Preparing for More

By Pastor Greg Byman
St Joe Community Church
October 28, 2018

​​The temptation for a church is to rest into a fellowship, where followers of Jesus Christ can huddle while the storm rages outside. Now in its 16th year as a church plant in Fort Wayne, St Joe Community Church is Preparing for More in 2019. Today Pastor Greg Byman preached on girding oneself to reach more souls for gospel in 2018 and 2019, and what that looks like for the local body of Christ.

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​So next Sunday preparing for more is the message today and we're going to go through a ton of scriptures and you might just want to take your bulletins on the back and write down the Scriptures I'm going to blaze through several So there's no one particular passage although I'm going to end and you can go to Luke Chapter the one we just read Luke chapter four and you're going to and you can go there and that we're going to end on that and we're going to use that kind of as a launching pad to what are we going to do next but I want to talk today a little bit about where we came from. why we exist as a church. ​

​What's this all about what's our grand experiment called St Joe Community Church why did we start St Joe what happened I'm going to go through all the boring history lessons and everything like that and we're not going to go through all the little details but I want to give you an overview of why we do what we do why do we exist what's what's our purpose what strategy what do we what do we try to accomplish and we actually have a class one hundred one it's a membership class that allows you to kind of unpack in four different sessions our statements of faith are our salvation story are statements of faith our strategy and then our covenant what's our What's our coming together what's our rally cry for how we develop a relationship together and covenant as a body of Christ and that you can put on there I want to sign up for one of the one and when you get to the end of the session today you're not going to have nearly everything that's on that four sessions but it's going to give us kind of a cliff notes of that in such way and then also kind of give us a context of where we've come from and where we're going as a church family but before I get into that I want to put one slide appears that you can see that we are actually starting on this series next Sunday called family life. Family life now how many of you have a sticker like this on the back of your car usually it's a little dog or cat or a hamster I don't know. You see by the time you get the sticker for the hamster you got to get a new hamster anyway. But or they're gone where are they in the house but but but how many of you have an elephant in the house don't raise your hand. How many of you walked around elephants as a child in your house. Yeah. I saw some where we've all got elephants on our families. And we've adopted them they become the family Pat and people walk into our house and they go whoa. And we go what do you talk about should you have been to the zoo or been to the three ring circus you're going to the basement of the coliseum where they keep the elephants in a holding pattern they are going to do that anymore I guess but you remember that oh my goodness who. You know the zoo to the elephant zoo the elephants in the Cincinnati Zoo has elephants and they have in the winter time if you go there they're inside and you know what. Bats a houseful of elephants Well every family's got elephants and we're going to try to have some elephants steaks when Saldana or at least shoo them out into pastures where they can not harm people all right we're going to try to identify what they are we're going talk about elephant free marriages we're going to talk about elephant free parenting. You ever been parenting your kids or grandparent in your kids and you say something in your home my goodness I just brought something back that I never thought I would say or do because my parents did that and it was so unhealthy and dysfunctional but I just did it what am I thinking it's an elephant we're not I know not self identifying the things that are getting in the way of being a real family and so we're talking about and so somebody say well I'm not married and my kids are gone well has talked about elephant three generations how can we no matter where we are whether we're a child whether in the middle of something or a single adult whether we're married whether married with kids whether kids are gone or empty nesters wherever you might be we can all influence future generations in our last session we'll talk about how we help future generations to not let elephants become the family pet So we're going to go through that I want to give that to you let you know what's going on we're going to give a social media slide Chris Mann is doing that for us and when you see that on Facebook if you just share that around you can send that will be sending an e-mail that you can send that out to people to your friends to your family you can take this flyer the yellow flyer that has it on there and take it around we can get you more copies of that let's just let everybody know that we're about to talk about family life and we're going to get real about it we're not going to say all this is exactly how you do it with two point five children whatever no and I'm going to try very hard to respect my family but I'll probably be talking about my elephants in the house yes pastor has elephants in the house but I got to get permission on a couple of them so anyway. Because you know me I've always been trying to be very respectful of my family and my children I never want to throw them under the bus when we're talking about things and it always scares me when my wife's in worship to hear me actually talk anyway. No it's I it's just going to be careful with that but. But I'm going to get real during this series as well. Well we're preparing for more at St Joe we're always preparing for more I had one pastor tell me you know just to eat really easy if we just decided we were just never going to care about reaching anybody else and we just kind of just keep doing what we're doing and you know just eat it out till Jesus comes or if Jesus doesn't come at least I retire we and we just kind of just sort of do nothing. And you and I know that that's actually not an option some churches are inherited by pastors and they have done they've had struggles in the past and sometimes just getting by is the best they can do I'm not talking about that I'm just saying that we're always the body of Christ is always preparing for more we we went around the circle we had a circle of chairs in our prayer every couple weeks of the month we have a person meeting at six o'clock on Saturdays and one of our per times was praying outloud confidentially in that circle for the names of people that we knew that did know Jesus and it was a long list of people and a short group of people praying and I got to thinking about all the children in our church and how they're rising up within us and are they coming to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord are we giving them opportunities to serve and to learn what it means to to get involved in the body of Christ we care about everyone and we always have to be preparing for more. Even if your children are grown and gone or maybe you come here and your children don't even live in our city you need to help us because we're always preparing for more and even as you're faithful for the place that God put you God will be rising up people around you your loved ones to be faithful to be reaching out to your loved ones in ways that you can always love and care for the people you're near and you put in the hands of God the people that are not near you that God might do the same and prompt other people who are not related to biology to those families to but to encourage them you see we we got our days we had like four locations and then we finally landed here and let's show some pictures up here there are some interesting pictures you might remember some of these are going to just come up automatically David Oprah are there you can look at them here you can almost see we have our first baptism in the pool Pat Paisley's pool it was a her house and I think I hope you still got the routes out of the driveway out of the yard from all the cars that we had and we had a cookout so this is that what you do for us what we did we just went down it was a beautiful beautiful shot to ninety that was our first worship location at Jefferson at. St Joe Central Elementary School and so we were there for a season of time actually six months and then the custody and had knee surgery and said the other one doesn't want to open for any more so you got to move three months into being there I thought we're going to be there for a couple years and so we had to go to crowning Elementary which the over here down here and you can see here if you look carefully there's a guy looking at me taking the picture and it's Rod we're his rod Anyway we don't want to talk about because he'll let me talk about out loud and then we had our first great big vacation bible school at St Joe's center at St Joe Little League and out the outfield was this big tent that we put up and we had an outdoor vacation bible school they taught the Bible lesson in the dugout kind of cool and we just prayed for. Rain and it was a beautiful week it really was and I think that Sarah you got a pine the face that week yes you had a pot you don't have that picture anyway so and there's a lady all Norma's there and she's gone to the Lord already but there's just a lot of cool stories and then they got Bob got baptized at Kronen elementary and we have a portable baptismal We borrowed and we actually have a baptismal that we built later on because we kept borrowing it so many times it said you know we probably ought to get our own and we still have that church planters use that church that baptismal and and somebody used it up in Auburn just last month or so and so we this is just some flasks blast from the past God's been up to something in the beginning God I'm the say in phatic Lee without a doubt God lead our team and I say our team there was a team of about ten or fifteen and then it swelled to about twenty twenty five people and then you know kind of plus children maybe in there and then maybe by the time we were really getting to the spot where we actually planted and had our first service that service we had like one hundred forty six or eight people that showed up on a Sunday morning Easter two thousand and three and and so we were about half that that we were related to and so half of that crowd we had no idea who they were until they walked in the door that day it was an amazing moment in my life I'll never forget that opening day and all of the people and some are still here today that are part of our church family and leading in our church family and it's just it's just overwhelming but we believed without a doubt that God was going to do something in our city through us when we planted the church we were in that empty cavernous. Gymnasium and we said boy Lord you've got to show up because if we just show up this isn't going to be much and boy that God show up. You see let me back up just before that and October of two thousand and two we were really praying about whether or not this should even happened and God gave me a passage in Acts Chapter eighteen verse ten Now this is dealing with people that were trying to persecute the apostle Paul and he was wondering whether he should stay in town or get out of Dodge because he wasn't sure if he was going to be safe Well I didn't feel like I was being harassed to get out of town but I was restless and thinking about where I was going to go next as a chap as a pastor and this passage came to me. And it says in verse nine then the Lord said to Paul in the night vision Don't be afraid to keep on speaking and don't be silent for I'm with you and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you and this is the part that really hit me because I have many people in this city. Is see the city of churches still needs more churches. You say really. There's probably one hundred fifty to two hundred event Christian labeled churches maybe three hundred total in terms of all kinds of religious expressions in town what do you mean we need more churches. Well it takes all kinds of tree churches to reach all kinds of people it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people. And did you know that our population is growing and yet existing churches are declining and dying at a faster rate than our population is growing in Fort Wayne did you know that that we have actually are less churched than we've ever been before now there are outliers like the large mega churches in town but for the most part the backbone of. A faith society of faith community is not resting on the shoulders of the mega churches it's resting on the shoulders of smaller churches dotted throughout the land and it's just so fitting that God put our hearts to be a neighborhood like church and then God would give us a neighborhood of eighty thousand people within five circular miles so that's not a small neighborhood but he gave us an opportunity to be a neighborhood church for neighbors and some even walk here to attend on Sunday morning. So the city of churches still needs more churches and God just because I was like wrestling with that I went out with pastors out to dinner and breakfast and I bought him breakfast to get advice it was cheaper than paying him for counseling and and I said Pastor way ims you just started a mega church in town maybe I should just join you white why should I start a church called St Joe Community Church or it would know the name at the time and he would just go after of God called to do it go for it and like OK so I called another pastor who had started a church and it was a big church and I said what why don't I start a church when I just do something just blend in with what's going on he's a man charged with a water pistol when he nor people to help people find Jesus in this city. I'm like OK all right all right so all these people I'm hoping would talk me out of being a church planner said go for it call them a year later and say What were you thinking telling me to go for it no no no it was it was just encouraging that these pastors who I thought you know I'm I'm invading their territory it had that's ridiculous there is no turf in God's Kingdom business and they were making that clear to me in John chapter four verse thirty five. Jesus said very clearly that you need to open your eyes and look at the fields for they're ready for harvest Let's read that together open your eyes and look at the fields for they are ready for harvest that is true that was true in Jesus' day that was true the day later that was true the day after that that was true for the disciples when Jesus entered into heaven and they started the first church ever as the Pennock day of Pentecost and it's true for us today that the fields are white and don't harvest and we in the agricultural community knows that that when there is a certain moment. When the fields must be harvested or the rot. They'll die the corn will come in right. The beans have to come in a certain time that's our agriculture or the wheat has to come out at a certain moment or it will be lost. And will be worthless there's an urgency that every day is a season for sharing Jesus was somebody. That all around us there are dead men walking the night of the Living Dead is every single day when someone doesn't know Jesus they're dead spiritually they need life in Christ and we have that message. I don't care what city you're And I don't care where you are there are people that need Jesus. And Fort Wayne is no different and though there is no reason not to start another church there is no shortage of people to share Jesus with. And then if you just Couple that with what Jesus said as he was leaving this place and he said and you will be my witness as us read this together you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all of today and some area and to the ends of the earth he was giving us a strategy plan for conquering the world with the love of Jesus Christ you're going to start local then you're going to go regional and then you're going to go national and you're going to go global Jesus has told us that we're to go local Anglo bull you know that if you become a missionary and you move over to let's just say the Middle East the you know that you're still responsible to be going to Jerusalem to some area J.-A and beyond that even to United States to share Jesus. I don't care where you are on the map you're to be local and global so I always say don't say you're going to be a missionary to the peculiar place live like a missionary wherever you are and let God worry about your address because we're all missionaries. And every place is a mission field to share Jesus we need to be preparing for more as what I'm saying. We need to preparing preparing for more in our strategy to help people find Jesus. We serve as a team first Corinthians chapter two verse six says that I planted Apollos watered the God gave the growth just basically we are to serve as a team we planted the church the rock you know there are some churches they call them charter members. I guess there's a bus that they'll charter. To go around together and I don't know how that works and you get a name tag or a rose but. I'm a charter member. I was here from the beginning you know. By the way I honor honors to how many of you you you were here when we first started within the first year of our church where you were with us how many Let's just praise God for what God did praise God I really believe that yes I'm not I'm not belittling but but the reality is we're teen. Some people they're not doing what they did when we first started they're glad for that by the way they didn't want to keep doing that we had a couple that she's now her husband's gone home to the Lord but they were in the children's ministry I knew them from a previous church never would have put them in the children's ministry just just kind of they're just not. Really OK OK Good for you but you know what they did that because they wanted to do what they needed to do what needed to be done and for a season they did that. There were some people that came and they gave us two or three years of their lives time energy money resources ties and offerings they gave of themselves and then they felt called to go on to another church that was not our church and we were fine with that we bless them and they blessed us and God used them as part of our team they planted. Apollos watered there were some people that came along side after they left and came in and said you know we need to start to cycling and encouraging the people that were here we need to start doing what we need to do to encourage and infuse this people with encourage man and God's word and we God brought us mature people that helped us to raise up other leaders and they began to water but at the end of the day it was God who gave the growth God is the one who grows his church not us we participate with him in in this process but he's the one that does it not us God grows the church and you know what growth really means it's more people following Jesus. More closely. More people following Jesus more closely. That's what growth this. Is not about build a crowd on Sunday mornings woo Let's get a crowd I'm for crowds I like to know that there's a few more people that love Jesus when I get out there on a cold day on Monday around a bunch of people who don't love Jesus I'm glad to know I got a bunch of people that got my back. When the rest of the role is trying to stamp it. I'm glad that there's a posse of people that love Jesus even when I don't care about love and Jesus. No I mean that we all need to help each other because sometimes we got good days and sometimes we've got days. And hopefully we all don't land on a bad day together at the same time. And that's what the body of Christ does we help each other. We grow but it's not about build the crowd say how many got on Sunday morning that's that's an indicator that's a number because every person matters so we count every person but it's how many people are actually growing in their faith how many people are actually following Christ as a result of what we're doing on Sunday mornings in our small groups and our ministry teams. We've got to keep preparing for more. We prepare for more by being. Whatever we need to be for the people that God is reaching us calling us to reach in First Corinthians Chapter nine verse twenty two. Paul gives this conversation about how he had sent all these things he says for all that I'm going to go up to burst one thousand for although I am free from all people I have made myself a slave to all in order to win more people so here that he is he's taking his personal preferences and putting them. Beneath the needs of the people calling him to reach out I've done that many times in this church. There's a lot of things I do like about this church it fits my personality I kind of like it but there are things that we do that it's not about me in fact we've got a T. Shirt we're going to get a teacher it's so not about me and we were all going to get T. Shirts it's so not about me so that everybody knew it was so not about us you know a funny thing is they had a prototype T. Shirt they gave it to me and nobody else got one. To say. Think about that for a minute. And I wound got that one going to get some teachers and then Paul goes on here he says to the Jews I became like a Jew to win Jews so that under the law like under like one under the law though I myself am not under the law I don't have to act like a legal listing Jew but I did that to win those under the law and to those who are outside the law like the one outside the law I'm not being outside God's law but under the law of Christ to when those outside the law to the weak I became weak in order to win the week I have become all things to all people so that I may be by all means save some whatever it takes in my previous church I had a guy give me a there's a car dealership and they had the vanity plate that they had on all their cars it said whatever it takes and he brought me that I still have it my office it's a great montra whatever it takes aside from violating God's word aside from violating what's right and proper I just mean what it takes what is going to take to have someone find Christ if the fields are white on the harvest if it's time to harvest some souls for Jesus then we don't have time to worry about the color of the tractor. Just get on the tractor and start harvesting. We just got to get after it. Time is short and lives are at stake an eternity is too long for anyone to be wrong. You see that means that we have many methods even though we have one message one message many methods you know what we don't do think there's a couple things we don't do anymore that we used to do. And they work for a season they don't work now when the horse is dead to get off of it. Have a funeral move on to another program or. We just try to we had block parties we had a block party I was talking to John Richards that used to own all the higher grounds here in town and and one of our kind of fun things we did is we do block parties in front of higher grounds at St Joe center and maple crest and we'd have our bounce house and we'd have people come in we give them flyers and we talked about Jesus and we'd we'd give them free food sometimes and I do all kinds of fun stuff like this and we just would get all hot and sweaty and nasty and we'd have this big old heavy bounce house to put back together and put in a trailer we hope it didn't rain I mean and sometimes it was cold because the right push in the season all these things that we did but we tried to do whatever we could to get out into the community so the people knew that we loved them in a practical way so that they might come to know Jesus so that some of them at least would know that Jesus loved them. Because we couldn't guarantee we don't care what others are doing we just knew we had a mandate to share the love of Christ and that hasn't changed that's why Wednesday we're going to either be in the parking lot or be in the great room with decorations fun generations we're not going to celebrate say this holiday but we're going to celebrate that families are coming by this place by the droves looking for candy and popcorn in a restroom and some things that they could use to be encouraging to them and so we're going to be here to encourage them in Jesus' name. And maybe they might show up on a Sunday morning maybe we'll be friend them and see him in a coffee shop and visit with them further maybe they'll offer us a prayer request that we can start praying diligently for their family in a specific way I don't know what's going to happen but we've seen something happen every year we've done it the last two years and looking for something happen again that's why we donate the candy that's why we're decorating our cars I don't I don't want to highlight a bad season I want to take advantage of families that are walking by us they're going to anyway I heard someone say and they're. Not even there they're believers or as I think it's wrong on how when that somebody turns our light off. Why they're just saying they're not a good neighbor Well I don't want our light to be off I don't want to shine Jesus when we turn the light on and these families lives on Wednesday night many methods one message you know I just want to go over real quickly some of the St Joe strategies that we've talked about over the years you know our goal when we first started was to remove as many manmade barriers as possible because the barrier of the Gospel is offensive enough. You're wrong you've offended a holy God. You have an eternal destiny separated from him a place that reserve was reserved for Satan and his devils who rebelled against God early a long way before you even existed of this world existed and you will spend eternity in the lake of fire without any hope for rescue that's offensive by the way that you know that you messed up your center we're all sinners they don't need me to be offending them with my bad breath as they dissect that. Or to be offending them with some of the things I do because I've always thought that when I don't care what you think or I or heaven forbid Ed I'll kick you out of worship if you do this you're sitting in my chair really. That's never happened here I hope. We were in search down in Delaware this summer this. Vacation and so we found a church to go to and and there were like fifteen of us because we have thirty people that show up for failure Union week somewhere in the nation usually on the East Coast or east side of the nation and this year we're in Delaware and we go into this church and we just basically swamp in and we probably we increased their population by about a quarter that morning I think or tenth that was it was pretty significant group of people sitting together bunch of young kids cousins and nephews and second cousins whatever and and there was a person right on the edge here and I was sitting here in this row and we had some here and I had some behind me and I saw the purse but it's a little you know we're leaving one speak saw texture you know and then because we were need to find a seat because of the restart and this lady comes down out of the choir. I'm a pastor I pick these things out a mile away she comes flying that she comes out of a cot acquire love watching her I suppose that she was that was much. My husband didn't say this for us I guess. And she went back up and down to the choir loft with all her stuff. And I was like what just happened. Welcome to my church I'm so glad you came. You took my spot is what she said. And I was like. And I'll do it again. If that's what it takes to break you of this habit of not saying hi to new people so it was like I couldn't believe I saw I thought this is going to happen it's going to it happened and it was like whoa bless her heart anyway we got to get rid of our personal preference our strategy is to remove all of the manmade barriers so that they can be confronted with the reality of their need for Jesus without being distracted by us we talk about having a worship style that's an expression of our culture which is going to change over time melodies change but the message remains the same. Sometimes it's you know it's a humdrum moment but then I've had some humdrum Ham's growing up it's going to have been flow spiritual development process we we want to measure people of their With Are they following Christ or are they growing in Christ are they serving and it's influencing others to grow in Christ we have kind of a process of of kind of measuring where people are not to be legal listed but just to be knowing where how can we truly meet their needs just like you would have a an educational plan for a student in a school if they can do that for a secular education can we do that for Christianity. And we want everybody to be involved in worship a connection group on a ministry ministry team somewhere. And we think that you're not going to really get the full benefit of the Body of Christ if you're not come in regularly on Sunday morning you're involved in a small group a group of circles of friends that you can know and be a part of and they can know you and you can encourage one another and be a part of some way of serving in our church somewhere my son's about to join a church down in in Muncie as a college student and I talk to the pastor thanking him for investing in my son and he goes he goes yeah he took a membership class and you have heard about that it's pretty cool he said but we've got to get down he says he's got the members of class and and he's going to turn his paperwork but when he turns in it he's got to tell me where he's going to serve in the church I thought oh. So guess what from now on. And then you know what you know it's crazy Jeremiah is a new pastor is younger than I am by a few years and I actually assessed him to be the church planner for that church. And he's out shine in May What's that all about I got to work on this. But I just it was a high expectation that we're all going to be involved somehow some way or on the team doing something for Jesus in the body of Christ and we believe that as a St Joe strategy we just haven't been that formalized in it maybe would go back to the drawing board on that. We've got to keep paring for more because Jesus said He came to set us free. And I go back to this passage and we close. This one my favorite passages. It is almost like a textbook for what do we do or our attitude the attitude of how we live our lives as Christians in the name of Jesus if we represent Christ and this is our message to the world when we're walking in the name of Jesus Christ our message is that the spirit of Lord is on us and the Holy Spirit lives in us so it's true if you're a Christian the spirit of Lord is on you and he's annoying to you to preach good news to the poor he sent you to proclaim freedom to the captives recovery of sight to the blind to set free the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And in our nation I can't think of a more timely message than that. Is annoying to me to preach the good news to the poor. And he says we're going to give freedom. To the captives people who are addicted. People who are in bondage people who are unable to get out of their cycle path of patterns of their rut that is ruining their lives and the marriages and the children and the grandchildren because they can't get out of the Rat I visit homes and I've walked into homes that I just think the word chaos written all over that house. And yet ality is the more I walk into houses of people who are far from God or people who write on the fringe of God's work I need to write normal. Because that's an everyday occurrence throughout the United States and especially even in Fort Wayne the City of Churches chaos is ruling in homes. And they are captivated. And they need to set free not by me not by my self righteousness but by the power of Jesus Christ and a relationship with him and real hope based on the Word of God not based on the current trends in society recovery of sight to the blind they need wisdom and direction for their lives I need wisdom and direction for my life I need to be set free from being blind I don't need to be going through this world in darkness and to be set free from those who are oppressing us true justice on our land needs to prevail there's too many unsolved homicides in our city there's too many people who think they can get away with anything in our city shooting at people even if they're walking by a church that's got a funeral inside this wreck to me when that happened a couple months ago. So that they don't have respect for the house of God. They already have no respect for human life. Oh my goodness we need justice to prevail and we need people who are in the innocent CROSSFIRE's to be protected and to proclaim that you're the Lord's favor you know some people don't even realize that God loves them. They never had a by model in front of them but God loves them and I was a senior in high school. And had the opportunity to go to a. Camp. That was for second graders Ironically I didn't get to go to that camp because I was sick that week as a second grader. And this is a little tiny school in Ohio and so you always look for to go to camp Kern and I got sick. When I got to go to camp Curran as a chaperone as a student leader my senior year and I know as like two or three day camp it felt like ten years but but it was and there was this little kid he would take a shower so he started to really stink but for some reason he always wanted to sit really close to me when we sat together. During group Times. And one time he was even what the bed this is way back before don't even get the weird ideas but he actually wanted to crawl in bed with me because he was just afraid. Now days that we like that's just so wrong in so many ways he would never do that but this is back when I may have still been wrong but it was as wrong as it was me perverts out there own thing but he was still going on bad things going on but anyway. And I just I just felt like he needed loved and he was kind of not really fitting in with the rest of the group his clothes didn't look like everybody else in the group and I just remember him getting off the bus before I did at the school. And the first thing I heard was this man screaming and yelling at him to get in the car because I can't I don't have every day all day to wait for you get in the car now not how was your day how was Camp What did you do it can't let me see the craft that you made I just want to take him home I just want to live on. I had no idea be a pastor leading a group of people getting paid to help people do exactly what I was feeling I wanted to do as a senior in high school one to four years later. Guys Gals young people. The city is full of people that need Jesus they need to see a model of what it means to love Jesus and what it means to be loved in the name of Jesus Christ we need to keep preparing for more. The question is are you the more that God is calling out maybe this morning you're the more maybe for the first time you're finding out that you need the love of Christ like you never thought you did and you're realizing this morning that this church has been preparing for you. And it's time for you to cross that line and say I don't know anything about what happened before I'm not even sure where what but I do know this God's calling me to a higher purpose than I've ever thought was possible for my life. And there's a group of people in this town that actually are willing to abandon their personal preferences and bend themselves to fit and help and encourage people that are not you know we exist for people that don't come here because you know that we don't exist for us to stay here we exist for people that have not yet come and we're preparing for more and you might be that more needs to get on that card and you just need to say hand maybe it's time for me to put on here I'm committing my life to Christ maybe this church can trust my decision. Maybe they can be trusted to handle whatever is going on in my life that needs prayed for. I assure you I hope and pray and I believe we are but by God's power will do the best we can to honor whatever it is that's going on in your life that we can help you find God's word God's truth God's love God's Holy Spirit to guide and direct you and wherever you're supposed to go. We want to be on that journey with you. And then are you the one. Maybe this morning that's preparing our repairing. You will not find a more critical person about what we do in this church than me. Believe it or not. And I'm not very organized. But I have a critical eye for what's going on. Sometimes it bothers me when we aren't exactly who we're supposed to be and I just gave you a big lofty idea of what church is and you and I know we don't always make the mark sometimes people fall through the cracks and they're not supposed to but they do because we're human beings and we're not always on it the way we ought to be. That's why Kevin always says Trius three times because we might blow it twice Thanks Kevin. The reality is our prayers that will be preparing every day for the more that God has in store for us to reach in his name let's stand our feet they're going to be perp people up front there's so many people in the back this last song is kind of a way for you to openly move in the way that God's asked you to move this morning maybe your first step this week is I'm coming back next week maybe that's the best commitment you can give us because that's the one that you trust is what God's telling you to do some of you it's I'm ready to beyond just coming I want to start belonging and for water maybe a few of you it's time for you to stop being a secret Christian it's time for you stand up and tell the world your Christian. Jesus said If you confess me before people all confess you before the Father but if you deny me before people I will deny you before the father. We don't need secret Christians. I doubt that someone who's so secretive as even a Christian if you're not willing to put it on the line for Jesus.