Culture of Blessing | Acts 2:42-47 | Coleton Segars

The teaching text for today comes from Acts 2, verses 42 through 47.

Acts 2:42–47

This is what Luke writes.

He says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship.

They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and to prayer, and everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

All the believers were together, and they had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

And every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This is the word of the Lord.

And honestly, I just there's too much content.

So we're going to go one more week next week.

And so if you're out of town for Labor Day, don't be, because my best sermon is going to be next week.

So you're going to love it.

But we're going through the vision of our church.

We want to see as a church the hope and the desire and the longing is to see the fame and deeds of God repeated in our time.

For it not to be this antiquated, ancient thing that we talk about, that God did powerful stuff in the past, but to join with the prophet Habakkuk that says, like, hey, I have heard the great things and honestly, I stand in awe, but I want to see those things in my time, and I'm currently not seeing them.

And so as a church, we want to join in that prayer and bring that to bear here and now in 2025, to see the fame and deeds of God repeating their time by developing followers of Jesus, because I believe that's how that actually comes about.

And so that's what we're aiming at.

Last week, what we looked at were uh cultures or environments that we want to develop in the life of our church, to grow in the life of our church.

And so if you think of the vision as something that we want to see grow, you need an environment surrounding that thing so that it has the best possible opportunity to grow.

And so we want to see the vision actually happen.

The cultures that's surrounding it, the environment that's surrounding it is the space that creates a space where it has the best opportunity to grow.

And so last week we looked at two cultures.

One, we want a culture saturated with the gospel.

The gospel is the message of God's great love for us, his great pursuit of us, his dire love to lay down his life and to say that you are substantially important to me, that I'm gonna give my life for you.

And so, in my experience, especially in the South, you say the word gospel, everybody kind of knows what that means, but then you're like, okay, so tell me what that means.

And then they normally say, Well, the gospel is about hell, and you're like, Well, it's gospel's good news, that's bad news, but it's cool.

We'll talk, we'll deal with that later.

Um, and so to me, in my experience in southern church culture, people don't actually understand the gospel.

And the issue with that is the more you understand God's great love for you, the more that it gets into your heart, seeks into your mind and your soul, the more you will actually be transformed by it.

You will be shaped by love that God actually wants to pour out into your life.

And so we want a culture of the gospel that testifies to that, so that you're actually sitting in this thing, understanding that more and more each day, regardless of whatever we're doing, you're actually experiencing that love consistently so that you'd be transformed by the power of God for salvation.

And then we talked about wanting a culture of pursuit because we want a church that doesn't just hear about the powerful things that God has done in other places or in the past.

We want a culture of pursuit because we actually want to see those powerful things come to bear on our lives here and now, and God responds to those who seek Him.

If you read the scriptures beginning to end, the people who seek God have a very different experience than those who choose not to seek God.

It is the substantial difference between those who want him and we want you here, and those who like, I don't actually know that you exist or care and I don't want anything.

These two lives in the scriptures produce something very, very different, these two desires.

And so we want to pursue him, seek him, and see those things.

And then this week, we want to look at two other cultures.

I'm gonna try and get through two.

I told Ray, I was like, I'm gonna get to the first one and see where we're at, and then I might save the other one for tomorrow next week.

Um, but we're gonna try and look at two, one, a culture of blessing in our church.

We want a culture of blessing in our church, and we want a culture of belonging, as Andrew was talking about earlier.

And so, what I want to do today is give you quickly, just like here's what I mean when I say a culture of blessing, because to me it makes a lot of sense.

But if you were like, okay, culture of blessing, I still don't really know what that means.

I want to give you very quickly, here's what I mean by that, why we want that, and then how as a church we're seeking to build it, and then how you can help do those things.

And so, very quickly, a rundown of what I mean by these things.

The first is a culture of blessing.

We want a culture of blessing in our church.

What I mean by that is that I want an environment inside our church where the followers of Jesus understand two things.

They understand their unique calling as followers of Jesus, they understand their unique calling to bless the world, to it to spread flourishing into the world in order where there is chaos.

That is the unique calling of a follower of Jesus.

They understand that.

Then they also understand their unique gifting that God has given them to fulfill that calling.

That there is something unique that you have for your space, your time for such a time as this, to move out into the world, to actually fulfill that calling.

And then I want an environment where we give you the space and the opportunity to use that gift to bring God's kingdom blessings to bear on the world around us and among us here and now.

And so that is what I mean.

That's that's like if we're looking for like what is it, that's what I'm looking to create in the environment where those things, you have an understanding.

I'm uniquely called by God to be the person who blesses the world.

I'm uniquely gifted by God to do those things, and then we want to create space for you to do that.

And so, to explain these according to the scriptures, like why we want this, why we want a culture of blessing to give you this firm identity in who you are.

According to the scriptures, followers of Jesus were meant, we are his chosen agent to move into the world and spread goodness and life and flourishing where there's chaos and order where there's chaos.

And so I want to show you, I want to do a history lesson from like the beginning of the Bible, basically all the way through, but it'll be quick, and I'm gonna try and do it in movement so you'll see it.

But I want to show you this.

According to the scriptures, followers of Jesus were meant to bless the world, to bring flourishing where there's chaos.

And so, at the very beginning, because everything ends, oh no, did the slides go out?

They're coming back.

It's okay.

Stay with me, just focus here.

All right.

I definitely needed them for this particular point, but we're fine.

We're fine.

Hey, they're back.

Thank you.

Lord, what a gift.

Thank you.

Fame indeed in our time.

All right.

Go to the next slide.

Go to the next slide.

Go to the next slide.

There we go.

Okay.

All right, we're back.

All right, so just remember, we're back.

Okay.

Um, quick quick history lesson.

So there was a first great commission.

You've heard of the great commission that Jesus gives.

There was a first great commission, and God gave it to his son and his daughter.

He gave it to his kids, and he said, you know, go, here's your commission.

Be fruitful and multiply, give birth, uh, and then move out into the world, subdue it and and rule over it.

And the idea is that you would actually, it's it's chaotic.

There's there's there's things out there that are going on, and I want you to subdue it and bring order where there is chaos.

That was the original great commission that was given to Adam and Eve.

They butchered it.

They did not do well, okay?

But his his desire at the beginning was that his kids would bring flourishing to the world.

He wanted to partner with with his kids to do this thing, okay?

We rejected him as our king and as our father.

And so what he did is he begins the process of trying to fix what they broke.

And so then he chooses a family.

He chooses a new family, and he chooses Abraham's family.

And this is what he says to Abraham.

It's the promise to bless the world through a person.

And he says this it's it's God gives this promise to Abraham in a number of places, but uh Genesis 12 and Genesis 22, he says, God says, I will surely bless you, Abraham.

I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, and through your offspring all the nations will be blessed.

Through your offspring, all the nations will be blessed.

Okay.

Then you go through the Old Testament looking for when is his offspring ever going to do what is promised that he would do.

And then Paul says, There was an offspring that came, and his name was Jesus, and he was the answer to this.

He was the fulfillment of this promise.

And so Paul says, Jesus is the offspring through whom the world will be blessed.

This is Galatians 3.16.

He says, Paul writes, The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed, but scripture does not say, and to his seeds, it says many, uh meaning many people, but and to your seed, meaning one person who is Christ.

And his point is that there was this promise given back almost at the beginning of creation that there's going to be someone that comes, that through this particular offspring, all the nations will be will be blessed.

And Paul is saying that has happened in Jesus.

And you see that if you read the gospels, what you see is that Jesus steps on, the new Son of God, the Son of God steps onto the earth, and then as he's walking around Jerusalem and Capernaum and all these different places, like all you see is blessing to the nations.

And he's blessing Jewish people, and he's blessing Syrophoenician people, and he's blessing all these people, and then it it ends in the crescendo of the cross, where it's like, now who can experience God's blessings?

Well, now it's not just the Jewish people, now it's anybody who places faith in this in this man who gave his life, not just for the Jewish nation, but for all nations, because it was Romans, it was Gentiles, and it was Jewish people there.

And so you see this thing fulfill in Jesus Christ, that he is the son of God that God initially wanted to like bless the world.

Jesus is that person.

And then from Jesus, he has created a space where now other men and women can be called sons and daughters of God if they are a part of Jesus' life and taken into him.

And so Paul talks about that.

Jesus brings blessing to the nations, and then we, those who believe in Jesus, are brought in as people of blessing.

And Paul says this as he continues in Galatians 3.

He says, So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God.

Now we're back in Genesis.

He's still, he's got kids again.

You are all children of God through faith in Jesus.

For all of you are baptized into Christ, clothed yourselves with Christ.

So there's neither Jew nor Gentile, nor slave, nor free, no male, no female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed.

You are the people that now God wants to use to bless the world and heirs according to the promise.

You are heirs to that promise is like, well, who's going to bless the world?

Like we are.

Like we are the people that he has uniquely designed and created for himself.

He now has kids again to bless the nations.

And then this is why Jesus gives the new commission, the new great commission.

And just as God gave Adam and Eve the commission, be fruitful and give birth and subdue the earth and rule over it and bring flourishing to the world, Jesus gives his followers a great commission.

And it's to bear fruit and multiply, but it's not through natural birth.

He doesn't say go and be fruitful and multiply by having a ton of children, although that's fine too.

Some of y'all have really taken that, you know, really done a thing.

But it's not like go and be fruitful and multiply through having natural birth.

It's like go and be fruitful and multiply by leading people to be reborn.

They're gonna be born again into a spiritual family.

They're gonna be born as new sons and daughters of God, and then you're gonna form them and develop them, as Jesus says, like make disciples, make them followers of me, because those are the people that are going to be sent out into the world.

That's why he sends us.

He sends us out into the world and go, do what Adam and Eve were supposed to do.

Bring order where there's chaos, bring peace where there's division, move into this space and do these things out into the world.

And so, this is a very long history lesson.

Uh, but then he gives us the last bit.

Uh, then we are equipped by God with the Holy Spirit, and then giftings from the Holy Spirit.

And so this is this is something that's like not only go and do it, but also I'm going to give you, you need to be filled with my spirit, the true Son of God.

You need to be filled with my spirit so you can do this thing.

And so Acts 1.8, you will see power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

And then you will go and you will be my witnesses.

Not go and witness, although that's true too, but you will be a living testimony marker that people will see your life and go, that is a witness unto the king that they serve.

Um, and then Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, uh, we're given gifts by the Spirit of God that are unique to us, and some of us might share them, but we have different personalities.

But they're given to us in order to steward them out into the church and also out into the world to bless the world.

And so this is what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12.

He says, Now to each one, any follower of Jesus, the manifestation of the Spirit, some visible, tangible thing of the Spirit is given for the common good in the church and in the community outward.

And so from the beginning, it has always been God's plan that his sons and daughters would bless the world.

We broke it.

Jesus, the Son of God, fixed it, and now we are brought into a new birth as sons and daughters of God to fulfill the commission to bless the earth.

So that was that's most of your Bible right there, okay?

That's like almost all of it.

Um, but that's the idea.

This is what he's always had for us.

Followers of Jesus, if you're a follower of Jesus, you were always God's chosen instrument to bless the world with the unique gifting that you have, with the Spirit of God in you, to move out into the world and create flourishing where there is brokenness.

And Paul says it like this He says in Ephesians 2, he says, We are God's handiwork.

We have been put together, we've been built a certain way, created in Christ Jesus as sons and daughters of God to do good works, not to earn our salvation, not to make God happy with us, not to make God love us, like you've been created in Christ Jesus to do good works because they're prepared in advance for you to do.

You just get to join in on this thing that God has always wanted to do, which is bring blessing to the earth, and now he wants to do that thing through you.

And so there are good things that he has prepared in advance for us to do.

And so that's the idea.

I want a culture of blessing because one, you need to understand your identity.

That is who you are, that is who you are.

And then you're you need to understand your unique gifting that's like, well, how can I do that?

There's a number of ways you don't need to be uniquely gifted, but there are spaces he's like, you specifically, like you have this about you that no one else has, and you can use that to bring blessing upon the world.

And throughout church history or history itself, you've seen this type of thing take shape in the church.

And so one of the books that I love is called The Patient Ferment of the Early Church.

It's really, it's it's beautiful, it's long, but it's beautiful.

Um but Tertullian in here is quoted, and he's he's talking about the way that the church moved into the world, creating blessing and doing things in the world, that pagans looked at and they were like, This is crazy, but they were also like really interested in it.

Like whatever the church was doing was like driving them mad, but also like it's really interesting what they're doing.

And so this is what they said.

It says the pagans they looked at the Christians and they saw them energetically feeding the poor and giving proper funerals to those who couldn't afford them, caring for orphans who lacked property and parents.

They were being attentive to age slaves and prisoners, and they interpreted these actions, the pagans did, as works of love.

And they said, in Latin, Vidae, Vidae, look, look how they love.

They did not say ade, listen to the Christians' message.

They didn't say legay, read what they write.

Hearing and reading were important too.

But we must not miss the reality that the pagans said, look, Christianity's truth was made visible because it was embodied and enacted by its members.

And as he continues writing, this like, this is what made the pagan outsiders want to go, like, can I just come in and see what you guys are doing?

There's something about the way that y'all are living life that's just completely different.

And then all of a sudden, like you see blessing just weaving through the Roman Empire and all the way all the all the way through.

In the 18th century, uh, a story that I like to tell, um, or just a group that I think did this really well, was a group called the Clapham Sect.

They lived in Clapham, England, I think.

Uh the Clapham Sect or the Clapham Saint uh Saints, uh, led by William Wibbleforce and John Newton.

I believe John Newton wrote Amazing Grace, if y'all have that connection.

Um, but it basically they had this group of people, like just a bunch of Christians that got together and they're like, You want to be best friends?

Let's be best friends.

This is great.

Let's just pull our resources together, our our talents, our passions, our skills, our education, our money.

Let's pull all this stuff together.

We'll live in community and commit to one another, and uh then we'll use everything that we have supporting one another to actually move out into the world and bless the world.

And so they were involved in all kinds of things, seeking to bless the world in so many different ways.

And it's like uh this woman cares about this, and so all of a sudden she cares about it.

The group agrees, let's pour resources into that thing.

This guy cares about this, let's pour resources into this thing.

This guy really wants to do this.

You're a lawyer, maybe you could go help in that way.

And they just started doing things, they saw needs and began meeting them according to what they cared about and what they were passionate for.

And so a number of things that they were involved in.

Ending the slave trade and abolition.

They were all abolitionists working towards this thing, fighting against those, and using everything that they had, not just monetary resources, but also if there were lawyers or influence, if they had those in any particular space, they used that.

Uh they started then small independent loans for new businesses, which gave small loans to people at zero interest so that families could start businesses that they believe would benefit society.

And so people would come to them and say, pitch it like it's old, it's 1800 shark tank.

Pitch me your idea.

And then they'd pitch the idea, and it's like, man, we actually need that in our town.

We need that business in our community.

Great.

We will give you money without interest.

Pay us back at some point, but there's no interest, because we believe that your business will also serve to bless the community around us.

And so they did that.

They gave small loans to no uh with no interest to people to hold them over until they could acquire a job.

Because if you couldn't acquire the job, you couldn't pay your bills, they'd put you in prison.

And then the prisons were terrible.

And so people were all these kids were orphans because their dads couldn't pay the bills, but it's because they lost their job.

And now these now this system of like, you're your kid's now an orphan because your dad couldn't pay the thing, and now you're in prison, and now these kids are gonna grow up orphans the rest of their lives, and they're like, I think if we just toss money at this, we can actually fix this problem.

And so they started giving money to people who uh could be held over until they got a job or just to buy food for their families, and they just saw a need and met it.

Like, these people aren't criminals, they just they don't need to go to prison.

They just need they need to break, they need somebody to see them and notice them and love them like Jesus does.

Uh education, they started schools, printed books to educate children.

Sunday school, some of it comes from that.

And then reforms that they did, they reformed prisons to take care of prisoners or prisoners, they reformed child labor laws for children who were chimney sweeps in London because children were dying doing that and uh being overworked and that kind of thing.

And then someone cared about the horses, and they were like, let's do some reform laws to care about the horses that pull carriages so that the animals aren't mistreated and overworked.

That would be my wife.

She would absolutely the horses, the poor horses.

And like somebody cared about that.

And it's like, what are they, what are you guys doing today?

It's like we're doing that horse thing.

Like, oh, okay.

Because God cares for the animals too.

And like, so they just my point, I put that, always leave that last one in because it's so random.

Like, why, what is, why do you care about this?

And it's like someone had a passion.

They were moved in their heart, moved in their spirit, and they were like, we are the people who've been moved in our spirit.

Maybe we're the people to actually do the thing.

And so let's move toward in the world and actually do the thing that people need.

And so they understood they were the people in their time for such a time as this, they were the people to bless the nations.

They were the people.

God wants to do something through us, in us, and through us, and so we're gonna do that thing.

And more recently, honestly, I I see this happen kind of a lot in our church, which is really beautiful.

But more recently, uh, a story that just happened was um there was there was a guy that called me from our church and was having a panic attack, but he called me at like 11 and I was sound asleep.

Um, and uh I did not answer the phone.

He could not get me on the phone, having a crazy panic attack, really couldn't do it.

And he couldn't, he just couldn't get a pastor on the phone, so he called Colin.

And Colin was up at 11.

I don't know how you do that, but that's amazing.

Uh but Colin was up at 11 and just sat on the phone with this guy and walked through with him during in the midst of his panic attack and just sat there and calmly encouraged him and talked to him and prayed for him and just sat there and brought this man who was at a peak panic attack into a space of peace.

And like you just get to see, like somebody just like, what what did he how much money did he throw at it?

Nothing.

What did he do?

It's like he was available to just sit and be the presence of Jesus on the phone to somebody who's hurting and is in need, and like brought something like a gift.

I had lunch with this guy, and he was like, I'm so thankful that someone answered the phone, and he was a little mad at me that I didn't answer the phone.

I'm like, bro, I'm not the only Christian in the room, but uh thank God there's more than one of us.

Um but like what a gift that he had somebody that he could reach out to, and I think that's amazing.

Um but our purpose in the world is to bless the world, and it can be substantial, it could be huge, or it can be like, could you just sit on the phone with me while I weep and cry and tell me that it's gonna be okay?

Can you do that?

We are those people that God wants to use to bring flourishing into the world.

Isaiah prophesied that there would be a savior who would come, and that savior is like, he's gonna change people's lives.

And then the people that he changes their lives, this is what he writes about what those people will become.

He says, they, those people that the saviors change their lives, they will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord, a witness of the Lord to display his splendor.

And they will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated.

They will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

And it's like, what will come of the people this savior transforms?

Is like they're going to be the people that run into the fray and not away from it.

They're gonna be the people that look at things that are just torn down and broken.

And I just think about our city and go, like, man, the church and the people who are transformed by the Savior need to look.

At Memphis and not go, I gotta get out of here.

This place has gone to hell in a handbasket.

And it's like, maybe if you stuck around, it wouldn't.

Maybe there's a space where we can move into this city and actually do something to where we rebuild the ruined cities, where we restore the places long devastated, that we don't look at it and go, like, man, that stuff's really broken down.

But we go, like, what can we do?

We are the people that are supposed to step into this space and do those things because we're called by God with that purpose.

And I want a culture of blessing so that we understand our identity.

That is who you are at any given moment.

You are the person.

If you're like, who does he want to use?

Always you.

Always.

He never is like, I don't know if they got enough to use.

I don't know if they maybe I don't have enough to work with there.

He never says that.

Who does he want to use?

He wants to use you to rebuild the ancient ruins, to things that are devastated to bring them back to life.

And so I want us to have this culture among us so that the expectation becomes not I'm waiting for someone else to bring about renewal, but you understand like I am the person in this space to bring about renewal in this thing.

And so, regardless of what it is, if you're sitting there and you're walking into the grocery store and you see someone struggling with their groceries or whatever, you saw them.

And you could say, like, oh, it's just coincidence, or maybe it's the Spirit of God that sees that person and then turns your attention to them while everybody else is doing this on their phone.

You saw them and you're the person to move into that.

And if you don't do it, God is not gonna hate you.

But he has placed you in a space to be his hands and feet in the world.

And so you get to be this thing to live with this expectation.

God, what do you what who do you want to bless today?

What do you want to do in somebody's lives?

What do you want to do in order to radically transform them or just make them be seen by you?

Remember them praying, like, God, do you even see me?

And then you step up, and they, you know, that always happens.

People pray and then their life gets worse.

You know, like, and then all of a sudden they they're praying, like, see, God, I knew you didn't even see me, and then you showed up and did a thing, and I'm like, oh, maybe he does see me.

I don't know.

But it could be anything.

I want our church to be a space for the city of Memphis and the people that we encounter experience God's blessing in their time because he just wants to use us through that.

And so, how we're trying to uh give you an opportunity to bless, there's just a couple of things that we're trying to do to give you that space and to create that space.

The first is uh local missions.

Um, Calvary Rescue Mission is every other month.

Andrew, we we're doing it quarterly, and then Andrew got us set up to we're doing it every other month now, uh, which is awesome.

And we're going uh next week.

We want to be a blessing to the poor in Memphis and to these men that need God's love.

Um Isaiah 117, house uh for foster care.

Andrew got us set up with that.

Andrew's our missions guy, so he's getting us set up with all these different things.

Um that's a way that you can get connected in that.

Uh, we're seeking to develop a partnership with MIFA.

One of my friends just started working there as the kind of the faith person connecting with churches.

And so if you're familiar with MIFA and you know anything about that, great.

We'd love to figure out how to get in there and do things there that can benefit our city in that space.

Uh, international missions, things that we do.

Andrew's seeking to uh plan mission trips to serve all of our missionaries.

We support uh three missionaries and then one missions organization.

Um Andrew's just like, hey, let's just go and try and go on mission trips to these missionaries that many of you have never met or seen.

And so I'm like, man, let's go.

Let's do that thing.

And so we're working on projects to go see Mary and then go see Edgar and then go see Cuss and actually support them in ways that they need.

And then every year we go to Mexico to build houses for the homeless and the people that don't have uh home or families that just don't have homes with missions ministries.

It's an incredible ministry.

Uh the next way we uh I'll send the slide deck in the email just because I gotta go fast through this thing.

Um next way that we seek to be a blessing is the prayer room.

We pray for our city every week that we're in there.

And according to the scriptures, the weapons that we fight with are not weapons of the world.

On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

Like so we pray for strongholds in our city to be busted up and broken down.

Um and I really believe that it's working and it has power to do those things, that when people begin, I mean he says it, if my people, if my people, not the pagans, but if my people, the church, will start to pray again and something will shift and change.

I will come and I will heal their land.

And so we pray on the prayer room.

Um, in October, we're doing uh spiritual gifts course.

Go to the next slide here.

Spiritual gifts course started in October.

Um, I want you to understand your spiritual gift.

I have done spiritual gifts online assessments and I hate them.

So if you do them and you love them, that's fine.

Maybe we don't have that in common.

Um, but I there needs to be what the reason I don't like it is I think it needs to happen in community.

Because anybody can say, like, yeah, I have the gift of teaching.

And then you give them a mic and you're like, I don't think you do, bruh.

Like, and like these things need to be decided in community.

Like, you need to like, I'm really good at encouraging people, like, no, you're not.

Maybe we can work on that.

Um, you need, we just need, we need to do that together.

And so we're gonna talk about spiritual gifts through a course through it on Wednesday nights in our normal Wednesday night time, but uh developing your spiritual gifts, understanding them, and then seeing how you can use them inside the church, but then also watching how they could intersect in your normal workspace because they're not just meant for the church, they're actually meant to be a witness unto the world of like, why are you so good at doing this thing?

It's like it's not coming from me, it's coming from the spirit within me.

God is trying to do something for you, not just me.

And so we're gonna do that in October.

Um, we have a number of teams that you can serve on, and beside them are names uh that you could talk to the people about these things.

And if you ever see my name beside any of them, I am trying to delegate that as fast as possible.

And so if you're like, I could lead that, perfect, come see me.

Um but the men's and women's connection team, it's a new team that we started to like uh and connect with new men and women or just people that we feel like don't have a great connection in our church.

We want them to be connected, and so I run that team.

If you want to join that, you're just like, I'm just incredible with hospitality.

Come on.

Hospitality team, front door, that kind of thing.

Andrew's gonna develop kind of a system in rotation of getting people plugged in at the different doors and the different spaces here so that we have a team of people doing those things and not the same people every week.

Not that we don't want them and that you can't stand out there, but we have people with gifts that we want to plug into the life of our church.

Prayer team, Barbara, she's not here today, but um, she runs our prayer team, and uh, it's just awesome with that.

See uh I'm gonna roll faster through these.

You can read them.

C3 Kids team, serve our kids, what a gift.

Uh C3 Youth Team, talk to Ella, worship team, talk to Chris, setup team, Tommy, communion team, Brenda Brasley, Women's Ministry, Kelsey, Men's Ministry, Andrew, Missions Ministry, Andrew.

Andrew does a lot here.

Uh, and then slides.

If you want to help Colin run slides and give him a break so he can just worship one day, tell Colin, like, hey man, I got you today.

Do that thing.

Um, but uh, here are teams, go to the next slide, here are teams that I dream about, but we don't have yet because either we don't have a space or I don't I can't figure out how to do it.

But I'm just letting you know, we have a number of teams that we have, and I only have more ideas of things that I want to do in this church so that we bless not only our church, but also our city.

Alpha is an incredible series of dinners that uh people put together who have the gift of evangelism.

Um, it's a series of dinners with teaching and discussion for those exploring the Christian faith.

It's incredible for your friends and mine who are like, look, man, I'm never gonna step foot in your church.

But I am interested in a good meal.

And so I'd love to come to this thing and have an open discussion about some of the stuff that I don't fully understand without the pressure of somebody knocking on your door and saying, hey, if you died tonight, would you go to heaven or is that something you're still working on?

We want to give them an easier inroad into that space to just go like ask whatever questions you have, no questions off limits, just go for it.

And if you love the conversation, come back.

If you hate the conversation but you love the food, just come eat with us.

And that's fine.

But we want to get that started.

I just I don't have enough time in a day to do all of those things.

But C3 College also, photography and video, if you look at our social media, we don't have that because uh we just we're not throwing resources into it and we don't have enough photos and people and things like that.

And so, anyways, if you're like, hey, I'm I'm great with a camera, again, we'd actually love to see your work.

But um let me know.

Video editing, we do all these mission trips and all these youth trips and all this stuff, and like we don't have a way to like show the church what we were doing because I would have to edit a video and you don't want that.

Like, it would not be good.

And so if you're like, man, I know how to do that stuff, we can just send you just raw footage of whatever, and you can be like put it together.

Let me know.

The pay or crowns in heaven, um, just so you know.

All right, what time is it?

Oh all right, I'm just gonna stop.

I'm gonna stop at this one um because if I could keep going, it'd be it'd be an hour-long sermon.

Um I was waiting for somebody to be like, keep going, but it's fine.

You don't have to say it.

One day that will be the room.

Everybody'd be like, no, we got time.

Um no, but I want us to get to lunch.

But I do want to I do want to I do want to close with this.

Um two stories, hopefully, to inspire you.

I'm gonna try and remember one.

I'm reading this book right now called Um Unreasonable Hospitality, uh, that Rainey gave me or didn't want to read.

I don't know if, anyways, I got this book.

And I started to read it, and I was like, man, this book is amazing.

And it's this this restaurant tour guy in New York, and I love New York.

Um but he talks about his restaurant that he wanted to be just unreasonably hospitable and just to bless his customers and to do that thing.

And uh so they have this culture at their church or in their in their restaurant, not their church, where uh they're everybody's looking to do that.

And so one of the stories he tells was uh a couple came, it was their anniversary, they came to the restaurant, and in the middle of the restaurant realized, oh my gosh, we put champagne uh in the freezer to try and chill it really fast.

Uh but this bottle in there, we put it in the freezer and we left it, and it's going to explode at some point.

Like it's going to just bust at some point because we're gonna sit here.

We just got here for dinner and we uh can't eat and then get back in time without exploding.

Tells the waiter that.

The waiter is like, no problem, can I have your keys?

Grabs their keys, uh, hops in their car, drives to their apartment, uh, goes into the apartment, whatever, pulls the the uh champagne out of the freezer, sets it in a they bring their own, their own restaurant chilled thing that they that they put their uh champagne in, and went out to the store, bought a card that said happy anniversary from this restaurant and some chocolates, bought that, and then left it when the couple had an amazing meal, and then when they get home, they see the champagne, the chocolates, and a card from the uh restaurant.

And I was just like, this is a re this is a restaurant in New York City, and they go out of their way to bless their customers.

I was like, that was incredible.

I was reading that, I was like, what an amazing story.

And like, so I just think about the church and like what we can do in the lives of people, and like that is a I have no idea.

Maybe that guy's a Christian and he's just like, ah, Spirit of the Lord led me to do that thing.

Or maybe he's just a a secular person, whatever.

But we should outdo that.

Like if we are filled with the Spirit of God, like it should be something in us that's like he loves people so deeply.

And so there's gotta be this space in us where it's like, how can I go above and beyond?

Because that is what he has done.

He has gone above and beyond to do that stuff for us.

So that's one story that I just found fascinating, and I want us to bless people like that.

And then uh another New York story.

Um, I heard this story uh from a pastor friend of mine of a guy in his church, and uh he worked at Starbucks in New York.

Um, and um he heard one of the sermons was on like people will, in your world, people will see your good deeds and they will give glory to God in heaven.

So they'll see the work that you do and then praise God based on that.

And so he was so captivated by this verse, and he's working at Starbucks, and he's like, man, how can I do good deeds so that people glorify God in heaven?

And so he just made a commitment to the Lord.

He's like, I'm going to make every drink to the glory of God.

Like I'm gonna pour every cup to the glory of God.

I'm gonna make every latte.

I'm nothing is gonna be left to change.

Like I'm gonna make sure every time I'm gonna intentionally set my mind that I am making this cup as if Jesus Himself is gonna drink it and I want to do the best thing ever.

And his idea was, and his hope was, and his prayer was, he was like, I hope to infuse God's, I'm making it to God's glory.

I want to infuse God's glory into it so that when someone grabs this cup, walks out on the street, takes a sip, that this like that atheists would be like, thank you, God, for Starbucks coffee.

Like that was his idea of like, what would happen if I made such a great cup of coffee that this person just hits their knees and blesses a God that they don't even know exists?

Like that was that was the idea.

And I just, I love that.

I think like living with that type of expectation, not only does it shape the way that you work, but like how much more fun to go like, what could happen today to live with that type of expectation?

And I would love for us to live with that expectation.

And so for you, like to set your intention, I'm going to teach this class to the glory of God because I want, I want my students and I want the parents, and I want people, I want people to see me teach this class, and not to see me, but to they saw my good work and they gave glory to God in heaven.

I'm gonna manage this client to the glory of God.

I'm gonna wound back this patient to the glory of God.

I'm gonna plan this event, uh, I'm gonna repair this house, fix this car, counsel this client, pull those weeds, plant that garden, mow this lawn, play that sport, study for this class, serve this food.

I'm going to set my intention to do these things that like I'm just gonna do this to the glory of God so that people will give glory to him.

They may not, I have never mentioned Jesus or his name or anything like that, but they have watched something and experienced something, they give glory to him because the scriptures say that that's possible.

They will see your good deeds and give glory to God in heaven.

And so I want that for us.

I want us to have a culture of blessing so that you will really understand this is what he's called you to.

And it's not gonna be necessarily easy, but this is what he's called you to, and you are uniquely gifted and equipped for that thing, and he wants to do that in the world.

Next week, we will talk about a culture of uh of belonging, uh, which is such a shame because we're about to go do a thing, right?

Like we're gonna go belong together, and I want I wanted to pair these two together, and I just don't have the time.

Um but I will say this um for belonging to take place, anybody can be friendly.

Anybody can.

Um for it to actually take place, you have to move beyond I'm just gonna be friendly, uh, to I want to know you, I want to get to know this person.

It's one of my points in here, but you don't have to go to it.

Like, I want us to be a people.

I don't I don't I don't just want to be a friendly church, I do want to be a friendly church.

But if we're just friendly, anybody can be friendly.

The the the cashier can be friendly, and then I'm never gonna see them again.

But someone that like actually intentionally looks at me and like wants to know me, that's a very different thing.

And inside the church, I don't just want to be a friendly church, I want to be a church that's like you will be known there if you want it.

All of you can reject it if you don't want it.

But if you want to be known there, you can be known there, not just experience a friendly welcome or a hello.

And so as we go do a thing and we're going to this party, which I hope it's a rager.

I hope it's so much fun.

Um I'm gonna baptize people, it's gonna be great.

I don't want anybody to get tanked or anything, but I do want us to have a good time.

Um but I want it to be this space where it's like I'm not just gonna be friendly, I'm gonna press into knowing somebody.

And so I do encourage you with that because I want us to be people that aren't just friendly, but people that actually want to know you.

Jesus wants to know you.

Eternal life is knowing him and him knowing you.

And so we are a way that you can bless people is not just by being friendly with a friendly comment, but by actually seeking to get to know them.

Okay.

Oh Jesus, what a kindness that you um not only call us to be people of blessing, but that you also really have gone out of your way to show us what that looks like.

We were powerless.

It says at just the right time while your enemies were powerless.

At just the right time when your enemies were powerless, you laid down your life for them.

And it's like any other king, when their enemies, at just the right time when their enemies are powerless, no other king would lay down his life.

Everybody would assault and take over the people who are powerless.

And like you're just a different person.

You bless those who do not deserve it.

And Lord, I just want us to be like you, I want us to be shaped by you, and then I want the world to experience you through this church.

And so, Lord, I pray that you would help us give us a vision of just or just a renewed dream and expectation of what you want to do in the world, and that the fact that, like, what a privilege that you want to use me.

That you've decided I want to use this particular person, this man, this woman, this boy, this girl, I want to use them to shape my earth and to shape someone's life and to change them.

And so, Lord, would you give us that expectation?

Set it in our hearts that that is what you want to do.

Place people on our hearts right now that we can either pray for or that we can go to, place things that we can do to be unreasonably kind towards, so that they experience unreasonable kindness that you have for us as well.

Would you help us with that in Jesus' name?

Amen.