted a person I

don't even know.

There's a guy that stands out here by the McDonald's on Basel Boulevard and holds a

sign up almost every day that says, I can't work, homeless, have some sort of disease,

right?

And for the past four months, I've driven by this guy, and he's probably in his, he's

younger than me, he's probably in his 30s.

My thoughts that run through my head every time that I drive by him is, dude, there's

jobs everywhere, get a job.

Like, I mean like Sheetz is paying $20 an hour.

Like get a job.

But that's been my attitude for the last six months, or four months, or however long he's

been standing there.

And as I was just praying, I felt like the Holy Spirit highlighted and said, Chris, why

don't you instead of judging, grab a couple McDonald's gift cards for $5 and hand them

to him as you drive by him.

And it may not make any difference at all, but it could stir up a conversation.

So you then have an opportunity to pray for him, because the last time I checked, Peter

looked at a lame man and said, I have no money to give you, but what I do give you will change

your life.

True or false.

So suddenly, just in my quiet time of listening to the Holy Spirit, I A, got convicted of

being judgmental, God forgive me, and B, now have a tool to use to reach someone because

the Holy Spirit gave it to me.

That's all it is.

That's listening to the Spirit every day.

And then when we're obedient, he uses us, transforms us, and makes us followers that

are on fire for God.

Amen?

Will you stand with me?

So as I was praying this morning about how to close this gathering, God was very clear

about how I should do it.

And I felt like I was supposed to pray.

I've got to move this table.

I'm going to trip over the snowboard and all this stuff I bring up here, it just messes

me up.

I felt like I needed to pray for the Holy Spirit to release his power into your lives.

And without his power, without his guidance, without his direction, we're a train wreck.

So I'm going to invite you just to simply put your hands out like this.

And all I'm going to do is just pray for God to release his power into your life specifically.

And all this means is God, I want that.

That's all it means.

So Holy Spirit come.

Release your power in this place.

Amen.

God I pray that this would be a people before me that becomes an army releasing grace bombs

into others.

That God, their hands would be hands of signs, wonders, miracles, and freedom.

That their money would just come in in abundance so that they can give back to others.

That their talents would grow and be harnessed so that they again can give them away.

May we be a people, God, that is just as your son was just walking around doing good, that

we would be known as a community of faith that's just doing good.

Holy Spirit come now.

Release your power in this place.

Release your power in this place.

In Jesus' name.

In Elvis' name.

In Jesus' name.

It's not out of somebody goes by that we don't offer opportunities for new life to begin.

So if we could go back to that place of prayer you know Jesus is just good.

He's good.

He will change your life forever.

Some of you are not here by accident but you're here for the very purpose of your neck and

neck.

So you know when looking around it's a personal thing between the individual and God.

If there's anyone here that just needs to start that journey, needs a walk in forgiveness,

needs a return to God, just flip your hand up and we'll all pray with you.

Let's put these words together, Jesus, I'm broken, full of doubt, shame, regret, sin,

change me, make me new, fill me with your Spirit, lead me into new life, give me opportunities,

grace bomb, others, Jesus' name.

Listen, if you prayed that prayer for the first time, text me please.

Take your phone out right now, text change me to 9700, I'll give you next steps, I'll

follow up with you this week, I'll give you the opportunity to move forward in your relationship

with God.

Okay, now for those of you that are just here, listen, you're released to go and do good

deeds, to do good works, to do good that God's already planned for you this week and you

just have to be willing to step out, right, and let her rip.

Just let her rip, amen?

Alright so before we go, hold on, hold on, hold on, before we go, listen, two things,

two things.

After this gathering, if you've never been to Start With Why, you heard my daughter say

I will be leading this, it'll take about 20 minutes, learn all about our community faith,

where we've been, where we're going, what God's calling us to do, meet me, ask questions

about our church, whatever, I'd love to have you join me.

After I high five everyone, I will meet you in the family room if you want to join me

for that.

You can pick up your bracelets that you give away at the fireworks at the Welcome Hub,

you have bags of 25, you just give out, and they're really cool, you know what it says

on them?

You know what it says on them?

Get lit.

Right?

Now for those of you that are judging me, okay, it says Matthew 5 14, okay?

Alright you see, see, so we're getting lit in that we're going to be the light of the

world, okay?

So you, they glow in the dark, you give them out to people and tell them, listen, this

is a hot button item for kids and teens.

I mean they'll be grabbing them and be like, what's get lit mean?

And you'll be like, Jesus.

Right?

You just point them right to Jesus.

Now if you're joining us online, thank you for your welcome, send you home, God bless.

I need you, alright, to high five four people in front of you and behind you so I can get

to that back door.