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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Hey, thanks so much for listening to Sandals Church. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We hope you enjoy this message. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Sandals Church. Thank you for joining us online, at our campuses, wherever you're watching from. So grateful for the people that are in the studio today. We're in our series called The Essentials, all about loving God, loving people, living on mission. And what we're gonna talk about today, I really believe it's so crucial to your life that I hope that you will lean in and listen and receive what God has for you. But I wanna start by asking you a question. Have you ever been in a situation where after maybe some time had passed and you looked around, you realized you missed the memo. Like everyone in that room knows something that you don't know and it's not your birthday so it's not a surprise party. You missed the memo. You misunderstood the assignment. Something got lost and now you're stuck. That is an awful feeling. When I was a freshman in college I had a sociology class and I liked the class. The only problem was it was right before lunch and I like to eat. And so I would be into the content but I was thinking about lunch. And I didn't go to college when I was 12 but our cafeteria served these chicken tenders. Listen, listen, listen. Those chicken tenders started calling my name about 11.45 every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So one day we're in sociology class and the professor says, in two weeks you're gonna make a presentation you're gonna write a paper There's a list of topics on the board Come up to the board on your way out of class and write one write them down and then you pick whatever you want to give your talk on and So I did some quick thinking That class had about 80 people in it and they all gathered around the board That meant there were 80 less people in line to get those chicken tenders at lunch. And the Lord said, it's good for you to eat, to nourish your body. So I walked around the crowd, and I saw my very studious, spiritually mature friend, dutifully taking notes. I said, can I get those from you later? She said, yeah. And I went straight to lunch. And I didn't get the leftover chicken tenders, the burnt ones. I got the good ones. I got the good honey mustard. I was feeling proud of my decision. And later that night in the dorm, we sat together and I said, hey, can you read me the topics from the board so that I can, you know, figure out what I want to give my presentation on? So she was sitting over there and she's just reading me all the topics. And one really like, I was like, that's an interesting topic. I think I'm going to do my paper on that. And so for the next two weeks, I did the research. There wasn't a ton of research because the topic I felt was unique, but I was curious why my professor chose it. I wasn't fully sure what it had to do with sociology, but I thought, man, I'm curious now that he gave us this topic, I wonder what I'm gonna learn. And so two weeks go by, and because the class was big and there was only a few topics, several of us were doing the same topic. And a guy got up to give his presentation on the same topic I chose, and that's when I realized I misunderstood the assignment. Because he gave a very compelling presentation on the effects of euthanasia, Oops. And let me tell you something kids, back in those days, there was no A for effort. My professor didn't feel enlightened, you know, there was no participation trophy. I got an F and at the top he wrote, you misunderstood the assignment. I said, but have you had the chicken tender? And the truth was, missing the memo on that assignment was not great. I had to hustle the rest of the semester to bring my grade up, which I did. But there are other situations in life where missing the memo or misunderstanding the assignment has much larger implications. Especially the things that Jesus himself has said, here's the memo. Don't misunderstand the assignment. And some of us Christians, we go through life sort of making up our own memo and asking God to bless it. But His Word is full of memos and assignments and directives and instructions, and He doesn't want us to miss those. And one of those things that He cares deeply about and doesn't want us to miss the memo is about the church, His church. The church matters so much to Jesus. Thank you so much for joining us for service today. I want to invite you to support the work that God is doing in and through Sandals Church. You can do so by giving at donate.sc. For now, let's get back into the message with Melody Workman. In fact, the first point is the church was God's idea. 27 years ago, Pastor Matt and Tammy weren't sitting around bored looking for something to do and say, you know what we could do? We could create a place where people have to come. Like that's not how it happened at Sandals Church. And maybe you've been a part of other churches. The church was actually God's idea. And the first time we ever even see the word church in the New Testament, it's Jesus himself giving vision to his disciples for the church. And they had never heard or seen anything like it. We're in Matthew 16, and I love imagining, I love imagining these conversations with Jesus. The disciples have been following him. Remember when they started following him, they weren't sure who he was either. And he's doing miracles, and he's doing teachings, and they're with him. And one day he looks at his disciples and he says, who do people say that I am? And they're honest. Some say you're John the Baptist. They give other answers. But then Jesus says, but who do you say that I am? And Peter, always quick to speak up. Sometimes that was good, sometimes it wasn't. But in that moment he spoke for all of the disciples. He says, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And I imagine Jesus's eyes blazing saying they get it they're getting it and he makes this proclamation to Peter he says now I say to you that you are Peter which means rock and upon this rock and by the way he wasn't saying I'm gonna build my church on Peter Peter's confession that he was the son of the Living God was the rock that laid the foundation for he said I will build my church and all the powers of hell will not conquer it That should tell us something right there that he's gonna build something that hell wants to conquer Right away, you know, this is gonna be a big deal And I just love these disciples I can only imagine them going we don't even know what you're talking about We're not good at much. This thing sounds awesome. You sound excited. We're not quite sure. But here's what happened. Jesus said, follow me. I'll make you fishers and men. Follow me. I will build my church through you. Follow me. And so he trains them. He teaches them. He equips them. He dies and that freaks them out. Then he rises again and that probably But then he says, power's gonna come. Go back to Jerusalem, power's gonna come. I'm leaving, but the power's not going anywhere. And in Acts 1.8 he says to the disciples, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth and these very rag-tag ordinary disciples he turns into world changers and difference makers and then we get into Acts 2 and the very same God the very same God that said I will build my church look at what happens in next to it says in verse 42 all not some all all of the believers devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and to fellowship and to sharing in meals and to Prayer it says they were devoted What are you devoted to? What has your devotion? That word devotion there carries the connotation of a deep sense of loyalty. I care a lot about this What do you care a lot about? I'm not here to make enemies, but I heard that Taylor Swift just did a tour. And no enemies. But while she was on this tour, bless all the Swifties, by the way. Bless you. Blessings, grace, and peace, and love be upon you. But I heard, I read, that some of the people that follow Taylor Swift that are devoted to her, adults, I write an article that some adults who got tickets to her concert wore diapers so that they would not have to miss one minute of her performance. Y'all, there's gonna be an after-call after church for you to get right. Because that ain't right. I don't care how good she is. I gotta go. I gotta go. But they're devoted. I care so much about you. I don't want to miss one second of your concert. I am devoted. It says all of the believers were devoted. Verse 43, a deep sense of awe came over them. When's the last time you've been in church and you were filled with a deep sense of awe, of wonder. Do you ever watch people get baptized? Do you ever stand there and watch a grown man who's been following the devil, stand in that water with tears streaming down his face and said, but Jesus changed me. Does that fill you with awe and wonder? The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. All the believers met together in one place. And it says they shared everything that they had. This means they were serving each other. They sold their properties and possessions. They shared their money with those in need. They worshiped together at the temple each day. They met in homes for the Lord's Supper. Shout out to you small groups. They shared their meals with great joy and generosity all the while praising God, enjoying the goodwill of the people. And each day, don't miss this, the Lord, the same Lord who said, I'm gonna build my church, the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. They went from like a hundred and twenty people to three thousand after one sermon. I, we need that guy to come speak. Like we need... Make no mistake, Jesus loves the church. Do you hear what I'm saying to you? Jesus loves the church. It's his bride. I love going to weddings and watching the bride come down the aisle. But every wedding I go to, after I've watched the bride for a few moments, I always turn and look at the groom, watching his bride. You can't tell that man nothing in that moment. You can't tell him nothing pastor Jeff he's he's crying hit he it's his bride that's how Jesus looks at the church that's how Jesus looks at us he is for the church so much so that he made a plan for how it would grow and how it would flourish look at these verses in Ephesians and again every time we read this I want you to remember it's the same Jesus who said I will build my church he's in in this verse here's what he says now these are the gifts that Christ the same Christ who said I'll build my church these are the gifts he gave to the church the Apostles the prophets the evangelist the pastors and teachers verse 12 their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and note this, build up the church, the body of Christ. Another version says, so his people would learn to serve and his body would grow strong. All throughout the New Testament, it refers to the church as a body, as the body of Christ. Is it any wonder that Jesus wants his body to be strong like you want your body to be strong? Do you like being sick? Other than laying in bed to watch Netflix all day with nobody bothering you, who likes being sick? Who likes feeling weak? A few months ago I went to celebrate a friend's birthday. We had some good food again. Love to eat. That's a little bit about me. Nice to meet you. We had some really good food and I felt really good for about 36 hours. And then I started to not feel good at all. And my friend texted me, how you feeling? I'm like, I'm not feeling good. And then another friend who was at the party text and said, I'm not feeling good. Four of us got food poisoning. Grace and mercy not going to tell you where. I felt awful, terrible. I am not a good sick person. I got so sick though from food poisoning because you guys know what happens with food poisoning. Your body says be gone, everything. I'm crawling to the bathroom. I'm weak. I'm just dehydrated. I'm sick. I felt awful. All I prayed for was God renew my strength. God give me my strength back. Is it any wonder that Jesus wants the church to get their strength back? That he wants the body of Christ to be strong. But we have to talk about the problem first. When you're sick and you go to the doctor, the doctor says, let's talk about your symptoms. Here's what I have to tell you, there's some bad news today. The church has a sickness. The church has a sickness. I'm talking about the global church. I'm going to talk some specifically about the American church. Sandals Church is a part of that. But talking about the church at large. Listen to some of these stats. Of the 210 million adults in the United States, 65 million of them used to 10 church regular but no longer do. And 2.7 million more walk away every year. 57% of Americans are seldom or never in a religious service of any kind. That's not just Protestant, Evangelical Christian, that's religious service of any kind. Over 1500 churches in America close every year. 34% of Gen Z are religiously unaffiliated. Again, any religion of any kind. Almost 70% of young people between the ages of 18 and 22 drop out of church. And elementary children are quickly becoming the largest unchurched population in our country. We have a sickness. We have a problem. How did we go from that church in Acts 2, that beautiful church where the Holy, the same Holy Spirit's alive today that was alive then? What happened? What happened to the church? Where did we, how did we get so sick? And let me just tell you, it wasn't that the church was thriving and all of a sudden we get to 2023 and it's all of a sudden it's not. This has been happening for years. In fact, when we get to the book of Revelation, Jesus commissions the apostle John to write letters to the churches, seven in particular. And there is one church that he writes to that when I read the letter he wrote to that church and I read their diagnosis and I read their problems, I see us today. Now, before I get into that, I do want to address something that matters to me, it's very important to me. Some of you have walked away from the church because the church hurt you. You were spiritually abused, maybe you were maligned, you were treated badly, and here's what I want you to hear me say, I am deeply, deeply sorry that the church, the bride of Christ did that to you. And I want you to know there's a place for you here. We want you here. But largely, largely, that's not what's happening. Largely, we have a bigger problem. And when we get to Revelation 3, verses 15 to 17, where the apostle John is writing to the church in Laodicea, listen to these words and tell me if you can see the correlation for where we are today. He says, I know all the things you do. You're neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other, but since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot, neither cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. This is Jesus. I'm going to build my church, eyes ablazing, my power is going to come. I'm adding to you daily. Now, this church, Leodicea, I'm gonna spit you out of my mouth. You say I'm rich, I have everything I want, I don't need a thing. And you don't realize that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Jesus did not run out of descriptors in that sentence. Here's the interesting thing about Laodicea. It was located in between a city of Hierapolis and Colossi. Hierapolis was known for hot springs. You know when you get into a nice warm bath? You don't want a tepid bath unless you have a fever. You want a warm bath. Soak your muscle, your tension, all of that. You want a bath. Colossi was known for pure cold water that tastes good to drink. Have you ever had a room temperature La Croix? Bro, that's nasty. It's just nasty. It's not a question of my thirst, it's making me irritated. Okay? It's not good. But because of the stone duct system that came into Laodicea, their water was lukewarm. Jesus is saying, that's what you're like. That's what this church is like to me. And you think you don't need anything. You think you have everything you want. They were a wealthy city. They had they had the material goods that they needed They were profitable In fact the natural disaster has hit Laodicea Rome offered to pay for it and Laodicea said no, we're good We can pay for it ourselves Okay, if the IRS reached out to you and said you're going through some hard times You're gonna say no, I'm good. I can pay for it. No, thank you Appreciate it You know what the church in Laodicea was saying to Jesus? I'm good. I'm good. They had a church. People were going to the church. It existed. But it made Jesus sick. Sit with that for a moment. That a church would make him ill. Because they were comfortable. Because they didn't really have very many needs, that they couldn't meet themselves. Jesus, I'm good. Here's the problem I see in the church today that's contributing to our sickness. We've become comfortable consumers instead of compelled contributors. We're comfortable. Jesus, I'm good. Keep feeding me. Rather than compelled, it is necessary for me to do something. Contributors, I need to give. I need to provide support. I need to serve. Which one are you? Where do you fall? Of course, there's always some consuming. You come, you listen, you receive the Word, but you were never meant to just stay a consumer. And here's the problem. Here's why this matters. Because consumers tend to be indifferent. And contributors tend to be invested. A few years ago, it was the night before school, I said to my kids, you have everything you need? The teacher said, send it back to school list. We checked it off. Everybody Everybody have what you need. It's been a long day. I walked by one kid and everything that I had gotten for them was sitting out on their desk. I said, why isn't that in your backpack? He said, because my backpack broke. Bro, when? Last day of school, last year. Son, I've seen you every day this summer. That didn't come up in conversation. You just gonna walk into school like here's all my stuff. All right, so we gotta go. So off to the store I go to get a backpack. That's all I need is one backpack, just one. Drive to a clothes store, walk over to the backpack section, take a mighty fine backpack, walk to the line and had a decision to make. The line went all the way to the back of the store. Now at that point, I thought to myself, do I get in this line with my one backpack? It's not a grocery store. People just have shoes, bags, clothes. Couldn't take that long. Or do I have to put this backpack back, get in my car, drive to another store, you know the whole thing. So I decide I'm gonna stay, I'm gonna get in line. Five minutes in, I knew I made the wrong decision. I have to let y'all know that I understand the fruits of the Spirit, and I'm a work in progress with patience. Jesus, hear me. I'm a work in progress, okay? Five minutes in, my daughter who's with me, she can pick up that mom's starting to get that irritated she's like trying to do a little song at a dance and mommy look at this mommy look at this because here's what I start to think who's in charge does the person who's in charge know the problem that we have like that's just how I'm wired to think this line is taking so long so long and I'm not exaggerating though is the sweet elderly woman in front of me, grandmother, she had a young child with her. And at first she started kind of leaning, you know, on her cart. We got up to those about six or seven people left in front of us. She sat on the floor. That's how long this was taking. Now I'm feeling all kind of, like I gotta look out for her, I don't even know her, what's your name? Like I There's two cashiers working the front with this long line Kid you not six or seven people to go and one of the girls goes like this. Oh It's time for my break I Wish I could tell you I wish I could tell you in the moment. The Lord said be quiet my daughter Wait on the Lord, I will renew your strength. I didn't hear that. What I heard myself say was, wait, what? And now I realized, I gotta go with this. I said, you're going on a break. Do you see this life? We pay for your break. Grandma's on the floor. We pay for your breaks! Grandma Ma's on the floor! I'm gonna need you to work through your breaks, sis. So I can get this backpack. And then you guys, people started clapping. Oh my. All of a sudden I was leading a riot, I was getting fired. Speed Dime, Pastor Matt, what you saw isn't really what happened. Finally, the manager comes, you know, starts opening up more. We get through the line. I take my backpack and I'm walking to the car and I'm telling my daughter, that is the last time I am ever going to that store. I don't care if that store closes tomorrow. That was ridiculous. I'm not waiting in a line like that. They need to be better run. The whole thing. You want to know why I was like that? Because I was just a consumer. Do you know how often this happens in the church? That parking lot's too far away. That music's too loud. I don't like watching him on the screen. I could take my kids over there, but go over here. On and on and on it goes. Because we're just consuming. Consumers complain. Contributors compliment. Consumers criticize. Contributors celebrate. Consumers sit around. Contributors show up. Consumers hate on, but contributors help out. Consumers watch, but contributors weighed in. Consumers are selfish. Contributors are sacrificial. Consumers sit, and contributors serve. And you want to know why contributors serve? It's simple. Because when you love, you serve. When you love, you serve. Jesus went first. John 13, four and five. Imagine this scene. The King of kings, the Lord of lords, the savior of the world, got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. 12 through 15, after washing their feet, he put on his robe again. This is for us and asked do you understand what I was doing? You call me teacher and Lord and you are right because that's what I am And since I your Lord and teacher have washed your feet You ought to wash one another seat. I've given you an example. There's the memo There's the assignment do as I have done to you. John 15, love each other the way that I have loved you. There's no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You're my friends. Listen, you call yourself a friend of God, you are my friends when you do the things I have commanded you. He served them by meeting their greatest need. He loved them, so he served them. God is so good to me, again, back to how I like to eat, because he gave me a man who likes to cook. And when I say he can cook, I mean the man knows how to make some food, okay? Like he knows, single ladies, that's free. Marry a man who can make you some food. And sometimes Adam will give up hours. I mean, because he's not throwing something in the air fryer. That's what you can do, blessings. That's still a gift. But he creates. He goes to the store, he buys the ingredients. He'll take time after work, he'll give up most of his evening to serve a meal to me and to our kids. He puts love and care into it. He's loving me by serving me. Now if he said, well, how do you serve him? Well, I eat the food he put on my plate. I sit at the table he set for me. Listen, I watch while he cleans the kitchen. I don't even leave. That sounds absurd, but that's what happens in the church every week. People have prepped. People have labored. People are serving you because they love you. And you come and you And I'm asking you, what do you love? Who do you love? Do you love the church? Maybe for some of you today, that's the message for you. That you need to wrestle with whether you just go to church, check it off, come to church, check it off, or you realize you are the church. When we all leave the building on Sunday, the church leaves the building. His power didn't come upon a building it came upon people So the church is a sickness But here's the good news You're part of the solution You're part of the get-well plan When you're sick and the doctor says here's what I need you to do you do it because you want to get well And if we love Jesus, then we want his church to be well. First Peter 4.10, again, same Jesus. He said, I build my church. Same Jesus who brought the power in Acts. Same Jesus. God has given each of you, each of you, a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Listen to the command, use them well to what? Serve one another. No one's excluded. Well, I can't sing. That's okay. Well, I can't teach. That's okay. You have a gift. God didn't exclude you. He didn't leave you out. You're in there. Some of you don't serve because you don't think we need you. You show up and you're like, I'm just gonna sit right down. Friend, listen. Need isn't the motivator. Obedience is. Because you've been given a gift. And when we're talking about your gifts, listen to what I'm saying to you. We are not asking you to help. We are empowering you to serve. There's a difference. I need help and the kids. No, no, no, no. We are empowering you to serve. So here's the question. What are you going to do with the gift you have for the time you have? Friends, this is a of us. And the church needs to keep going. Imagine if those disciples just sat and watched and said, Jesus, this is a good show. Often in the New Testament, it talks about your life like a race. This is in Hebrews 12, 1b. Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. I'm no runner, so I bought this off of Amazon, okay? I get shin splints. But as I was reading about running, it was really interesting, because there's individual races and then there's relay races. And what I read over and over again is there's a lot of drama in the Olympics around these relay races. Because they want to assemble the best runners so they can win the gold, but the best runners are more committed to their own individual race. So they mispractice, they don't show up. They're like, I know how to run. You know, like it's no big deal. Some of the best assembled teams in history have been disqualified because they dropped the baton. They're so focused on their own race that they don't see the value in a race with others. But Hebrews 12 says, let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We're all in this together. And your goal should be to run your race with the gift you have to the best of your ability for the glory of God and when your temporary assignment is up you're handing it off to the person coming behind you. Here's the opportunity. You have an opportunity to leave a legacy instead of a vacancy. Are you going to leave a legacy or are you going to leave a vacancy? Are you going to serve God with the gifts that you have all the while bringing people along behind you so that when God says, servant, well done, it's time for you to go You can say check Lord and hand it off to the next person or are you running with such an individual mindset? Maybe a ministry hoarding mindset Whatever it is that you're just so focused on your thing your family your likes your dislikes You are wants that you're consuming so much that when your time is over the palms on You've dropped it. What happens to the church if it's full of people leaving vacancies, not legacies? What happens to Sandals Church if it's full of people leaving vacancies, not legacies? I want to tell you about someone who means so much to me, and it's my dad. And here come the tears, because I also have a spiritual gift of tears, and I'm using them well to serve you all today. Last week I was visiting my parents, and I went to their church, and I didn't even know this was gonna happen. The pastor came over to my dad right before the service, and he whispered something in his ear, and halfway through the service, he invited my dad to come up onto the platform. And my dad shared a story about a young woman at their church he had baptized a few weeks ago. And they showed a video, I think I have a picture somewhere, yep. That's my dad to the right with the blue shirt on. My dad turned 74 in a couple weeks. That's still what he's doing. He's still baptizing. He's still sharing the gospel. He's still serving the church. And he has no desire, no want, no plan to quit. You're wondering why? Because he's leaving a legacy. Because he's evangelizing and he's empowering and he's handing off that baton. And you know what he's done? He's handed that baton off to me. My dad raised me to love the church and serve the church. My dad has raised me to not give up on the church when the church doesn't get it right and we get it wrong. The church has probably given my dad his deepest wounds and also his greatest choice and he's committed till his temporary assignment is up He's running his race Listen to this quote Christianity is always just one generation away from extinction Jesus mission has always depended on one generation of leaders handing the mission is in your grasp. You know what my dad's dream was? My dad's prayer was from Psalm 22. Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about everything he has done. Parents, if I were to ask your kids, what do your parents love? What would they tell me? Tell me about the boat? Tell me about the shows? Tell me about the rosé? That's between you and the Lord, you know. It's not wrong to love things that God blesses us with, but would they say the church? Would they say, my parents love the church? I see a trend that I want to speak to really quickly of people who think they're going to raise their kids to love Christ and not love the church. And let me tell you what you're headed for. They're gonna love neither. Cause you can't pull apart Christ from the church. It's his bride. That's nowhere in the New Testament. To love Christ is to love the church. The church is people. You are a person. So I wanna ask you this question. And it's not to shame you, it's to stir you. What would Sandals Church look like if everyone served like you? What would this church look like if everyone, all of the other yous, all the other people served like you? I wanna say right now that there are some people at this church who decided they want to leave legacies and not vacancies who decided that they're going to be contributors not just consumers and they're going to run their race people like Ryan Tarkington from Hunter Park Sandals kids this guy is an incredible worship leader but it took us four years to get him to give us one weekend every four to six weeks because he said I'm not leaving those kids. It's leaving a legacy. People like Daisy Vargas from our mobile campus. Every single week she stands out there full of warmth and love greeting people, smiling at people. We're living in the loneliest generation ever. To smile at someone and say I'm happy to see you could change someone's life. And there she is every week. People like Oscar, my son's small group leader, who not only serves these 16 and 17 year old boys on Wednesday night, but is so burdened for biblical illiteracy among teens that he started a Bible study on Friday night and will drive as far as 45 minutes to pick boys up who don't have a ride so that they can come study the Bible Oscars leaving a legacy and Then guys like Jim from our Woodcrest campus Jim's been on production at Woodcrest for years and Jim's great and Jim knows how to run that console But the last time I was at Woodcrest, he ran right over to me and said, you know what I'm doing today? I'm training this young guy. You want to know why Jim's doing that? Because he's leaving a legacy. Because he recognizes that one day his temporary assignment will be up and he doesn't want to leave a vacancy on that team. He wants to leave a legacy. So my question for you today is, do you want to leave a legacy? For some of you today, here's what I think God's calling you to do. He's calling you to repent from the spirit of apathy and lethargy towards the church. You've just been consuming. You know how you feel when you sit around all day and you don't do anything? You feel kind of gross. For some of you, that's your relationship with the church. And in your repentance, know that God is going to give you grace and God is going to give you a second chance and God is Going to show you an opportunity for how you can become a contributor that leaves a legacy Here's my prayer for all of you and our prayer for this church That we would be part of the solution that we would be the generation that turns it around That we would be the people so compelled So driven to love Jesus who loves the church That we would love him with our whole heart and we would serve him with our whole heart And I don't want you to leave today without taking your opportunity for some of you who watch online And you wonder what can I do? We have something for you to do, too There's ways that you can serve even if you don't live near one of our campuses. At the end of this sermon, there's going to be an opportunity for every single one of you to take a next step. And I want you to hear the voice of God. And I want you to think about who's coming behind you on your race. And I want you to be burdened to see the Church of Jesus Christ flourish for generations to come and see your part in making it happen. So Jesus, this is our prayer. You've given all of us a gift. Help us, God, to discover what that gift is and then use it to serve you and serve your church. God, remove us from a spirit of lethargy or apathy or complacency. God, show us, give us vision for the harvest that we would run our race well, that we would love and serve others the way that you have loved and served us. Jesus, we don't wanna miss the memo. We hear you. We understand the assignment. Now make us doers of your word and not just hearers only. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Hi, my name is Jackson. I work on the digital media team here at Sandals Church. As Melody mentioned, there's other ways that you can serve online outside of the traditional way you may think of serving at a church. And one of those ways is through our DMOG Hub. Our DMOG Hub is just a group of people, whether it be business people, tech people, artists, people working in media, who come together and talk about the digital strategy at Sandals Church. If you're interested in something like that, who come together and talk about the digital strategy at Sandals Church. If you're interested in something like that, you can email me at jacksonwaldruff at sandalschurch.com and we can get you connected. Grace Peace.
Transcribed with Cockatoo