Steve Gentry
[0:00] Welcome to Village Church. My name is Steve. I’m one of the pastors here. If [0:04] this is your first time, welcome. If you’ve been here for a while something [0:08] feels off this morning. Something’s just not quite right with the way that we’ve [0:14] got everything set up. Everything’s a little off up here. We didn’t clean up a [0:18] couple of messes. You guys are kind of all over the place. I’m used to you guys [0:22] being a little closer together. This is our last week here at Tomahawk Creek
[0:27] Middle School.
[0:34] Well, I kind of like it here. That hurts my heart. No, I’m just kidding. [0:38] I’m just kidding. Now, next Sunday we’re going to launch out at our [0:43] permanent facility over on Genito Road. We are very, very excited about that. [0:50] We have been a portable church for about three years. A little over that [0:55] If you haven’t been here before, this is not how it normally looks. We [1:02] usually put at least a little bit of effort into our Sunday morning worship
[1:06] experience, but we packed it all away and we just said, you know [1:12] what? Who cares? Who cares? I mean, really, does Sunday morning, does the worship [1:18] experience, does it even matter? I mean, when we come together, should we really [1:23] put any effort into it whatsoever? I mean, I’m going to look like I’m looking [1:27] at pages up here, but I mean, do I even really need to write a sermon for Sunday [1:32] morning? Shouldn’t my time be used otherwise? I mean, I could go and build
[1:36] barns like I did yesterday. By the way, I’m an expert barn builder, if you didn’t [1:40] know that. Only a few people get that joke because they were there with me as [1:45] I massacred my hands. But we come together every Sunday and we worship. And [1:51] what I want to do this morning is I really want to talk about the why behind [1:57] the what of what we do each and every Sunday and how we are attempting to be a [2:04] community of believers who seek to live the mission of Jesus each and every day
[2:11] with all of our lives. And that starts right here. Sunday morning is an [2:19] overflow of what God wants us to do with each and every day of our lives, what [2:25] he wants us to capture as a vision for what we do. So in that vein, I’m going to [2:31] make about 160 announcements, and then I’m going to get into the topic of the [2:37] morning, which is how we as a church will move forward with the mission of Jesus. [2:43] Now, first thing I want to talk to you about this morning is Christmas Eve.
[2:48] December 23rd, we’ve got a Christmas Eve service coming up. We’ve got two times [2:52] over at the new building for you to come at 11900 Genito Road, 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. [2:58] Now, those two services are going to be completely identical. So if you come at [3:02] five, you’re going to see the same thing you see at seven. I thought I only needed [3:06] to be at one of them, but apparently I need to say the same thing twice. I’ll be [3:10] there at five and I’ll be there at seven. The band’s going to be there at five and
[3:13] I’ll be there at seven. So whichever one you come to will be there. Now, last year we [3:19] only had one service. We had over 200 people come out last year, and we’ve [3:23] grown quite a bit since our Christmas Eve service last year. So we’re [3:27] expecting quite a few more, and we have an RSVP section on the website, and what [3:33] we’re doing there is we’re trying to gauge how many people are going to be at [3:37] both services with the sign up that’s on the website, VillageChurch.cc. So what
[3:42] I’m going to ask you to do is I’m going to ask you, if you haven’t already done [3:44] this, go home, go to the website, and please RSVP for one of the services. Now, [3:50] we expect the 5 p.m. service to fill up rather quickly, so I’m going to ask some [3:56] of you to make a sacrifice and come to the 7 p.m. service. I know that extra two [4:01] hours is going to be tough for you. You may have to go to dinner before the [4:04] service rather than after the service, but I think you’ll live. Now, the reason
[4:09] I’m asking you to do this is because, number one, people with children are more [4:14] likely going to come to the 5 p.m. service. So if you don’t have any [4:18] children, I’m going to ask you to do me a favor. Come to the 7 p.m. service. Now, [4:25] if you’ve got to leave for a trip, if there’s something you’ve got to [4:28] do, or if you put your kids down at like 1030 at night, come to the 7 p.m. service. [4:34] But we’re having a lot of people sign up for the 5. Now, we’re not doing
[4:38] this so that guests and people that you invited will be excluded. If someone [4:45] does an RSVP, they can still come out. What we’re doing is we’re trying to [4:51] gauge where our people are going to be. So I’ve heard of some people that have [4:54] invited 15 people that have said they’re going to come. That’s fantastic. [4:58] Please RSVP for that group. But continue to invite. Once we reach a certain number [5:04] on the 5 p.m. service, we may close off the RSVP. What that means is that you
[5:09] need to invite your friends to the 7 p.m. service. We want to pack it out. It’s [5:13] going to be great. There’s going to be tacky Christmas sweaters. Nate’s going to [5:16] be an angry elf. If the penguin’s arm that was broken last week during [5:22] practice has healed, we will have the penguin high dive this year. That’s [5:26] going to be spectacular. It’s, it’s, I mean, you just wouldn’t even believe what [5:30] these penguins that I have personally trained can pull off. It’s going to be
[5:34] amazing. There will be glow sticks, but there will be no techno music. So, so [5:39] don’t, don’t get weird. Don’t put it in your mouth or anything. We’re reusing the [5:42] ones from last year. We haven’t disinfected them. Joey got a little crazy [5:47] with those last year. Started a fire. I didn’t even know you could do that with [5:49] a glow stick. But there’s going to be Christmas movie clips. There’s going to [5:54] be Christmas music. There could be some milk and cookies. Santa Claus might show
[5:59] up. I’ve got a call in with his assistant and he hasn’t really informed me yet [6:03] whether he can make it. The gospel will be preached that night. And so here’s [6:08] what I’m saying. It’s going to be a great time. It’s going to be a great way [6:12] to really go into Christmas with just spending some time with your church [6:17] family, worshiping Jesus and having fun. All right. And this is going to be a [6:21] great tool. If you know people that don’t know the Lord, but will come to
[6:25] church for a Christmas service, bring them. Bring them. This is going to be a [6:31] great way for them to hear the message of Jesus Christ and grow in your [6:35] relationship with them. It’s going to be a blast. If you were here last year, you [6:39] know what I’m talking about. And it’s going to be 17 times more fun. We [6:43] cranked it up that much. It’s going to be wild. All right. Now, also, if you came [6:49] in to the barren, unidentified tables when you were coming in, you saw one
[6:54] table with a Christmas tree on it. That is our village tree. We have partnered [6:59] with Nueva Esperanza Church, a church planned in the Hispanic community down [7:04] close to Chester. And we are providing gifts for people who aren’t financially [7:09] able to provide those. We’re also providing meals for those families. And [7:13] what that doesn’t mean, it doesn’t mean that you need to go out there and then [7:17] bring a meal next Sunday. What we’re doing is either a $50 check or a $50
[7:22] gift card to Walmart. Bring that and we’re going to provide that for the [7:26] families so that they can provide Christmas dinner. Last year when we did [7:29] this for Pastor Fernando, he saw a few dozen people come to faith in Jesus [7:34] Christ and join his church. All right. People were baptized. Lives were [7:39] changed. Some families, he brought them gift cards for dinner and mothers were [7:43] weeping. A lot of single mothers especially because they didn’t know how
[7:47] they were going to provide Christmas dinner for their family this year. And so [7:50] a lot of you, and I’m so thankful that a lot of you have signed up. I think we’ve [7:53] had 30 meals provided so far. We’ve had a lot of gifts brought in. But here, if [7:57] you haven’t gotten involved in that, I’m going to ask you to do that because we [8:00] need them next week. Because Fernando needs to do it during the week after [8:05] next Sunday. So bring it to the new building next week. And this is a great
[8:09] way to impact a community that normally we struggle because of language barriers. [8:15] But Fernando goes right into the community. And man, he is seeing lives [8:19] change. He has already planted two churches in Richmond. A lot of it through [8:23] our partnership with him. So please be a part of that. Now, next is next Sunday [8:30] we’re doing our Lottie Moon Christmas offering for international missions. [8:34] All right. We do this every year here at the Village. It’s just one time of year
[8:38] where we take an offering as a church to give to the International Mission Board [8:42] to reach people all over the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we’re [8:47] going to be taking that up next Sunday in the new building. So please be a part of [8:51] that. Be generous. All right. Make some sacrifices. Finally. All right. And this [8:58] is it. We came in almost at budget for the renovations that we made at the [9:04] building. We had said it was going to be about $50,000, but we did not foresee a
[9:09] ginormous deck that took 17 redwood trees to build. If you haven’t driven by [9:14] the property, you’ll know what I’m talking about when you see that. So we [9:17] came in around $60,000 to renovate this building. And, you know, I’m very [9:22] transparent, so we’re going to tell you exactly how much it costs. Totally [9:25] debt free on that. But here’s what we’ve done. Through the pledges that we’ve [9:28] taken thus far, we’ve been able to raise about $30,000. Okay. Which is
[9:32] fantastic. Thank you guys so much. I think we can do a little bit more over [9:37] the next few weeks. All right. If you need Mr. Taxman to say bye-bye, you have [9:42] to do that in the next few weeks. All right. Make some generous gifts. I’m just [9:46] going to be honest with you on that one. But if you could today maybe make a [9:51] pledge, and if you want to give after the first of the year, we’ll take it. [9:54] We’re not going to say no. But within the next few weeks, we’d like to see if
[9:58] we could raise some money. But here, I want to tell you a little thing that [10:00] Pastor Nate told me this past week. When we committed to this back in July as a [10:06] church, you know, when we heard from people just overwhelmingly that this is [10:10] a step that we wanted to take, we said that in our budget it was going to cost [10:13] us a little more every month to have that building, and it was going to be a [10:17] stretch. All right. And to kind of mine that gap, once we move in, we needed
[10:22] about $3,000 more a month than we had available at that time. I want to let [10:27] you know is since July, God has added to Village Church people. And some of you [10:34] are the ones that have come since July. And some people that weren’t giving had [10:38] Right now, our giving since July on average is up exactly $3,000. [10:46] So give God a hand. Give God a hand. All right. He has shown himself [10:53] overwhelmingly faithful in our desire to further the mission by going over to
[11:00] this building. And so that is a huge amount of confirmation that our steps [11:05] are not in vain, that God is doing something. And so if you want to be a [11:10] part of that, and if you want you want to pledge or if you want to give, please [11:13] do. Today’s a great day for that. Just like next Sunday will be a great day for [11:18] that. If you don’t do it today, and the next one and the next one. I mean, I’m [11:20] not going to stop that. You can do it whenever you want to. But today would be
[11:23] better. I might sleep better tonight. I don’t know. I don’t know. Help me out [11:27] here. But we will be moving next week. This has been a long time coming. We [11:32] got a little bit behind because of some contracting issues and some permit [11:35] issues. But it’s almost there. We’ll be there next Sunday. And here’s a few [11:41] things that I want you to know. The Spirit has revealed to me that if you [11:46] want to be close to Jesus, you need to park in the field. The parking lots are
[11:55] not quite sufficient, but man, there’s a lot of space back in those fields. So [12:01] I’m going to ask that you will join me next Sunday. And I’m going to park as far [12:06] back as I can without falling into a sinkhole or a swamp. And just join me [12:10] next week and getting close to Jesus out by the trees because that’s where he is. [12:15] That’s where he is, guys. That’s where I’m going. I want to be where Jesus is. [12:20] So I’m going to park out there. And so what we want to do is we want to, and
[12:25] it’s going to kind of flow into what we’re talking about today, is we want to [12:28] show hospitality to guests and first time people. And so we’re going to make a [12:33] little bit of a sacrifice and I’m going to park out in the field. We’re making [12:37] James take a taxi in. We’re not even letting him park at the building. But you [12:43] don’t have to do that. She’s a special spiritual discipline that James is doing. [12:47] He’s fasting, driving. I’m just kidding. But join me in parking close to Jesus
[12:53] out in that field next Sunday and then the Sunday after that as well. It’s not [12:56] just a one time thing, by the way, because we can’t afford to pave it.
[13:01] You’ve got to cut corners somewhere, guys. All right. So join me in that. [13:06] And secondly, we have reversed the flow of the building so that we could have a [13:11] nice entryway. The double doors that face the road, that face Genito Road, that is [13:19] not the entry point. All right. The entry point is going to be a glass door [13:25] that we’ve had installed on the side of the building by the larger parking lot. [13:31] So what that’s going to do is that’s going to give us the opportunity to have
[13:34] a good flow for us to be able to get some coffee, maybe spend some time talking to [13:40] each other before and after the service before you go into the auditorium. And [13:44] it’s also going to give you a great opportunity to be used by God to welcome [13:47] guests. It’s going to serve as a great connection point to share a cup of coffee, [13:52] which we’re not allowed to do here due to the constraints of the fact that we [13:57] don’t own this. And it’s going to serve as a great opportunity. We’re going to
[14:01] have tables set up. It’s going to be very welcoming atmosphere. So don’t go in those [14:05] double doors. All right. If too many of you do it, I’ll have to go buy a chain or [14:09] something to totally close it off. But if you’ll just come into the side door, [14:15] some great connections will be made in a great atmosphere that we’re setting. [14:19] All right. Now, also, finally, because we’re moving over to the new building, [14:24] you guys have done a great job of signing up to volunteer for those two times a
[14:28] month that we’re asking you to do. Now, I’m also going to ask that some of you [14:33] that have not signed up today should be the day there’s an unidentified table [14:38] out there that Nate will be at afterwards. And we’re still taking signups for [14:41] volunteers. And this is going to be a great way for you not only to be [14:47] involved in what God’s going to do over at the new building, but it’s also going [14:50] to be a great opportunity for you to relieve some of the pressure from people
[14:53] that have to do it week in and week out. All right. Our goal is that people are [14:59] only going to have to commit to two Sundays a month of volunteering. And so [15:03] I’m going to ask you personally to be a part of that. All right. Don’t worry. [15:07] I’ll be there every week. I was just kidding a few weeks ago and I said I was [15:10] only doing twice a month. All right. But I’m going to ask you guys to really [15:13] commit to that. You’re here anyway. I see most of you every week. All right.
[15:17] So I don’t think that two times a month is going to be too tough. All right. [15:20] So please sign up for that afterwards. Now, welcome to Village Church.
[15:27] Matthew 28. Matthew chapter 28. Moving Day is a great time to reflect. [15:38] You ever seen like when shows get to the final season, the writers get really lazy. [15:44] So one of the final episodes is just a clip of all the episodes they’ve had [15:49] previously. That’s kind of what we tend to do. If you’ve ever moved out of your [15:53] childhood home or moved out of the house that you raised your children in, you [15:57] know, when the house is empty, when when nothing is where it used to be, when the
[16:02] moving trucks are loaded, it’s a great time to just sit back and reflect. [16:07] And that’s kind of what I want to do for part of this morning is I want to [16:11] reflect on all that God has done in the life of Village Church over the last [16:16] three and a half years since we launched out. Four years ago, nine people moved to [16:23] Midlothian to start Village Church. And then a couple weeks later, we had about a [16:29] dozen people meeting in a living room on Thursday nights trying to wrap our mind
[16:34] around what God wanted to do with us as a church. And so over the past three and [16:40] a half years, we have seen God take us from from about a dozen people sitting in [16:44] a living room. We have community groups larger than that now to a group of over [16:52] 200 people that call Village Church home.
[16:57] We have seen lives radically changed by the gospel. James got married.
[17:07] I mean, God has blessed us in ways that I never thought some of you are sitting in [17:13] this room right now. And when you walked into Village Church, you didn’t know [17:18] Jesus. And now you sit here three and a half years into this and you know Jesus [17:25] and you’re worshiping him day in and day out. You show up on Sunday and you sing [17:29] praises to his name. You’re connected in a community group. You’re in relationship [17:33] of discipleship in your life. God has moved in amazing ways. And what I want to
[17:43] talk about this morning is how has God done that? How has he shown himself so [17:49] faithful? The reality is, is because we are changed people seeing lives changed [17:56] through the mission of Jesus Christ. God has raised up a team of people who simply [18:07] want to use their lives to advance the gospel. Last week, we talked about [18:11] Philippians chapter one, where Paul had made many sacrifices and he was sitting [18:16] in prison at that point. He says to the church of Philippi, he says, I want you
[18:20] to know that what has happened to me has served to advance the gospel of Jesus [18:26] Christ. And it would be crazy for me to go through this final Sunday and not [18:33] reflect on the fact that God has used a great team of people willing to make [18:38] sacrifices with their lives week in and week out to advance his mission, to [18:45] advance his gospel. There have been some people who have committed to around 50 [18:53] weeks a year with no pay as volunteer staff to show up every Sunday morning. I
[19:01] think about Steve Criswell, Bill McLeod, Tyson Moore for a better part of two and [19:08] a half years. You guys have committed week in and week out almost every single [19:12] Sunday showing up to pull a trailer. And then on top of that, Tyson’s out there [19:18] almost every Sunday setting the signs up that you didn’t see this morning.
[19:24] Sometimes he’s out there by himself, 7 a.m., freezing cold, sometimes in the [19:29] rain, setting up signs. And I say that because there are some of you sitting in [19:34] this room the way that you found Village Church because you saw signs on the side [19:40] of the road. It’s the gospel being preached. It starts with roadside signs [19:49] before it ever gets to the sermon. All those guys I just mentioned, we talked [19:59] them into doing more than just pulling trailers. Bill runs sound, Steve plays
[20:02] bass, Tyson’s out there with signs. My 63 year old father pulls a trailer then [20:08] sets up communion. Got village kids workers out there. We did set kids up by [20:17] the way. The parents are a little worried that they’re back there playing [20:21] with kitchen utensils. We did set that up this morning by the way. We got village [20:26] kids workers back there, some of them back there almost every week making [20:30] sacrifices and then catching the podcast later so they’ll know what we’re
[20:34] talking about in community group. We have people in here setting up pipe and [20:42] drape so that you can’t sit where you’re sitting right now, some of you. It offends me [20:47] that some of you sat so far away from me. We have people that set screens up, we [20:54] have people that set projectors up, we have a sound crew, we have a band that [20:58] plays almost every single week. We have people that go out there and set an [21:05] atmosphere in the foyer so that you can’t see our super secret VIP table
[21:10] with our snacks, so that you actually know where the next step table is, you [21:16] actually know where the village tree table is. We have people giving every [21:25] single week of their lives, some of them starting as early as quarter to seven in [21:32] the morning. A few years ago when we first started there were like five of us [21:41] on the setup crew. I would actually wear one outfit to set up and I was so dirty [21:45] by the end I had to change into another outfit to actually preach. I sweat a lot.
[21:51] I’m a big man. But in those early days we were like if anyone would help us we were [22:00] like so thankful and was reminded of a story this past week. One of [22:08] our first volunteers, we were so excited, first volunteers outside of the core [22:13] team was Mike Matheson. Week in and week out Nate tells me the story. He would go [22:19] up to Mike and he would just say, oh man thank you so much. This helps so much. [22:23] Thank you so much. And we did that. We were very insecure that people wouldn’t
[22:26] enjoy themselves so we were like if we say thank you 17 times maybe they’ll [22:30] stay. But Mike preached the gospel back and he said I want you to know I don’t [22:37] do this for you. I do this for Jesus. That changes everything. That’s the reality [22:51] of what goes on here. Week in and week out is that our great God and King is [23:00] worshiped by teams of people who are passionate about seeing lives changed [23:08] through the gospel of Jesus Christ. So let’s talk about that. Why do we do
[23:18] what we do? Is it even necessary? What we do week in and week out? I mean you know [23:24] what if every week we showed up and we got a mess everywhere. You just sit [23:31] completely. Some of you are so well trained you acted like the pipe and [23:34] drape were here. I love you. But what if you know we just came every week and we [23:40] sat so far apart from each other because that’s how we’re comfortable. We’re [23:45] afraid someone might talk to us. We didn’t come together as a close-knit
[23:52] community. When you walked in there’s nobody to welcome you. We [23:56] thought about having everybody just say hey whatever this morning but we [23:59] figured that someone may really misunderstand and leave. So we decided [24:04] against that. But you just walk into a community of people who don’t really [24:11] care that you’re here. You walk in and it’s just we just don’t do anything. I [24:21] think that’s the only way that they had here last week. By the way that’s not the
[24:24] company we got any loans from if that’s what you were thinking. We just we [24:28] didn’t set the screens up so we pulled these because there’s like 20 feet [24:32] back there of even more mess and we’re like maybe we should hide some things. We [24:36] pull it out and there’s an advertisement for the credit union. We’re like [24:41] let’s just leave it. Let’s just leave it. The turn your Bible is in Matthew chapter [24:46] 28. Matthew chapter 28. And I want to move into next Sunday with a realization
[24:56] that the work is not over. See I think it is very tempting when when you get a [25:04] facility to say whoo we can lighten up on the workload now. It’s just beginning. [25:15] The reason for that is what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 28. By the way my [25:21] prompter that tells me what time it is isn’t up here so you’re in trouble. And [25:27] Jesus came to them. This is after our Lord died on the cross for the sins of [25:35] humanity for my sin and your sin. This is after he rose from the dead winning
[25:40] victory over that sin and that death and proving once and for all that he is [25:46] God that he’s the King of Kings that he’s the Lord of Lords and he gathers [25:51] his disciples about 40 days later on top of a mountain and he says to them verse [25:58] 18 all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and [26:09] make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of [26:14] the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have
[26:18] commanded you and behold I’m with you always to the end of the age. This is a [26:29] text. It was life-changing for me. I’d heard it many times when I was growing [26:37] up but there came a point in my life when I was really trying to find I was [26:44] really searching in my heart how does Jesus want me to worship him because you [26:54] just look over the spectrum and there’s so many different voices telling me so [26:59] many different things about how Jesus is to be worshiped and it can be so
[27:05] that you just want to give up because you don’t know what to do you don’t know [27:11] how to feel maybe you read the Bible and it doesn’t mean anything to you maybe [27:16] maybe you try to pray and your mind just goes to the next meal you know yeah what [27:22] can I do what does Jesus want from me how can I get over all of this sin over [27:27] all of this baggage that I feel separates me from him he comes to his [27:35] disciples and he reminds them number one that he’s God this is all authority and
[27:41] heaven and earth has been given to me in other words of God I’m the one you [27:46] follow I’m the one you live for I’m the one you live towards in light of [27:51] everything that I have done I’ve taken down the barrier of sin it’s no longer [27:57] an issue I have made it possible for you to know God and I’m him therefore [28:07] trust me and in that trust our lives are transformed and we can come under his [28:14] authority and it not condemn us to hell rather it brings us real life and then
[28:22] right before he ascends up into heaven to prepare for the second coming when [28:27] he’ll come as the reigning king he says go and make disciples of all nations [28:36] there’s this interesting thing about being a follower of Jesus following [28:42] Jesus is this great and sacred trust that he changes everything in our lives [28:48] so that we can live in full view of who he is and take joy in that and in this [28:59] moment he’s instructing them on what that means for them what it means for us
[29:08] and I believe these words are very significant because they’re the final [29:13] words that he gives to his followers before he leaves them he says what I’ve [29:21] done is I’ve made you my followers this is a presupposition in here that he [29:27] doesn’t say be my disciples because it’s understood that they are that they will [29:36] follow him that they will obey him and he says in all that I’ve commanded in [29:43] scripture and all of the change that I’ve given you in your life make other
[29:50] disciples live to see others come to faith in me there’s this thing that [30:00] happens when you’re following Jesus and that is that you fall in love with God [30:04] and through loving God you love other people and through that you grow this [30:11] great desire that the joy that God has in you you want to see it in other people
[30:20] to be a disciple is inherently to make disciples unless you are using your life [30:32] in for the specific purpose of making others to be disciples of Jesus Christ [30:40] friends you’re not being a disciple and if you’re not being a disciple you’re [30:47] not worshiping Jesus as disciples so what we have is what has been called the [30:55] great commission or this great mission that God gives us as his people to take [31:00] the good news and that is that we need do nothing to be saved he’s done it all
[31:07] just simply trust that he saved you and take that and herald it or preach it or [31:15] tell it to other people when you are a disciple and you make a disciple well [31:25] then that person becomes a disciple and then they will inevitably make another [31:29] disciple and then another disciple will be made and it’s this continuous cycle [31:34] that naturally forms a church the natural ebb and flow of discipleship is [31:42] to make a church because discipleship is something that happens in a relationship
[31:46] there’s teaching that needs to happen because Jesus tells us in this passage [31:50] teach them to observe all that I have commanded you and so in that it has to [31:55] be relational I have to have time with you and you have to have time with those [32:00] who you are discipling and then in that these relationships are formed in these [32:04] bonds happen to where you are two three four dozens of disciples completely [32:09] connected by this faith that you have in Jesus Christ with the just complete
[32:14] overcoming and life-saturating desire to see your faith replicated in the lives [32:21] of other people and you take everything captive you take every part of your life [32:26] whatever career you’re in whatever family situation you are in whatever is [32:31] going on in your life you live to see that happen and I came to a place and we [32:36] came to a place as a team starting village church that I realized that if [32:40] that is not happening in my life then I am not following Jesus I can look at all
[32:50] these other things in my life what I do what I don’t how good I am how nice I [32:55] look if I miss that if I miss that if I miss that then I’ve missed what Jesus [33:11] came and died for and that is to make worshippers for eternity so if we exist [33:24] for anything as a church we exist to use our lives so that others will worship [33:35] Jesus every so what happens when I have my podium every Sunday morning when we
[33:49] we come to be a community on mission together so what this is this is a [33:57] natural expression of our discipleship the church has been doing this for [34:00] greater part of 2,000 years of gathering on the day the Lord rose from the dead [34:05] to celebrate that and in the United States and many other countries the [34:12] I’ve come to find out culture actually understands that if they’re going to to [34:21] hear the gospel in a way that’s kind of comfortable for them where can you find
[34:28] a big group of Christians oh don’t they get together on Sundays yeah and so over [34:37] the past few years we’ve had believers and and many many non-believers that you [34:41] may not even know about come in here to simply hear who is Jesus many people [34:47] have questions that that they want answered and so they’ll come to a church [34:51] service so if you’ve ever wondered why do they set up the pipe and drape why do [34:58] they set up screens why are there people out there with with signs and and signs
[35:04] inside signs outside why are people greeting why are people sacrificing why [35:09] would anyone get up at 6 a.m. on a Sunday to do manual labor why in the world would I want to be a part of that because we have this great [35:24] understanding that Sunday is an overflow of what is going on in my everyday life I [35:35] do not believe that we should come in here on a Sunday morning with zero intentionality with zero effort and just not think about it the reason that I believe that is because well for most of you nothing you do the rest of the week is unintentional
[36:03] nothing you do with every other part of your life is completely unintentional nothing that I do is unintentional in raising my son in being married in preparing dinner I put effort towards it I try so when I show up to worship Jesus the why behind the [36:31] what is because I know that someone that doesn’t know Jesus is going to show up to hear about Jesus and I don’t want them to come in and find a group of people that don’t care because here’s the reality in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 Paul expounds on the great commission here’s what he says he says all this is from God speaking of redemption who through Christ reconciled us with the [37:01] world to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting the trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation and being a follower of Jesus Christ we find identity in our reconciliation with [37:26] God because of sin we did not have a good relationship with God but through what Jesus did in dying and taking the penalty for our sin he literally made a way for us to be put in a good relationship with God so we find identity in that we take great joy in that I did not know God now I know God his authority in [37:51] chapter 28 is an authority over me as I allow my relationship with God to guide my life it flows out of an identity as a child of God as someone who’s in relationship with God and without that there is no real faith if I don’t live looking to God and saying [38:13] whatever you want here I am because then what I’m revealing is that I’m outside of a relationship with God because I’m still living in my sin but reconciliation when I am reconciled to God what that leads to is an understanding that I live to see others
[38:40] reconciled I have to at some point go from reconciled to reconciling or I am not obeying Jesus I am not moving with him on his mission at some point I have to come under his Lordship where that is concerned I have to come into obedience that I exist in my relationship with him to take the reconciliation that I am experiencing and get it to others
[39:09] because that is what he’s passionate about he’s passionate about redeeming for himself a people for his possession
[39:23] it helps us to understand that everything we do in our lives is to worship Jesus and that to worship him is to find the best ways possible to have more people worshiping Jesus who aren’t worshiping Jesus
[39:45] so we seek as a church to create an atmosphere of reconciliation we must create an atmosphere of complete welcome to all who come in hospitality and joy are reflections of reconciliation when we aren’t here to join in relationship with others or refuse to join in and serve we are reflecting an unreconciled attitude [40:08] that is not what Jesus gives it is not what we want to offer to the world around us [40:18] here’s the reality there is no prescription in scripture of what we are to do when we gather
[40:31] there is no set standard you can’t look in the New Testament or even really in the Old Testament and find this is what a church service exactly should look like
[40:48] because I fully believe and being part of Village Church the vision is that we fully believe that the Lord has made it so we can lift high the name of Jesus to the culture around us in the most effective ways possible
[41:07] I believe God allows technology to exist so that we can redeem it to use it for the gospel I believe God invented pipe and drape he did he invented everything I believe he invented pipe and drape so that we could set an atmosphere for us to sit closer [41:31] so that maybe we’ll have a conversation with someone we wouldn’t have had before so maybe we could catch a vision of intentionality I believe that God gives us the ability with amplification the ability of music so that we can use it as a vehicle to reach those who are far from God [41:55] I believe that I want you to know that maybe moving forward you need to know that I believe that God allows things like projectors and screens so that we can use them so that you can actually know the words to the songs that you’re singing
[42:17] I was paying attention during take this life some of you were mumbling and I don’t know the words and I believe he does that so that we can gather as a church from living a life because let me tell you something there’s six more days [42:42] so that as we are living our lives Monday through Saturday with this great intentionality no matter what walk of life we are in building relationships that will lead to reconciliation
[42:57] so that on Sunday morning we come as a people ripe to celebrate what God has been doing so that this can be kind of a pep rally for us to come together and celebrate the name of Jesus corporately [43:11] we have community groups for the same reason so that we can come together and strategize with people that we’re in discipleship relationships with to go back into our workplace as better disciples using strategy and actually putting thought into how we relate to other people
[43:36] Sunday serves as the overflow of where we come in and I said we set an atmosphere in here to show you how to set an atmosphere out there see when you guys go out I want you to have an attitude of intentionality with your life where you’re hospitable [44:02] or maybe you clean up before your neighbors come over community group shows up for discipleship
[44:11] maybe you go out of your way to help a neighbor who doesn’t know the name of Jesus to maybe give you the opportunity to have that awkward conversation with them that you’re a follower of Jesus and you want them to be one too
[44:30] and when we come together on Sunday put an effort into it when we’re intentional about what we do about how we greet about what time we show up
[44:48] it’s just an overflow of what’s already going on in our lives because we’re living to make disciples
[45:01] it’s going to be very tempting next week to just move in and get comfortable because the works over friends if we are disciples of Jesus Christ the work is just beginning because it’s not over until he comes back [45:26] it takes all the worshipers home to worship for eternity we first started we had a tradition turn your Bible to Romans chapter 10 we had this tradition as volunteer staff because we were all volunteers when we started
[45:50] I’m going to ask you to do something that I don’t normally ask you to do I’ll be reading from the English Standard Version you should too
[46:03] Romans chapter 10 starting in verse 13 I want you to say this verse out loud with me these three verses verses 13-15 [46:17] For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news?
[46:45] God makes promises as well as implications on our lives in this text. He makes a promise that when people cry out to him in faith he will save them. But then he says the implication of this is that they have to know who to call out to. [47:06] And that is where we come in. That is where our effort comes in. That is where our intentionality comes in. Maybe you are in here and you are saying I kind of like today. I think there is something wrong with you number one.
[47:24] I am not talking about the sermon. Hey. Here is what I mean by that. If we can make a comfortable atmosphere that someone may be more likely to come to, to hear the message of the gospel of Jesus, I believe it would be a shame upon us if we didn’t do everything that we could.
[47:56] If we can create an excitement, if we can create an atmosphere of hospitality to where when a new person shows up you actually will walk up to them and say hey I am Steve or whatever your name is because it is probably not Steve.
[48:16] And actually worship God through being intentional and using your life to be trained to lead others to faith in Jesus. Verse 15 he says how beautiful are the feet of those who share the goodness. [48:38] I believe there is a direct correlation between that and Matthew 28 where Jesus says go. Jesus says to move. The imperative in that text is make disciples. Go with the intent purpose of making disciples. [49:01] Then Paul says when you do that it is a beautiful offering of God. So what I want you to understand about what we do, what this team that you have probably been on has been doing and what we are going to do in the future is that Sunday morning is just the start. [49:25] It is just the tip of the iceberg of lives lived purposefully to have beautiful feet and part of our going in this culture happens every Sunday.
[49:40] And there we are overflowing and then we jump out of to being intentional every single day of the week. No matter what you are doing, no matter where you are, no matter who you are, Jesus will redeem you. [50:02] Jesus will use you and Jesus will love your worship for him because he loves you.
[50:18] Right now for the last time in this building as the band comes on up, I want to spend a few moments reflecting on that love that Jesus gives us.
[50:37] See it is intentional week in and week out that we reflect on the Lord’s Supper because I can’t get over how awesome it is that God, the very God that at one time I wasn’t reconciled with, the very God who at one time I could not pray to, who at one time I didn’t understand his word.
[50:57] He says, I love you so much that I want you to come into my presence and share a meal with me. I want to spend time with you. I want you to know me. And I want you to reflect on how you know me.
[51:21] The bread represents the broken body of Jesus Christ our Lord. The cup represents his shed blood.
[51:30] This is a great season that we are in reflecting on the fact that God became man in Jesus Christ.
[51:39] The fact that we owed a great debt for our sin and we were on our way to hell to pay it. And Jesus said, I will take the punishment to redeem them fully. [51:54] And when you eat of the bread, when you drink of the cup, what it reflects is the life of Jesus, his perfect life, his sinless life entering into your life.
[52:07] And then when you walk away from that table, we walk away to be witnesses of the testimony of what Jesus has done.
[52:16] If you are in here this morning and you are not a follower of Jesus, this meal means nothing to you.
[52:28] But it can mean the greatest thing ever to you. Because you can know him today. You can know his salvation. [52:37] I will be right over here. There will be some in the back. I would love to tell you about how you can follow Jesus with your life.
[52:46] But if you are a follower of Jesus in here today, even if this is your first time here, these tables are open because God has opened them.
[52:54] When you come to reflect, I want you to come to proclaim the gospel to each other by what you are doing. [53:01] And then as you walk away, understand that you walk away with a great mission from God.
[53:09] To walk hand in hand with the rest of his church living. [53:14] When you are ready, come.