We are, we are the church. All right, welcome to First Baptist Henrietta. My name is Sam Bedell. I'm the pastor here.
Has it been a good service so far? Amen, I agree. Let's go to, in your Bibles, to Matthew chapter 22.
Matthew 22. I want to read this by way of introduction to kind of set up what we're going to talk about today.
Matthew chapter 22 and verse 34. Jesus is meeting with the Pharisees. The Pharisees had heard that Jesus, by his wisdom and his knowledge of the law and his divine wisdom and understanding, had silenced the Sadducees, another group of religious leaders.
And so this kind of foremost group of religious leaders, the Pharisees, came together and they wanted to question Jesus and tried to nail him on something, try to catch him off guard and make him slip up.
And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question of Jesus to test him.
Verse 36. Teacher, which command of the law is the greatest?
Which command in all of the law? Talking about the Mosaic law that God gave to the children of Israel way back in the Old Testament.
And then many more laws were given over the period of the next many hundred years.
And so what do we see here? They're trying to trip him up.
They say, which one of these is the greatest?
Jesus says in verse 37, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and most important command.
Verse 39. The second is like it.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
All the law and the prophets depend on these two commands.
All of the law.
All of the prophecies.
Everything that was given depend, hinge on those two commands.
Let me tell you, if man-made religion had followed that,
if they had wrapped their minds around what Jesus just said,
then religion on this earth would look very different than it has over the history of the church.
Oftentimes, what has been done in the name of Jesus has been nothing like what Jesus commanded.
Oftentimes, what has happened, what has been taught,
and what has been enacted in churches around the world
had nothing to do with loving the Lord or loving our neighbor as ourselves.
So, Jesus came to change it.
Jesus came to introduce, to reshape, to reform our thinking.
He came to ask us to pivot from something else.
So, let's get into it.
This morning, we're talking about ecclesiology.
We're talking about the doctrine of the church.
Our little introduction video reminded us that we are the church,
reminded us that the church is not a place.
It is a people, right?
So, this is a practical preaching series on we are the church.
Let's all say it together.
Ready?
We don't just go to church.
We are the church.
Y'all are going to get it on the first try next week, okay?
Let's do it again together.
Here we go.
We don't just go to church.
We are the church.
That's right.
And so, that kind of is a pivot away from the thinking that says the church is the place,
the church is a building,
it's somewhere we go.
Well, actually, it's a group of people.
One of the questions that the kids have submitted recently said something along the lines of,
I'm trying to remember the exact wording and I can't,
but basically, it was kind of like,
where is the church?
And where can we have church?
I think that was the question.
Where can we have church?
And my answer to that is anywhere.
You can have church as the body of Christ anywhere.
If we wanted to go have it at the park, we could, but we'd get a little warm.
We could have church anywhere, but we are grateful that God has provided this beautiful place for us to assemble.
It is certainly very functional for our needs.
It's got classroom space.
It's got a nice fellowship hall.
We can gather together and break bread, which is biblical.
All right.
It's not just Baptist.
It's biblical.
All right.
We can get together and eat together.
It's in the Bible.
Jesus did it.
It's okay.
It's all right for us to do it.
So, the church building provides all sorts of advantages and is a blessing for the church.
But the church building is not the church, is it?
We are the church.
This thing skipped ahead.
There we go.
Just as a reminder, again, ekklesia, that is the Greek word that we find in the Bible for the church,
and it literally means an assembly, a congregation.
And so, again, it is the gathering of people.
It is not the building.
So, ecclesiology is what we're talking about throughout this series, the doctrine of the church.
Two weeks ago, we talked about the church.
It's not about me.
It's about God.
Okay?
The church is not there to please me.
It's not all hinging on what I think, et cetera.
It's about God.
And so, everything we do in the church should be, first and foremost, bringing honor and glory to God.
If it's not, then we've got to put it on the magnifying glass and say,
Huh.
God isn't really getting glorified from this, so should we be doing it?
Or should we be changing it?
Should we be tweaking it to make sure that God gets the glory in whatever we're doing in this church?
All right?
Secondly, last week, we talked about how the church should find unity in its diversity.
Guess what?
We're not all the same.
I know that's shocking as you look around here that we've got kind of a colorful group of folks here this morning.
Colorful is a nice way to put it, isn't it?
Everybody's a little different.
Everybody does things a little differently.
We're all a little unique.
Come from unique backgrounds.
We've got different ideas about things.
And that's okay as long as that diversity brings us together in the body of Christ.
That in and of itself should bring glory to God and saying,
Wow.
How could God bring this diverse group of people together?
What binds them together to keep coming and hanging out each week?
Coming together on Sunday night, on Wednesday night.
Getting together in the community and doing things together.
Why are we all hanging out so much?
Because it's God that binds us together.
It's not necessarily common backgrounds.
It's not necessarily we're all in agreement and everything all the time.
We're certainly not.
But that's okay.
We can agree that God is good.
That God loves us.
That Jesus died for us.
That he rose again.
That he wants to save us.
He wants to change our lives.
He wants to mold us into his image.
And we're going to walk this road together as the body of Christ.
So there is unity in that diversity which brings glory to God.
Which is the purpose of the church.
So today we're talking about the church customer or minister.
Customer or minister.
We're going to fly through some of this.
So y'all hang with me if you will.
The church.
Customer or minister.
Turn it over in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 5.18.
Listen, I'm going to give you a lot of different scriptures today.
You don't have to turn to each one physically in your Bible.
We have a good amount of material to cover today that I'd love to give to you.
And so if you just want to jot references down in your bulletin or wherever you'd like to do it, that's fine.
But we are going to bounce through several different parts of scripture.
Because we're teaching some biblical principles about the church.
And if we had about three hours, we could take the time to give the full context of each passage.
And teach that whole truth.
But in our limited time this morning, I just want to kind of spark your thinking about the church.
Mark some things down.
And then in your own personal quiet time or family devotional time, if you'd like to go back and study more about this, we certainly can.
So 2 Corinthians 5.18, let's look at it.
Everything is from God who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry.
See that word?
The ministry of reconciliation.
When he says us, he's talking about the children of God.
He's talking about the people of God.
The church of God.
Our First Baptist Church here in Henrietta, Texas is an expression, a local expression of the greater church, the body of Christ.
So we can self-identify with this.
As Paul was writing this in his second letter to the church at Corinth, the church in Henrietta can also take this and adapt it to us.
We can identify with what Paul's talking about.
So he says, God, Christ has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
Well, that right there qualifies you for ministry.
You are a minister.
Okay?
That doesn't mean you're a pastor.
That doesn't mean you get up and preach on Sunday mornings in a church.
But if you are a child of God, then you are a minister of God.
And you have a ministry that God has given you.
The grander spectrum of ministry that God has assigned to you is this ministry of reconciliation.
What does that mean?
Reconciliation means restoring a relationship, right?
Being reconciled.
Well, the first need of reconciliation for you and for me is reconciling God away from our sin and back into unity and fellowship with God.
So he does that at the moment of salvation.
He offers reconciliation.
He says he wants to reconcile us from darkness into light, from sin into salvation.
So that is the first reconciliation that we have.
Well, so how are you and I ministers of that reconciliation?
We get to go share that message with others.
We get to go take that gospel message and share it with people who have not yet been reconciled.
We thank God that somebody shared it with us.
But let that not die with us.
Let that be a ministry that continues on through us, our ministry.
And then the second reconciliation is reconciling each other to ourselves.
Making sure that there is no strife between one another.
Oftentimes in a church, as we're all striving toward the same goal,
sometimes we'll have different ideas on how to reach that goal.
Sometimes we'll be in disagreement with one another.
Being in disagreement is okay, isn't it?
Being in discord is not okay.
Disagreeing is fine.
But living in contention with each other, living in anger and strife with each other,
bitterness, that is not okay.
And so reconciliation must happen between each other.
So much of the thoughts that I'm giving you today come from this church.
It's one of the most effective books written about the church.
That has been, it's principles put into practice in thousands of churches across our nation
and around the world.
And so I want to let you know this is a good read for those who are interested in diving
more deeply into some of these subjects.
And we drew much of what we're talking about today from the principles of that book.
So number one, every Christian is created for ministry.
Every Christian is created for ministry.
How do we know that?
Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10.
We, you and I, are his workmanship.
We are his creation.
Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
From the very beginning, God knew that he had a plan and a purpose for you and for me.
And if you are still breathing, then his plan and purpose for you is not done.
Okay?
Say, man, my time's over.
It's time for the young people to step up and take it.
Well, you're half right.
It is time for the young people to step up and take it.
But your time is not over.
God is still wanting to work through you.
God still has a plan and purpose.
It might look differently for you now than it did 30 years ago.
But God still has a purpose for you.
He still has good works that he created you for.
A ministry that he created you for.
So he created us, all of us, for ministry.
We find that in the Bible.
Number two, every Christian is saved for ministry.
We are saved for ministry.
Guess what?
God didn't just save you to keep you out of hell.
We believe in this church because it teaches in the Bible that if you sin, if you break
God's law, which guess what?
We all have.
Every one of us are in the same boat in that regard.
We've all done wrong.
We've all failed.
Not one of us are perfect.
If you say you are, you're lying and everybody knows it.
Okay?
You're not fooling anybody into thinking that you're perfect.
All of us have made mistakes.
And all of those sins, all of that wrongdoing has qualified us for punishment for our sin,
which is death in a terrible place called hell that God created for Satan and his demons.
But if we choose Satan's way, which is sin, which all of us do, even if we don't want to,
we find ourselves doing it.
The Apostle Paul wrote about that in the New Testament.
He said, the things that I want to do, I end up not doing.
And the things that I don't want to do, that's what I find myself doing.
I can identify with that.
Right?
Because we are surrounded by this weak flesh that ends up sinning.
So we are qualified for hell.
That is the punishment that God has prescribed for our sin.
That's why Jesus came.
Jesus came as the one sinless one.
The only one who didn't have to go to hell.
The only one who didn't sin.
He came down here.
He wasn't just God looking down at us and saying, why can't you be like me?
He came down here, was born.
As a little baby.
Grew up as a child.
Became a man.
Walked around on this earth.
Was tempted in all the same ways you and I are tempted.
And yet he never sinned.
Because of course, he was 100% man, but he was also 100% God.
So he could be perfect.
He could be sinless.
So even though he didn't deserve any punishment.
He didn't do anything wrong.
He allowed himself to be crucified.
Put to death.
Laid in the grave.
And then he came out of the grave.
To prove he is God.
He can conquer anything.
He can conquer death.
He can conquer sin.
He can conquer the grave.
And now he offers salvation to us.
And he says, since I took the punishment,
I died so you don't have to die that spiritual death.
So you don't have to suffer the punishment for your sins.
He says, now I offer you forgiveness.
I offer you salvation.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.
And you believe in your heart that God did raise him up from the dead.
Then you can be saved.
God can forgive you.
Cleanse you from all your unrighteousness.
Okay?
So he does that.
He offers that.
And if someone is in this room today,
I ask it every Sunday.
And I'm convinced that there are still people in the room
that haven't yet put that faith in Jesus to say,
God, I believe.
Okay?
I believe.
Sign me up.
I believe that you are God.
I believe you died on the cross.
You rose from the grave.
And I want you to forgive my sins.
Make me your child.
Part of your family.
If you have not done that,
don't leave here today without doing it.
In just a couple of minutes, we'll pray.
We'll have a time that you can come down.
I'll talk to you.
We can sit down.
We can pray.
We can pray together.
And we can work through that.
But please, please don't leave this place today
without making that most important decision.
Everything else we're talking about hinges
on that relationship with Jesus.
Okay?
And so when God saves us,
He saves us for a purpose.
It's not just to keep us out of hell.
It's not just to say,
okay, you're good now.
You don't have to pay the punishment
for your sins anymore.
Go have fun.
He's got a plan for you.
He's got a purpose for you.
How cruel would it be
for God to take you away from one master
and not give you another?
Now, sin is a terrible master.
It is a terrible boss.
Okay?
When you do what you want to do,
what sin wants you to do,
what your weak, sinful flesh wants you to do,
that gets you in all kinds of trouble.
That gets you in all kinds of places
that you don't want to be.
So when God frees you from that
and says, you don't have to serve that master anymore,
and then if He just left you and said,
okay, figure it out,
how cruel would that be?
But instead, He gives us the Holy Spirit.
He gives us His presence inside us
to go with us everywhere,
to admonish us,
to help guide us,
to help lead us,
to help us make decisions then
according to His will,
which is always right.
So that is what He saves us to do,
and those purposes that He has for us
is your ministry.
This comes from 2 Timothy 1 and verse 9.
He has saved us,
and He has called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works.
We're leaving that alone, right?
That gets us in trouble.
But according to His own purpose and grace,
which was given to us in Christ Jesus
before time began.
You notice a theme there?
All this was planned out.
We saw it in Ephesians.
We saw it in 2 Timothy here.
All this was planned out
before we were ever even created.
God knew what He was going to do with us.
He knew the job you'd be working.
He knew the kids you'd have.
He knew what you'd name them.
He knew the struggle that you would have
between husband and wife.
He knew the friendships.
He knew everything that would come into your life,
and He tailored it all for His divine purpose.
Are you fulfilling that purpose?
Are you fulfilling your ministry?
Number three,
every Christian is called into ministry.
Every Christian has a divine calling.
We just saw it a moment ago in 2 Timothy.
Did you see that?
Here we go.
There we are.
He has saved us and called us
with a holy calling.
So that's why we say
every Christian is called into ministry.
Over in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9,
you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people for God's own possession,
so that you may proclaim
the praises of Him,
the One who called you
out of darkness
into His marvelous light.
That is our ministry.
Proclaim the praises of God.
Okay?
Proclaim the praises of God.
In your relationships,
are you praising God?
Are you proclaiming His praises?
In your workplace,
are you proclaiming His praises?
Do His praises enter your mouth?
Are they on your lips?
Let His praise be forever on my lips.
None of us are praising God
as we should,
but we are called to do just that.
Number four,
every Christian is gifted for ministry.
We got into this extensively last week
when we talked about spiritual gifts,
and Sunday night,
we dove into it even more
and passed out individual spiritual gifts.
I don't know,
tests, exams,
whatever you want to call them.
Surveys,
just to kind of go through
and answer questions
that might help reveal to you
what God has gifted you,
prepared you,
equipped you for.
And so every Christian
is gifted for ministry.
How do we know that?
1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 10.
Each one,
each one has received a gift,
so we should use it
to serve others
as good stewards
of the buried grace of God.
The buried grace of God
is what God has given each one of us.
It's various.
It's changing.
It's different.
It's unique.
Each one of us
does not have the same gifts,
but each one of our gifts
are valuable.
And each one of us
has received a gift from God.
We are gifted for ministry.
That's not just to make you look good.
That's not to just impress people.
That gift that God has given you,
whatever it is,
that isn't just to help people like you
and raise you in the estimation of others.
It's to serve.
It's to serve others.
So if you don't find yourself
increasing in service each year,
then go back and say,
God, help me use my gift
more effectively for you.
I don't want my gift to go to waste.
Every year, we should walk
a little more closely with God.
Every year, He should work
a little more through us.
It's not a zero to a hundred overnight.
It's a slow, progressive walk
and journey with the Lord.
But we must be improving.
Otherwise, we start slipping back.
We start slipping back.
We start becoming more selfish,
more self-focused.
It starts becoming more about us.
The cares of this life,
the fear that is so tempting
to give into,
starts to distract us
from the purpose,
that great and glorious purpose
that God has given to us.
So if you don't feel like
you're accomplishing your purpose,
if you don't feel like maybe
that's what best describes
your life at this moment,
let's go back to the drawing board.
Let's sit down.
Let's sit down and talk.
But let's let the Scripture
be the magnifying glass
that shows us exactly
where we went wrong,
how we can go back
and start using our gifts for service.
And then number five,
every Christian is authorized
for ministry.
This doesn't mean that every Christian
is authorized for every ministry.
Okay?
There are some ministries
that I should not do.
If y'all put me in the kitchen to cook,
it's not going to work.
Okay?
I will come out with some
microwave cheese quesadillas
or something, okay,
for everybody.
Open up a can of salsa,
we're good.
But if you put me in the nursery,
you know,
that would maybe not be
the best fit for me.
Not everybody is authorized
for every ministry,
but everyone is authorized
for ministry.
Okay?
Don't let anybody tell you
you can't be a minister.
Don't let anybody tell you
you can't serve
with the gifts
that God has given you
in the local church.
Okay?
Every Christian is authorized
for ministry.
We know that from Matthew 28.
We call it the Great Commission.
That's where we received
our commission from God.
Jesus said,
all authority
has been given to me.
Say, well, that's great.
We know that Jesus is authorized.
Okay?
We know that God authorized Jesus.
What does that have to do with us?
Well, in verse 19,
he says,
you go.
Go.
Go, the royal you out there,
the church, us.
He says, go.
Because I have all authority,
you go.
What does that make sense?
How does that work?
You're the one
that has the authority.
Why don't you do it?
Because Jesus says,
you go,
make disciples,
baptize them
in the name of the Father,
the Son,
the Holy Spirit.
Teach them
to do all the things
I've commanded you
because he is with us.
I think I forgot
to put verse 20 in there.
He says,
I am with you.
The one who has
all the authority,
the one who's been authorized,
I go with you.
You have access
to all that power,
all that authority.
You are authorized to go.
So that's how we know.
Anybody says,
you shouldn't do that.
God says,
I sent you.
I sent you
to fulfill
your ministry.
You know,
the reality is,
sometimes we fail
on this earth.
Sometimes we fall
on this earth.
Sometimes the consequences
of what we do
disqualify us
from doing certain things
in the church for God.
You know why that happens?
You know why
it disqualifies us?
Because it hurts
our testimony.
We're going out
and presenting ourselves
as ambassadors
for Jesus Christ.
And so certain things
can compromise that.
So your ministry
might be limited
in certain areas.
But God never
takes back
his callings
on your life.
God never removed
his ministry
that he has
for you.
You can still minister.
You can still serve.
You can still fulfill
your purpose
even though
you might have messed up.
Guess what?
Everybody in here
is messed up.
There's not a man,
woman, or child
in this room
that hasn't messed up.
So whatever God
is still allowing you
to do,
don't let that
responsibility,
don't let that
ministry slide.
Fulfill your ministry.
ministry.
Because number six,
every Christian
is needed
for ministry.
We are all
needed.
Every single one
of you,
from Billy Carlton
who stands out there
and hands out
bulletins
when people come in,
to every one
of our children's
volunteers.
God bless
those people.
Those people
who will go in there
and from the babies
all the way up
to teenagers
and beyond,
that is such
a vital ministry
in this church.
To the people
who pick up trash,
to the people
who cook
on Wednesday nights,
to the people
who do
all the different
things
that make
this church tick,
that make us
keep going,
the kindness ministry
goes out
and sometimes
not everybody
jumps in and helps,
but they're out there
spreading the love
of Jesus
in the community.
I can tell you
that every single role
is needed.
It's vital.
And there are roles
that are currently
unfulfilled
that are needed.
There are slots
that we have
nobody in
that are absolutely
needed.
1 Corinthians 12, 27,
you are the body.
It is you.
If you come,
if you're a part
of this church,
then you're the body.
You're individual
members of the body.
Guess what?
We need all the parts
of our body, right?
If you lose
one of the parts
of your body,
you notice it.
Even the tiniest
little part,
you still notice it.
One time,
I just about
lost a toenail.
Stubbed my toe
so bad,
it just,
yeah,
it's not fun
to think about.
Just about
ripped that thing off.
That is a very,
very small part
of my body,
but I was very aware
of it in that moment.
I absolutely
noticed that
that part of the body
was just about gone
and it was not enjoyable.
Every single part
of our body
is essential
and every single
part of our church,
every single member
of our church
is needed.
Number seven,
every Christian
is accountable
for ministry.
We are accountable
for it.
God has given you
a ministry
and he wants to know
that you're going
to do it.
Okay?
First Corinthians,
I'm sorry,
second Corinthians
chapter five,
for we must all
appear before
the judgment seat
of Christ.
It's not just
the pastor,
it's not just
the staff,
it's not just
the committee members,
it's not just
the deacons
or trustees
or anybody else,
it's not just
the ministry team
leaders.
Every one of us
is going to appear
before the judgment
seat of Christ.
This is not
the great white throne
judgment.
That's where the lost
must be held
accountable for their sins.
Those who rejected
Jesus,
those who never
got saved
is what we like
to call it,
but putting our faith
in Jesus Christ,
they have to stand
before the great
white throne
seat of judgment
before Christ
and be judged
according to their sins.
You and I
will not be judged
according to our sins
if we put our faith
in Christ.
We then go to the
judgment seat of Christ.
We are judged
for the good
that we did for Christ
so that each one
may receive
what is due
for what he has done
in the body
whether good or evil.
The things we did
for ourselves,
that will be burned up.
We're not going to be
judged for it
and sent to hell.
That's all done.
Jesus paid that.
But it's not going
to produce anything good.
The things that we did
for God,
the work that we did
for him,
that will produce
gold, silver,
precious stones,
things of great value
and God will reward us
for that.
He will give us crowns.
He will reward us greatly
and we'll then turn around
and cast those crowns
at Jesus' feet
because we know
it was all through
his power.
We're accountable
for what we do
with the ministry
that God has given to us.
And then number eight,
every Christian
will be rewarded
for ministry.
We just talked about it
a moment ago
but in Colossians 3,
Paul writes about it.
He says,
whatever you do,
do it from the heart
as something done
for the Lord
and not for people
knowing that you will
receive the reward
of an inheritance
from the Lord.
You serve
the Lord Christ.
Guess what folks?
God is going to reward you
for ministry.
It doesn't matter
if you get all the pats
on the back
that you think you should
on this earth,
in this church.
We're not doing it
for each other.
We're doing it,
number one,
for the Lord.
Okay?
Now we should love each other.
We should try to help each other.
We should try to serve each other
but our motivation
is we are serving
Jesus Christ
and He is the one
who will reward us.
We will receive
the reward
of our ministry
from God.
Anybody know
what this stuff is?
Take a wild guess.
It's purposefully small.
Okay?
Because I'm not doing
advertisements here.
Okay?
The one on the left
is Southwest Airlines.
The one on the right
is Sam's Club.
Okay?
These are the two memberships
that I have
that I've reached
a certain status in.
Okay?
Let me tell you,
back in my previous job
when I was working
for Southwestern Seminary,
I was doing a lot of traveling
and I will never forget
the day
that I became
A-list
on Southwest Airlines.
Okay?
It was just a special moment.
Now unfortunately,
I was not A-list preferred
because of course
there's always another tier up
from where you are,
you know?
But still,
I wasn't just one
of those ragtag passengers
who had to like
board later,
you know?
I got to go on
in like the third
boarding group
or something.
It was really important.
How many of you guys
have flown
Southwest Airlines?
Slip your hands up
real quick.
I love it in the Metroplex
especially
because I get to go
to Love Field
and avoid the nightmare
that is DFW.
But yeah,
so you know
on Southwest Airlines
you have to check in
on the app
or whatever
when.
Anybody know?
24 hours in advance,
right?
If you want to get
any kind of decent seat,
you got to check in then.
Now they have
A group,
they have B group,
they have C group.
I quit paying attention
after that.
I don't know
how far it goes.
How many of you guys
have made A group
every time?
Just like every time.
Wow.
Okay,
Laura Lee,
just flex on everybody
right now.
That's called
blessed and highly favored
right there.
Yeah,
it's,
you know,
it's annoying
because you sit there
and my flight leaves
at 327.
So at 327
the day before,
I'm going to click
the button
and check in.
Man,
I still got B group.
How did that work,
right?
Because all us
A list people,
we don't have to check in.
It does it automatically
for us.
So we're guaranteed
to get A list.
I'm doing all this
like I still have it
and my A list
definitely expired
so it's gone now.
But let me tell you
it was so fun.
It was so fun.
The other one here,
I've reached a certain level
of financial prosperity
because I went from
Sam's Club club membership
to plus membership.
Yes,
that's the kind of coin
I got,
okay?
Sam's Club plus.
It's amazing,
I think.
I'm not 100% sure.
I'm looking at the X's.
Yeah,
the big thing we got it for
is the free shipping
that they do.
That's cool.
Yeah,
there's optical savings.
I don't even wear glasses.
So anyway,
I don't know.
But you know what?
It felt good to me
to be a plus member
and guess what?
You get a black card
instead of a blue card.
So that's always great.
Where am I going
with all this, right?
Most of you are wondering
where are you going
with all this?
We were on a roll
and now we're talking
about Southwest Airlines
and Sam's Club.
The idea here is
these are clubs, right?
These are members.
These are memberships.
It's really special
to be a part of this.
The problem is
no matter what level
I get to,
there's always
something better.
And those memberships
expire.
I was a Hilton Hotel
Diamond member
or whatever
for a while.
It was great.
Sort of.
It wasn't really worth it.
Then it expired.
The week after
my Diamond membership
expired,
they started putting in
this new policy
at Hilton Hotels
where they have
reserved parking
for Diamond members
right up next to the door.
the week after
my Diamond membership
expired.
I roll up to the hotel.
Again, I was doing
a lot of traveling.
Roll up to my next hotel
and right up there
I see Reserve
for Diamond members.
Platinum,
whatever they call it.
And I'm like,
are you kidding me?
I've been one
for a calendar year
and yeah.
Anyway,
it was a rough moment.
Y'all feel bad for me,
don't you?
First world problem.
Look,
those things
are more silly
than they are
anything else really.
Often,
usually,
especially with the
airlines and hotels,
what that means is
you're probably
traveling too much,
you're away from your family
more than you would
want to be
and that's certainly true.
And now I'm not
a Diamond member
with Hilton
and I'm not even
A-list with Southwest
Airlines anymore.
I'm just a regular
old person.
But listen,
the idea is
you and I
are members
of an exclusive
club.
But this is the
most inclusive,
exclusive club
you'll ever find.
It's the body
of Christ.
we are members
of it.
When man
puts a club
together,
he puts all
these strict
policies attached
to it.
He puts all
these hoops
that you gotta
jump through,
you gotta qualify,
you gotta spend
a certain amount
of money,
you gotta do
all this stuff
to be part of
their club
because the reality
is they're not
doing that club
or giving you
those perks
just because they
think you're cool.
they're not
doing it just
to be your buddy
and be nice
to you.
The reality is
they want more
customers,
they want you
to keep doing
your business
only with them
and they want
you to tell
other people
to come do
business with
them.
They want to
make money
off of it,
right?
I mean,
that's the point
of the workplace
is usually
to make money.
So they attract
us in by,
hey,
spend a certain
amount,
you can become
this important
person,
VIP.
Jesus says,
come be part
of my club.
It's exclusive.
It is exclusive.
It excludes
all those
who will not
put their faith
in Jesus.
So it might
be excluding
some of you
here this morning.
But you get
a constant
24-hour,
never expires
invitation
to join the
club.
But there is
an expiration date
on that.
And that's
when your
death occurs.
There is
an expiration
date on the
offer to join
the club.
That's when
your time on
earth is over
and none of
us know
when that
will be.
So Jesus
wants you
in his
club.
And then
once you're
in,
you get to
go try to
bring in as
many other
members as
possible.
and it's
free.
There's no
cost to
join.
There's no
obligations.
But once you
become a
member,
you got some
assignments.
That's the
difference in
human membership
and church,
godly,
divine,
spiritual
membership of
the body.
when we
think of
the word
member,
we think
of perks.
We think,
what am I
getting from
this?
The church,
membership
versus
partnership.
membership.
I want to
introduce a
concept to
you.
What do you
think of
when you
think of
membership?
Leave church
out of it for
a minute.
When I think
of membership,
I think of
benefits.
I think,
how does it
benefit me?
What are the
perks?
When I think
of partnership,
I think of
responsibilities.
So the
Bible says we
are individual
members of
the body of
Christ.
But we,
as members of
the church,
are supposed
to partner.
We are supposed
to partner with
one another
because we have
responsibilities.
We have a
ministry with
the church.
Members have
privileges.
Partners have
responsibilities.
Whether you
have officially
joined this
church as a
member or
not, I'm
talking to
everybody in
the room right
now.
That's not
what I'm
talking about.
I encourage
you to take
that step if
you haven't.
I encourage
you right now
today at the
close of the
service, if you
have not yet
put your
membership in
this church,
go ahead and
take that step.
I urge you to
do that.
And if God is
urging you to
do the same
thing, then
please step out
as soon as the
music starts.
Come talk to
me and we'll
get that taken
care of today.
But every
person who
attends this
church has a
responsibility.
responsibility in
this church, a
ministry that God
has given you.
So here's the
question, what's
the next step for
you?
What's the next
step for you?
Would you bow your
heads with me?
What's the next
step in your
ministry?
What's the next
step in this
church for you?
are you a customer
of the church or a
minister?
When we're
customers, whether
it's Southwest
Airlines or Sam's
Club or whatever
it is, those people
will do everything,
they will bend over
backwards to keep
our business to get
us to spend more
money with them.
And oftentimes, the
perks that sound so
great kind of leave
you feeling empty
afterwards.
Was it really worth
it?
We don't have
customers in the
church.
We are called to
minister.
Maybe you've been
in this church for a
long time and you've
been acting more like
a customer.
Where are my
membership privileges?
Where are my
benefits?
As opposed to saying
I am a God-called
minister in this
church.
Doesn't mean I'm up
on the platform
preaching, doesn't
mean I'm even
necessarily teaching
in a class.
It doesn't mean I'm
in charge of
something, but I
understand that Jesus
saved me and called
me and equipped me
and authorized me to
be a minister of
the gospel, a minister
of reconciliation.
So what's my next
step?
Every man, woman,
every teen, every
child must ask
themselves this
question this morning.
What is my next
step?
Every one of you
have one.
Has one.
It does not matter
how long you've been
a Christian.
It doesn't matter
how long you've been
in this church or
another one.
It doesn't matter
how short you've been
a Christian.
Every one of us,
myself included,
has something that
God wants us to do
next for him.
And it's going to
benefit all of us.
It's going to benefit
the whole church.
We need each other.
Lord, I ask that you
would work in each
heart right now.
Whether somebody needs
to step out of the
aisle in just a moment,
I know we're a little
past our time today,
but whether somebody
needs to step out of
the aisle in just a
moment and come down
and put their official
membership in this
church and join
together, partner
together with us for
this common ministry,
I ask that you would
give them the boldness
to go ahead and do
that today.
Let them understand
that, humanly speaking,
that's a big move to
identify and say,
you know what,
this is my church.
I'm going to be part
of this church.
It's not required in
scripture that we come
transfer a letter or
something like that,
but that is an
outstanding way to
signify this church is
my family, this is a
part of my life, and I
want to be a part of the
life of this church.
God, whether you've got
something else that
somebody needs to do,
start serving in a
ministry here.
Start telling others
about you.
Start inviting people to
come.
See what God's doing in
this church.
Start giving more.
Start giving it all.
There are all kinds of
ways to partner, to
minister, and I ask that
you would give us the
boldness to say yes to
whatever that next step
is.
Put our yes on the table
and then you tell us what
it's going to be.
That's what we pray right
now in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Brother Greg's going to
come sing.
We'll have just a moment,
so don't wait too long.
Just a moment.
I'll be right down
front.
You come talk to me if
you'd like to talk about
putting your faith in
Jesus, putting your
membership in this church
or something else
entirely.
Y'all stand together.
Come down here.
if you like, you're given a
accord.
You're so bloom.
You're damn good.
I'm gonna be right there.
Have just a moment.