Pastor Brodie Kalamen | Greatness is Downward | May 24th, 2026

I just love working with highly capable leaders.

It makes a big difference.

Thank you, Craig, for leading.

And it was my uh our idea.

I'll say our idea, but my to bribe you with a little bit of ice cream after that uh SGM just to kind of get you there and uh get you through it.

So that'll be in a in a few weeks' time.

Uh so this morning, uh so grateful.

It's got a it's a big Sunday.

How many of you know what Sun what day it is today?

It's Pentecost Sunday.

It's Pentecost Sunday, and there what better place to be than together, um, sharing a meal together and remembering what Jesus has done and remembering the promise that of the Holy Spirit.

And uh that song Fall Like Rain, I just felt like it just ministered to my heart.

Just that there was a point in time where there wasn't a connection to heaven, but because of Jesus, we have that holy, we have the Holy Spirit, the the Holy Spirit now alive in us, breathing life through us.

You know that there are two words uh for Holy Spirit Spirit.

One is ruach, it means Hebrew, it's Hebrew, you gotta say the part.

And it's it's the sound, it's it means breath, but more than breath or air, it's like if you were ever down at a harbor and you see a cruise ship and the cruise ship lets go the horn, you feel it in your chest.

The sound of it.

You hear the sound, but not only the sound, you feel the impression of it on your chest.

And people are saying, well, what was that?

It's like, well, you can't see it, but you can feel the effect of it.

And what happens is when the Holy Spirit uh is present, you feel the effect of it.

And you feel the effect of it in your soul.

And you're like, Well, what was that?

And a lot of people have come to church and they walk in, they go, uh, how was church for you today?

And they're like, it's different than a concert or a TED talk.

It's different because you actually feel something different.

It's because the Holy Spirit, it makes an impression on you.

The other word for spirit of the spirit of God is the pneuma of God.

It's where we have the word pneumonia from, uh, where it comes from.

And it is the breath of God, it's more of a gentle breath.

And the Bible says that that if you come to God and you repent, He gives you times of refreshing for your soul.

And it's like a gentle breeze.

It's like you've been sitting in the sun all day and you sit down and the wind just breathes, blows by, and you feel that breeze and it brings refreshing to your soul.

How many of you feel refreshed today?

Yeah, because that's the Spirit of God, that's the Holy Spirit.

And so I want to say, say, if you haven't had an opportunity to open up your heart and receive the free gift of Holy Spirit, today's your day.

Just to say yes to God and allow the force, allow the power of God to change your life, just to shift you and to refresh you.

Because that's his heart for us.

Amen.

It's a good thing, and and uh what a day to be in church when when we're celebrating who he is.

Our series has been called called.

It's called called.

And uh today I want to open with this text out of Galatians chapter 5, verse 13.

Galatians 5:13

It says this it says, you my brothers and sisters, I love that family, that family context.

Brothers and sisters, you my brothers and sisters, were called to be what?

Free.

What's the calling of God for your life?

Freedom, it's to be free, but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh.

Rather, use the freedom that God's given you to what?

Serve one another and to and to do it humbly in love.

So this freedom, Paul says it this way, he says, you are called to be free, but don't use your freedom to just do more of what you want to do.

Don't make it about yourself.

I'm free, so I can just focus on me.

Instead, your freedom is to drive you to be able to serve other people.

You're called to be free, but freedom that doesn't lead to service isn't really true freedom.

And we live that freedom through through humble uh humbly and love.

We we continue to offer that.

Now, in the world today, and it might be really relevant even right now, uh, there's a big question, especially as kids approach uh graduation and are deciding on next steps into their future.

Uh, but it's a big question even related to boardrooms and corporate structures.

Uh the question is what will jobs look like in the next 10 years?

People are looking at education and they're finding like, do I go into this field or that field?

What fields are going to stop?

Uh this last week, Marvel Studios, owned by Disney, uh, just released a thousand of their animators, saying now AI is gonna be able to animate all the Marvel movies.

Interesting.

Meta released 9,000 staff, I think it was uh yesterday or the day before yesterday, just said, done.

What can a machine do, and what can machines not do?

And it's a big question in the world right now.

And a machine can like write an email, a computer can drive your car, which is kind of cool, a machine can build you a spreadsheet, a machine can pass your exam, a machine can even build a sermon.

Not that I used a machine to build a sermon, I knew I was waiting for somebody to speak up.

Like, which one of you thinks I used a machine today to do this?

But a machine can do all those things, but no machine has ever held the hand of a hurting friend, right?

No machine has ever knelt down and washed someone's feet, motivated by love.

No machine has ever looked at a broken individual in the eyes and say, like I see you, I know you, and I love you, and I care for you, and you're gonna get through this.

No machine can ever do that.

So the last job on earth, and this is reiterating what Paul said in Galatians, he said, the last job on earth is not gonna be something that's automated, it's going to be the job of loving one another and serving each other in ways that are meaningful to each other.

We are called to be free, and our freedom should be used to serve one another.

So we look at our life and we say, okay, so I'm called, and I love that word called because it's a it's a big part of our message in the last little while.

We are called to be known by God and called to know God.

We're called to be free.

Free.

We learned about the hangups and the and the habits and the unhealthy activity in our life and know that God can set us free from those things.

We're called to find our purpose, to know God, to discover it.

And now we're called to use our freedom to actually serve other people.

So in the last number of weeks, it's all been about me.

I'm called to know God, I'm called to discover my purpose, I'm called to find freedom for me, but now today is not about you, it's about others.

Serving and finding and helping others.

You were called to be irreplaceable in this world.

There are only things that you can do that no one else can do, serving each other.

No one else can serve my wife except me as her husband.

No one else can serve my kids except me as their dad.

No one else can serve my friends unless it's me as my as their friend.

We're called to serve our community that we live in, our neighborhood.

We're called to serve one another.

That and the people that God has brought into your life intentionally, we're called to serve them and to do it well.

Now, here's the trap that a lot of us fall into.

The trap is this I'm not ready to serve.

Because I'm not good enough.

How many of you have ever thought that?

I'm not ready.

I've you know, and you've been waiting to feel ready, you've been waiting to be ready, waiting for the skills to do the thing, and yet God has like called us to not wait for the perfect order in our life, but to just go ahead and serve.

Step out and serve.

So he speaks to his disciples because his disciples are following Jesus for years, and they're walking with Jesus and watching Jesus, and finally Jesus stops them and he says, Listen, you guys, you've been looking for ways to be great, and I'm gonna show you the way to be great is to serve.

So he says in Mark 10, he says, Jesus called them all together.

He had like a family huddle.

You know how that is?

Everyone, come on in, everyone, we're gonna have a little talk.

He pulls them together and he says, You know that those uh who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles, Lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them, but not so with you.

Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

There's in any way greater to serve than what we just experienced during communion, the giving of your life.

Jesus didn't soften it, he didn't qualify it, uh, he didn't say greatness is is just doing uh big things for God.

Because in the world today, we live in a culture that sees I'm great if I'm doing big things.

And you can start to listen to your own PR and your own news and your own headlines and go, I'm doing a good job.

Look at my bank account, look at my title, look at my staff, look at all these things, and you actually think that you're actually doing a really, really great job, working towards greatness.

But God speaks, Jesus says it differently.

He says, the greatness is gonna come when you're serving each other.

Something each and every one of us can do.

And it was just a message that Jesus was talking about, redefining what greatness actually looks like.

So when we're building, the measure isn't going how far we go up, but it's actually greatness is about a downward trajectory.

It's saying how low can we go to serve other people?

And it goes totally against how many of you struggle with that concept?

I do.

Because I think, hey, if I if I have a place of influence and a place of power and a place of authority, I can serve more people.

How many of you thought that?

How many of you know that the greatest mother of all history, Mother Teresa, didn't even have anything?

She served millions and millions of people.

How was she capable of doing that?

How were people capable of serving without the title, without the the luxury and the resource that that would have provided them?

It's because that they came into a point of saying, no, I'm going to serve from my place of purpose.

So when we know God, we find freedom, we discover our purpose, we can then start to serve, and that service will actually make a difference in the world.

So Paul again again begins to speak about the importance of service.

He said about Jesus.

In Philippians 2, he says, Jesus, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.

That word empty is the word kinosis.

It means he emptied, he spilled out his life for other people.

And when I look at that model of Jesus, I think about it and I think, how am I spilling out my life, emptying out my life for others?

And how easy is it to do it?

So we will never outserve our Savior.

He literally gave his life for us all.

Today we celebrated his greatest act of service and sacrifice.

But Jesus, who had every right to be served, actually came to serve.

So let me just share with you how is what I see is three movements of how we can walk out this area of service in our life.

Number one, would you just say see?

See.

Not like yes, like Spanish, see.

It's like see.

We need to see, we need to open our eyes before we actually open our hand.

And a lot of people think of service as opportunity, like, okay, I have to like have something to give before I actually serve.

And I don't believe that a lot of people don't serve because uh uh they don't want to serve or they refuse to serve.

I think a lot of people don't serve because they just don't see the needs.

Jesus was a massive noticer.

I am a noticer.

I just have to say that.

I notice things.

I sit in an airport and I just notice people.

I notice the interactions, I notice emotions, I notice soul like interactions, and every now and then I sit with my wife and I just elbow.

I'm like, do you notice that?

Because I'm noticing it.

And she's pretty good at it too.

She's like, I noticed.

I noticed when a guy looks over the aisle and sees a girl at church, and I notice when, I notice when they bump phones at the end of service.

I notice, I'm noticing.

If Jesus was here today, he would be noticing too.

So let's just do that.

But Jesus noticed the woman at the well.

When others went for lunch, he noticed the woman at the well.

He noticed her need.

He noticed little Zacchaeus.

Remember who he was so short, he had to climb a tree to actually see Jesus coming.

Jesus walks under Zacchaeus.

I notice you.

I see you.

Other people don't see you, I see you.

I see the trouble you're in, I see the situation you're in, I see you.

He noticed the woman who was dealing with the issue of blood, sickness for years and years and years and years, going to every doctor, spending all of her money to deal with this health issue that she was dealing with.

And Jesus, where the whole culture was saying she's dirty and she's defiled, and get her away from us, Jesus saw her and healed her.

Jesus saw us.

Jesus saw the widow who dropped two little mites, two pennies into the offering basket.

Other people are dropping bags of gold and heavy, heavy loads.

We could use those two.

But he also noticed the woman giving too, and he says, you know what?

That woman, she she's giving more than even those ones who are giving a lot.

I notice.

If you don't see people, the reality is if you don't see them, you can't serve them.

And the first place we go when it comes to serving people is we need to see.

We need to lift up our head, we need to look, and we need to be aware, and we need to see.

Most of us have stopped seeing because we don't stop being distracted doing other things.

We're scrolling.

We're not seeing.

Have you ever driven down the street and w watched what happens at a bus stop?

Everyone, instead of their interactions, they're like hanging out, hearing each other's stories.

What are they doing?

Head down, scrolling.

See.

I got a little experiment here.

There's a famous psychology experiment where uh researchers have you watch something, see something.

So I want to just uh show this on the screens, and I want you to notice the number of times a basketball is passed.

And just uh take a moment.

This interaction, isn't this fun?

This is so good.

This is a test of selective attention.

Count how many times the player is wearing white pass the basketball redress in black and redress in white.

How many passes did you count?

The correct answer is fifteen passes.

But did you see the gorilla?

The video of students passing the basketball to plays again, sped up at first, and then plays at normal speed when the person wearing a gorilla costume enters the room.

This video is from research by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabri and is copyrighted.

Even when they said that the gorilla was there, some people are like, I didn't even see the gorilla.

And the reality is that we're living, we're living in a space, we're living in one of the loneliest decades in modern history.

Can you believe it?

We have massive social media, massive social engagement, massive connection to the world, like no other time in history has it been easier for you to connect.

And yet we're living in the loneliest time in history.

Some of you remember on week one when I shared about uh the time I was on a Zoom call, and someone asked, they just saw me, and I was having like a rough time.

And uh they opened the Zoom call, and you know how your face comes on right away, like there's no video on.

And it's like, and you just you're there, and right away she just said, Are you going through something?

And I'm like, Man, I'm like showing it.

It's like it bleeds out of me.

You're going through stuff, and I remember how important it was that someone saw that, but the reality is that I like am I seeing that in other people?

I'm glad she saw it in me, but am I seeing it in others?

And this week, I I'd really like us to stop for a moment and actually just see people, see people, and if you're in school, see the kids who are eating on the eating by themselves.

See the one that's sitting in the corner.

If you're at, you know, at work and and you're looking, watch how people are coming into a room, watch what they're carrying, get to hear the story.

Take a moment to actually hold a door for someone.

You know, when you get so caught in your world, you're just opening doors, closing doors behind you.

What about the people that are behind you?

Like, connect with the world, see the world, see people, see the kids, see the ones that are small.

Jesus said, you know, if the little ones don't ever keep them from coming to me.

Like, don't not.

See them just because they're small.

See one another.

But it's not enough just to see.

Step two is you need to step.

What do you say?

Step?

Step.

Step.

We need to move towards people what most people, where most people move away from people.

You have to move towards what most people move away from.

Now the reality is seeing isn't enough.

I love to just be able to see.

I see all the needs.

Great.

But seeing isn't enough.

In Luke 10, there's a parable that Jesus shared about the kingdom of God, and he said that there was a uh a man who was traveling on a road to Jerusalem, and he was mugged.

And he was left for dead.

Everything was stolen, he was stripped, he was left for dead on the side of the road.

And the scripture says a priest walked by, and a priest saw the man, but decided he was too busy, he needed to walk by.

He couldn't stop.

Another Levite saw him and went to the other side of the road because he didn't want to touch him.

He saw the issue, and it wasn't until the Samaritan walked by he saw the condition, and then he stepped into the man's condition.

So it's not enough just to see to serve, you need to step up to serve.

And we step up into the opportunity of service.

That word stepping up, stepping in matters.

Service, honestly, service is rarely convenient.

Rarely convenient for you to stop and serve.

It's almost never happens in your calendar.

I don't know how many times people put in their calendar, I have opportunities for serve today.

I'm just gonna mark that in my calendar.

It just happens.

Serving has to be uh a point where you actually notice and actually step in.

So it's exactly what God does.

Uh, how many of you have ever heard of the bystander effect?

Uh it's uh it's an effect that happens that oftentimes if there's like a major accident and there are a lot of bystanders around, a lot of people think someone else is doing the job of like calling 911, for example, or stepping in to actually serve the situation.

But because so many people are around, no one does anything.

That you actually, as part of uh a crisis scenario, have to go, hey, did you call 911?

And the person's like, no, you actually have to confirm, call 911, call 911, like confirm, confirm, double confirm, so people will actually do the job because the bystander effect is so real that there could be a lot of people around and still nothing happening, and everyone thinks someone else is doing the job.

So this week, if if you're looking at life, there are ways for you to step in to do it.

Like, because oftentimes we all think someone else is serving, someone else is serving, someone else is serving, someone else is serving, and the reality is there's need for service.

So what we do is we pick a name.

I stop and I I open my phone and I'm like, Lord, would you direct me to someone today?

May need a text message, may need a word from me, may need a phone call, someone who I need to be thinking about and actually considering in my life today.

Find a name.

A name is so important.

Find a gap.

A gap that you can fill.

It's like, hey, I I've got time, I've got opportunity, I've got the know-how, I can step in and can fill that gap.

Look for that, step into the situation, don't wait for the situation to become convenient, just step into it and to do the work, and then find room.

Find room.

And I love the opportunity.

Like the good Samaritan is such a simple, like, it's probably the first uh message that we speak we teach our kids about being a good Samaritan.

But that good Samaritan went, put the man on his horse or donkey or whatever it was, mule, took him to a hospital, paid the bill, said he would follow up, and to continue to pay the cost, like actually stepped into the situation.

Ways to serve, so we can see people, and then we step up, and lastly, we spend.

What do you say spend?

Spend, we pour out our life.

Don't just tip or pitch in.

When we when we have opportunity to give of ourselves, we want to give ourselves fully.

Like if we're looking at Jesus' example, it wasn't like he just gave us his leftovers.

He said, I served humanity, and the way I served and the way I loved and the way I cared, you want to model after that way, then you've got to be willing to pour out yourself, much like I did.

And Jesus says it uh Jesus said he gave his life as a ransom for many.

It's a transaction word, a ransom word.

He spent his life, he poured out his life.

So there are many ways to spend.

And when I say spend, I the first thing people go to is cash.

And the reality is there's so much more than you can give than cash.

Spending your time, your most valuable asset is time.

I was talking to a friend of mine this morning as we were uh he came in early to serve, and he I said, Hey, I met one of your friends this week.

Uh he's like, yeah, and he he I said, You're you're meeting with him?

He goes, Yeah, he's an elderly businessman.

Like he sold businesses and and uh has done a lot of professional work, and my friend's a business owner uh or operator, and he said, Yeah, I meet with him every week, and we've been meeting for years, and he's pouring out into me and giving me critical uh resource and wisdom to be able to pour into my team, and he's pouring out to be able to pour out himself.

Continue to spend your time giving of yourself, spend your attention in this generation when men oftentimes come home and they just hop on their phone or open up a show or watch some sports because it's readily available right now, right now.

Kids today want your attention, they just want your time and your like my daughter used to grab my cheeks and like look, talk to me with your eyes, like she pull my eyes, so my eyes are this far.

Like, attention, attention, spend it, serve with your attention, and you know how it is with as a dad and a mom, you know, you're just kind of like sitting there, just like, please, I've been with people all day, and I've I've heard words and I've used everything.

Dad, you're like, I've used all, and you've got two daughters, and uh wow, and they just want your attention.

Look what I did in my room, look what I made, look what I'm doing, hear my story, allow me, feel my emotions, and I'm like, ah.

Yes, you have my attention.

It's like giving of yourself, important.

Spend your gifts.

Gifts aren't just to be admired, they're to be deployed and used, not just put on a shelf.

Use your gifts.

Some of you have great gifts, some of you can pray and pray and pray and pray and pray.

You just love to pray.

You're praying all the time.

I guess it's biblical, but you just like you do it.

But there's like a gift to those people who are intercessors who just pray.

People say, I'm praying for you.

I'm like, wow.

Like, I pray and I love to pray, but there's something in me that's like gets agitated.

Like, I feel like it's God saying, get to work.

And I'm like, okay, but I like use that to pray.

Use your resource, use your gift, use your story to share.

You know, you guys all have a story.

People say, Well, what does evangelism look like at KCC?

And I say, Well, everyone should take personal responsibility, everyone has to accept personal responsibility to be someone who shares their story with other people, makes invitations, and all of us have a that opportunity.

You know that there are people in your life that you can connect to that I will never be able to connect to.

But they'll connect to your story, share your story.

It's so important.

Jesus, again, he looked at different people who spent their life.

He looked at the widow who spent her two mights, who gave everything, spent it, offered it.

Go ahead and like, I don't think we can ever go wrong serving one another, loving one another, noticing one another, caring for one another, grabbing each other's cheeks, paying attention to one another.

I grew up in church, I know what a cheat grab looks like.

That's why I have these things right now.

It's just like, hi, Brody, I got your cheeks.

All these things matter.

All this matters.

So the turn for this, and I'm just gonna invite the worship team to come up for this whole series, really, is that knowing God, we're called to know God.

Would you just say know God?

To find freedom, discover your purpose, and now called to make a difference.

When you know God and you find freedom, you're operating from a healthy place, and you're not using your gift for evil but for good, because it's coming from a holy spot and a healthy spot, and you discover your purpose, then you can hit that sweet spot of making a difference in the world, and that's what we're called to do.

But the question I have for you today is not a what question, it's a who question, and it's not what my calling is, but who am I for?

Who have you been sent here for today?

And I'm just gonna invite you just to take a moment, just close your eyes, and just between you and God, and ask God just to place a face, a who in your life.

Oftentimes, when it comes to service, we think what we're going to do, how we're going to use our gifts.

But I want to challenge you today.

There's a who in your life, there's a somebody who's who needs you, and you've been called to serve.

And I want you to take this moment today to first see them, see them today.

And if you if you have a picture, it could be a coworker, it could be a neighbor, it could be a friend who's distanced themselves from God, it could be someone who you interact with on a regular basis, but you just have never gotten to know a name and never shared your story.

I believe God's calling you to a who.

One of the last things, just while you just keep that person's face in your in your name in your thoughts.

I just want to share how Jesus, his last act to his own disciples, after he had provided the meal, he took a towel and he and he took a moment and he washed the feet of those who were around him.

And sometimes we think that God is leading us to a bigger platform, but really he's leading us to a place where we can better serve people.

And service shouldn't be something that's underrated or something that's seen as small, but service is something that God has intended us to commit to, to follow his example and serve.

And today the challenge is that he passes the towel.

Now you go and serve, you go and see, you go and step up, you go and spend your life to serve other people.

Would you stand with me?

How many of you saw a face?

Saw a name, heard a name.

I want you to take a moment just like before the before you go home today and just write that down.

Write that name down.

Put it, take a moment and just engage with with that moment and just say, Lord, if you've called me to connect, if you've called me to reach out, if you've called me to step up, you've called me to spend my life, then today I want to do it, and I want to do it led by your spirit, led by you.

So it's coming from a place of grace, not because of effort, but because of your spirit in me, energizing me to be able to do the work.

Amen.

Father, we just thank you today for your word.

We thank you that you care for us.

We thank you, Lord, that you know us.

You know us inside and out.

You love us, you see us, you stepped up for us, you spent your life for us.

And so, Father, today we we decide to see others, to step up for others, to spend our life for others.

And Father, we just thank you for that great grace.

If you're here today and you've never made a decision to follow Jesus, never made a decision to accept him as your own personal Lord and Savior, and you realize today what he did to serve you, and now you want to make a decision to serve him and to be uh a servant to him as he serves the world, then I'm just gonna lead you in a prayer and we're just gonna pray together as a congregation.

We're gonna pray for the sake of even if it's the one, say today, Father, I accept the gift of salvation.

Thank you for the gift of salvation.

I accept today uh that I am a sinner in need of a savior.

I believe today that you died on the cross for my sin, and that if I would confess you as Lord, you would save my soul, and so I receive that salvation today, and I acknowledge you as my Lord and Savior, and on Pentecost Sunday, fill me with your Holy Spirit in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

I'm gonna let the team, amen.

Let's give the Lord a round of applause.

We're just gonna take a moment and just uh close with one song and then uh I'll release prayer.