God’s Blessing Upon The C3 Family

I think I'm just gonna stand today instead of sitting.

Welcome to Christ Community Church.

I greet you in the name of my Savior.

And I'm happy that you're here today.

I bless you for being here.

No kidding.

Before I forget, last time that Kim Bowden can come up and give me a bunch of instructions before I preach.

And so but she did once again faithfully.

And just a reminder that if you have the opportunity and you want to drop by Kim and Jerry's house tonight around 5 o'clock, everyone's invited, young and old.

And we're just going to sit around and have some food and just enjoy one another.

Won't be any program, no speeches, no testimonies.

It's not an AA meeting.

It's nothing.

It's just having a nice time.

And if you want to write a note and put it in a bowl that I can read later on, or more likely Cheryl read it to me, that will be welcome, and I can keep those.

If you have volunteered to bring things for tonight, try to come around five.

Because if you're if you come much after six, I'm going home.

So uh, you know, you so you might as well try to get there at five uh so that I can enjoy seeing you and people can enjoy the food.

So if you can if you will bring the stuff around five, that would be great.

Um Shirley, anything I forgot?

Okay.

All right, let me pray one more time.

Father God, um, I'm happy to be in your house among your people.

And I'm excited about what you want to say to us and do in us today.

And I pray that you would have freedom and authority.

You do have freedom, you do have authority, you do have power to do anything you want, but I pray today, in some special way, you would have that freedom and power released in each of our hearts and lives.

Uh what could be true if that occurred?

Let it be so, I ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

I'm retiring today, and uh Shirley and I are gonna take for the very first time a little sabbatical, if you want to call it that, um, but we're gonna step away for a little while.

I'm not sure exactly how long, but for a couple of months or a few months, I'm not sure.

But um, we're coming back because this is our church family and our church home, and it's where our life is.

But we're gonna step away for a little while.

So you we'll be here next week to honor uh Colton's first Sunday.

But uh we're I just wanted you to hear it from me that we are gonna step away for a little while just so that you can experience real connection with your new pastor, and he can experience real connection with you.

And so that's why we're doing that, and um but we're gonna come back, though.

Anyway, uh, because we want to be a part of this church.

I wouldn't want to be.

Somebody asked Dr.

Rogers one time, and I agree.

Uh they asked him, they said, um, what would you be if you couldn't be a member of Bellevue?

And he said, I'd be ashamed.

And uh I feel exactly the same way.

Not about Bellevue, but about this church.

Bellevue's great, don't get me wrong.

It's great, but it's not this church.

On their best day, they're not this church.

And I mean that.

Um, change is hard, but if you read the Bible, what you discover is that change is a part of God's plan.

God never changes, but he is continually changing what he's doing and how he does it.

By example, in his constant changing of the leaders who give direction and guidance and oversight to the people of God.

He's constantly raising up new leaders to continue his ministry of redeeming this world and restoring his creation.

Um, Eliezer followed Aaron, Joshua followed Moses, David followed Samuel, Solomon followed David, the twelve disciples followed Jesus, Paul followed Peter, and pastors have followed the apostles.

New seasons, new methods, new tasks, new battles, new insights, new priorities.

And all of those new things are accomplished through new leaders.

And we need to see that and own that.

He told Moses to tell the people, and for the people to instruct the priest, I want you as a priest, there's a whole bunch of them, I want you as priest to begin working at giving oversight and care to the people of God.

I want you to start that when you're 25.

And then I want you to retire at 50.

I only want you to do it 25 years.

And then after the 25 years is up and you retire, then I want you to stick around and assist the new priest that have now been given charge of the people of God.

Now I didn't do the 25-year plan, but you see the principle, okay?

Change is a part of God's plan for leading God's people into new, better, more wonderful places.

The last 10 years have been the best ten years of my life.

And um I've never, in 42 years, the last 10 years have been the years where I have felt most safe, most loved, most followed, most supported, most fulfilled, and most honored.

And I want to thank you for your role and participation in making that true for me.

Most pastors don't feel safe.

They don't feel honored.

They don't feel loved.

I know that.

And so if you uh if you don't understand that, good, that means you've been a very blessed person and been in some really great churches.

But that's not the norm.

And I just wanted to say thank you for that for the last 10 years.

In particular, I wanted to um to say thank you to the church staff just for your uh investment in my life and help and the ministry that God um has done through your life.

I want to thank the leadership team.

Uh that's our phrase for our elders or our deacons or our brain trust or whatever, whatever you want to call it.

We have a group of people that help me make wise decisions and give good leadership to this church family, and I'm truly grateful for you.

I want to thank the finance committee.

Oh my goodness, how many pastors and finance committees don't do good.

They fight, they go in different directions, they're always at odds.

We've never been at odds.

Never once in ten years.

Now, sometimes I have to accept, slow down there, big boy, and uh uh let's batten down the hatches and spend less money, and that's okay.

And I need to hear that.

And sometimes they've said, you know what, we're scared to death, but we're gonna step out in faith and follow what you believe God's telling us to do.

And they've had to do that too, and that's good for them.

But I thank the finance uh committee beyond my ability to do so.

I I thank the worship team.

Um y'all have been such a blessing to me.

And again, I have pastored churches and I've been on staffs of churches, and I have friends that pastor churches where the the minister of music or the worship leader in his gang, they're always at odds with the pastor.

Always.

They've never, never.

It's actually not a saying, it's crazy.

You have never done anything but be a blessing to me.

Never.

And I'm grateful.

I'm grateful to the volunteers who have faithfully served this church for 10 years, making this.

I know you think that I just pray on Sunday morning and this appears because I'm such a great prayer.

But that's not the case.

This happens because people come up here and work their fannies off to make it happen.

And I'm grateful for the volunteers who do that.

No kidding.

Um I'm grateful for those of you that have invested financially in the life of this church.

I did not want to be a part of, I was a part of churches for 32 years that made me feel bad about money, made me feel guilty, made me feel pressured, made me feel like the kingdom of God depended upon my finances.

And I don't want to do that anymore.

And we don't make a bit, we probably don't make a big enough deal about money.

And I'm not even criticizing anybody that makes a bigger deal.

That's not my point today.

But if God has put it on your heart to invest in the life of this church financially, I just wanted to say thank you.

I'm very, very grateful.

We've never missed a bill.

Um, God has always been faithful, and he has given us so much more than we deserved or even could use, and how we've been able to funnel that into the community.

Um it's just been a blessing to watch that happen.

And finally, I want to say thank you to my bride.

There's never been a pastor in the history of the universe that's had a more wonderful Azore, uh, ally that has stood with me.

Again, never once in 42 years of marriage has she ever not supported me and blessed me and walked with me.

Um, and I've tried to do the same with her.

Uh, but I'm just, I just wanted to say thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Ooh, we got to hurry.

I had so many different lessons that I wanted to share today.

But I decided what I wanted to do instead was I wanted to pronounce a blessing over Colton and a blessing over you.

And so I'm gonna start with you, brother sir.

Other than my Bible and my bride, I have given you the two greatest treasures in my life.

I hope that communicates to you that I believe in you, I trust you, and I will now follow you as my pastor.

Please remember that.

Okay.

I want to bless you with a fresh love for God's word.

My prayer is that God will help you to trust it, to believe it, to live it, and to teach it.

I pray that you will approach it like David talked about in Psalm 119, and it will be a lamp for your feet and a light for your path.

Jeremiah 23 says, Yahweh declares, if my prophets had stood in my counsel, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and turned them from their evil and destructive ways.

Let the false prophets talk of dreams and visions.

In ten years I've never talked to you about dreams and visions.

That's very significant.

Let them talk of dreams and visions, but let my true prophets faithfully proclaim my every word.

What a difference between straw and grain.

Does not my word burn like fire and impact like a mighty hammer.

Proclaim God's word.

Sometimes it'll hit us right between the eyes like a hammer.

And sometimes it'll scald us.

But you know, that same thing that's that burns also warms and cooks our food.

And that same thing that can hit us like a hammer between the eyes, it also builds families and homes that we can enjoy.

Paul said in 2 Timothy 4, preach God's word, be prepared and strong in good times and bad, patiently correct and rebuke and encourage God's people with good teaching, for the day is coming, and folks, it's here, when people won't listen to sound doctrine, but will follow their own desires, looking for teachers who agree with them.

Teach God's word.

I'm not a courageous person, I'm a fearful person.

Try not to let fear rule your life or your ministry.

Joshua, Moses told Joshua, or God actually told Joshua, be strong and be courageous.

Do not fear, for I am with you and I will fight your battles for you.

Try not to lead by fear.

Instead, try to lead with humility and faith and wisdom and grace.

Try to be a David and not a Saul.

Jeremiah 1 says, Yahweh, I don't know how to speak, for I am so young.

But Yahweh said, Don't say that.

You must go to those that I have sent you to and say to them, everything I tell you, do not fear, for I will rescue you.

Try not to let fear get the best of you.

It's been the battle of my life.

I bless you with a fresh, powerful love for these people.

Care for them, feed them, lead them, pray for them, serve them, and give them lots and lots of grace because they got heads like granite bowling balls.

But at the same time, they are the body and the bride of your Savior.

Treat them as such.

2 Timothy 2 says, God's servant must not quarrel, but be kind to everyone, able to teach them, and patient with the most difficult of them.

John 10, Jesus says, workers, paid workers, run away because they don't know or care about the flock.

But a good shepherd knows his flock, and they know him, and he willingly lays down his life for his sheep.

Moses, Jeremiah, the Apostle Paul, and the Lord Jesus, all four declared to Yahweh, I will willingly be damned if it means the salvation of your people.

Oh, that God will give you that heart.

And I bless you with some mighty men and women like David had.

Some of them were males and some of them were females.

But some people like God gave to David, who knew his heart, and embraced that vision and walked with him and fought with him and for him and helped him accomplish what God had told him to do.

It's as great a treasure as I've ever had.

And I hope God will give you people like that.

I just think of those men that David was with.

It was one of the darkest times in his life.

And he was sitting, I think, in a cave around his men, and he just mumbled, didn't even, he really wasn't even talking to anybody.

He just was mumbling and he said, I'm homesick and I'm thirsty.

Oh, that I had some water from that well in Bethlehem that I used to drink from as a child.

He wasn't even talking to anybody.

And a couple of his men overheard him.

And the next thing David knew, they had gone and crossed through enemy lines and risked their lives and brought back a cup of water.

Here, David, is that what you want?

I'll do anything you want to help you.

I pray that God will bless you with some people like that.

And I've got them picked out.

If you want to know their name, just come see me.

I've got you all picked out who I am praying God will give you.

They've been the blessing of my life.

And I'll forever be indebted.

I want to speak a word of blessing upon you, the C3 family.

I ask the Lord to bless you with humility.

Humility to recognize and own your need for eternal life.

Bless you.

I know you.

I know you and I love you with all of my heart.

But there's so many people in this room, you've never been born again.

You haven't been born again.

You come to church.

You sing the songs, throw a few bucks in the box, pray a few prayers, try not to do extra bad stuff.

And I'm so glad you do all those things.

But that will not get you into heaven.

It will not get you into heaven.

Jesus says in John chapter 3, the chapter I asked you to read, by coincidence, Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will not see the kingdom of God unless you are born again.

John 3 · chapter mention

We have been born of the flesh, and we, it is God's means of us entering into this physical world.

But the Bible declares that we have to be born of the Spirit if we want to enter into God's kingdom.

One of my heroes, that you might not realize it, but you have been blessed a million fold through his ministry, and that's Tim Keller.

He just passed away not too long ago.

One of the most significant men of God in the last 40 years in our country.

And he impacted me profoundly, and I hope through me, you as well.

Right before he died, I think just a couple of days before he died, he sent a letter to his church family.

And he said, I have had a life of blessing beyond anybody's imagination.

Dozens and dozens of books, respected as one of the leading pastors in America, pastor of this huge church in Manhattan, incredible wife and children, on and just accolades the pastor of thousands of pastors.

But he said, if you're wondering what's the greatest blessing in my life, I'll tell you.

It's that my name is written in the Lamb's book of life.

Jesus said it this way: rejoice.

Not because you have the spiritual power to drive Satan and his demons away.

Rather, rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life.

God's grace is greater than our sin.

But God's grace is not greater than our self-righteousness and our self-reliance.

And that should terrify us.

I'm going to get this story a little off.

It'll be 90% true.

Okay, and Eric and my mother-in-law, y'all will know that I'm off just a little bit because I heard the story 20 years ago.

But I was in a meeting about 20 years ago when Adrian Rogers was there, and he got off from the agenda and started telling stories about his life.

And he got off on this story.

I'll never forget it.

Like I said, it's been 20 years ago.

But he was pastoring Bellevue at this time downtown.

And he built a relationship with a very wealthy, prominent family.

And Chuck remembered the story, I bet.

And in particular, the matriarch of the family.

Very prominent, very wealthy, very influential family.

And he built a relationship with them and spent time with them periodically, talking to them about God and the Bible and Christianity.

One day he was preaching at the end of it, as he always did.

He gave an invitation, invited people to come down.

And this lady, this matriarch of the whole family that he'd been trying to reach, she comes down the aisle and comes to Dr.

Rogers and she said, Well, Adrian, I'd like to join your flock.

And Dr.

Rogers, as only he could, he looked at it and he said, Oh my goodness, that's so wonderful.

That's so wonderful.

So you have come to the place where you realize that you are an ungodly, guilty, sin-ridden, condemned person.

And you need, you realize you need a glorious Savior.

And the lady looked up, shocked, and she said, No, that is not what I meant, and turned around and walked off.

And Dr.

Roger said she took about 10 steps and she turned around and looked at him, and tears started coming down her face.

And she walked back up to me, she said, on second thought, that's exactly what I mean.

That's exactly what I mean.

She realized what many of you don't know yet.

You think you are basically a good person trying to do good things, and that somehow that will earn you credit with God.

And it's not through our good efforts, but rather through putting our faith in the work that his son accomplished on the cross when he came and lived and died 2,000 years ago.

Jesus said it this way in Luke 5.

Well, people don't need a doctor.

I came for sinners, not for people who think they're okay.

As you're reading through the Bible, as you hear the stories, oh that we wouldn't miss the point.

The prodigal son and the older brother, the rich man in Lazarus, the man that owed a little debt, and the man that owed a big debt, the man in the temple that was saying, God, oh, I'm sorry, and the man in the temple praying, God, I'm a blessing.

I'm thankful that I'm such a blessing.

The man, the thief on one side of Jesus and the thief on the other.

Peter and Judas.

Oh, that we would not forget, of all those people, all of them need God's grace.

All of them missed the mark.

All of them did not live a life that earned them the privilege of going into heaven on their good deeds.

And because I love you, I just want to challenge you one more time.

If you've never experienced the new birth, you've never come to a place.

I'm not talking about praying a certain prayer, filling out a certain card, getting baptized or anything else, giving up things, starting things.

It's coming to the place where we realize I need a savior.

And I'm trusting the Savior the Bible reveals, and he has a name.

And his name is Jesus Christ.

June of 2021, some of you that are baseball people will know this.

I didn't.

There was a baseball, there were two teams playing, the Pirates and the Dodgers.

And a baseball player named Cobrian Hayes came up to the plate, pitcher threw the ball, and Cabrian hit it as hard as he could and knocked it right out into the stands.

Crowd goes wild.

He trots around the bases, crosses home plate, everybody's cheering, and all of a sudden, the umpire, I guess, is the dude.

He walks up, waving his hands, takes away the home run.

Everybody short, what's the clearly he had a home run.

He went into the stands.

Everybody could see it.

And finally, when the hump was given the hump when he was given the opportunity to speak, he said, yes, he had a home run into the stands, but he never touched first base.

Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior?

That'll mean different things to different people.

It will be accomplished in different ways with different wording or understanding.

And I'm not trying to make everything cookie-cutter.

If God is anything, he's not cookie-cutter.

But Jesus said it, verily, verily, I say unto you, you will not experience the kingdom of God unless you are born again.

I would be amiss and a hypocrite if I did not bless you also with the tenacity to read your Bible every day.

I bless you with the understanding of Deuteronomy 32.

Take to heart all the words that I'm telling you today, so that you will be sure to follow them and teach them to your children.

For these are not empty words, for they are your very life.

And it will give you life too, abundant life, if you will read it and get to know it and follow it.

Jesus said it this way in Matthew 4, 4, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Some of you precious nut jobs, y'all wouldn't eat a cracker without going and reading that little thing on the back of the box that tells you of, I don't even know what it tells you because I've never read it, but it says stuff about fat grams and calories and nutrients and all kinds of stuff.

Cher Lee reads it.

I've never read it once.

Never will.

Y'all are so picky with the food you eat and bully for you.

Oh, that we were that passionate about putting the Word of God in our lives.

Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, all scripture is God breathed, and it helps us know what is true and what is false, what is right and what is wrong, and God uses it to help equip us to do every good work.

To know God, to know what's true, to be wise, to experience personal and relational healing, and to grow spiritually.

Psalm one says that people who daily meditate on the word of God, they become like a tree.

That's been the experience of my life.

Every day for 42 years, people come to me.

And they want fruit.

They want shade.

They want lumber.

They want help with their soil not eroding.

Help me.

I don't, I'm hungry.

I want some fruit.

I'm hot.

I need some shade.

I want to build a life.

Can you spare some lumber?

My life's eroding away.

I need a root system.

People that read and ponder and meditate on the word of God every day, they have stuff to offer.

Verses saying, God bless you.

I hope it works out for you.

I'll pray for you, which I'm probably not going to, but I hope it goes well for you and they don't offer you anything.

I bless you with the wisdom to grasp the important of your spiritual community.

Fools don't go to church.

Wise people do.

Fools go and do other things.

And then they're mad that their lives are screwed up and don't go well.

Wise people go to church.

Let me say it one more time in case somebody missed it.

Fools don't go to church.

Wise people do.

Paul said in Hebrews 10, don't neglect your spiritual community when it assembles like some people do whose lives end in destruction.

Paul said in Ephesians 3, I pray that you, along with God's people, will grasp how wide and long and high and deep God's love is.

Paul believed that I will never understand the love of God alone.

I need your help and you need my help.

That's why we doubt God's love.

That's why we think somehow we're cursed.

Some people just got it good, and other people don't.

I bet you're not in a spiritual community learning about the love of God from the body of Christ.

In Ephesians 4, the next chapter, Paul says this God places us in the church so that we will know his son and become mature and not be deceived and not fall away, and know how to live life with others and become healthy and experience God's love in its fullness.

Paul said it this way in Ephesians 1, Christ's body, that's us, reveals the fullness of God.

See, we think God's skinny.

God's full.

If you're wondering what his size is, if you could measure one end of the universe to the other, that's about it.

Or at least the beginning of it.

But because we don't understand our need for one another, we we think God is this little narrow.

We don't understand his fullness.

And finally, I bless you, I bless you, I bless you with God's generosity.

I want you to leave here, or actually, I want to leave you with some kind of a belief that God's plan and priority has never changed since he revealed it to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

God stay in bland.

Nothing's changed, nothing's changed.

God said, Abraham, I want to bless you.

Pick a topic, and I want to bless you in that topic.

And I want to multiply you from a man to a family to a nation to nations.

And I want to bless you from the top of your pointed head to the bottom of your smelly feet, and I want you to take those blessings and spread them around wherever there is need.

Wherever there's not blessing, that's what I want you to do with the abundance of blessings that I've given you.

Nothing's changed.

What does God want me to do today?

Take your blessings that God has given you and share them with where there's no blessings?

Whatever that means, whatever that looks like, that's what God wants you to do, and that's what God wants me to do.

Psalm 41, and I'll end here.

Blessed are people who have regard for the weak and the needy.

For Yahweh will deliver them, not the weak and needy.

It's those who bless and have regard for the weak and needy.

Yahweh will deliver them in times of trouble.

He'll protect and preserve them, and they'll be counted among the blessed in the land.

Yahweh will defeat their foes and sustain and restore them in times of sickness and want.

Be generous.

Be generous.

To this church, sure.

But that's that's such a it's so much money, it's just living life, it's living each day with this attitude that I can be generous because I have a God who pours out abundance on me every day.

2 Corinthians 9, 8.

God will bless you abundantly so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in abundant good works.

Be generous.

Be generous.

Be generous with others the way you have been generous with me for ten years.

Lord Jesus, I thank you that we could gather today.

We want to end this day, or this service at least, by celebrating your ultimate picture and declaration of how passionate you are about pouring out your blessings on us.

You let your son die on a cross so that we could be the beneficiaries of your abundance.

And we want to eat and drink that which represents his life, just as a way of declaring one more time, I believe, I have experienced, and I'm thankful.

If that is your experience and testimony and desire, then I invite you to come up when you're ready.

You don't have to rush up, you don't have to rush up here, just take a moment.

Take a moment and listen to the Spirit of God.

Listen to what the voice of God is saying to you.

But when you're ready, Lawrence, would you and April come up here, please?

Um come up and eat and drink and give thanks for the goodness of God.

Thank you.