1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 [Music] 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,760 We are going to talk today, so we're sandwiched in this little series here. 3 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:12,400 We've got, I say little series, this all year we've been talking about 4 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:17,280 HIs Word, His Life, and we're going to begin talking about His Church. And 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,920 this week and next week is kind of a couple of one-offs before we actually 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:24,320 launch the third part of our series. Though 7 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,600 today we're going to talk about Springhouse as a church, 8 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,880 and so it kind of ties into to where we're going. So would you stand with me? 9 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,880 We're going to read from Ephesians chapter 4. 10 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:39,360 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, 11 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,720 the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers, 12 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:48,640 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built 13 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,400 up until we all reach unity in the faith 14 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,720 and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, 15 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:00,880 attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Father, I thank you 16 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:03,600 for your Word. I thank you that it brings life. I thank 17 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:06,560 you, Lord, that it's transformative. And I ask, Lord, that you would 18 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,600 that you would speak to us today clearly. In Jesus' name, 19 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:15,040 Amen. Amen. Amen. I sometimes when I'm driving down the 20 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,080 street, I will see and drive by a church, and the churches 21 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,200 have church signs, and they'll put something up on the church sign. And a 22 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:23,520 lot of times the person putting the thing on the 23 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:26,640 church side thinks it's funny, but it's not really funny, you know. You 24 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,680 know what I'm talking about. And then sometimes there's something 25 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,200 that's up there that I scratched my head and said, "Do they really, 26 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:37,680 did they double, triple check this before they put that up there?" You know. 27 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,720 So I just thought it'd be good today to start with just some of the funniest 28 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,920 church signs. By the way, I want to say I am so thankful we don't have a church 29 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,280 sign. I am so grateful that we don't. Okay, here 30 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,840 we go. This one says, "Be salt and light, not 31 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,640 salty and lit." 32 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:57,760 I wish Noah had swatted those two mosquitoes. 33 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:04,880 "Adultery is a sin. You can't have Kate needeth too." 34 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:13,120 Whoa! "Prophecy class canceled due to unforeseen circumstances." 35 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:19,440 "Being Christian means not hating. We know it makes football season hard." 36 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:25,120 Blah, blah, blah. Just go to church. That probably is one of my favorites. 37 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:33,520 "Whoever stole our AC units, keep one." It is not hot. It's hot where you're going. 38 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:39,200 "Murray is not the only place to find your father." 39 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:46,560 "God has no favorites sign guy does. Go Preds." 40 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:52,320 Don't let worries kill you. Let the church help. 41 00:02:52,320 --> 00:03:04,080 The church. The church. The church is a very interesting anomaly 42 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:11,040 that is a head scratcher in terms of man because we didn't come up with the idea. 43 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:15,520 We didn't come up with the idea. The church was God's idea, not ours. 44 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,280 The church was God's idea, not ours. I've told this story before, but you know there 45 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:23,760 was a situation, there's a time period rather about I guess seven, eight years 46 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:29,760 ago where I was just some people had come to me with some stuff here at the church and they were like, 47 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:34,640 "This needs to be fixed and this needs to be fixed." And half of the things that came to me with 48 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:38,800 had no merit or no validity. Have you ever been on a train somebody just says something to you and 49 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:43,200 then you run with it but there's no validity to it? We need to make sure that if we're going to put 50 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:49,040 action to something that we need to make sure it's actually true, right? So I was told some of these 51 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,720 things and I started to come to church. I'll tell you guys for three months I came to the church 52 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,800 every day. I think I was sitting over here at the time and I would look at the church and I'd 53 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:01,360 be like, "How do we fix that God? How do we fix this God? How do we fix that person God? How do we 54 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:06,720 fix that situation God? How do we fix it?" And I just I confessed to you for about three months 55 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:12,160 I came to church and I did not worship. I did not worship because I was so focused on how we were 56 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:16,640 going to fix the things that people were bringing to me which half of them didn't even have merit. 57 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,960 And so I was on the way to the Dominican Republic because I was leading mission trips at that time 58 00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:26,640 and the students had gotten off of the plane and I got there on the tarmac and I'm looking at 36 59 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:32,240 kids and all of a sudden it dawned on me I don't have a plan for the mission trip. I'm thinking 60 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:36,240 what's going on? I got all these kids sitting here and it freaked me out and I saw one of our 61 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:40,400 teachers stand up and start giving instructions and I had forgotten that I had put her in charge 62 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:45,120 of the trip during this three-month time and so she had all of the information that was needed 63 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,560 and she ended up leading trips so I was like, "God, why in the world am I here? This is kind 64 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:52,960 of like a waste of time. Why am I here?" And God said, "No, no. I needed to get you away from the 65 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,840 distraction so I could speak to your heart." And one of the things that he said to me was, "Kevin, 66 00:04:57,840 --> 00:05:04,320 the church was my idea not yours. And if you're looking to fix anything I want you to go in and I 67 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:10,480 want you to love more and serve more. I want you to love deeper and I want you to serve more and oh, 68 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:15,600 that we would be a people. That whenever we see things that distract us in the church that our 69 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:21,360 first go-to would be to love deeper and to serve more. That we would love deeper and serve more." 70 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:26,560 Guys, do you know that God is the only one who can truly fix anybody? He's actually the one who has 71 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:32,480 the answers to problems and situations and his bride, he cares about his bride. He actually cares 72 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,640 about us. He cares about the church. He ordained the church and the church is vitally important. 73 00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:45,200 Being a part of a church is very, very important. Man's ideas fail. God's ideas always stand. 74 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:51,680 They always stand. So here at Springhouse, this is not, it's never been and it's not going to be, 75 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:58,640 this is not a build it and they will come mentality. This is a lift Jesus up and get out 76 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:05,600 of his way mentality. We want to exalt the name of Jesus in this place. My hope every day when we 77 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:10,560 come and pray here, often I'll pray this in our prayer time, is that we want you to taste and see 78 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,640 that the Lord's good. I don't want you to taste and see that I'm good 'cause I'm not. I'm far 79 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:20,560 from good. I'm pretty rotten by the way, you know, but we want you to taste and see that he is good 80 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:27,120 and we want to exalt Jesus Christ in this place. Jesus is good at drawing people to himself. We 81 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:31,840 don't actually have to do that. This is what he says in John 12. And I, when I'm lifted up from 82 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:39,280 the earth will draw all people to my self. Jesus can do the work. We just show up, man showing up. 83 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:46,480 And for some reason we can't and don't do that. And when we show up, we come in with all this 84 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:54,240 baggage of arsenal, ready to pull out and aim at people. Man, that is not how the bride of Christ 85 00:06:54,240 --> 00:07:00,320 should operate. And it's certainly how we don't want to operate here at Springhouse. Jesus does 86 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:07,600 the work of drawing people when he is lifted up. Now it's essential to understand that the church 87 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:14,560 elevates Christ. The church elevates Christ. Christ loves the church and that is our goal. 88 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:19,520 It is our hope. It is our aim. It is our desire. Springhouse specifically that we would elevate 89 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:25,680 the name of Jesus. That we would elevate Jesus to his rightful place. That we would not be elevated 90 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:32,480 ourselves. Guys, the only celebrity here at Springhouse is Jesus Christ. The only celebrity here at 91 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:36,880 Springhouse is Jesus Christ. I will hear people kind of off the wall say, you know, man, I just 92 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:41,040 love when Pastor Barbie speaks. She just brings such a great word and I just can't wait to the 93 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:47,680 next time she's up here. Pastor Justin, man, he's just a fool. No, I mean, he's just awesome. He'll 94 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:52,480 just have the most wonderful story. I can't wait. And man, oh, Kevin's up today. Dang it. Okay. So, 95 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:57,200 but you know, a mixture of things. Guys, here's the thing. When you come into this place, 96 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:04,000 the voice that you should be listening to is the Holy Spirit. Now he will use agents to be his 97 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:09,520 voice, but the voice you want to leave here with is nothing more, nothing less than the Holy Spirit. 98 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:15,120 The only celebrity here at Springhouse is Jesus Christ. We want to elevate him. You shouldn't be 99 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:20,720 leaving here thinking about my personality or my great story or Justin's personality or Barbie's 100 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:25,760 thing. You should be thinking about Jesus Christ. He should be the center of who we're talking about. 101 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:29,200 If there's a conviction, if there's something setting in, the Holy Spirit gets in there, 102 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:33,200 we should be thinking about him when we leave here. Guys, there's plenty of distractions out 103 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:37,440 there. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, all the way through Saturday. This hour 104 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:44,400 is about him. This hour is about him. And so occasionally, I haven't gotten this question 105 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:48,640 as much as I thought I was going to get it. I'm sure Pastor Ronnie got this multiple times in his 106 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:54,000 33 years here at the church, but I've gotten a time or two. And the question is, what is your vision? 107 00:08:54,000 --> 00:09:01,760 What is your vision for Springhouse? What do you want to see? And really what we surmise is that 108 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:06,080 when people actually ask that question, they're looking for like some catchy slogan or phrase 109 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:15,440 that they can attach themselves to and run with. Guys, the Lord has given a vision for his church 110 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:21,600 and we don't need to reinvent it. We don't need to rebrand it. We don't need to make it up. He 111 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:27,680 has given a vision for his church. Now I'll tell you, there is direction that the Lord will give 112 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:33,280 pastors. And I'll tell you, Springhouse, Smyrna Assembly throughout history has been kind of known 113 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:39,120 for drawing in people who have come out of other church situations with church hurt. Some of you 114 00:09:39,120 --> 00:09:43,600 sitting here were a part of church hurt at your last experience. And guys, there's nothing like 115 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:48,720 church hurt. There's nothing quite like church hurt. And I'll tell you, when I listen to some 116 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:54,240 of the stories about church hurt from other churches, one of the things that I find, 117 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:59,360 it's not in every situation, but sometimes the common denominator is I find that a pastor 118 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,840 probably has gotten some direction from the Lord, has truly heard from the Lord, 119 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:07,120 but the minute he gets direction, he turns his back on God and tries to do it himself. 120 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:16,160 Anybody who tries to complete God's plan without God is a fool, is a fool. 121 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:23,680 When Joshua went over into the promised land, God had promised him all of the cities. He was going 122 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:28,800 to go in and dominate all the cities. And so he says to Joshua, go to Jericho and I'm going to 123 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:33,600 deliver that city into your hand. Can you imagine Joshua? He had every ability. He had an army of 124 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,680 warriors with him. He literally, he could have just said, okay, God, you're going to give us the 125 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:42,720 city. Thank you so much. Now let's go start beating down these walls. But God didn't say, 126 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:47,440 go beat down the walls. God said, I'm going to give you this city and here's how I want you to 127 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:53,280 do it. I want you to shut your mouth and circle the walls, shut your mouth and go around the walls. 128 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:58,240 Guys, may we be a people who not only get direction from the Lord, but also trust him 129 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:04,000 in his execution of it. In his execution of it. Guys, we need to be a people who are ready to 130 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:11,040 lean in to everything God has to lean into from start to finish. Guys, we actually have the easy 131 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:16,880 part because he shoulders the burden. He shoulders the weight. He shoulders the execution. We don't 132 00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:23,040 have to make things happen. We can just show up. What a grace gift he has given us. What a grace 133 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:29,440 gift. So God has given us a vision for his church and it is in Ephesians four, we read it, to equip 134 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:35,600 people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up. To equip people for works 135 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:42,640 of service so the body of Christ may be built up. And so sometimes I'll be asked this question 136 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:47,760 outside of what is your vision. Kevin, are you content with the size church that you pastor? 137 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:52,320 Are you content with the sizes? Do you want to see the church grow and explode? There will be 138 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:58,560 multiple services, yada yada. And usually when I really try to answer directly with this, are you 139 00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:05,520 content with the size of church you pastor? No, I am content with God's will. I am content with God's 140 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:10,880 will. Whatever God wants to happen here, as long as he's in the middle of it, that's what I want. 141 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,800 If he wants us to explode and grow, he's going to supply the resources, the people, the buildings, 142 00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:18,720 whatever it is. Let's go as long as God's there. If he wants us to shrink in size, 143 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:26,080 as long as he's in the middle of it, I'll be there. I'm for it. I want to be where he is. 144 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:30,960 Don't you want to be where the Lord is? Don't you want to be where the Holy Spirit is moving? 145 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:35,680 There is a movement that happened and I think it's kind of, the pressing of it's kind of died 146 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:40,160 down a little bit. There's this home church movement, like, you know, get out of large 147 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:45,520 church, large organizational church, get into small groups, small home. And I'm all for small 148 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:52,240 groups meeting at homes and churches and that type of thing. But, you know, here's the reality. 149 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,320 And I think it was Pastor Ronnie who said this to somebody and I caught it and I loved it. 150 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:59,360 If you're out in the middle of an ocean and there's a hurricane coming, do you want to be 151 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:01,760 in a small boat with six people or do you want to be on a cruise boat? 152 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:10,640 Guys, I want to be with people who are following the Lord. I want to be with people who got their 153 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:19,360 eyes fixed on him. We need community. We need to be around fellow believers. We need to be around 154 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:25,280 people who are like-minded and are exalting the name of Jesus. There have been so many of you who 155 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:30,240 have blessed my life, who have spoken into my life, who have encouraged me because of different 156 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:34,480 things that you bring to the table. And I hope that I've been able to do the same for you because 157 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:40,080 we're in this together. We're the same sheep. We're all sheep with a shepherd and he knows our name 158 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:45,840 and we know his name and we are looking at him and we are exalting him. We need each other. We 159 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:52,160 need to want and desire to meet and be together. We should not forsake the assembly of the saints. 160 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:58,160 We need to be meeting weekly together and being here. Last week I talked about when you miss out, 161 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:04,800 when you don't show up. You miss out when you don't show up. So what happens, what brings us 162 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:09,760 to a mentality of like, I just want to get out of this place, this not necessarily Springhouse, 163 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:13,360 but just the church and all the people. It's sometimes because when we walk in we forget 164 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:19,840 that people are people. People are people and people are broken. People are people and people 165 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:24,480 are hurt. People are people and people have situations and circumstances like you do. 166 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:32,800 And so I don't know what it is sometimes we can sort of walk in with like this self-righteous 167 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:38,160 posture of like, you know, you don't get the same grace that I expect you to confer to me 168 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:44,800 when I'm going through my stuff. But man, we ought to have a reservoir of grace for each other because 169 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:51,360 we all need it. We all need it. We all need mercy. Be that's mercy. Grace begets grace. 170 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:57,760 The rendering of those things to one another in love. We all have a level of brokenness. One 171 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:01,680 struggles with addiction, another with pride, another with selfishness, another with gossip, 172 00:15:01,680 --> 00:15:06,320 and the list goes on and on. But we must have a reservoir of grace for each other. 173 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:13,120 I came from a church before being here that really elevated hell and elevated sin. Not to say that 174 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:17,280 sin was good. They weren't saying sin was good, but all they talked about was hell. All they 175 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:23,040 talked about was sin. But boy, we want to be a place that exalts Jesus Christ. We want to be a 176 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:28,640 place that Jesus is in the forefront. I want to be a place that opens the doors to people who don't 177 00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:32,800 look like, sound like, smell like, act like us. And when they come in here, they don't get called 178 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:37,920 out for whatever it is they are doing, which many of us are probably struggling with as well. 179 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:42,720 But instead they taste and see that the Lord is good. And then the Lord gets in there and 180 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:48,000 he begins to change things. See, the love of Christ is infectious. The love of Christ 181 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:56,240 draws people in. He has a way of motivating us to want to change our behavioral situation because 182 00:15:56,240 --> 00:16:01,280 he has something so much better for us. He has something so much richer for us. Something that 183 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:09,360 gives life instead of death. Church is a place where truth replaces lies. Truth, I need a place 184 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:15,920 where I can go and know I'm hearing truth. I need a place where the lies that I buy into through the 185 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:22,880 week can be refuted by scripture and by the word and the reminding of he is who he says he is. 186 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:29,760 God is greater in us than he who is in the world. He is out to kill, steal, and destroy us. And so 187 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:34,320 here at String House, we've been given a direction that we are to be a church that loves big, lives 188 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:42,240 truth, and operates as a healthy family. I want us to be a place that loves in big ways. This is what 189 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:48,160 John 13 says, "A new command I give you." Jesus is speaking here. He says, "Love one another as I have 190 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:53,520 loved you, so you must love one another." Guys, this is coming from the God. This is coming from 191 00:16:53,520 --> 00:17:00,320 the mouth of the God who saved your life. This is coming from the mouth of the God who breathed 192 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:04,560 stars. Why is that so important? There are so many verses I could give about how we're supposed to 193 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:09,680 love one another, but I want to ask you a question. Are you loving people the way Christ loves you? 194 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:15,280 Are you loving in a way that Jesus Christ loves you? I've got a friend, he spoke here a few weeks 195 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:22,480 ago, his name's Tim, and one time I remember he got on an airplane and he flew over here. He flew 196 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:28,000 over here, got off the airplane just to give me a hug and say, "I love you," and he flew back home. 197 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:33,600 That's extraordinary love. That's extraordinary. Some people say that's odd, that's weird, 198 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:38,480 that's strange. Do you know he doesn't care about other people's opinion? He doesn't care what 199 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:42,720 anybody else thinks about the way that he loves me. You know why? Because Christ loves him so much, 200 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:49,440 and he's taking his cue off of how Christ loves him. Guys, are we loving people the way that Christ 201 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:54,320 loves us? Can you imagine Christ coming down and saying, "Oh, I don't know if I'm gonna love 202 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,680 Barbie that much because of what Hal might think or Kurt might think. You know, I'm gonna just kind 203 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:05,760 of distance myself from Dana or from John. I need people in my life who will love me the way Christ 204 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:11,440 loved them. I need people in my life who will encourage me when I'm discouraged. I need people 205 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:17,040 who are able to say, "I'm not going to measure my love based on what the world says or the way 206 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:23,120 the world looks at it." The world is so perverted, love, but you can't pervert Christ because he is 207 00:18:23,120 --> 00:18:29,520 the truth, right? He is true. He is solid. He is firm. And guys, we ought to be loving people the 208 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:39,680 way Christ loves us. Love is my name protected in your mouth. Love is my name protected in your 209 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:44,080 mouth in all, at all occasions. And guys, I'm gonna tell you, there's gonna come a point when 210 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:49,360 y'all are gonna bury me. Hopefully I'll be dead instead of alive. Bury me, I'll be dead. 211 00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:56,640 But I hope that somebody is able to come up to the pulpit and say, 212 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:02,080 "The only accusation that I have for Kevin is that he loved so well. 213 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:10,400 The only accusation that I can have against this man is that he didn't care what other 214 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:15,920 people thought. He just went in right to the middle of the mess and sat with the person. 215 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:24,160 Loved them through whatever it was. I want to be an extraordinary lover of people. 216 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:30,000 And I pray that that would be your prayer as well. That we would be known for loving big. And so that 217 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:36,640 when people come into this place, and it's gonna be weird, it's gonna be odd for them because they're 218 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,280 not used to that type of love. But here's the thing that I found, and you've probably found it, 219 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:46,320 when you find somebody who loves you, even in extraordinary weird ways, all of a sudden you 220 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:50,800 start craving it more. You start saying, "This is actually really rich and really good, and I'm 221 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:56,320 really benefiting from this love." Guys, every one of you benefited from Christ's love in your life. 222 00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:01,200 What does it look like for the person who comes in and says, "I haven't been at church in forever." 223 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:09,120 But man, when I walk in, it's like those guys, Dave and Justin and Doug, they just kind of got me, 224 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:12,560 and they started talking to me, and they're like, "Man, what's your life about?" And they start 225 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:17,040 conversing with me, and it's kind of weird because I've never had this much of a kind of a zealous 226 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:20,640 approach to relationship. You know, I'm going to come back next week, it's probably not the same, 227 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:25,280 and then it is. And then the next week it is, and then you get a text message and a follow-up, 228 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:30,080 and it's like, "I actually believe that this person cares about me." Like, what is this about? 229 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,600 Like, what do you even have? Like, what do you do during the week? You're just like checking up on 230 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:37,360 me, and all these things. And all of a sudden, now seven years later, they're sitting here, 231 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:42,800 and they're doing the same thing for somebody else. Because love is infectious. Christ's love 232 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:48,000 is infectious. We want to be a church who authentically loves big. We want to be a church 233 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:54,400 who lives truth. We live in a time where Christianity is being redefined without the use 234 00:20:54,400 --> 00:21:00,000 of biblical principles. And guys, it's because we don't know this word nearly enough. We've 235 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:04,960 got to get into the word. We've got to know this. We've got to breathe this. We're talking about 236 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:12,000 Christ this year. We're talking about His life, His word, His life, His church. Guys, His work. 237 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:18,480 Do you guys know that truth is not an idea? Truth is a person. Truth is a person, the person of 238 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:24,320 Jesus Christ. He says, "I am the way." He says, "I am the truth." What is it that Pastor Justin 239 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:30,080 often says that Christianity is exclusively inclusive? It's like everyone's invited to 240 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:38,000 the party, but guys, there's only one way in, and it's through Christ. And so in order for us to 241 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:44,480 love big, we've got to measure that by the truth. Why is that? Because I want to love you so well 242 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:48,800 that I'm willing to see a Mack truck coming toward your life. I'm willing to jump out and push you 243 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:53,120 out of the way. But that hurt. You scratched my elbow. I fell down on the ground when the 244 00:21:53,120 --> 00:22:01,520 Mack truck was coming to kill me. I'm willing to hurt you with truth in order to save your life, 245 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:08,000 because I love you. You understand what I'm saying? Like, like this isn't about just you got your truth, 246 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:12,560 and I got my truth, and you got a little bit of truth, and you can have some truth over here. No, 247 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:18,240 there's one way, and His name is Jesus, and He's a person. And He wants to have a relationship with 248 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:22,400 you. He wants to walk with you, and He didn't come to give you a better life. That's a misnomer. 249 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:26,720 To think that, oh, I get to, I'm saved, John, you got baptized today. Guess what? I pray that your 250 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:31,200 life is blessed. I pray that it's better. But Jesus didn't come to give you a better life. He came to 251 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:37,200 change your life, and He came to change it so you become more like Him. And if you don't look like 252 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:43,600 Him, He's going to keep working at you to be like Him. Spring House, I want it to be a place where 253 00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:50,480 we live truth, where we live truth. My job as your pastor is not to tell you how to live your life. 254 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:56,000 My job is to point you to the one who can change everything. I want to point you to Christ. And 255 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:01,920 lastly, we want to be a healthy family. Healthy doesn't mean that stuff's not going to happen. 256 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:07,280 If you've got a healthy, so many of you have healthy family units at home. Let me tell you, 257 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:12,480 you argue with your spouse from time to time. Your kids get on your nerves from time to time, right? 258 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:18,240 Guys, we're people, and we're broken. Stuff is going to happen. Healthy family doesn't just mean 259 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:24,000 we go around smiling all the time. Fake, no healthy means that we're authentic enough that when 260 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:28,720 something goes down, we're going to address it, and we're going to address it in the right way. 261 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:34,000 We're not going to let it fester. This is a place where gossip goes to die. This is a place that we 262 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:40,000 can count on to be a safe refuge, a place that you can come and you can hide under the shelter 263 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:47,120 of the most high, that you can be conferred dignity, respect as an individual and a person 264 00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:54,240 and as a child of the most high. We want to be a healthy family. I remember my first, 265 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:58,400 one of my first or second sermons that I brought here, I was the youth pastor at the time, 266 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:02,400 and I remember getting done here, giving the blessing and walking off the stage. And I walked 267 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,640 down the steps and I got to about right here. And this gentleman, this older gentleman comes up to 268 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:10,160 me and he's got his hand extended. And I said, "Oh, okay, here." I'll shake his hand. I thought 269 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,680 I was just meeting a new visitor for the time because I hadn't seen him before. And he said, 270 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:17,680 "Hey, I just want to let you know that if you ever speak again at this church, I'm not coming back." 271 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:29,360 I was so encouraged. It was great. That man has not been back here. And I probably, 272 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:31,760 probably would not be happy to know I'm the lead pastor now, but 273 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:40,400 guys, what you say and the words you use matter. The word tells us from the abundance of our heart, 274 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:45,920 the mouth speaks. And we usually use that in the context of trying to correct negative words, 275 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:52,000 but the same is true on the opposite side. When I say you are a warrior, when I say you, 276 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:57,360 there is nothing that can come against you, that he is greater in you. When I come and say you are, 277 00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:04,000 you are going to rise above, that you're so tall, all of these life-giving words are fuel for the 278 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:09,040 Holy Spirit to do transformative work in people's lives. Our words are supposed to build up, 279 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:14,640 not tear down. So it's easy in this context, in this large setting, not to build, you know, 280 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:17,760 it'd be terrible for me to come and start like tearing people down or whatnot. I wouldn't do it 281 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:23,040 here. But what do my texts look like? What does it look like in the corner back there, 282 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:29,840 or out on the workplace, or when I'm, we're not just the body of Christ when we're in this building 283 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:37,200 for the hour on Sunday. Let me give you a litmus test for your text groups that you have. Can I 284 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:42,240 read them? Can I read them out loud right here? Can I bring them on stage and start reading them 285 00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:46,960 out loud? And if the answer to that is, I don't know, I don't think so, no, no, no, no, then you 286 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:52,560 probably need to evaluate what's going on in those text groups, in those chat groups. Because 287 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:56,960 any little crevice we give the enemy, he's going to take it. Why? Because the enemy's out to kill you 288 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:04,240 and destroy people. I don't want to just love big, live true to be a healthy family by words, 289 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:09,920 or on a shirt, or on banners. I actually want that to be how we live our lives. 290 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:19,680 Are the singers coming back? They can come back now. I didn't know if I ran them off. 291 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:31,120 The vision of the church is to equip people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may 292 00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:43,920 be built up so that we can achieve unity. So that we can achieve unity. Unity is a severely 293 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:52,400 underrated place for us to live. We need unity. Why? Let me tell you why. It's right in scripture 294 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,720 in the book of Psalm 133. I'm going to want to read it to you straight out of the word here. 295 00:26:57,360 --> 00:27:04,400 It says this, "How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. It is like precious 296 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:10,720 oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down on the 297 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:18,080 collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Herman were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord 298 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:30,480 bestows his blessing, even life forevermore." When we live in a place of unity, then the Lord's blessing 299 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:39,600 covers us. And guys, don't you want to be a part of something that the Lord is covering? Don't you 300 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:46,160 want to be under the shadow of the Almighty's blessing? I want God's blessing, and I don't think 301 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:52,320 that's wrong. I want my dad's blessing. Do you want God's blessing over our church and over your lives? 302 00:27:52,320 --> 00:28:00,000 Unity is the key. Does that mean we agree all the time? Kurt and I never agree, but we're in unity. 303 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:06,640 I'm just kidding. We actually agree on a lot of things. It doesn't mean we're going to agree with 304 00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:13,520 everything, but I'm still going to walk with you. And when we don't agree, guess what? It does nothing 305 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:22,160 to stop me from loving big, living truth, and operating with you in a healthy family posture. 306 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:32,640 Let's be unified as a church. Let's aim for that. Let's let Jesus be the topic of our conversation 307 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:36,000 when we meet here and gather together for an hour, hour and a half every week. 308 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:42,960 Let's let Jesus be the center of our conversations. When we bring in our baggage from the week and all 309 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:48,720 the dirt and the shame and all that crap that we bring in with us, guys, let's be looking for ways 310 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:54,160 to look at each other and encourage one another to speak life over those situations, to say, 311 00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:59,440 "That's a lie. Chelsea, you're buying into that lie about your life. No, you are beautiful. 312 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:04,880 You are amazing. You are wonderful. God has anointed you to be a worship leader. He's raised 313 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:11,040 you up for such a season and a time as this. What is it to encourage one another and to speak 314 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:17,920 words of life? Let this be a place that exalts Christ in that way." What do you say? Amen? 315 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,400 Amen. Would you stand with me? 316 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:29,280 The book of Hebrews tells us that because of Christ Jesus, we can come boldly before his 317 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:35,360 throne in our time of need. And guys, some of you have needs. This is another wonderful benefit of 318 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:41,120 being a part of a community of believers is that you can come and you can bring those things that 319 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:46,560 have been bothering you, the work situations, the believing in faith for whatever provision you're 320 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,960 needing or that person that you're praying for. You can come and you can stand with another 321 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:55,120 believer and you can go to almighty God. Would you come if you're gonna pray with people? And 322 00:29:55,120 --> 00:30:01,280 here's the deal. They're not going to give you their opinions because their opinions are worth 323 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:06,640 squat. What they're gonna do is they're gonna take your request and they're gonna agree with you 324 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:12,640 and take it to the one who can answer the issue, who has the answers, who has the peace, who 325 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:18,080 confers all of the things to us that we need. He's the one. And it is good to agree with somebody in 326 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:25,040 prayer. The prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective. So if you have a need today, 327 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:29,760 if you have something going on in your life, if you need to connect with God, don't leave here 328 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:35,920 the same way you came. Come today and agree with somebody down here and go to your Father because He 329 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:40,640 loves you. Let's worship.