I Choose to Seek the Good of Others

Well, good morning, and thank you so much for joining us.

My name is Nathan.

I'm so excited about this morning and all that God has in store for us.

We're continuing our series called Renew, and we're talking about how we need to renew our mind in order to get the spiritual victory in our lives.

And oftentimes that's best fought in our mind.

It's when we think the thoughts that God would have us to thank.

And so over the course of the series, we've talked about how we have to choose to be still with God, that we have to make a conscious decision to make our priority in our lives to spend alone time with God and in His Word.

The second week of the series, we talked about surrendering our fears to God.

In light of everything that's going on around us, it's so important now, more than ever before, for us to surrender our fears to God during this season.

And then last week we talked about how we need to be grateful, that it's a choice, that ultimately freedom in our life comes when we are people that are full of joy and we choose to be grateful.

This morning we're going to push back against one of those kind of cultural concepts and something that our flesh oftentimes kind of consumes our life in this idea of serving others, that we're going to choose to seek the good for others.

Now I know this goes against everything that we feel and everything that we oftentimes are taught, because we're taught that it's all about me, that I need to pursue the desires of my heart, that it's about what I want in this moment, what do I need right now?

What will make me happy?

But see, ultimately, that's a thing that spirals quickly downward and it leads us into more and more bondage.

But if we want to experience the freedom and the life that God ultimately brings for us, then we have to be people that are willing to choose to seek the good for others.

When my son Caleb was five years old, we were visiting some friends who had a house deep in the woods, and Caleb was outside playing, really out in the woods, and we heard this blood-curling scream come from Caleb, and we ran outside and he had stirred up a nest of yellow jackets, and they were swarming around him.

And for some reason, he instead of running, he was paralyzed by the fear of the yellow jackets, and they were stinging him and and just laying into him.

And I, as a dad, I just thought for a second, man, I I've got to go.

And I took a deep breath and I began to run and and I and I sprinted.

And this was back when I was of age where I could actually sprint.

And so I sprinted nine non-stop, didn't even slow down, and just grabbed him up in my arm like he was a football, and I just kept running as fast as I could.

We both got stung.

He got stung, I got stung, um, but we were okay.

And so here's the lesson with this is man, don't stir up a nest of yellow jackets.

As a matter of fact, here's what I found is yellow jackets that come out of the ground, man, they are fierce and they are trouble.

Yellow jackets on a college football field, they're pretty docile and you don't have any trouble with them.

That's my joke for the day, okay?

So, anyway, we got stung, but here here's the question I have.

Why did I run into a swarm of yellow jackets to grab up my son?

And here's the answer is I felt like, man, this is my son, I love him.

I also felt the weight of responsibility to do something to step into the midst of maybe even trouble or chaos and and pain to seek the good of my son.

And so today we're talking about seeking the good of others.

And so, why would we human beings be willing to run into the midst of chaos, pain, hurt, brokenness, sickness, everything else that we see in this world to seek the good of others?

What in the world would motivate us to help, to serve, to minister, and to seek the good of others?

I think part of the answer might be that we love people, right?

Part of the answer would be that we feel the weight of responsibility, and it's that's part of it.

But I think there's there's something beyond those things, and it's actually a someone, and it's the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus, who was most intimately acquainted with pain and brokenness and sorrow and hurt.

It is Jesus really that gives us the strength and motivates us and gives us purpose and gives us mission to seek the good of others.

As we come to the kind of conclusion of this series, renewed, where we have have talked about um renewing our minds.

What the Apostle Paul says, do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Take captive your thoughts, he said to the church at Corinth.

And we talked about this the skills or the tools of how to do that.

Choosing to be still before God, choosing to surrender our fears to God, and choosing to be grateful, choosing joy in the midst maybe of pain and hurt.

And so now we come to this reality of what does all this mean, right?

Renewing our mind and choosing these disciplines.

It's not necessarily just for us, it's for something beyond us.

And Christ has a mission for us.

As a matter of fact, let me give you a couple of big ideas that go with this morning.

It's this the natural outflow of the security of Jesus Christ is to serve other people.

The natural outflow of security and identity in Christ says service to others, and you're never more like Jesus than when you are enduring for the sake of other people.

We seek to serve others, we seek the good of others, and so we're gonna read a couple of verses out of the book of Hebrews, and the writer of the book of Hebrews is writing to a young church that is in the midst of pain and hurt.

They're struggling, they're experiencing persecution, they're experiencing difficulty and living out their faith.

They're having to ask questions about the reality of God and where he is in the midst of their pain and in the midst of their their suffering.

And some of them are barely hanging on.

And so here's what here's what the writer of Hebrews says in in Hebrews chapter 12, just these first two verses I want to read to you.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

He says, Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

And and that's that's verse one.

And so I don't know if you've ever been a runner.

I'm not I'm not that much of a runner.

I used to run when I was younger, and I I've run a few 5K's and some 10 K's, and uh, but I'm not a runner, but but but we can, if you are a runner, you can identify with what it's like to run.

And he's referring to this type of idea of maybe maybe a marathon type race.

It was common during that day.

Olympic type events where endurance was needed.

And he says, we need to run with endurance the race that is set before us.

And as a matter of fact, this pandemic we're dealing with, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

And I'm gonna be honest with you, when this thing first hit, I thought we would miss a couple of Sundays, and then we would gather back.

I remember thinking in my mind, I can't wait till Easter comes and we can be together as a church again.

And then I realized, man, this is not a sprint.

This is a long-distance race.

This is a marathon.

As a matter of fact, the Greek word for race is the word agon.

And it's the in it's where we get the English word for agony.

It's this idea of a marathon and how agonizing it is.

And and and we we are experiencing this pandemic, it's it's it's causing agony, it's this feeling of agony that we're experiencing now.

Let's be honest, life is full of agony.

But the writer of Hebrews encourages us.

He encourages us to endure and to seek the good of others.

And here's here's what I think he gives us two means by which we can seek the good of others.

And the first one is is looking at the fate of those that have gone before us.

Because he says here in chapter 12, he says, therefore, and he's referring back to chapter 11, which is what we call the hall of faith.

That's all of these individuals from from the Old Testament who have endured, who have gone through the agony of living out their faith.

People like Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah.

I mean, he's got a whole section on Moses.

I'm going to read in a second, but but he's referring to the faith of God's people when they walked around the walls of Jericho, and he refers to Rahab and Gideon and Barak and Samson and David who defeated Goliath the giant and Samuel.

And so some of us might even think of people in our own life, people that maybe we're pastors or like my grandmother, people in our family who have who have demonstrated in the past great faith.

They're part of that great cloud of witnesses.

Let's just read.

Let me read back in this little section that he where he shares about Moses in chapter 11 of Hebrews.

See, in verse 23, he says, By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful.

And they were not afraid of the king's edict.

By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

Listen to what it says, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Yes, it says he was aware of Christ.

Moses was aware of Christ in his life in the Old Testament.

Verse 27 says, By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

Now, moving forward ahead to verse 33, it goes on to talk more about this faith, this faith of the of people that have gone before us that gives us this courage, this motivation to seek the good of others.

It says, who through fate conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in a war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received their dead back by resurrection.

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.

Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn into, and they were killed with the sword.

They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and in the caves of the earth.

And all these, listen, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised.

Since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect.

So the first means by which we can seek to do the good, seek the good of others, is through looking at the faith of the people that have gone before us.

But the second means by which we seek the good of others is simply by looking at the person of Jesus.

Simply looking at Jesus.

The second verse in chapter 12 of Hebrews says this.

He says this.

He says, looking to Jesus, the founder.

That word means hero.

The hero and perfecter of our faith who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Here's the reality.

We in and of ourselves cannot muster up courage, our own faith.

Even enough love and responsibility will not work when it comes to seeking the good of others.

It may have worked when it was just grabbing my son out of a out of a swarm of yellow jackets, but there's something beyond our natural courage.

There's some strength that comes from beyond ourselves.

And here's what the writer of Hebrews says: it comes from putting our eyes on the person who gave his life for us who is acquainted with sorrow and hurt and brokenness and sin.

And his name is Jesus.

He is the founder, he is the hero, he is the perfecter of our faith.

And it was the joy set before him that allowed him to endure the cross, despising shame.

And he's now with the Father at the right hand.

And so Jesus experienced agony.

He marched into hell for a heavenly cause.

He bore unbearable sorrow for us.

And it's when we set our eyes on him that we are given something that's beyond ourselves that allows us to seek the good of others.

See, the Christian God understands our suffering, and he's provided us a victory.

That victory is not just for ourselves, it's so we can endure and seek the good of others.

It's by focusing on Jesus.

Jesus that I can seek the good of others.

You're about to hear some stories of people that are part of our fellowship or part of our community that have invested heavily in the ministry, that have invested heavily in seeking the good of others.

And it's all because they put their eyes on Jesus.

Awesome.

Well, thank you guys so much for being here and for sitting in with us.

We're talking about seeking the good of others.

And we, I mean me and Russ were talking through like who are some people that emulate this kind of concept.

You guys were always the first people that we thought of.

And so thank y'all for sitting in and just kind of sharing a little bit about y'all's heart and what you guys are engaged in as far as ministry and serving other people.

But it's just so everybody knows you, why don't we just kind of introduce ourselves?

We'll start over here with Craig and just share a little bit about who you are and kids, family, background, that kind of thing.

I'm Craig, and that's my wife Tanya.

Uh we were part of the launch team for Church's road.

We got three kids.

We got uh a 21-year-old daughter, uh, 18-year-old son, and a 16-year-old daughter.

I'm Roger, my wife Teresa.

We've got uh seven kids ranging from 19 down to three.

Three of them, two, two, two, three.

The three youngest ones, right?

The littlest they call them.

You didn't add Teresa?

I mean my daughter, my youngest, Teresa, uh, I have three adult children, and one grandchildren, and my great-grandes.

So that keeps us busy, and we also do foster care.

So one of the bases is the church match.

Um my name is Taylor Morris.

Um, I have two employees, they are seven and ten.

Um, husband coding moved with them.

That's why he's talking about um get much time here.

Same here for me.

Um cool, but can you all share a little bit about just some ministries or areas where you guys are serving other people?

And so, Kedya, why don't we start with you and um we'll kind of reverse the circle here and just share a little bit about some of the things that you're engaged with, not only personally, but also from your business and company.

Um okay, so we serve um mostly on a community and kind of a humanitarian level.

Um, so we don't serve a lot um more in a kind of ministry way, we serve a lot in our community.

Um I'm our current library president and where we focus a lot with um literacy, we do a lot of reading, we do a lot of community outreach with um doing reading feeds where we go into the community and feeds to learn and read with them.

That was something that was really important that we nourish them, we fed them, we rent to them.

Um we do a lot for mainstream serving there.

Um we do a lot for a company as well.

Um we started a real estate company about a year and a half ago, and we didn't want to just pay bills and maybe we wanted to really serve the community.

So we do um this year we've done stuff with Fish, we've done stuff with um Project Renewal, we did some campaigns for them, we did the um social circle little pantry, we did some fundraising for them.

So we really wanted to make sure that we were doing good.

We weren't just um weren't just selling real estate making money, we really wanted to serve the community, um especially children.

We wanted our family to be involved, we wanted our community to really know that we were for them, that we loved them.

Um so we wanted it to be more than just ministry, we wanted to love our community, so we we serve a lot in the community.

That's so good, Brandy.

Well, I've for the last 40 years or so been involved in a wide range of ministries, mission work and a number of things.

So Teresa had gotten us involved through some of her kids in foster care work.

We laughed and said, it'll be fine help out.

Uh and it is by and large, but we're now on our seventh foster child.

Uh the last three have been medically fragile, which has been the most challenging.

Uh two of those three are from abuse, and one of which uh was so seriously ill that we had to revive it three times.

And uh, I'm a graphic designer, I'm not a medical person, so that was well outside of my comfort zone.

And I always laugh when people talk about ministries and their comfort zone, because I don't think Paul was very comfortable with his ministry for.

And that's true in the big picture, but there's a lot of up to that.

And that would be the biggest thing, I would think, in terms of association of reaching out and working, but at the same time, jumping in and knowing that God's got the safety path, but at the same time, it takes a lot of work.

Absolutely.

Yeah, the ups and downs of that's uh good enough for sure.

All right, seven kids, adoptive, you know, parents.

But not only are y'all serving in the adoptive realm, but y'all also help with JoyProm, right?

That's actually what got us into adoption, Foster.

Um, we started doing the Joy Prompt.

Which for those of that don't know JoyProm, say what that's kind of a prom for adults with special needs.

And we do it at Martin Group High School, and we have Summit Baptist Church and then Church of the Grove.

Both campuses helped with that.

And we do it once a year.

And so that was actually what we've always been a part of.

Our whole family is a part of it for 14 years that we were supposed to have any people, but we were changed.

But that's actually what started us also on our foster care project.

I had four biological children, and we were upset with that.

And then one of the couples from Joy From called us and asked us if we would help get her ready because we had gotten taken into foster care.

So that's what started us with that.

We ended up adopting Logan, and then on Christmas Eve, when I was sharing my testimony in a women's prison, Evie was born.

So two weeks later we got her and we've adopted both of them.

So the plan was to be done with six, but God lost when we settled my plans.

And so Patrick was actually my little brother.

My parents fostered him for 16 months.

It's really hard to diagram them in charge of this.

So Patrick was with them for 16 months and then went to be with his grandma for two months.

And she called and she said, you know, I really just want to be a grandma.

You know, we've turned Roger adopted too.

So like the number seven.

So that's how we have all the time.

We didn't know what a refund policy was.

We just knew we had to take it back because we'd love you.

Yeah, that's cool.

Craig and Tanya?

Um, we uh do a ministry with athletes called NG3.

Um it's community change and character.

And um we just weekly we would invite them into our home, feed them a meal, and just spend time with them.

Um they play games, um, just a place to hang out, feel a safe environment.

Um we pray with them and we get to you know uh do a devotional with them and um encourage them and just um even when it's not sports season, we still have those kids in our home and we're able just to love on them and um you know just keep up with them in everyday life and where they're at.

A lot of them are at college now, and um you know just moving on so we get to just see where they're at in life and just love on them wherever they are.

That's great.

So a wide range of people serving in different aspects from you know business point to you know, food pantries and main street, more from kind of the entrepreneur or kind of executive type of serving to athletes to adoptive ship adoption to joy prom and all the things in between.

And so obviously, you guys have all made sacrifices along the way, maybe financially or maybe you know relationally, whatever it might be.

Um y'all mind to share maybe some of the sacrifices that y'all have had to make that you feel comfortable sharing?

Anybody can jump in here?

I think we you know um we're able to open up our home, and uh and I think maybe digital, I think it's not a huge sacrifice.

Maybe one day a week we get this invite all these people in, and I mean you when you get uh 30 football players coming straight from practice to eat in your house, you shouldn't hang out.

I mean, it's it's very different.

Very, very different.

Uh social distance.

Yeah, no doubt.

It's but it's you know it's mid-19s at least.

Yeah, it's it's really cool how they just um, you know, I think that it it's just for them just to come hang out and eat and just have a chance just to be with each other with no agenda and just uh have a good time.

I mean, me and Tanya are not the the uh master chefs to know how to to feed that many people, but I mean I think that God had had intervened and just able for us to facilitate it.

And uh, I mean it's been a huge blessing and being able to see the kids out.

I mean, it's uh I mean I enjoy seeing them.

I think as much as they enjoy seeing us when we see them out, it's just really cool to say, hey, what's going on, and you know, and figure out what's going on in their life at that moment, and it's being able to build relationships with them uh that I never would have.

You know, and I think that they they end up ministering to me as much as I minister to them.

It's just really, really cool.

I think it would be time, but you know, it's been that sacrifice because they are so we get so and you hear people say that all the time, but we really do.

We get so much more out of that.

Maybe even they do some weeks, you know.

Sometimes it's not about it's about doing what we're called to do.

And we're gonna eat anyway, so they eat with us is fine.

We're side it's not a big deal, you know.

So it's we don't have just a relative.

So anybody else, I mean, just any I mean sacrifices or things that y'all had to overcome things that that it it's minor.

Uh and we uh the wife and I discussed it, but tonight's an example.

She's at home because the baby's sick.

And we don't we go to the uh to the Walmart Grove campus, and I don't know if people think that I'm divorced or not because they never see us together.

Yeah, because I go to the early service and then I run home, and then she comes to the late service, and so we're never really together uh except at the house because it's uh it's about priorities.

I mean, you know, when you've got someone, you know, the church just says, Oh, we'll we'll we'll take care of him and we'll love to have him in the nursery.

But you know, he's got a head gear, he's you know, he's he's blind, he's deaf, he's got cerebral palsy.

I mean, you know, we've learned how to deal with that.

Not everybody can.

So you you know, we just uh we just adapt to it and don't think of it as a sacrifice.

So to say that it's a sacrifice uh one that we gladly make, but it's just not uh not something that uh I guess that we should take for granted, but something that we're not gonna, you know.

You know, you're you know you're investing in the kinds of ministries that you do.

That that is indeed a sacrifice, but you know, it's it's next blessing sacrifice.

So well said, I mean, would y'all be in agreement with that as far as sacrifices, but it doesn't come across as a sacrifice?

Oh my gosh, you got seven big.

How do you do it?

That's what I do.

And you work, oh my god, you know, and I'm like, oh my poo?

Like, oh my god, what's two?

You know, I'm like, what a breeze, you know.

But it's just it's our normal.

Yeah, you know, everybody's normal is totally different, you know.

I tell her mom comes over, it's like the circus comes at home.

I mean, I know that you know we're alive.

Yeah.

Well, and I'm sure, you know, you couldn't imagine life without the three youngest that you're three of them, maybe.

Yeah, on good days.

But like we don't go to restaurants and things like that, or if people see us out, they're like, oh, you know, and I don't think we have a lot until, especially when we go to a restaurant.

For some reason, it feels like we have so many.

I'm like, oh my gosh, we cook up like this whole area.

And the bill comes and it's all we went out to eat, and like I said, we never go out to meet.

We went to IHOP, and we actually went because it was like 99 cent kids' meals or something, and his dad paid for our whole meal.

And I was apparently he's a Christian author and everything, and I mean he was like, You guys were so well behaved, and I was like sweating bullets the whole time, and I'm like, don't be good up, don't you you know, don't do anything you're not supposed to.

But he's like, Oh, you're so great, you know.

So that was a huge lesson, but it's something that you know it's easy for him to do, and you just think about it.

Yeah, sounds great.

Well, and Taylor, and Luke, this is we didn't rehearse this question, so hopefully you're gonna forgive me for this.

But I feel like in some of the ways that you lead, being, you know, with organizations and things like that, being in the community, you're having to lead out in front a lot of times, and sometimes can be the the recipient of criticism and people being critical towards decisions and things like that.

And so I know there's a time sacrifice that you've made, but how do you overcome just maybe some of the you know the hurt that maybe comes along with some of the leading some of those service?

Um so that's a good question.

So my um I wish Cody was here, my husband, but um we talk about that a lot, and so one thing that I think that God has gotten has worked on with me is that I pray always that God will make me uncomfortable if he wants me to move.

So if he wants me to do something, if if I don't feel like it's something personally that I want to do, then I'm praying.

But if that's something if that's where God wants me to go, then he's gonna make me uncomfortable until I go there.

And so that's a sacrifice for me.

Sometimes it's not where I want to go, but if God wants me to go there, then that is the prayer of my heart.

God, if you want me to be there, then you push me there.

That's where you want me to go, this is your will for my life, then you put me there, even if I don't want to go there right now.

And so sometimes it's countercultural the way that we live and the things that we're doing and the sacrifices we make.

We don't have a lot of free time.

Um, the number one question I get from people is, do you ever sleep?

You know, that's the ha-ha question I get all the time.

My mom writes me all the time, you need to sleep.

I'm like, I do.

Three hours a night's enough.

Um, but that's the big thing.

But I know that that this season has purpose, that the things that we're doing have purpose.

Um, my little boys, um, they're they're seven and ten.

They think it's weird if we're not going and doing things for people.

Um, um, it was, I think, gosh, everything's a blur lately.

I think it was March and April we filled the food pantries and we went every other day.

Well, it's May, so we're we're kind of done with that right now.

And um, my 10-year-old looked at me the other day and he said, We haven't filled the food pantries.

Why haven't we done that?

And it struck me, and I thought, you know, that's amazing because even when he's disrespectful or he's a smart mouth, you know, he looked at me and he said, We're supposed to go filled the food pantries, you know.

And so even in hard moments when I'm exhausted or we're stretched thin, it's worth it when my 10-year-old looks at me and thinks we're supposed to do these things, and so the criticisms or the whatever are worth it because I know God's pushing me where we're supposed to be.

We're standing in the gaps and doing the things that He wants us to do right now.

That's really good.

And you bring up a great point.

I mean, as far as, and it's interesting sitting here and knowing y'all's kids and families, and you know, even two generations right here, like you you guys all have great families and great kids that um you know love the Lord and have a you know commitment to serve and to give back and be generous.

What what maybe advice as you know, someone that is a servant yourself, would you give the young mom, the young family, the young dad that's trying to lead their family and to cultivate this kind of heart of serving among their kids?

I mean, I think a lot of it's just lead by example.

Yeah, like you said, you don't you don't lecture it, you live it, and it's absorbed.

Uh you talk to my grandkids or kids, and they're talking about how many they're gonna adopt.

I'm gonna have a lot of grandchildren.

No, I think sometimes just uh just not overthinking it, just do it.

You know, I mean I think sometimes we overthink things and we think all this stuff, you know, we think of the uh consequences of our actions when we do something like what's gonna happen, what's it, you know, just do it.

It brings you out of your comfort zone.

That's right.

That's right.

Yeah, comfort doesn't have a lot to do with it, which is quite honest.

Yeah.

Well, and I think that's probably the biggest tendency that people have and the biggest hesitation they have from jumping in and serving.

One is the sacrifices I'm gonna have to make, but I think ultimately it comes down to the comfort zone.

Like it's gonna get me out of my comfort zone.

I can't go and adopt a child.

I can't go and serve on this board, I can't invite 30 football players into my house, which I definitely couldn't.

I don't think I could fit 30 football players in my house, but but like that's the people's tendency, right?

Is that it's it's out of our comfort zone.

So just maybe to close this kind of conversation, what encouragement would you give to people to jump in and serving?

So maybe why why would you do that?

How does it make you feel if you regret it?

I don't know if that's a good question or not, but I can say that Craig always is the one that just jumps in.

He never thinks twice, he just sees a need, see a need and feels it.

And I'm always like you know, I'm always the second guesser, and then when we do it, it is just awesome.

And he's always right.

If I just I hate to admit that, but if we just uh submit it and just do it, the blessing is just so much more than you can ever imagine.

Um just being willing, I think just you know, just putting your toes in the water, and it is just unbelievable.

What you experience, you you want you want to do it more.

So I think you know, you should put your toes in the water.

I mean, I'm more one to jump in and figure it out after I mean it.

I'm I figure out what to do once we're there, you know, and I think that's uh, you know, uh I think that we're as as servants and as people who do things for people, we're so much more capable of what we're willing to do.

But if we just once we get in there and start doing it, we'll we'll figure it out, you know.

I mean, or got God will work through us and figure it out and help us through it, but I think that we are so uh hesitant to just jump in.

You know, just jump in and then you know uh it's gonna work itself out.

I mean, I think we're I think at least maybe for a I think we've quote novice, jump in to help.

Be a helper.

Yeah, there's a lot of needs that are just good helpmates.

There's a lot of roles out there that are very fulfilling that aren't the administrators or the the type A person that has to put it together.

That's a job for everybody.

But yeah, uh, you know, Joy Prom is a classic illustration.

Uh, you know, it has four or five hundred volunteers every year.

The first, I don't know, ten years we worried about who's gonna be there.

Do we need a sign-up machine?

How about a roster?

We just came over to God, and there's hundreds of people that show up, but we have no idea where they're coming from.

Other than that we know where you know the churches and the and the groups and so forth like that.

I'll be making sound like the guns are walking in.

But there's a lot of roles out there, a lot of behind the scenes, a lot of helper roles, and those are great, great ministries.

Well, I think that's what it always you know reminds me is you know, somebody's gotta dig a hole.

You know, if you just point, say I don't care how big it is, you know, somebody else can figure out how big it is, where it needs to be at, just point and I'll dig the hole.

It doesn't matter, you know.

So somebody's gotta do, somebody's gotta do the the work, swing the hammer, or whatever, you know.

Well, and I think it's really just being obedient to where God wants you to go.

I think it's really at the end of the day just being obedient to where God's calling you.

And whether that's to be the driver or to be or to push the bus or wherever it is, God's gonna put you where he wants you to go.

And it's really at the end of the day just being obedient to what it is that God's calling you to do.

He's gonna put you where he wants you to be.

Yeah.

And I love that idea, Randy, too, that there is no there's no small, there's no small role.

I mean, that every role has like importance and is needed in the kingdom of God.

And as we were talking about in this morning over the course of this message, is just this idea that to fight against the selfishness and the the focus on ourselves, a lot of times that we oftentimes fall into.

Serving is the way to get around that.

So you guys are perfect examples of the not perfect, y'all are great examples of that, that uh are close perfectly.

God keep all that.

Um and I appreciate you guys for sitting in and uh sharing a little bit of y'all's heart today and what y'all are engaged in.

And uh, we pray that God continues to bless everything y'all are doing, and uh we're excited to see that really God is uh the best is yet to come, and so we're excited about that.

So thank y'all for being here with us.

So as you hear these incredible stories of people who have who have really um been given vision and been given purpose and mission uh to invest their life to seek the good of others, whether whether it's fostering uh adopting or or uh opening their home for high school students or athletes or whether it's doing a food pantry, whatever it is, um the worst thing in the world is for us to come to the end of this series where we've been talking about um taking captive our thoughts, renewing our minds, uh developing the disciplines and the skills, choosing to uh to be still before God and and and and all of these all of these specific areas that help increase and strengthen our identity in Christ.

The worst thing in the world is for us to come out of and just do nothing.

When we started churches to grow, we said we wanted to be a church that invested in the community.

And here's here's here's here's really what it was based upon is this.

When Jesus looked out over Jerusalem, he looked out over the landscape, he wasn't critical, he wasn't political, he wasn't necessarily powerful, but he saw people scattered like sheep without a shepherd.

People wandering without purpose, without any sense of maybe significance or meaning.

And so there's people like that in our community, and there's people you come across uh the path with every day of your life that are simply looking for someone that will seek their good.

And so I'm gonna ask you to pray and to consider what your next step is to join with us here at Church at the Grove and seeking the good of other people.

God's giving you gifts, God's given you mission, God has given you purpose to join with us.

So what is your next step?

The worst thing in the world is for you not to do anything.

The worst thing in the world for you is to not take a next step.

Maybe your next step is to join with one of our pastors on the Zoom call right after this service.

Maybe your next step is to is to type in and to fill out a card to share with us what you desire to do with your life and your mission and maybe to seek the good of others.

Maybe your next step is simply to say yes to Jesus this morning.

We say it's as simple as ABC here at Church of the Grove, where you admit that you're a sinner, admit that you need Jesus, admit that you've fallen short of the glory of God, believe and trust in what Christ has provided for you in his life, death, and his resurrection, and then confess him as your Savior and Lord.

And so can I just pray with you right now?

Maybe this is your prayer, this is your first step where you would say, Dear Jesus, I admit that I need you.

I admit that I'm a sinner.

And I am believing and trusting in what you did in your life, your death, and your resurrection to provide for my salvation, and I confess you, Jesus, as my Lord and my Savior.

Maybe that's your first step, your next step.

And maybe now it's you beginning to discover, you beginning to understand that God has so much more for you.

So I'm gonna ask you, don't leave this service, don't leave this morning and not do anything.

Please type in, respond, fill out a card, join us for this Zoom conversation right after this gathering, and let's journey together so you can find your gifting, your purpose, your mission to join with us as a church family and to seek the good of others.

You ready to go?

What an incredible morning.

This is the heartbeat of our church to serve.

Um, but more importantly, this morning, if you made a decision to follow Jesus, text the word start to follow to 9700.

We would love to get into in touch with you and tell you what are your next steps in doing that.

But if you are a follower of Jesus and you want to know how to do serve, you can head on over to startegirl.com slash third and see multiple opportunities that you can serve right where you are today.

So if you're wondering what to do next, um don't just uh think about it, do it.

Go out and find ways that we need to have words that we're not only to secure the board, but this is the deal and to walk in and not involve moving.

Also, again, if you're new here, thank you so much for joining us for joining us this morning.

We want to know you and we can um head on over to TwitterGro slash mute actually zoom uh with our one of our pastors there.

Um so we would love to get to know you, get in touch with you, um, help you uh connect with us to wherever you're at.

Thank you so much for being here today.

Uh we love you.

We're thinking about you, praying for you.

If there's anything that we can do to help serve you, uh please let us know.

Have a great week.