** So here's a sermon I wrote this month. For a preaching series we're in at Home Church where I serve as co-youth pastor with my wife Rianne. I will record it soon and add it to the blog. **
Welcome
Announcements
Possible Song Choices:
All My Fountains (Chris Tomlin) , You are God Alone ( Phillips Craig and Dean), Joy in the Morning (Tauren Wells original version), You Are Holy (Prince of Peace) Michael W. Smith
Welcome
Introduce self
(As I begin Grayson/Savannah bring out the table, iPad and Bible. They also bring out the boxes and accidentally drop them all over the front of the stage on purpose, I use them at the end.)
Recap (From previous weeks of series) - Worship, Prayer, Giving and now Serving
Set Up - Moses back story
Read: Exodus 3 - 4:17
Pray
Open:
Priorities
Have you ever had your priorities tested? It's not fun right, so this year my priorities have been tested. I know your sitting there thinking, he’s doing the right thing; he’s a youth pastor. My wife Rianne is co-leading youth group with me and we're going to church and serving, but this year my priorities have been tested. I started to think that money was what we need to go after recently again so we can pay bills. I mean these are all good things right and get out of debt and maybe start some investments and thinking about the here and now. Right now, time is fleeting and my priorities were challenged.
DoorDashing
I started DoorDashing last year in November and I've been doing it ever since. Just the other day I was out there trying to DoorDash and I made some mistake in the app when I was signing on, and they decided to cancel my account and ban me so I can never DoorDash again. That was very frustrating and I began trying to figure out more ways to make money and I came to this conclusion: why am I trusting my abilities and not in God and maybe that's not what my priorities need to be now, why can't I just lean on him to take care of all my needs like it says in 1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” why am I not believing that right now? And that caused me to slow down and get some perspective. Up to that point I had been trying to do this by myself. Our marriage had some ups and downs recently and so that was a blow. My car died recently and we're having to look for a new car. It stinks when a car that's paid off dies and suddenly you have to get in a new car payment. DUDE, THAT WAS PAID OFF!!! Why did the thing die? Right? Not fun, you know we tend to think, “oh man I gotta do this. I gotta get all this done” and it's just not like that. Sometimes you gotta slow down and figure out what really matters. And so I think he did that for me recently, he said, “time slow down!” “time to refocus on me (God) get your priorities straight.” So today I'm asking you, are your priorities straight? You know we're talking about serving today and one of our beliefs our values here at Home Church is that we build the kingdom at the speed of sacrifice.
Challenge:
So I ask you, what is it that God might be asking you to sacrifice? Are you sacrificing anything? Is your faith worth a sacrifice? Think about it. What on earth are you here for? Jesus clearly states in Matthew 28:18-20 this,
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”( I will help you speak I will help you teach.)
Mission/Purpose
So clearly we are here for a mission. A purpose, we are to go throughout the Earth making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all His commands. Jesus disciples throughout time have been doing just that, making disciples, baptizing and teaching them to obey all his commands. Essentially doing the things that Jesus did while he was here on the earth. We look to him to see what we're supposed to be doing with our lives. Are you storing up treasures in heaven? Are you fulfilling the mission that God is giving you personally? Did you know that this little bit of time we have on earth is but drop in a bucket of eternity? The time we spend here is like a speck compared to eternity. Why do we focus so much energy on this little speck of time, this little insignificant amount of time; why because it's in our face. It's all we can see. We’re blocked by the things of this life. So I ask you again; if you’re not storing treasures in heaven, Why not put some eternal dividends into the bank account of heaven? How do you do that? Well, there's a few ways God through Jesus when he was here on the earth told us how to do it. He said go and tell others about him and his love for each of his children. (“Even while we are still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8) What are some ways that we do that? Here at Home Church there are many serving opportunities and many ways you can get involved. Serving in the youth group where I do. Become part of the team to point young people to Christ. How about Treehouse Kids where we serve the grade schoolers at their level with things they can understand. How about right here on Sunday mornings? You can serve coffee, be part of the set up and break down teams, join the band, sing. There is so many different opportunities and ways to serve in the background that you may not even know of. We have teams that create events, you could be part of the event team. We have a team that does all the social media, photography and videography which tells the story of our church all throughout the week online and being the voice of Home Church in our community. There are so many other ways for you to get involved, become a home group leader, run sound, be part of the stage crew. The opportunities are endless. There's a spot for you here or somewhere in the community. It doesn't have to be at Home Church. It would be great if you did it here and a lot of you do and we thank you for that.
Anxiety about Preaching - God’s reminder of His calling:
I was originally told about me preaching this message at the beginning of the year and what happened? My heart was consumed with anxiety about it. Why? Because I stumble over my speech, I have been an awkward one for a long time. You may not believe this but the majority of my life I've been an introvert. I have so many excuses. I can tell you; I remember when we first started Home Church while Covid was in full swing, my wife and I had decided that we would try Home Church out because we were watching church Online just like everybody else and we got tired of that. When we came here to Home Church our whole goal was to not be involved again. In our minds we said,
“We're gonna sit in the back we're not gonna get involved. We are just here as your faithful bystanders God. Thank you but no thank you, right? Hilarious.”
Questionnaire
A couple weeks go by and this questionnaire comes out; I know some of you remember, and the questionnaire basically says, “What are you good at?” How can you help the church out? and I went down the list and I said well…. I could do that,…. I could do that,….. I could do…. about everything so I filled in my reasons for doing these things and how I've done them in the past and sometime that week ‘ring ring ring’ I got a call from; you guessed it, Pastor Kenny and he says “Hey, I see you signed up for serving and I just wanted to have a discussion with you. You got some time?” “Sure I got some time” and so we discussed how I wanted to serve and I did the same thing I did on that information packet and I told him I was like, “well, I could do this…. I could do this…. I could do this…” and he's like “whoa, whoa, whoa whoa, but what do you wanna do?” My answer was, “I could do this…. I could do this…. I could do this…” “whoa, whoa, whoa what do you wanna do?” and so I've been involved in youth ministry for a long time, at the same time I have these butts, you know? Not any biblical, but, just a butt and the butt comes in there. Well I'm not good enough. Well this, well that, but my butt at this time was because of Church hurt. I was saying, “God’s done with me. I'm all used up.” That was my butt. Have you ever heard of something called a resurrection? Have you ever heard Genesis 1:1, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. Verse 3, “let there be light.” And it was light in the darkness. That's what it was like when God said I’m not done with you yet, I can use you, you can have all the excuses in the world, what did Moses say, Exodus 7 verse 7 tells us that, “Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.” Chapter 4 verse 10 tells us, Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” He basically told God, I have a speech impediment, I can't do this. So as Pastor Kenny and I were talking the conversation came around that I was interested in youth ministry and that I'm not only interested but I've been doing it a while. He said, “Let me think about it.” I didn't hear back from him for a few days and one of those next Sundays Pastor Kenny told the congregation that in January 2021 Home Church will start up the youth group and in my mind I said, “in January 2021 I'm gonna help that guy.” That's where my heart was and couple weeks later we had another conversation at my house where Pastor Kenny and I and Rianne my wife sat down and talked about serving. Not specifically the youth group or youth ministry, but serving in general. I'm sure he prayed about it with his wife Katie and talked to people that knew me and next thing we knew one sunny Sunday he took Rianne and I aside after church; when we were still over at Pursuit, and asked me to be the youth pastor and I was a aghast. I was taken by surprise. I've not been a youth pastor since college in 1997 but this is gonna be different. I knew it and when we got in the car to leave Rianne looked over at me and said, “It comes full circle Babe.” When she said that she and I just sat there and cried. In that moment I prayed and thanked God for his goodness.
Close: (piano music)
Excuses
You know the things in our lives that don’t make sense sometimes? Sometimes they come full circle and it makes sense why I had to go through that. Why did this have to happen? God can't use me anymore or can't use me at all. A fear comes in, anxiety, there's things that could've broken me, but God uses me in spite of me and he uses you in spite of you too. What we think is our greatest failure. Remember, we talked about crucifixion into resurrection, light into darkness, good out of bad, that's what he does. That’s his specialty. The bad flips upside down and somehow turns into good, how does he do it? He's God, that's how! We need to have a little faith that he can take all our broken pieces and make a masterpiece out of it. He can take all the messed up broken puzzle pieces of our lives and make a beautiful end-result picture out of it. That WOW, that was there the whole time. God says in Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Notice, he doesn’t say in some things..or everything but you fill in the blank. All things. You messed up and had sex before marriage? “So did I.” (Start putting puzzle together) God says: Yep, I can fit that in. But I have an addiction. (Grab piece) “I’ve had a 40+ year addiction”, God still says, Yep, that goes right here. (Put in another piece.) I’m too old, I’m too young. Dude, that’s easy, that’s a corner piece. (Put the corner piece in.) I have a speech impediment. (Put in another piece.) I have a secret sin. God says: I know, and have paid for that too. It’s covered and I’ll work it in right here.. (Put all the rest of the pieces in to reveal a beautiful picture.) I’m sickly or lame or whatever your thing is. “I have mental health issues that paralyze me with fear, anxiety and depression at times, which roll into uncontrolled anger.” What’s your excuse? What’s holding you back? God ain’t having your excuses or mine. It’s time to go where he sends you. Will you answer the call? I’m not qualified, I don’t have training. Neither did the disciples and they changed the world. God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called. Anything plus Jesus is a majority. He can take all the broken puzzle pieces of our lives and turn them into something beautiful. He can take what we thought was trash and turn it into treasure. Your greatest mess can become your greatest ministry for your good and His glory.
Call to Action:
So today, what is your next step? Is it to become a follower of Jesus for the first time? Is it to get your priorities straight and stop following the ways of the world, maybe create some margin in your life and stop being so busy that you are blinded by all the things that really are just that, things. That way you can open your hands, drop what your holding so that you can take part in obeying his calling on your life. Go make disciples, baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teach to obey all God’s commands. Maybe that means you join a serving team in the atrium this afternoon or join a Home Group or even lead one? What is God calling you to do? He is calling. Ring, ring ring, will you pick up the phone?
With every head bowed and all eyes closed. If there is anyone in the room or on-line tired of the excuses and you know God is calling you into the saving grace of His Son Jesus Christ. It’s as simple as A: Admit you are a sinner and you are in need of a savior. B: Believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead on the 3rd day conquering death, Sin and the grave. C: Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. And D: Decide to follow Jesus from this day forward. If that’s you, I invite you to repeat after me in a simple prayer of salvation. It is not the prayer that saves, not any special magical words. He cares more about the posture of your heart. If that’s you, you can repeat after me and say: Dear God, I know I am a sinner and I am in need of a savior. I believe that Christ Jesus died on the cross to pay for the penalty of my sins. Come be Lord of my life Jesus. Thank you for saving me from my sins. I choose to follow you Jesus, the rest of my days, the best I know how.
If you just prayed that prayer with every head bowed and eyes still closed would you simply raise your hand to signify that you decided to make Jesus the Lord of your life today? Thank you I see that hand.
Serving:
With eyes still closed and heads still bowed, for those of you in the room that have been journeying with Jesus for some time or just starting out on the path right now. And you are feeling the pull of the Lord to go deeper in your faith with him. Joining a serving team, starting to tithe, joining a Home Group or taking a step to lead one or some other calling. Let’s pray about that. Jesus, thank you that you qualify the called. Thank you that you are God and I am not. Thank you for using me in spite of me. Dear Jesus, I know your people are being called deeper into love with you as they seek to serve you. Heap blessings upon blessings in the lives of your people and even more upon those who decide to give back what you have given them. Whether it be their time, their talent or their treasure. Bless both the gift and the giver. In your name Jesus, Amen.
Notes:
Visual aide - as I preach and bring up message points have puzzle pieces join on-screen to become a picture at the end of the preach (need idea for picture)
Priorities, mission
Value: We Build The Kingdom At The Speed Of Sacrifice(Our willingness to give of our time, talent and treasure creates the impact in our community that brings heaven to earth) Acts 2:45
Exodus 3 - 4:17
1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”
Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
“even while we are still sinners” Romans 5:8
Genesis 1:1, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. Verse 3, “let there be light.”
Exodus 7 verse 7 tells us that, “Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.” Chapter 4 verse 10 tells us, Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor the since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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