I usually do this on the last Sunday of October, but do you know how hard it is to get a group
of pastors in the same room on a Sunday?
That's very difficult.
Guys, you are incredibly blessed.
We are incredibly blessed.
I am incredibly blessed to have a group of associate pastors at this church who love
and serve the way that they do.
The group of people behind me have been faithful, have been loyal, have been servant-hearted
for multiple years, even before I got into this position.
You know, I was told by several respected business people and even ministry people that
whenever I stepped into this role as lead pastor, I needed to clear the deck.
And it didn't resonate with my spirit to clear the deck because you don't clear the deck
with family.
You guys are my family.
And there is nobody that I would rather do this journey with than the people who are
on the stage, whether you're on time or not, Justin.
The way that you guys have picked up the mantles that you've been charged with, the way that
you execute them is why we have the DNA in this house the way that we do.
You guys shepherd from a posture looking through the lands of Jesus, and you deeply care for
these people.
And I know that if we didn't do this, you would do your job with as much excellence
as you do right now.
But I wanted to appreciate you guys.
I wanted to recognize you for your fingerprints being all over this house in the hearts of
the people.
The longevity of the staff here goes to show not that, "Hey, look at us.
Look what we've done."
It goes to show the grace of God, the grace of the Lord in each of your lives and the
way that you have ministered.
The Lord gave me three words for this church body whenever I stepped in this role to love
big, huge hearts on this stage.
To live truth, you guys have a relationship with the Word of God and you live the truth
of God's Word.
And we are a healthy family because you shepherd so well.
So I just want to thank you.
I want to thank you for serving the body.
I want to thank you for loving the body and loving me.
Thank you for putting up with my shenanigans and all of the things that I asked you to
do and going with me.
I think the greatest gift is to know that I unequivocally, unquestionably know that
your yes is on the table.
If I go, you're coming with me.
And I can't tell you there's not a greater gift.
So we have something small for you that they're going to bring out, and I just want to say
we appreciate you guys.
Do you love the pastoral team here at Springhouse, guys?
Yeah, yeah.
Now I believe it was Pastor Barbie.
Come on y'all.
Come on.
Now I believe it was Pastor Barbie who said a few weeks ago it doesn't matter how much
fruit you have, only if it's good fruit.
That's all good fruit, so hopefully you can eat it.
Would you guys just gather here in front of me?
Would you all stretch your hands?
I pray over these guys.
And you're going to not see Pastor Barbie for a few weeks because she's going on sabbatical.
So I didn't want you to think she left her, you know, and you know, I get to repay her
for some remarks she made about me last time I was on sabbatical.
It's going to be great.
It's going to be fun.
Let's pray.
Father, I thank you so much for the gifts that you've given us.
The greatest gift you ever gave us was your son Jesus.
I thank you Lord for the pastors that you have assigned to this house, including Jonathan.
And I thank you Lord for the people that are standing on this stage.
And I ask Lord that you would continue to use them God.
Father, I thank you for their appointment.
I thank you that they walk with it with excellence.
Lord I thank you that they walk in integrity God.
And I thank you Lord that their desires to truly please you.
I pray Lord as they love our body big, as they live your truth, and as they sow into
healthy family, I pray Lord that we'll return to their families and to their homes a thousandfold God.
I pray that you would cover them, put a hedge of protection around them, us, as a body.
And I pray Lord that you would continue to use them as your oil pours down their head
to their feet, that they would walk in peace and that we would continue to maintain unity
in you.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you guys so much.
[applause]
Okay, I'm coming down to the floor because I want to spit on the front row.
That's holy spit.
Three reasons why I chose to do that today.
The first I've already told you.
It's hard, thank you buddy.
It's hard to get the pastors all in one room together on a Sunday.
The second reason is we have a picnic following this gathering.
Are you not excited about the picnic?
Okay, I'm excited about the picnic.
These pastors are going to be out there.
I want you to find them and hug their necks and tell them how much you appreciate them.
Is that sound good?
Can you do that for me?
Thumbs up?
Are we good?
Are we live this morning?
Okay.
All right, good deal.
And lastly, I wanted to do this today because of the message I'm about to speak.
And you'll see why once we get done with it.
Let's stand together and read the scripture.
"In Lystra there set a man who was lame.
He had been that way from birth and never walked.
He listened to Paul as he was speaking.
Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed, and called out, 'Stand
up on your feet.'
At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lyconian language, 'The gods
have come down to us in human form.'
Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker.
The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside of the city, brought bulls and reeds
to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed
out into the crowd, shouting, 'Friends, why are you doing this?
We too are only human like you.
We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the
living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.'
In the past, he let all nations go their own way.
He has not left himself without testimony.
He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons.
He provides you with plenty of foods and fills your heart with joy.
In these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over.
They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.
But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city.
The next day, he and Barnabas left for Derby.
They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples.
Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging
them to remain true to the faith.
They said, 'We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.'"
Father, I thank you for your word and I thank you that it brings life.
I pray, Lord, that you would transform us from the inside out today.
I pray that our hearts would be pliable, God, and I pray, Lord, that you would always remain
in the center of everything we do.
In Jesus' name, amen.
You may be seated.
Couple of things real quick that I missed at the top.
Thursday night, a new series is starting with Pastor Justin.
So I invite you to come and be a part of that through series.
It's called, I had it in my notes, but I'm not going to go back to it.
It's based on 1 John, Desires.
It's about desires, I believe.
It's a desire word.
Come Thursday night, six o'clock.
And then of course the picnic.
I already talked to you about that.
Okay.
Wanted to do that.
Okay.
We're in Acts chapter 14.
Now we've kind of gone a little bit around and jumped some.
So we were in Acts chapter 11 last week.
Wasn't that a phenomenal word from Pastor James?
Really good word from Pastor James.
Then we were in Acts chapter, we were in Acts chapter 12, we were in Acts chapter 13 the
week before that.
And now we're jumping to Acts chapter 14.
So real quick in review in chapter 11, we meet Barnabas and Paul and Barnabas become
traveling partners and they begin to go out and to do the work of preaching the gospel.
And in chapter 12, the focus of the chapter shifts to a man named Peter.
And we talked about Peter.
Remember Peter was put in the jail cell and the Lord provided an angel to come and bust
Peter out of that jail cell and walked him out liberated from that jail.
So we talked about that in chapter 12.
What we didn't talk about in chapter 12 was the king at the time, King Herod, he was in
charge and he got up in front of the people after this event and he began to make some
declarations and he began to make some proclamations, but he did not acknowledge God.
And the word tells us in chapter 12 that the angel of the Lord came and struck Herod down
and he was eaten by worms.
How many would like to be eaten by worms?
Nobody here hopefully.
Okay, get your life right.
Get your life right church.
Okay.
So the angel of the Lord comes and he strikes Herod down.
So you've got Peter broken free from prison.
You've got Herod being struck down from the angel of the Lord.
These two events, if I was there as a believer looking at this, I kind of would go, whoa,
I don't know if I want to be in this church or this setting because those are some big,
big events.
In verse 24 it says this, "But the word of God continued to spread and flourish."
The word of God continued to spread and flourish.
I want us to continue to put in front of us that the sanctification of the church, us
looking like Jesus Christ is going to add numbers to the kingdom far greater than any
show, any program, any tent, any picnic that we do.
That we would become like Christ Jesus.
That when people look at us and meet us, that they would see Jesus Christ.
When they see Jesus, numbers are added to the kingdom.
Amen.
And so we continue in chapter 13, Pastor Barbie several weeks ago talked about the false prophet
and sorcerer whom Paul filled with the Holy Spirit said, "You're a child of the devil.
You're a child of the devil."
It takes real boldness to tell somebody, well, it didn't take boldness, I guess too much
to tell somebody that they're filled, that they're the child of the devil.
But you don't need to say that unless you're filled with the Holy Spirit, right?
That's not very kind.
It's probably not kind either way, but one's true and one's false, right?
We want to only speak the things that we are filled by the Holy Spirit and told to say.
So Paul and Barnabas continue to preach the gospel and what we see is increasing faith.
We see their faith increase, their confidence in presenting the gospel continues to increase,
but guess what else increases?
Persecution.
What else increases is that they have opposition.
It doesn't necessarily get easier, it gets harder.
Have you ever found that in your walk, that the closer you get to Jesus, it gets harder?
It gets harder.
But we are not by ourselves and all alone.
We have a Holy Spirit who protects us and guides us and leads us and empowers us.
And so in verses 44 and 45 of Acts chapter 13, "On the next Sabbath, almost the whole
city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy."
Would you say the word jealousy?
Jealousy.
Jealousy is extremely crippling.
The Jewish leaders were filled with jealousy.
Why were they jealous?
They were jealous because they were not getting the following and the accolades and the notoriety
as these lowly apostles in giving the word of God.
And they were jealous.
And we're gonna see what they do with their jealousy here in just a moment.
So they begin to contradict what Paul was saying and they heaped abuse on him because
of their jealousy.
So this brings us to where we are today with Paul and Barnabas and they go into a city
called Iconium and then to Lystra where we read that Paul sees a lame man.
He sees a lame man and he looks at this lame man and he says, "Get up and walk."
Oh, that we would have the boldness and the faith to look at crippled, look at lame, look
at the death, look at mute, look at the blind and say, "See, walk, be healed."
Do you know that God moves in that way today?
Church, he will move in that way today.
It only takes faith.
It takes faith and listening to the obedience of the Holy Spirit.
So Paul looks at this lame man, he says, "Get up and walk."
And he gets up and walk and something crazy happens.
The people of Lystra look at Paul and Barnabas and they say, "You must be gods."
And so they named Barnabas Zeus and they named Paul Hermes because he was the big speaker
and they say, "We're gonna give you the accolades and we're gonna give you the praise of these
gods and we're gonna lift you up and we're gonna elevate you as gods."
Now, as we sit here as believers and we hear this story, we read this story and we think
about all this, guess what we do?
We go, "That's crazy.
That is so crazy.
How could they mistaken Paul and Barnabas for some gods?
How could they do that?"
But can I tell you, we do that all the time.
We idolize people so fast.
Some of us grew up with posters, giant posters of basketball and football players in our
bedrooms just posted.
We looked at it, we said, "I'm gonna be like them.
Oh, I'm gonna be like them.
I'm gonna be like them when I grow up."
We idolize people.
We put people on pedestals.
We will follow the one who is popular, the one who's good looking, the one who has a
great personality all the time.
We do it all the time and it just happens in a snap.
It happens so quickly.
These people said, "You're gods and we're gonna give you the accolades of gods."
Thankfully, Paul and Barnabas had the sense to rend their clothes and say, "No, no, no,
no, no, no.
You don't understand.
We are human just like you.
We are one of you.
We are in need of a sovereign God just like you.
And let me tell you that there's a testimony they're saying to the people.
There's a testament of God's move in your life, the way he provides for you, the way
he gives you abundant joy, the way he supplies all of your needs.
And they're trying to motivate the people to see the one true living God.
Now here's a problem.
Remember those jealous Jews?
Those jealous Jews are combating that message with a different message and confusing the
people.
See, jealousy confuses things.
Jealousy causes you to act in a certain way, have attitude in a way that can really cause
destruction.
It causes you not to see people, causes you to see yourself.
So these Jews seeing themselves and walking in jealousy, they decided to take Paul.
They confused the people and the people decided to take Paul and they decided to go out and
to stone him.
But man, miracle of miracles, Paul does not die.
Now I'm pretty sure it felt great to get stoned.
I meant with rocks.
And you know, and I, and it, no, no, it didn't, it didn't feel good.
I'm sure Paul was a mess, but he was alive.
And you know what?
Paul counts it all joy to be able to suffer for the cause of Christ.
When was the last time you suffered for the cause?
The cause of Christ.
When something extraordinary takes place, we have this natural inclination to elevate
people above God.
We would rather be enslaved to flawed humans than to be liberated by a God who breathes
stars, the God of the universe.
Over in 1 Samuel chapter 8, we read of a story of the Israelites.
Samuel is there and the Israelites are here talking to Samuel and you know what they're
saying?
They're saying, "We want a king."
But you know what was crazy about them saying, "We want a king?"
They had a king.
Let's read what it says in verse four.
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.
They said to him, "You are old and your sons do not follow your ways.
Now appoint a king to lead us such as all the other nations have."
But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel.
So he prayed to the Lord and the Lord told him, "Listen to all that the people are saying
to you."
And then the Lord says this, and guys, this is such a sobering statement.
It is not you who they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
Oh, may that never be said of my life.
Oh, may that never be said of our lives that the Lord God Almighty says that we have rejected
him as our king.
But guys, we are so fickle.
We change day by day.
We so long to idolize or to promote or to elevate flesh and blood, to attribute the
things that God is doing to a human, to a person that we can see.
Do you know what?
Guys, if you just pay attention, you can see God, you can hear God, you can feel God.
He is real.
You don't have to have a person come to represent the Lord for you.
He uses people and people do represent him, but you can have a relationship with God Almighty.
He is real.
This is Mellow Yellow.
Mellow Yellow has been around for a while.
This is actually a can from the 1990s, the early 1990s.
And I was in fifth grade at one point and I had a teacher named Miss Lightford and she
wanted to lose weight.
But she loved Mellow Yellow.
And so she would drink Mellow Yellow pretty religiously.
And she just finally said, "Class, I've got to make a deal with you.
I can't be drinking Mellow Yellow all the time.
And so if you come into my classroom and you see a Mellow Yellow sitting on my desk, the
first one who tells me or catches me in that, I'm going to give you a Mellow Yellow.
Now I'm going to tell you, fifth graders love Mellow Yellow.
No weight loss plan, doesn't matter.
We're good.
We want the Mellow Yellow.
So we're always looking for this Mellow Yellow can.
Well, it was after an elective one day and I came into the classroom and I was the first
one there and guess what?
Miss Lightford had a big old Mellow Yellow sitting right there on her desk.
My buddy John came behind me and I said, "John, she's got a Mellow Yellow on her desk."
And right behind John comes Miss Lightford and John turns around and says, "Miss Lightford,
you got a Mellow Yellow on your desk."
And Miss Lightford says, "John, you get a Mellow Yellow."
Now I thought totally John being my buddy was going to say, "Well, it was actually Kevin
who caught the Mellow Yellow."
But he said, "Yes!"
And she gave him the Mellow Yellow.
I was so upset.
I was so, I mean, it's decades later.
I'm still holding a grudge.
Pray for me.
I mean, that should have been my Mellow Yellow.
That should have been my Mellow Yellow.
What do you do when you don't get the recognition you deserve?
What do you do when you don't get the recognition you think you deserve?
Let's face it.
All of us are going to do things from time to time that do not get recognized or appreciated.
And I might go a step further.
Listen to me, church.
I might go a step further.
I believe the Lord has asked you to do things that you don't get appreciated for.
I believe the Lord is asking you to do things that you don't get recognition because He
has a greater reward for you.
And anytime you take the recognition, it's as if there is one stool here and you're trying
to have one side of your behind on it with God.
God does not like to share the stool with anybody.
It's either all him or I guess the alternative is all you.
We live in a society and time and space where people are so sensitive to attaboys and good
jobs and elevation and promotion that we find very little space to serve in a way that gets
us out of the way and illuminates the one who really does the work.
I'm reminded of Rhonda Frazier who diligently served forever on the Salt Theater Council,
Springhouse Theater Council.
And I remember I used to serve on that board.
I remember the time they were trying to pay her some money for the work she was doing
to recognize her.
And she basically laughed out loud and said, the first thing was we could not pay her enough
for the work that she was doing, the fingerprints.
You can't pay Rhonda enough to do what she's doing, first of all.
But she was doing it for a greater purpose.
She wasn't doing it for a paycheck or an accolade or recognition.
She was doing it to serve.
And can I tell you guys in our society and our climate and our culture, just serving
has become a lost, lost idea that we would actually just serve without getting anything
in return.
That our first thought process is if I do this, I need this.
Or I have served for this amount of years, for this amount of time, and nobody's pulling
me on stage.
Nobody's putting me in the limelight.
What would it look like if you abandoned those thought processes and surrendered to the Lord
Jesus Christ and said, Lord, I give this as a gift to you.
Can you imagine if I gave Kirk a gift and I had a string tied to it and said, OK, now
I want you to pay me back for this gift that I've given you and just held it?
That would have been a great object lesson.
I could have walked around this entire place with a string holding onto this.
But some of us are holding onto strings from our service for years.
And we hold onto them and we say, you owe me something.
You owe me something.
And God is today wanting you to release and surrender that need to be edified and given
accolades from man and allow him to fill that place and to reward you for what you've done.
Any talent or gift or special ability you have comes from him.
The word says in James, do not be deceived, my brothers and sisters.
Every good and perfect gift comes from above, comes down from the Father of heavenly lights
who does not change like the shifting shadows.
Guys, we change.
He doesn't change.
He's the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.
And so that brings us to a sobering truth that it does not begin and end with you.
In fact, I would rephrase that and say it actually continues with me and continues with
somebody else.
It continues with me and it continues with something else.
Here's the thing, the rope, remember the rope analogy.
You got about this much of the rope that's red.
This is our life.
And then you got all of eternity.
What you do in this red part has everything to do with what happens in eternity.
And so the persecution, the persecution, the lack of appreciation, if you will, the lack
of recognition or whatever it is that the man is not giving you here, God is going to
well make up for here.
If your heart is in the place and you're doing it for him.
Sometimes the promises that we have been believing God for are not for us, but they are for a
generation to come.
You are a small part of a very large story.
And guys, every person in this room, including me, is a supporting cast member.
He's the main star.
And if there's anybody that's going to be given glory or should be given glory or put
in the spotlight, it should be our Lord Jesus Christ.
It should be our Lord Jesus Christ.
The word says, Jesus says in Matthew, "Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge
before my Father in heaven."
Guys, I want my name.
Kevin O'Day said before the God of the universe.
I want to be one who acknowledges Jesus Christ's name.
I used to be a young adult pastor many, many, many, many years ago.
And I actually started, I started as I guess, pastoring young adults back at Chick-fil-A
between 1996 and 2004.
And the reason I started a ministry at Chick-fil-A of young adults was because there were a bunch
of young adults who stopped going to church because the churches weren't offering programming
for them.
So they were like, well, there's nothing for me, so I'm not going to go anymore.
And so that hurt my heart because I was in love with God, with the church.
I'm in love with Christ.
And I'm thinking, man, surely we can provide something.
You know, I've got an idea.
Chick-fil-A's closed on Sunday.
They've given me keys.
I've got access to chicken.
Sounds like a winning combination, right?
So I said, why don't you all come, we'll do a Bible study.
We'll do a small Bible study.
I'll turn on the fryers.
We'll cook up some nuggets and we'll have a Bible study.
You know, that turned into 75 people coming to Chick-fil-A for worship and for the Word
on Sunday nights.
It was great.
It was glorious.
Last for two or three years, we grew.
We ended up getting a leadership team.
We had a worship team.
We had all of these things going on.
And at the prime of what was going on, at the middle of where everything was just flourishing,
and I started to dream about what's next with this thing, God said, Kevin, I want you to
lay this down.
And you know what I said?
Not only did I say, no, my heart posture was, this is my baby.
Look what I started.
Look what I built.
Do you know that next week in our leadership meeting was the very first time I could ever
remember that we had a disagreement and a fight?
It was followed by the next month, half of the attendance out the door.
It was followed then by one of the leaders being accused of something very egregious
that caused us to have to stop altogether.
God's hand was removed from it.
And he had given me some insight before and he said, lay this down.
And I disobeyed.
I was hurt.
I was hurt for a while because I felt like I had to invest.
I didn't understand.
It was the prime of what was going on.
This was a flourishing ministry.
God, why would you have me lay this down?
I don't understand.
And so I was serving here in kids' ministry.
It was years later and I was dealing with this.
I was hurt and pain.
I knew I had a call in my life to minister, but that was just a sore spot in my life.
And one Wednesday night, I'm walking out of the mailroom down the children's ministry
hallway and I see this cluster of young adults in the little foyer here.
And they're going to Starbucks because our church at the time didn't have a meeting place
or a program for young adults.
And I looked by and I walked by that and I said, Lord, you better raise somebody up to
do something about that.
And I just continued down the hallway.
The next Wednesday, God, I did not, believe me, I was not looking to be in the position.
I literally would walk out of the mailroom and there they are again.
Lord, you need to raise somebody up.
You know what God said?
"Kevin, I want you to lead these young adults."
I said, "No, sir."
He said, "Kevin, I want you to lead these young adults."
Lord, no, I'm hurt from the last time.
He said, "Don't let your disobedience of the past affect your obedience in the present."
So I made a deal with God.
I said, "God, I'll do this for three months, but you need to raise somebody else up to
lead it."
And so for three months I led what started to be four or five people, grew to 40 or 50
people.
Some of the people sitting in this room were a part of that ministry.
And I'm sitting three months later across from Ronnie Meek at McDonald's and out of
the blue, out of the blue, he says, "Kevin, I want to transition you from a children's
pastor to a young adult pastor, the anointing and oils on your life."
And I became a young adult pastor here at this church.
God will use your sore spots to train you to understand what your place is and who this
is really about.
And I learned, I was humbled.
I was humbled.
The Word says this, "Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up."
He will lift you up.
I would much rather Him lift me up than me trying to lift up myself.
So when we become participants in setting the stage for Him to receive the glory, then
we become receivers of His blessing.
Who would like to be blessed by the Lord?
Anybody want to be blessed?
I want to be blessed by the Lord.
Well, when we set up the stage for Him to receive the glory, the blessings are abundant
because He is faithful to take care of those who will get out of the way and point others
to Him.
Self-centeredness will always taint your experience.
When you are the center of attention, when you are the center of what's going on, when
you're the one who says, "Look at me, I'm in the center, I'm in the limelight," when
that is you, when you're in the center, then it taints your experience.
It doesn't just taint your experience, it taints everybody else's experience.
Because out of your self-centeredness, you begin to treat people a lot differently than
what you need to treat them.
Can I say to you, do you know that God actually sees value in the person that you despise?
In the person you can't stand?
God actually sees value in them.
So what you're thinking about that person, what you say about that person, how you treat
that person, you're treating somebody who God says, "I see value in that person."
That's why I need the Holy Spirit to empower me, to give me a lens to see people the way
He sees them.
Because sometimes I don't see people in a very healthy, "Lord, clean these glasses."
And He says, "Let me empower you as you work through what you've got."
And a lot of times it's not them, it's you.
So as you work through it, let me empower you to see them the way that I see them.
This is macaroni and cheese.
I love macaroni and cheese.
I don't know about you, but I am a mac and cheese connoisseur, and it's gotta be good.
It's gotta be good.
And guys, I've tasted some of your mac...
Well, I won't say that.
Okay.
Macaroni and cheese, okay?
Some of you know this story, I'm gonna tell it real quickly.
We were doing a newcomer's lunch, and I walked in and Ms. Gina Gibson and a team were back
there just taking the kitchen over.
It was great.
And I smelled this food and I walk in, and guys, I'm one of the pastors here.
I wasn't the lead pastor at the time, but I was one of the pastors.
I think I was a youth pastor at the time.
And I walked in and man, I tell you what we're supposed to do as pastors at those lunches
is meet with you guys, is learn your names and talk with you.
Do you know, I saw that macaroni and cheese.
I grabbed the plate and got right in line.
I did not wait.
I didn't think about anybody else in the room.
I literally saw the macaroni and cheese and my body went plate.
And I was like fourth in line.
Well, and I'm waiting and I cannot wait to get that.
It looks so good.
It's bubbly.
It was great.
And so I'm waiting in line and down the hallway comes Pastor Bruce Kobel.
Now Bruce Kobel was our missions pastor for forever.
And one of Bruce's big things is when you are a leader, you eat last.
And it was the same like reaction my body had to grabbing a plate.
When I saw him, I went whoop, about step.
Because I was, and it wasn't even the Holy Spirit.
I just didn't want to get in trouble by Bruce.
Okay, let me just be real.
Okay.
I knew Bruce would be, that eyebrow would go up.
So I turned around and now, now not only do I not have macaroni and cheese, but I'm mad
and I'm upset because I see all of the hawking, no, all of the people in there taking all
the macaroni and cheese and there I am back in the back and I'm sitting here, I'm going
to be left with bean casserole.
And so here I am just waiting in line.
And do you know Bruce walks in the room and about the eighth person in line, he shakes
their hand and they invite Bruce to get in line.
And he gets in line.
Oh, it gets worse.
Not only is Bruce eighth in line, guess who gets the last scoop of macaroni and cheese?
Bruce Kobel.
I was livid.
I don't remember one person's name from that lunch.
I don't remember anything.
I was so, I was so upset, but let me tell you what I did remember.
I got up close to the bar, there's a couple of people in front of me.
I'm at the end.
I'm going to be the last person.
And Ms. Jeannie pulls out, sees me and pulls out a brand new fresh pan, macaroni and cheese
and sets it down knowing that I'm coming in the line.
Do you know that that was the worst plate of macaroni and cheese I've ever eaten in
my life?
And it wasn't because it didn't taste good.
It's because I was hanging my head in shame because I disobeyed the Holy Spirit.
I made it about myself.
I was self-centered.
And you know what?
It taints your experience when you make it about you.
Anytime you have a me focus, you will sacrifice the things that really matter.
The Lord gave me a word for Springhouse at the top of the word, the top of the year.
Does anybody remember what it was?
Okay.
Has anybody been walking through it?
I didn't forget about the word.
The Lord gave me the word.
Okay.
Refined.
I've talked and cried with some of you who have been walking through a refining season
this year.
If you look up and you think of January, February, March, you think of obstacles you've had to
go through this year, trying circumstances, heartbreaks.
The Lord is refining you to be more like Him.
And whenever we are refined, we have an opportunity to look more like Him or look more like our
disgusting selves.
And my prayer has been this year is that as we are being refined as a church, that I look
more like Him, that you look more like Him in the refining process.
Jesus came to give us an abundant life and you can shortchange yourself on that abundant
life when you magnify yourself more than you magnify Him.
Spirit gives birth to spirit.
Flesh gives birth to flesh.
The refining process separates those who want to have a relationship with the Lord and those
who just want to play church on Sunday.
And so Paul and Barnabas say, "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom
of God."
And I know that this is, I know that we are accustomed to being told in the American church
that it is about goosebumps and feel good and good lattes coming into cushy chairs and
a nice show for worship.
But guys, it's not about any of that.
It is about God Almighty.
And can I tell you, He is going to put you in places as you are being refined, that you
are going to suffer for Christ.
And it's a short span.
It's a little bit, guys, our suffering is sometimes that our coffee is lukewarm instead
of piping hot.
I mean, goodness gracious, we do not suffer the way that there are others across the world,
especially Paul and Barnabas, but you are going to be called as He's raising you up.
And as you are becoming less of yourself, He is going to call you up to look more and
more like Him.
Now I know so many of you look like Him right now.
Is that true?
Okay, well, I was going to have you come and take over because I certainly need to be listening
to the person who looks.
I've got work to do on my journey.
I'm going to have to lay down my pride.
I'm going to have to lay down my ego.
I'm going to have to lay down the things I want to do at times.
My selfishness, I got to lay that stuff down.
That doesn't feel good.
Do you know all of those things are wonderful in the world?
The world wants you to be full of pride.
The world wants you to be selfish.
The world wants you to do every, you wake up in the morning and you decide what you're
going to do.
Nobody's going to tell you what you're going to do.
You do what you want to do.
This feels good.
I'm going to do it.
Man, I got to call.
I got to go do this thing.
I'm just not going to do it or whatever it is.
To suffer for Christ, we must go through some hardships.
Let's look at some of the rewards because we talk about rewards.
Let's look at some of the earthly rewards that some of the predominant figures in scripture
receive because I don't, but I haven't found it.
Barbie, maybe you can correct me.
I haven't found it in scripture yet where somebody was spreading the gospel and God
said we would like to take a moment and a time out to render a certificate of completion
and appreciation for Kurt Bryson and his willingness to give the gospel.
Would all the angels please stand and applaud Kurt.
That's not happened anywhere in scripture.
I don't see that.
In fact, it's quite opposite.
It looks like this.
John the Baptist beheaded.
Congratulations, John.
Thank you for being an advocate for Jesus Christ.
Steven, stone to death.
Thank you, Steven, for having the faith to stand up and speak out about the gospel of
Christ.
Peter, we're going to crucify you.
Now Peter, he was like, listen, if you're going to crucify me, crucify me upside down
because I'm not worthy to be crucified in the same manner as Christ Jesus.
Oh, what heart posture.
Oh, would that be our life in the way that we would live and the way that we would think
when it comes to how we would suffer for the cause of Christ.
Guys, the bottom line is this.
Do you believe what you say you believe?
Do you believe in who you say you believe?
Because if you do, the work that you do on this planet isn't for naught.
It's not for nothing.
If you believe what you say you believe, there is a great reward on the other side.
There is a reward that pales in comparison to anything somebody here could say to you
or give you or do for you.
This is what the scripture says in Romans.
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
What benefit did it reap at that time?
The things that you are now ashamed of, these things result in death.
But now you have been set free from sin and you become slaves of God.
The benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life.
Guys, the price of my sin is death.
But do you know what God did?
He exchanged my death for life.
You know what that means?
God owes me nothing.
I was dead but now alive.
Do you know what my posture should be?
God, whatever you want from me, whatever you need me to do, I don't care what they say
about me.
I don't care what they do to me.
God, if you tell me to do it, my yes is on the table.
You rendered my death.
You took my death from me and you gave me life.
You gave me eternal life.
God, whatever you need from me, I worship you with reckless abandon.
I don't have to be 15 minutes late to church because I want to get here early because I
want to worship with the saints.
They don't have to beg me to serve somewhere because I'm going to render myself available
to serve in this race and I'm going to run it well because I know I've got a gift and
a talent and an ability that you've given me.
God, I'm not going to be self-centered and I'm not going to be chasing after my own glory.
I'm going to work as unto you because I know that on the other side, not only am I going
to be rewarded for it, but I'm advancing your kingdom.
I'm advancing your kingdom.
All those guys I mentioned, Peter, John the Baptist, and who else did I mention?
Steven.
They were rendering the gospel in obedience to the Holy Spirit.
They were advancing God's kingdom.
Your obedience could literally help save somebody's life for eternity.
And when I say somebody, God works in multiples, I mean somebodies because it's not just about
the 80 years here on this earth, 90 years here on this earth.
If I lead Noah Jansen to the Lord as a teenager and he leads multiple people in his thirties
to the Lord, who then lead multiple people to the Lord and their forties and multiple
people, do you see how it continues to matriculate?
God, he was talking, Cole was talking about a cloud of witnesses.
We are a part of a large story and it's a wonderful, glorious story.
And all of it points to him, not to us.
It points to him.
God owes me nothing.
In your relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ.
This is Jesus Christ.
This is God Almighty.
If we didn't have a better example, this is God Almighty, powerful God Almighty who breathes
stars.
It says, "Who being in the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something
to be used for his own advantage, rather made himself nothing by taking on the nature of
a servant being made in human likeness and being found in the appearance of a man, he
humbled himself."
If God Almighty humbles himself, what ought we be doing?
By being obedient to death.
Why does it reiterate even death on a cross?
Because death on a cross was the most grueling death that you could pay.
Therefore God exalted Jesus.
So what was the consequence of Jesus's actions?
God exalted Jesus to the highest place.
Gave Jesus the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus what should happen?
Every knee will bow on heaven and earth and every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ
is Lord.
Hallelujah.
So God owes me nothing yet.
He will reward me if I will seek him earnestly.
What kind of God is this?
What kind of God is this that he trades death for life, dies himself, but yet wants to still
gain a reward you for your faithfulness and the things that you do.
What kind of God is this that we serve?
An incredible glory.
Who would not want to know this God?
Who would not want to know this amazing, amazing King?
He talks about rewards.
Without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe
that he is this.
And what?
He rewards those who earnestly seek him.
What good would it be for somebody to gain the whole world but forfeit their own soul?
Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
For the Son of Man is going to come in the Father's glory with his angels and then he's
going to do what?
He will reward each person to what they have done.
Be careful to not practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.
Those are the people that hold up signs and say, "Look what I'm doing.
Look what I brought.
Look what I, look how I'm serving.
Look at all the time I'm doing.
Look at all the calls I'm on."
If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
I was so glad last week that James put up Kirk Whitlur's picture because a majority
of you don't actually know Kirk.
But if you know Kirk, you know Kirk.
Because Kirk has a way one time in his presence to make you feel like you have just hung the
moon because he's such an encourager.
Kirk's life is not about Kirk.
It's about glorifying Jesus Christ.
And so I believe that Kirk is a hero of the faith.
Let me tell you some other heroes.
People that, there's a few of them sitting in this room right now and a majority of you
don't even know who they are.
This is DJ Matthews on the top left.
Worship team, you can come out.
She has served faithfully in our kids' ministry for over two decades.
And I'm talking about in moments and times when we had nobody else show up, DJ was there,
loving on kids.
I don't think DJ's ever been on this platform.
I don't think she's ever been down here, but she has served faithfully in kids' ministry.
Second lady on the bottom, her name is Alice Bagwell.
Alice has been a Tabor.
Alice Bagwell is a former named Tabor.
She is a warrior for the kingdom.
She has been faithful.
She has encouraged Pastor Ronnie and the staff here for a year.
She has sown into this ministry and she has believed in what the Lord is doing in this
place and continues to be faithful.
Kelly King on the top right, the Lord told me back when I was a young adult pastor, he
said, I want you to come into this space and I want you to pray from five in the morning
to six in the morning every week.
Do you know that Kelly for three years showed up every single Tuesday with me?
So many times, so many times.
There's just the two of us.
We're just praying for an hour, for an hour.
She's a silent ninja, silent Christian ninja.
I want to be there when Jesus acknowledges these people for their acts of service.
I want to see what the Lord does for them because he's a rewarder of those who earnestly
seek him and these earnestly seek him.
They do it for no recognition.
They do it because they love Jesus Christ.
And there are many others in here that do the same thing.
In Revelation, he says, look, I am coming soon.
My reward is with me and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
He says, I am the alpha and Omega.
I am the first and last.
I am the beginning and the end.
It stops with him.
It starts with him.
Everything in between is him.
It's not about us.
It's about this great glorious God.
And I used to say, and I still mean it.
I want them to shut heaven down when Kevin O'Day is called up for accountability for
the things that I've done here, because I want them to have to just scoop treasure and
treasure at my feet.
Why?
Because I want to be up in heaven looking at you and saying, look what I got.
No.
I want insurmountable treasure in heaven because what I believe is going to happen is that
once everybody has their treasure, we're going to look at Jesus and we're going to scoop
all that treasure and put it right back at his feet.
And I want so much treasure.
I want you all have to wait in line.
Go get some macaroni and cheese.
I'm going to be putting treasure at Jesus's feet because he's worthy, because he paid
a price for my life.
He paid an ultimate price for my life and I deserve nothing, nothing more from him.
And it is such a privilege and honor to serve him.
And where I mess up, he gives me the fifth chance and the eighth chance and the 20th
chance and the hundred chance to do it over and do it over and do it over.
And he says, come my child.
And he still has some type of reward for me.
What kind of God is this?
He is a great glorious God.
Do you know him today, church?
Do you know him?
Do you serve him?
Do you worship him?
Would you stand with me this morning?
We are not going to have an altar call.
We are just going to end this by praising this great glorious God with reckless abandon
as if he matters.
He matters so much more than anybody else or anything else that we've put our minds
to our hearts to today.
So let's worship the altar spaces open and it probably a good idea if you came and worshiped.