Roll Call | Pastor Chris Kouba

Well, good morning.

Let me add my word of greeting to Pat's earlier.

My name is Chris Cuba, and uh love getting to be the lead pastor here at United City.

So excited to be able to see how God continues to move in our midst and how he just continues to add to his church.

Uh, both through those getting baptized, we had somebody come forward last service.

God just continues to move in a pretty powerful way.

Uh Pat mentioned just how many students alone we've seen getting baptized over the course of the last just month.

That's just students.

There's continuing to be God activity in all different areas in the life of our church, and we are just so grateful uh that you are here and excited to see how God is gonna move.

Let me just encourage you uh to take advantage of what Pat talked about.

We've got yard signs out in the lobby.

We of course have got the little the little cards that are in your seats that you would be faithful this week to invite someone else to come be a part of services next week.

The schedule this week is that we're gonna be doing Easter egg hunts all over the city.

Encourage you to go to our events page and you can sign up to help us on one of those.

I think we're doing 15 different Easter egg hunts to get the word out about uh services.

Friday night, we're gonna be having a very special Good Friday service.

We're gonna be doing the Lord's Supper together.

Would love to have you be a part of that very, very significant service as we begin to just get our hearts right and prepared for reflection on all that we're gonna celebrate next week.

8:30, 10, 11:30, and 1 o'clock are our service times next Sunday morning.

Three in English, one in Spanish.

Would love to have you not only come and be a part of that, as Pat mentioned, if you can help us out by serving at that 10 o'clock and attending one of the other ones, that would be really, really helpful because we anticipate that being our largest service.

But we are so grateful for you to be here.

And just let me tell you the power of a simple invite.

Uh, I just got to baptize Jesus.

The reason that Jesus came and he and I had that lunch, and we had that opportunity for me to share the gospel is because uh a friend in our life group invited them uh at a softball tournament and just said, Hey, why don't you come to church?

And now all of a sudden his whole family and many of his extended family are here, and now his daughter got to be baptized because of just one simple, hey, do you want to come to church?

A ministry we absolutely love, and God has really opened up some pretty incredible doors, is the ministry Oaks of Righteousness.

Oaks of Righteousness is a transition home for those who are gonna be getting out of prison.

God's just done some amazing things in our prison ministry overall.

Uh Bill and Stephanie Everts have kind of led the way on this in terms of getting us into various places and locations.

Uh, but but we, Jeff and Charity Fike are the ones who give leadership to Oaks of Righteousness.

And the reason why we have that relationship is because was it two years ago?

Two years ago, somebody invited them to come to a baptism at an Easter service.

My point is this: you never know what a simple invitation can do for you, can do for somebody else, can do for our church.

And so I want to vitally encourage you, we're getting the word out, we're doing all the social media, we're doing all the things that you're supposed to do that marketers tell you, but please hear me, that doesn't change anything.

It's a personal invitation that changes people's hearts.

And I just want to encourage you and ask you next week to be faithful, to invite someone to come and be a part of what God is doing here at United City.

Turning your Bibles to Romans chapter 16.

Romans 16 · chapter mention

Romans 16, I do want to take this opportunity to welcome and greet all of the men and all of the women at all of our correctional facilities.

We are so grateful to bring this message to you.

Let's give them a hand and celebrate the fact that we can bring this to them.

Uh I've been saying turning your Bibles to Romans for 24 weeks.

For 24 weeks.

This is the last message in this uh series of messages in the book of Romans.

I hope that you've enjoyed it as much as we have had uh an enjoyment and be able to preach it and bring it to you.

One of the most important and significant letters in all of the New Testament.

Uh and whenever you go through this book, there's so much stuff that is in there.

We've we've broken it down in a couple of different ways.

If you remember last fall, we started a series called, uh, we started a series called The Ugly Truth.

And we looked at Romans chapters 1, 2, and 3.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

And the reason why we did that and brought it up to you is because it is in fact ugly, and it is in fact true.

It's hard to hear the fact that whether you are someone who is a moralist, you're somebody who's really moral, whether you're somebody who is really religious, or whether you are somebody who is totally irreligious, all of us fall into the same category, and that is the fact that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

All of us come up lacking, all of us need help, all of us find ourselves at a place where we have to be honest with ourselves about what our problem is in order to actually know what the real solution is.

That's the biggest issue, is that people don't agree what the problem is.

And the Bible is very clear the problem is us, it's our hearts, it's our desires, it's what we choose to do.

We then learn in Romans chapter the end of Romans 3, 4, and 5, we did a series called All Rise, where we begin to talk about how God did not just leave us where we were, but instead he sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, as a substitutionary sacrifice on the cross for our sins.

Jesus didn't come so that you could have a life that you can model and emulate and serve as an example.

Instead, Jesus came to do something for you that you could never do for yourself.

He died on a cross, and the Bible says that when God looks at us, if we have faith and trust in Jesus, he sees all of his righteousness, all of his perfection, and he takes on all of our sin.

It's an exchange that makes no sense.

It's an exchange, though, that legally changes us forever.

The problem is you all know that you don't necessarily live in such a way where everything is all perfect and everything is right, even though that God looks at you and sees you with his perfection.

You know that's not really your experience.

And so we dived into another series in Romans 6, 7, and 8 called On the Way.

And what we did in that series is we began to look at this contradiction of this idea that we are already, but not yet.

We've already received the benefits and the blessings and the promises of God, yet we know our experience would suggest we're still very much in process.

Romans chapter 8, verse 1 is true.

Romans 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

But we also know Romans chapter 7 is also true, where Paul says, I do the things I don't want to do, and the things that I don't want to do, that's what I do.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

How do we live in this reality of the fact that we know these things are promised legally of us, but experientially we're still going.

And so therefore, we learned about the sanctification process, the idea of the fact that God is continually conforming us to the image of his son.

Earlier this year, we began a series called Into the Mystery, Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11, and we looked at three of the most difficult chapters in all of the Bible, chapters that are really hard to get our heads around and to grasp.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

We looked at the idea that God chooses those whom he's going to save.

We also looked in Romans chapter 10 that we are to be ones who share the gospel as though anyone can believe and hear it.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

How does this work with God's sovereignty and human responsibility?

We don't ultimately know all the intricate details, but we do know this.

It is a mystery, and we can allow it to be a mystery knowing that God is in control.

It's the relationship between the Israelites and the Gentiles.

It goes back and forth talking this through, and ultimately it culminates in the end of Romans chapter 11, where it says, For from him and through him and to him be all things, to him be glory in the church forever.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

Amen.

We then have been going through the last few weeks a series called Kingdom Culture in Romans chapter 12, all the way through the middle of 15, and we've been looking at this idea of the fact that we are called to be a different people.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

We're not supposed to be like everybody else, but instead we're to be not conformed, but transformed by the renewal of our minds.

We're to know, understand, and do God's will ultimately in kingdom culture, you're to look, you're to think, and you're to act different.

So this morning, as we finish this book up, if you've ever read through the book of Romans, you're probably going to be tempted to do what we did last night when my family was watching a movie together.

Whenever the ending rolling credits went up, we immediately turned off the movie.

You know, unless you're watching a Marvel movie, which of course has trained you to kind of stay until the very end.

Otherwise, you kind of know when the credits go on, the movie is over.

You can leave the theater or you can turn off the TV.

And you may be tempted to do that if you were to read the book of Romans and get to the very end because it's going to be like the closing credits.

What you're going to see is it's going to come across like the roll call.

He's just going to start listing a bunch of names and listing a bunch of relationships that on the surface appear to have no actual significance.

And what I want us to do today is to look at the roll call of Paul at the end of one of the greatest letters in all of the New Testament and see what it teaches us about relationships.

Let's begin in Romans chapter 16, beginning in verse 1.

Romans 16 · chapter mention

It says, I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Centuria, that you may welcome her and the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and help her in whatever she may need from you.

For she has been a pattern of many and of myself, a patron of many and myself as well.

Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risk their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.

Greet also the church in their house.

Greet my beloved Ipeonetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia.

Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.

Greet Adronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners.

They are well known to the apostles, and they were in Christ before me.

Greet Apolletus, my beloved in the Lord.

Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Status.

Greet Apellus, who is approved in Christ.

Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus.

Greet my kinsman Herodian.

Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus.

Greet those workers in the Lord, Typhania and Triphosa.

Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord.

Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord.

Rufus, by the way, is from East Texas, just FYI.

Also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well.

Greet Asacrintus, Legion, Hermas, Patrobus, Hermos, and the brothers who were with them.

Greet Philogius, Julia, Nurius, and his sister, and Olympus, and all the saints who were with them.

Greet one another with a holy kiss.

All the churches of Christ greet you.

First of all, how did I do?

Huh?

And if you disagree with me, you don't know how to pronounce it either, alright?

Let's just be honest.

We're just kind of making this up, alright?

Here's the principle I want you to walk away with from the roll call.

Okay?

In kingdom culture, you know and are known.

In kingdom culture, you know and are known.

Of course, the idea of the fact that you, first of all, let's look at it to know would mean that you know people.

Like you have relationships.

One thing is obvious in this text is that these are genuine relationships that Paul has.

So while I may have trouble pronouncing their names, Paul would have no trouble saying their names.

He knew these people.

These are friends of his.

These are people that he was connected with, people that he had history with.

He probably had a story for each one of the various names, and you kind of see at times he almost kind of starts going down the rabbit trail, and then he kind of brings himself back, and so he continues in on the credits.

What's interesting though, if you begin to look in depth at all of these relationships, you will begin to notice there is incredible diversity in the midst of the names that are mentioned in Romans chapter 16.

Romans 16 · chapter mention

What I want to do is I want to first of all talk to you about how you can know.

How you can know.

First thing I want you to see is this in order to know, you have to embrace people different than you.

You have to embrace people different than you.

This list, it has differences of race, differences of class, differences of gender.

These are areas in our culture where we are screamed at loudly and told that you must identify and separate yourselves based on your race, based on your class, based on your gender.

And what we see from Paul is that in the kingdom of God, it's different than the kingdom of this world.

The kingdom of this world wants to divide.

The kingdom of God says, man, let me tell you about all my friends.

Like I got friends that are of this race, I got friends that are of this class, I got friends that are of this gender, I got all types of friends.

Let's talk first of all about the issue of race.

I'm telling you, our culture, our country not only has a very horrible history when it comes to the issue of race.

Even today, it seems as though we are being told over and over again how we are to divide and to separate instead of to recognize that relationships should be across racial lines.

Pastor John Piper identifies the problem well with this quote.

It says, Racial tensions are rife with pride.

The pride of white supremacy, the pride of black power, the pride of intellectual analysis, the pride of anti-intellectual scorn, the pride of loud verbal attack, the pride of despising silence, the pride that feels secure, and the pride that masks fear.

There is no hope for the kind of listening and patience and understanding and openness to correction that relationships require.

He calls them his kinsmen, which means they most likely were also Jews.

So he's friends with people who are of the same racial class, racial status, racial situation as him.

He then, by contrast, mentions the households of Aristobulus and Narcissus, who are well-known Roman families found in Romans, excuse me, verse 10 and verse 11.

Some of the other names that were mentioned are Gentile names.

We know from their origin that they were from the Middle East, from Asia, and from Europe.

What you see is Paul had relationships with people that were different than him.

Now let's be honest.

Whenever you start having cultures come together, whenever you start having racial uh lines not drawn, but instead overcome, and you start seeing people come together in unity, you know what you're always naturally going to have?

You're gonna have a little bit of conflict, which guess what?

Romans chapter 14 in the beginning of 15 told us, yeah, we can handle that.

Romans 14 · chapter mention

Of course.

You can allow people who believe different things from different backgrounds with different cultures to believe those things and still believe Jesus, even disagree and still get along.

Why?

Because ultimately we know that Jesus is the one that we follow, and that trumps the racial lines that are often drawn.

It supersedes those things.

Let it be so of us that we are a people who are known by a church that crosses these racial lines.

Please say to me, I think we have done wonders in the last few years as it relates to this as a church, but we have so much room to improve so that we can begin to look like our community.

But make no mistake about it.

The way that you will have a multi-ethnic church on Sundays is by having multi-ethnic relationships Monday through Saturday.

What this means is that we've got to be willing to have people on our roll call that may not look like us.

Folks that you're like, oh man, that's oh, that's my friend.

I mean, you you've got these relationships, folks.

We should seek those out for the glory of God.

He mentions as well the issue of class.

Aristobulus and Narcissus are both said to be heads of households.

Aristobulus is most likely the grandson of Herod the Great, who spent long years in Rome.

He's in verse 10.

Verse 11, Narcissus was considered one of the empire's most powerful men under Claudius.

These were men who automatically had status and automatically had privilege.

You then see in verse 14 names listed like Ampliantos, Urbanus, Philagin, and Hermes, which were all common slave names.

Here's what this means.

Picture this in the church.

That is a beautiful thing.

What this means is that Paul knew people who were privileged like him, and Paul knew people who were oppressed.

Paul knew people who had money, and Paul knew people who didn't have money, and it doesn't seem like he makes any difference.

He's just got relationships with people.

He doesn't allow class to get in the way of who he's going to hang out with.

Pastor Tim Keller, he says this the early church got off the ground to a great degree because of the quality of its unity and loving community.

The world looked at it and was amazed.

One of the things they were amazed by was that Christianity was actually the first multi-ethnic religion.

Because Christians believed that Jesus is the Savior of the whole world.

It meant that everyone should choose to believe in Jesus, and that brought people together in the Christian faith across racial and class barriers in a way that the world had never seen.

The gospel is powerful in that it levels all of us to the same level.

All of us are sinners in need of a savior.

Here's what the gospel also does.

Regardless of your rank, regardless of the status of your bank account, all of us get to be rich in Christ.

2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9 says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 8:9

That though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

You embrace people that are different than you in race.

You embrace people that are different than you in class.

You also embrace people different than you in gender.

The church has struggled with this historically.

In the 26 names that are mentioned, at least eight of them we know for sure are women.

Some of them could have been women or men names, so it could even be more than just that eight.

But we also know that Rome and Jerusalem were male-dominated societies.

Yet in verse 3, he refers to women as co-laborers.

He highlights Phoebe in particular, commending her in verse one.

This most likely means that Phoebe was not only the one who got to deliver the letter of Romans to the church there, but she also most likely was the one who got to read the letter at the church at Rome.

We believe as it relates to leadership, the Bible does teach that the role of senior pastor, bishop, elder that you see in the Bible is a God-given role specifically to men.

But please hear me.

The church has got this wrong historically as well.

We do not believe that that in any way limits the role and significance of women when it comes to the advancement of the gospel in the church.

We want to be a church that elevates women.

We want to be a church that allows women to be able to do all that God has called them and gifted them to be able to do.

In fact, it was women who were the last to leave the cross and the first to arrive at the empty tomb.

Rahab and Ruth are two different women recorded in the genealogy of Christ, highlighting their importance and their significance.

Luke chapter 8, it leads us very clearly to believe that in the midst of the male disciples that were teenagers following after Jesus, there was also some women who followed after Jesus and was accompanying him during his earthly ministry.

Luke 8 · chapter mention

I agree wholeheartedly with J.D.

Greer, a pastor in North Carolina.

Carolina, who says this equipping and platforming women to thrive in ministry is not a passion we share because of personal opinion or preference.

We are convinced that there is no such thing as a healthy church in which the men flourish and the women do not.

Thus, by cultivating an atmosphere where our sisters can thrive, we cultivate an atmosphere in which our brothers will thrive as well.

Above all, we believe that God's word is good and trustworthy, and that his design for the church will stand throughout time and prosper the church now and always.

In Christ's service, every brother and sister finds unimaginable grace, inestimable value, and eternal purpose.

Houston is the most diverse city in the United States.

Northeast Houston is one of the most diverse areas in all of the region, and it is very important that if we want to be a church that is going to reach Northeast Houston and beyond, that we allow ourselves to be a church that is comprised of way more than just one race and one class only highlighting the roles of one gender.

But instead, let us be like Paul and our roll call.

We got all kinds of people on it.

We got all types of folks that are on it.

Why?

Because there's history, there's relationships, and ultimately it's because Jesus has changed all of our lives.

We've got to embrace people different than ourselves.

A second way to know, a second way to know is to number two get in the trenches.

Get in the trenches.

One of the best and most effective ways to get to know someone else is to serve together with them.

Go on a mission trip.

Serve in a ministry area together.

Get in the nitty, gritty details of coming alongside for the cause of the gospel.

And what you begin to discover is that your relationships begin to get formed in a way that is totally different than in another way.

Look with me in Romans 16 again in verse 3.

Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.

Notice they serve together at some point.

Who risk their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.

I don't know what risk my neck is, but there implies something like this.

There must have been something pretty cool going down, alright?

Like in the midst of them doing church, in the midst of them serving together, they had some kind of challenge, some kind of struggle along the way, and so they probably have a story they can share.

That's what takes place when you go on a mission trip, all right?

You never have a flat tire until you go on a mission trip, and then you have two or three on a mission trip, right?

You always have problems.

It just happens.

It just naturally begins to take place where you begin to all of a sudden begin to see, and it is through the trials that you have together, the serving together, that's where these relationships are formed.

Like in verse five, it says, Greet also the church in their house.

Can you imagine?

I don't know how often they would have met, but that means they went over there and they they had house church together there.

They were in each other's homes.

So you can see there's a relationship.

They opened up God's word together.

He says, Greet my beloved Epainetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia.

Can you just picture?

It's almost like you remember, remember when Epeenatus came to Christ?

You remember that?

There's just all of a sudden this collection, this recollection of their serving together.

Verse 6, greet Mary who has worked hard for you.

It keeps going on and on in here, and it begins to just talk about all of these serving relationships.

What I've discovered is some of the greatest friends that I have in my life are folks that I've served the Lord with.

They're folks that I went on a mission trip with.

They're folks that I served in an area of the church with.

And the same can be true of you.

You see, we encourage people to get involved and to go on mission trips, not because we necessarily want it all to be about the people that we're helping, although no question about it, that's a big piece of it.

We want people to serve on serve teams because we got to pull off all the logistics that go off on a Sunday morning.

But please hear me, that is not the primary reason why we do it.

Because ultimately we know that whenever you serve together, you get in the trenches together, there are relationships that form, and guess what?

You got a roll call.

Let me show you a picture of this.

This is a couple weeks ago.

We got to celebrate it last week.

Uh, but this is a trip from our Peru group.

I I know I saw James in here somewhere.

There's James.

I saw Francisco over there.

I was talking to James this past week about the trip.

He was telling me about him and Francisco and how fun they were being able to have, and this whole team there in Peru being able to go, the incredible response that they had.

This is them being able to take the beautiful thing of a soccer ball.

Francisco's like the hardcore soccer.

He is the man over there with soccer, all right.

And he was able to use a passion, a gift, and a love of his along with an amazing story and testimony, and be able to go and share it.

And James was recounting to me about how much he loves being able to watch Francisco share his testimony.

Can I tell you that the people of Peru were helped in a significant way?

But can I also tell you James and Francisco and all of the others that are on this trip have a relationship that has been formed as a result of going and serving together the people of Peru, where two things are the case.

They are now closer together, and their heart is somewhere over there in Peru.

You see, they're connected to those people.

That's why we want you to go on a mission trip like this, is because your heart gets changed.

Not only does your heart get changed, guess what?

Your relationships get changed.

And now they're gonna be able to have some people in their roll call who are from Peru.

We had a team that went to Longmont, Colorado.

I know many of you guys in front here went to Longmont, Colorado.

Here's a picture of them uh last week.

They are there at Longmont.

It was an incredible trip.

They actually had the flat tower that I just mentioned to you, by the way.

Uh, and so they went on this trip and it was an awesome, awesome experience.

They got the opportunity, these these high school students, to be able to go pass out flyers in preparation for Easter services at Longmont, a connection church with Doug Hicks.

Doug Hickson has been a great partner.

Here's the thing United City Church has been giving money for the last two years to Longmont, to their connection church with Doug Hicks.

But can I tell you what just happened?

Is now all of a sudden these high school students continue to text each other, to continue to encourage each other.

They have relationships across school lines as a result of this trip.

But guess what?

They also have a heart for Doug Hickson and what's going on in Longmont, Colorado.

You just get changed.

When you're in the trenches together, God does something to work.

Guess what?

If they begin to think about Colorado, they'll never think about Colorado and not think about Doug Hicks.

And what God's doing there in Longmont, Colorado.

It's pretty cool.

This morning, in fact, we actually have uh two teams that are out.

One is in Vegas.

They are at Walk Church this morning.

Haydn Ratner, he gave a greeting to you last week, thanking you for the generosity of our church.

This is a great partnership God has allowed us to be able to have.

We now have an entire mission team right there that is up there this morning.

I got a picture already from the services that are there in Walk Church.

Just an unbelievable thing.

Yesterday they had the opportunity.

This is what's so cool, not only to go serve at Walk Church, but they also got to serve at Favor City Church, which is a church plant of Walk Church.

So now God is not only allowing us to partner with a church plant, but He's now allowing us to partner with a granddaughter church of the church plant that we helped plant.

And here's the thing: these folks got to go be a part of this block party where they were letting people know about services for Favor City Church.

That's Joseph Gibbons.

Joseph Gibbons is the pastor of that church.

We had an opportunity as a staff to see him just a few weeks ago when he shared with our team how we can pray for him as he's getting ready for Easter.

These are relationships that we have.

Can I tell you what's gonna happen?

Is all of these people that are there in Vegas not only will have their hearts a little bit left in Vegas, but they're also gonna be closer together as a result of that trip.

Just simply going to serve relationships for him.

We also have a group that's at Redemption City Church in Fort Worth.

This is what's cool about this is that you've got some repeat folks going on this trip.

They've gone before.

We've taken a couple of trips to go help Matt Kendrick, who is the pastor of Redemption City Church.

And people said, Hey, I want to go and serve there again.

Why?

Because they're relationally connected to Matt Kendrick and the people of Redemption City.

And not only that, but they're gonna get to know each other.

What you see here is people of all different generations that go on these mission trips.

I'm not just trying to tell you, but mission trips are, by the way, a key thing.

I would encourage you to go and be a part of it.

I've told you our goal and desire is to have 500 go in the next five years, but can I tell you what else happens?

This is what took place in our youth this morning.

These are some of our youth team that helped us pull off our 930 experience where we've got a bunch of core courses.

It's an incredible thing that takes place on Sunday mornings where we teach theology for those who are not already engaged in serving in the life of the church in our youth.

And these are some of the folks who got together to pull this off.

And here's what's beautiful about this group of people not only do they get a chance to know each other because they see each other each and every week as they serve, but they also get an opportunity to connect and engage with youth who come to their core courses.

So it's not just a matter of teaching material, it's about praying for them and connecting with them and having a relationship with them.

This takes place in our kids' ministry as well.

This is our kids' huddle.

This literally happened about an hour and a half ago.

This was our kids' group right here.

You may find yourself in this picture, as a matter of fact, where we get together, everybody beforehand give instructions before we break and go start for the day.

But these are all of these various kids' workers who are coming to go not only just pull off a Sunday morning experience that may be phrases that could be thrown out and used, but please hear me.

It's something way more than that.

It's relationships.

It's relationships with kids, it's relationships to where my kids, I today's four years for me being here at United City Church.

And can I tell you the biggest struggle and the biggest concern and the biggest fear that I had was going to be for my kids?

And can I also tell you how grateful I am for people like Billy and Sarah Martin who served so faithfully and had been for years in the fourth grade area, so that therefore my kids, when they came, just wanted to go see Billy and Sarah Martin.

Made all the difference in the world.

Can I tell you that it means way more to me than the fact that they plugged a spot on a Sunday morning?

They watched over my child.

And they helped them love the brand new place that they were a part of and the church that they were connecting with, and God used them and their ministry to be able to do things incredible in the Cuba's life.

This is our preschool team.

How about this one right here?

Here's what's fun about this one, okay?

These kids, most of them don't even talk back to you, all right?

That's what's cool about this.

And so, therefore, you get to be real good friends.

You get to catch up.

Hillary served in the babies area.

She knows more about the people she serves with than anybody.

Why?

Because those babies don't talk.

They just sit there and go to sleep, and you get to rock and hold them, and you get to find out all these life stories.

Here is the beautiful picture and the nature of what it looks like when you serve together.

God does something significant.

The question then becomes where is your place of service?

Where is your place of connection?

Who are the roll call of people that you're connected to because you've been in the trenches with them?

If not, I encourage you to get into a serve team.

Again, not because we need the help.

I encourage you to get in a serve team because you need those relationships.

Look at verse 16 again.

It says, Greet one another with a holy kiss.

All the churches of Christ greet you.

We got some high school guys who just decided to sign up for the greeting team because they want to apply this verse, right?

I'm not gonna lie to you, if my pastor would have preached on this growing up, I'd have been way more into church than I was, I can assure you of that.

We don't do it here.

Can you imagine though?

Some churches they kind of do the whole like turn and greet somebody next to you if we just everybody kissed each other.

That'd be so weird.

It'd be so weird, all right?

Some cultures still do that.

Today it's a handshake, today it's a fist bump, today it's a bro hug, it's a side hug, it's something like that, right?

Where you're kind of connecting.

Here's the point, though.

The point is that you have a relationship with somebody enough to where there is a greeting that is exchanged.

In order to do that, you gotta know more than just somebody's name, and you gotta know more than like a family member they may be connected to.

So I encourage you, what are you gonna do in order to put yourself out there to know somebody else and also to be known by somebody else?

Well, let me tell you, one of the easiest ways to do this is to have somebody over to your house, have them over for dinner.

I found one of the easiest questions possible is this simple question.

Hey, tell me your story.

Tell me your story.

And people are more than willing to begin to share about their story and more than willing to share about their lives.

This is the importance of getting in a group.

Please hear me.

We know that being in a group isn't gonna be the end-all be-all for you relationally, but I can assure you of this: it is an environment designed where you can know other people.

And so, therefore, you need to get in a group.

If you're not in a group, maybe you should start a group.

Come and contact our offices and let us talk with you about what it looks like for you to get connected to a group.

Some of you may say, Well, I don't, I've already got enough people on my life, I don't need somebody else.

Well, somebody else may need you.

And so, therefore, perhaps the whole idea is not that it's about you, but instead that you're connecting with other people and that you're in a group.

Please hear me.

Hillary and I are in a group.

Like we believe this.

I love our group.

I love it.

I mean, I love the fact that I've connected with people.

I love the opportunity to be able to know people know me.

And so please tell me, I'm not telling you something that I think is good for you that I don't think is very vital for me as well.

It's so important though that we are connected and relationally.

Let me talk to you though, finally, about how to be known.

Look at verse twenty-one.

This is Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you.

So do Lucius and Jason.

You probably see what I want you to know is the background of the the names that are said there.

The name Tertius isn't actually a name, it's a number.

You see, what would happen is that Roman slaves were not thought to be worthy of actual personhood.

But they had to have some way of recognizing or calling or getting their attention.

So what they came up with was a system to where they basically would call someone a number based upon their birth order.

So the word tertius basically means third, meaning you've got two older siblings, now it comes to you.

Notice at the end of verse 22, or excuse me, verse 23, it says, and our brother Cortis.

As a result of his education and his slavery there in the Roman system, he was assigned to becoming a scribe, basically writing down the words for rich men.

In this case, his assignment is Paul.

For 16 chapters, you see that Tertius III is over there and he's dictating, writing down all of the things that Paul mentions, and we've been spending 24 messages walking through the depth that is the book of Romans.

And then in verse 22, stops.

I cannot even imagine how hard it would have been to spell all of these various names as he's listening to all of this roll call and everything, and then he stops, and it's almost like Paul looks at Tertius and says, Hey Tertius, you greet him.

Why don't you say something to him?

And now Tertius, the one who doesn't have a real name, greets the church, and I love it.

He even throws his brother in there for good measure.

See, here's what this shows us regardless of your race, regardless of your class, regardless of your social status, regardless of how much money that you have in the bank, regardless of your gender, regardless of whether your name has baggage that is attached to it, regardless of whether your name is thought of and said with high esteem, or whether your name is immediately followed up by some sort of description, which has actually become the main thing people think about you.

What I want you to know is this God knows you.

Who died on a cross for you, he rose from the dead, and now invites you to put your trust and your faith in him and to experience a relationship with Jesus.

You know what makes Christianity distinct isn't what we believe about Jesus.

A lot of other religions believe that Jesus died, that he was a good teacher, that he had significance in some way.

What makes Christianity distinct is the fact that we can know and be known by Him.

He desires a relationship with us.

But it involves you turning from your sin and placing your faith and your trust in Him.

If you've never done that, I want to invite you to give your life to Jesus.

Just pray this simple prayer of faith with me.

Just say, Dear God, I want to be known.

I believe you sent your Son Jesus to die on a cross for me.

That he rose from the dead, and right now I ask you to forgive me of all of my sins, to make me new.

I desire a relationship with you.

You know my name.

As you continue to keep your heads vowed and your eyes closed, if you just prayed that prayer with me, I want to ask you to do something.

I want you just to look up.

We've got ministers that are on the front, and we've got ministers that are on the side.

I want to ask you just to identify which one of them you're gonna go see in just a moment when we all stand.

I want you to tell them that you just gave your life to Jesus.

You just entered into a relationship with Him.

Others, if you need to come and join United City.

We do not want to be a large church where you're anonymous, we instead want to be.

A big church that is a growing church that continues to feel smaller and smaller.

Because of the relationships that we have with each other as we live out our faith, as we push each other towards godliness, as we get in the trenches, serving locally, serving nationally, internationally, serving this community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God is calling you to be a part of this mission.

I want to invite you in just a moment to come forward and would you lead the way?

Others of you need to be baptized like these three that we saw today.

What an incredible testimony and what an incredible celebration it was up there.

What a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Just to be able to see how God is moving in the hearts of two fifth graders and a dad.

God may be moving in you.

You've already given your life to Jesus, but now it's time for you to go public through the testimony of baptism.

Would you come forward and let us schedule your baptism?

Others of you may need prayer today.

Maybe you have a relational need.

Maybe you've got relationships you need to mend.

Maybe you've just got a prayer need that you've got going on in your life and your heart.

Let us pray for you today.

If you're joining me online, I want to encourage you to respond by the prompts that are going to be there on the screens.

And you can let us know as well.

But I'm going to pray, and at the end of my prayer, here in the room, we're going to stand.

This God is leading you to respond.

I want you to do so.

Father, I pray you'd move in these moments.

Call people to yourself and lead them, Lord, to do what they'll be so grateful that they did by responding publicly and openly to you, taking their next step today.

It's in Jesus' name that I pray.

Amen.

Would you stand up?

And as you stand, our team is up front, ready to receive you.

You come.

Come on.

Thanks, God.

Who else?

Come on.

Thank you for you, ma'am.

Who else?

Come on, all the way for you if you come.

I will never get over the fact that God allows us on a consistent basis almost every service, at least every week.

To see at least one person get baptized, to see people respond to the gospel, it's just unbelievable.

It's so overwhelming.

It's so incredible.

And I hope that you will be faithful just to see and be a part of that, that you can be a participant in this, that you can be praying that God would use you, and He can do that through the invites.

He can do that through you, inviting people to come and be a part of what He is doing here in this place.

Again, just a reminder to you of the schedule this week.

We're not going to have our collective night, which we normally have the first Wednesday of each month, but instead we're going to be encouraging you to engage and participate in the various Easter egg hunts that are all over the community.

Again, you can go online to our events page and find out the details of how you can serve and be a part of those.

We also want to mention to you the Good Friday service, Friday night.

Here in this room, we're going to be doing the Lord's Supper together.

It's going to be an incredible service.

We're also having a good Friday in Espanyol after that.

So it's going to be a pretty special night.

First time we've ever done that in the life of our church.

And then Sunday morning, 8:30, 10 and 11:30 and 1.

Is that right?

No.

Yes.

8:30, 10, 11:30, and 1 are our four service times.

Spanish at 1 o'clock.

It's going to be an amazing day.

Encourage you to invite someone to be a part of it and be with us.

And may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing.

So that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Thank y'all for being here.

Y'all have a great Sunday.

What an incredible message.

Hey, if you made a decision today to give your life to Jesus, we'd love to know about it.

We'd love to celebrate with you.

We'd even love to pray with you.

And so if you made that decision, will you text next to 55498?

And someone from our team would love to follow up with you.

In the meantime, I would love to pray with you even right now as God continues to do things in your heart moving.

And so, Jesus, we love you so much.

We say thank you for the truth of your word.

Thank you for still showing up in people's lives and still doing only what you can do.

Jesus, I pray that you continually heal hearts and heal lives.

Uh, bring peace to minds.

And Jesus, once again, just do it only you can do.

It's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

United City fam, this has been an incredible service.

It's been so fun worshiping with you.

Hey, to stay in the know on everything going on in the life of our church, we'd love for you to follow us on Instagram and on Facebook to stay up to date on everything happening.

And we'd love to see you either in person or online right back here next week.

Services are at 9 30 and 11.

We hope you have a fantastic week, and we'll see you soon.