Team Conference 2020 | Live Like Christ in 2020

Hey, welcome to breakout section number two of the No More Answers Virtual Team Conference.

Today we're going to be hearing from Pastor Tim and Jen Timberlake on how do I live like Christ in the 21st century in the year 2020.

We're excited to hear from them today.

So let's kick it over to Pastor Megan to hear from Pastors Jen and Tim Timberlake.

Hey guys, we're so excited.

We have our very own pastors from Celebration Church in Jacksonville.

That's Pastor Jen and Pastor Tim Timberlake.

We're so excited that they're going to be imparting it to us of what it looks like to model Christ in 2020.

So we're so thankful.

Thank you guys for being here today.

Tell us a little back, a little bit about your background of how you got to Celebration Church.

We just want to know all about it in case people are not familiar with you guys.

So we pastored uh in North Carolina, a church that we still pastor in Oversea, that we're bringing up under the umbrella of Celebration Church in the Raleigh Durham, North Carolina area, a church called Christian Faith Center that my parents started 50 years ago.

And I've been leading that church now along with uh Jen, my wife, for the last five years, and I've been pastoring it for the last 16 years this year.

And I had an honor and a privilege of meeting Pastor Stovall Wien some years ago, and me and him just kind of bonded and connected.

And he called me up uh probably a year and a half ago now, maybe a little bit over, and said, Hey, I want you and Jen to be praying through uh transitioning into uh leading Jacksonville.

Yeah.

We prayed through it and we felt like it was God's time and for it and start having a conversation with our church family back in North Carolina and just kind of start bouncing around the idea of what it would look like to become family uh with celebration.

And so we uh prayed through it for a season and and really just kind of had some honest conversations uh about it and laid it all out on the table to see what God wanted uh for us and for his church family, and God wanted us to join forces and uh take more ground together.

And so fast forward to August last year, uh we started really formulating a plan and in October we announced it to our church.

Well, everyone has been so excited.

We we're enjoying the messages that you guys have been sharing with us as a church, and we're so thankful to have you guys a part of our family.

And so let's get started.

Um, I just want to start and jump right in.

You know, um, we just want to know, like in this day and age, what does it mean to live a Christ-like life?

You know, I I think that what it means to live a Christ-like life, obviously we we are not perfect and we're never gonna be perfect.

Yeah, but I think it means that we seek out Jesus and we try our very best to be like him, but we cannot be our best if he's not directing us.

And so I think for me, anyways, what it means to live a Christ-like life is to make sure that every day I'm seeking him out so that he can guide my steps because I'm better when he is guiding me than when I try to go about it on my own.

And usually when he's guiding me, it's easier for me to be kind, to be loving, to be compassionate, to be gentle, um, to be slow to anger.

Yeah.

Um, you know, so when he's guiding us, when we're seeking his direction daily, then we can live a Christ-like life.

But when we're trying to go about it on our own, we get more frustrated easily.

We're not as patient, we're maybe not as kind to the barista who messed up our order.

I love my coffee, okay?

Well, really, it is in every single step of our day that we have an opportunity to um model Christ in our lives, but we can only do that if he's guiding us and we're um connected to him and to the Holy Spirit that we're um, you know, able to live more like Christ.

I I also think a life surrendered is a Christ-like life.

You know, when we look at culture, when we look at society now, everything is pointing us to uh bettering ourselves and really making us a selfish society.

Yeah.

But a Christ-like life is a life that's surrendered to something that's bigger than us.

It's bigger than my life, it's bigger than what I want, it's bigger than what I desire.

It has to be uh first Christ, then others second, and then myself third.

And so as we are pursuing Christ and we model uh the life that Christ lived, we can always go back to the Word of God and see that Christ carried out a life of surrender to God.

Yeah, even through the sacrifice he made on the cross.

Yeah.

So when we when we look at uh some of his last statements, he's telling God, God, not my will, but let your will be done.

And that is a life of surrender.

And I think every day that we have an opportunity to kind of wake up and say, okay, God, I want your plans for my life to be manifested and carry out, and not necessarily my wants or desires.

Yeah.

Because if you know, if we're honest, the only reason we can't live a Christ-like life is because we get what we want.

Yeah.

That's it.

Have it your way, Burger King.

That's it.

We want what we want when we want it, and the Bible never promises us that we'll get what we want.

Yeah, does it does ensure us though that we'll get what we need.

Yeah.

And so that's why in the Old Testament, you know, David says, The Lord is my shepherd, I have no wants.

Yeah.

Because everything that he had need of was supplied to the shepherd.

And so I think for us as leaders, I think for us as servant leaders, when we live a surrendered life, we get the things that we need.

And as a as a result of what it is that we need, it allows us to surrender our wants to him so that we can be the reflection of Jesus Christ.

And as a result, we live a Christ-like life.

Yes, I love how you guys both um pointed out two different things.

Um, first Jen pointed out, like emulating or um emulating, you know, Jesus, having those characteristics, but not being perfect, because a lot of times we think that the life that we live is going to be perfect and there is only one perfect savior.

However, we can do our best, and as we draw closer to God, uh, we can emulate those things and we're less likely to do those things as much if we did it on our own.

You know what I mean?

Like if we followed him and we did it with him, like um we're less likely to do those things.

Um and it's literally a daily surrendering to him because if you go one day, like it's over.

Yeah.

Yep.

You go one day, and we've had these conversations.

One day or one morning, even if I don't get up and I've got to get downstairs because he's got meetings and I've got to get with Max and feed Max and be with him all day, and I don't get the time that I need to pour in because I've woke up late or whatever it is, my my day is off.

Like I'm off.

And you might not even, you might not even realize that like your tone's a little quicker, or or it might not even be that, but you can almost you can sense it in your spirit that you're not you're not where you would be if you had first started off with Jesus.

If you first started off kind of hearing what he has for your day.

That's one thing that I really try to practice, and Tim tries to practice is seeking what he has for me for that day, even if it's just interacting with my family, but trying to ensure that I'm reflecting him even in those interactions, in the in the little things, so that in the big things we can we can reflect him.

So, with that being said, I want to know if there's someone who has personally impacted your life who has emulated um being Christ's life inner life, and how that it has impacted you in a profound way.

I'll let you kind of answer that first.

There's been a few that kind of yeah, Tim's had some incredible, um incredible men and women of God in his life.

For me, two people really stand out.

Um, Tim being first and foremost.

Uh, you know, I didn't come, I didn't dream of being a pastor.

Um, I came into this game late, as some would say.

And I was an art director before and really not living for God.

Um, but I had two people to impact my life so deeply, Tim being probably the biggest of them when we met.

Uh, first of all, before we even started to talk about getting married, he told me up front, and this is a key for all those single people.

If somebody doesn't talk to you like this, then they might not be for you.

Um, there is only one Tim Timberlake, but he told me, Listen, if I, if I'm only in your life to show you what you deserve, then and God tells me that you're not my wife, then we can be nothing more than friends.

I won't make you my girlfriend until God tells me that you're my wife.

And he obviously had a congregation to protect.

Um, he is protecting himself, but he was so upfront with me and he was so honest about.

I always say he was the only person who ever cared about my soul.

Um, I've never experienced that in a relationship before, and just watching the way that he lives at home, watching what he does, watching his dedication and his love for Jesus, and the way that he seeks him, I've never seen anything like that.

And so for me, if I try to emulate Tim, then I know that, like, yeah, I'm gonna experience Jesus in a way I've never experienced before.

Yeah.

Because he just the way that he lives and walks out what he believes, and truly the sacrificial love that he gives me is it's unlike anything.

I always say, like, I'm not good enough.

Like, I constantly have to try to be my very best.

And I tell her to shut it up.

It's true.

So for for me, Tim, and I'm so grateful that I have a husband who really does show me what it looks like to love Jesus and to try to be like him.

Um, the way that he loves me is just a reflection of that.

And then before I met Tim, a woman by the name of Dr.

Rhonda uh came into my life right after my accident, and she was a spiritual mom to me.

I had never had a spiritual mom before, but she truly prepared me for what God had for me and spoke those things over me before I really even knew them myself, prophesied over me, prayed over me.

Um, I mean, told me things that seemed crazy, but she was she believed in me before I believed in myself and believed in the call on my life before I even knew what a call was.

Yeah.

And so those two people just they they sh they changed the course of my life and are why I am where I am for sure.

I think for me, um one person and you know, not the copycat Jen, but you know, Jen, she has demonstrated loyalty to Christ through pain and through a lot of suffering.

And to see the consistency in her relationship and her faith and God unwavering through that has been super encouraging and inspiring to me.

Um my parents are huge in that.

Um, they showed me as she was talking about, it's not about perfection, but my parents were firm believers that you should be making progress.

Yeah.

And so every single day, what does that progress look like as we grow in the things of uh Jesus and as we kind of dig our roots deeper in the foundations of what it is that we say we believe in.

And so just to see them go through literally a crap storm of stuff from uh my dad being terminally ill with throat cancer to my mom walking out life alone after my dad died, and just to see their faith and to see their faithfulness, even uh in dire times, has been uh a beacon of hope for me.

And one of the things that they would always say is it's difficult to see where your faith uh is uh concreted and rooted in good times, but it's not until we are tested that we have an opportunity to see uh where our faith really lies.

And so uh those three would be huge uh representers and reflections of Jesus Christ and and you know his righteousness and his love and and humanity through them has been a pretty cool thing to watch over my lifetime.

I love that.

I love that you both got something from each other.

It's almost like uh Jesus knitted you together so that you can you can learn from one another uh and learn how to grow in your faith from one another.

So that that is awesome.

It's an awesome testimony to your marriage and the strength in your marriage, but in your walk with Christ as well.

So I want to ask, um, you know, for this generation right now, or even you know, just for us, what is the best way for us to take the cheat the teachings of Jesus and apply them to the 21st century living?

Well, I think when we look at the word of God, Jesus was very strategic and intentional with crafting his message depending on whoever he was talking to.

Yeah.

So when he was talking to fishermen, he talked fish.

When he was talking to tax collectors, he talked taxes.

When he was talking to people that needed healing or deliverance, he talked healing and deliverance.

And so if we just take uh a little nugget from Jesus and understand it's important who we're talking to, so we can determine what we need to talk about.

I think it would help us to craft uh what we believe into word so that the people that we desire to deliver it to can in fact receive that message.

And so, just like any great restaurant, the restaurant understands the chef is the main staple for whatever it is that we're trying to serve, right?

And so we we are just the servers.

As we're looking at this right now, we're looking at this as leaders, but more importantly, we're looking at this as servers.

And so understanding it's not our job to prepare what it is that God desires for his people to eat, it's just our job to serve it.

Yeah, and so sometimes I think we get so consumed with how we look serving that we forget the chef of our chefs is in the back making a delicious meal that he's already prepped for his people.

And the only thing that we have to do is carry it out to the people that he has put in our lives to receive it.

Yeah.

I love how you said that because he he was all things to all men.

So he did change based on um the people that he interacted with.

And I think a lot of times we're trying to convey something based on how we would want to receive it instead of in the way that they need to receive it.

Thank you for sharing that.

Um, Jen, I want to ask you this question.

What's the best advice that you can give to someone um who's nervous about sharing about Jesus with a family member or a friend who doesn't believe, you know, or they may believe, but they may be in a season of doubt right now, um, but they don't want to be ridiculed at all.

That's a good question.

That's a good question.

And I've I've dealt with that before.

And I I mean, I have friends and family now that sometimes I have to uh tread lightly, uh, we'll say, but not because I'm scared of being ridiculed, because I think it's important for us to be bold in our faith.

Yeah.

Um, I I think that when we think about the sacrifice of Jesus, to be scared to be ridiculed, when we think about that, that would be like saying somebody, someone took a bullet for me and being afraid to talk about it.

Yeah.

And I so I'm not afraid to talk about my faith, but I do even even in speaking boldly about Jesus and what he's done, God also gives us wisdom and discernment in who we're speaking with.

And like Tim said, how we go about speaking to them.

So some people I know they're not ready for certain um conversations.

But as I build relationships with them, they open up in order for me to share.

And when people love you, they're they are also proud of you and the steps that you're taking.

You know, when you're talking about family and friends, especially, I have I've lost friends in my in my walk, but I but I'm confident that God will bring those people back into my life when the time is right, so that the seeds that He's planted can be watered and I can now bring something to the to them.

Um until that point, I give them to God and I and I pray for them and I love them from a distance and and that's okay.

Um but people, other people in my life that I've had um in my life for a long time, pre-Jesus, and they're like, whoa, what is this crazy bold transformation that's taking place in in this person?

Like, you're a you're a different person.

But I've but they've also come to me with their problems now, like they never did before.

They've they call me when they want prayer.

They call me when they're even if they're not prepared to like fully give their hearts to God and they're full not fully prepared to accept Jesus, they call me in their toughest times.

And I'm able to share in those moments, like, you know, I know that maybe this, I'm I know that this might be uncomfortable, or I know that, you know, maybe you're not quite sure about this, but let me tell you what Jesus did in my life when I was in my darkest moment.

So that's why I can say boldly that he is who he says he is.

And and I think that as we build relationships and as we come to understand our relationships and the people that we're interacting with better, it becomes easier and easier to speak boldly about our faith, but also be discerning as we have those conversations.

And I think one of the most free and things that we can understand, it's not our job to save people.

Yeah, it's just our job to point them to the one that can.

Yeah.

I think sometimes we take on the responsibility to try to save people.

And we get either nervous of how they'll respond or we get heartbroken at their response because it doesn't go the way we expected it to.

But there's a scripture that says that some sow, some water, but at the end of it, God gets to harvest from it.

And so when I understand my role in a person's life is just to play a piece of it.

I don't have to try to bury bonds and close out every single interaction with get saved, get saved, get saved.

All I have to do is play my part, be obedient to what God has called me to do, and understand today, I just might sow the seed.

Someone else might come and water it, someone else might expose it to the sun, but at the end of it, God gets to harvest from it.

I think that frees us up from the pressure of well, they didn't receive salvation or they didn't.

You know, it just takes a lot of pressure of performance off of us and it puts it back on relationship.

I mean, I think of a relationship that I have someone so close to me, and they I I've been I could tell that they were struggling with their faith for all for like that they had kind of Walked away a little bit and they were struggling so much.

And as as someone who's experienced the radical love of Jesus, I I I know what they need, but I knew I couldn't just be like, you just need to turn your life back around.

Like it's that's gonna push them further away.

So I've I've been loving on this person for months and months and months, probably a more than a year.

And just recently they said to me, you know, I just feel like I was intimidated, and I feel like I rebel, I was rebelling against my fate just because I was intimidated and just to rebel.

And then I got to tell them, well, all you have to do is just turn and walk back towards God because He's waiting for you with open arms.

And that was such a breakthrough, but that only came through just honestly loving on this person and pointing them to Jesus and being discerning in our conversations and just continuing to be loving and there for them in their darkest season.

And that that like I I wept after I got off the phone because it was just it's like a finally a step for that person back towards the person that they love.

Like they, I know that they love Jesus, but it was just a season for them that that they rebelled, that they felt like they couldn't turn to God or they weren't hearing from him.

And so, you know, it's a really about patiently loving those and sacrificially loving those people who might not be might not be where we are at, you know.

And I love that.

I think uh even as you spoke, discernment came up in my heart as well.

Um, but relationship is so key because I think we try to force things down people's throats that we don't have a strong relationship with and they can't hear us, you know.

And and the same with Tim, like uh Pastor Tim, like planting the seed, like our job is not to change people, that's the Holy Spirit's job.

And I think a lot of times in our our, you know, we really want the people to change, we really want them to know Jesus like we know them.

But I think we all had a process to go through um before we got there.

And so, and then people were patient with us.

So that's the same thing that we have to do with others.

So that was so good.

And so our last question is um uh it is said, you know, by some people that you you don't necessarily um need to even talk about Jesus openly.

Um the life that you live on the outside should just be enough.

Uh, so what do you guys, what do you both say to that?

I think that God has blessed us with the mouth for a reason.

And I think just as we demonstrate and model Christ, I think that um we have to talk about it because you talk about anything that has blessed you.

When we go to a good restaurant, we just don't sit in the restaurant and say, you know, we utilize our words and then we tell other people about it just as we would a really good movie.

We make suggestions, we advertise what it is that we believe in.

And so just as we believe in Christ, not only should we model it, not only should we demonstrate, not only should we allow it to be lived out through our life, but we should also advertise what we believe in.

I think that's one of the greatest things that we could ever do.

Um, and so part of the Great Commission.

The word of God tells us to go ye into all the world and tell.

You know what I'm saying?

He told the woman at the well after she got her life change, now go and tell.

Yeah, I think is something so powerful about us going and telling and demonstrating through our life about the goodness and the mercy and the grace and the love of Jesus.

Yeah, I I agree.

And I think it's kind of both and, right?

Like you can't talk about Jesus and not try to live out what Jesus talks about.

Yeah.

Um, it you can't have empty words with no action.

If we talk about Jesus, but our lives reflect something completely different.

We're we're we're kind of empty, empty vessels just spouting off steam or smoke, you know, like if people look at our lives and they don't see what we say, um, they don't see us living it out.

I I think that's very dangerous.

Um I think it's part of the reason, in all honesty, sometimes that the church gets a bad rap.

Yeah.

Um so I think that's very dangerous to uh the the the big church, to God's church um and the body of Christ.

But I also think that we have to talk about um this, the transformative love of Jesus.

Like there's nothing more beautiful than that.

And so as we live it out, we get to tell people why we are how we are, why we are who we are, and who made us this way.

Like how I mean, I it just just as an example of Tim, like I constantly am like, how are you so patient?

How are you so like how are you so amazing?

But he always, always points it back to Jesus.

He's never like, I'm I mean, I'm just incredible.

I've just worked on it myself.

What what can I say?

But he's always, always pointing, pointing it back to Jesus, always talking about what Jesus has done for him and what he's speaking to him, and who you know how he's being blessed, and and and it's so beautiful because it's both and it's words and action.

And I think that that's so power that combination is literally transformative for the people around us, but you have to have both, it can't be one or the other.

Have you seen um silent disco or silent dance party?

No, never seen that.

Oh, with the with when you put the headphones on, yeah.

People have the headphones on, but you know how crazy they look when you can't hear what they're listening to.

Yeah, that's how we look as believers when we say we want to model it, but we don't want to talk about it.

That's good.

It's impossible for us to line up with what God has called us to line up to without looking crazy to everybody else if we're not willing to talk about what it is that we actually believe in.

Wow.

I and I think too, to Jen's point, when you're saying that, um oftentimes we don't talk about it because we're not living it.

And so it's hard to talk about something.

How can you share from the overflow if that's not in you right now?

And so um it's I you know, you have to evaluate yourself and you say, Why why don't I do this?

Why don't I talk about it?

Because it says the Bible tells us that we are supposed to share the testimony and talk about Jesus, but why don't we do it?

And so a lot of times we we are in fear of you know um what people might say, like what people might think.

But in any other conversation, it's gonna be the same response, what people might say, what they might think.

And so um, I'm so thankful for you guys.

The jewels you dropped for our teams today is so amazing.

Thank you for imparting to our leaders tonight.

We are so thankful for the life that you live behind the scenes, and so you can talk from the overflow of that.

And so we're so thankful.

If you can just pray for our leaders uh going out, that would be great.

We thank you for this incredible group of leaders and servant leaders, God, and people that have made their life a life of sacrifice for others to encounter your goodness, your love, your grace.

And so, God, I ask right now that you would pour back into them everything that they desire to pour into others so that they can encounter you, God.

Allow them to meet you, encounter you, and God, uh discover facets of you that they never knew uh were possible.

And so, God, we ask that you would reveal yourself to them uh over and over again to them in new ways, God.

Allow them to feel your peace, allow them to feel your comfort, allow them, God, to feel your presence like never before in this season.

And God, we thank you for the leaders, Pastor Keith, Pastor Megan.

We thank you, God, that you uh would continue to uplift them, God, continue to uh bless them, God, continue to inspire and encourage them in this season, God, as they are pouring out into these leaders.

And God, we thank you right now that what we do for your house, you in return, God, pour back into our houses.

So, God, we thank you uh for just continuing to part your love on us as we get this opportunity uh to build your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

We pray.

Thank you so much.

We love you guys so much.

I know our leaders love you as well.

Have a good night.

Have a good one.

Thank you.

Thanks so much for joining us today for our No More Answers breakout session.

Uh, we're so glad that you were a part of this and hope that uh you can take something away.

Uh don't forget to check your inbox next Friday, and we're gonna hear from Pastor Brian Schwartz on what is real rest uh and what does the Bible have to say about it.

So make sure you check the inboxes next Friday for that for the No More Answers session three.