M2M Small Group Kickoff

RECOGNITIONS

Hey let me just recognize a few people who helped pull this off tonight… just to say thanks… but also because you need to know who’s who behind this ministry.

First off… the tip of the spear… Jay Johnson is your M2M Ministry Leader.

Jay has opened up his home to the vision team for pretty much a straight year now… and he has been working so hard to lead this Vision team, not just to build something… but to build something sustainable.

Speaking of Vision Team… where are you guys?

We have gone from acquaintances and even strangers… to what feels like brothers. What this team has is the atmosphere that I hope we can build for every single small group. They have worked so hard behind the scenes and I know they’re excited that this day is here.

We have 6 small group leaders… let’s recognize those guys… made up of a few guys from the leadership team… and then Tom Brandon also stepped up and realized we were VERY island heavy… so thanks Tom for stepping into that gap.

*These are the small group facilitators… so if you signed up or are going to sign up… these are the guys you need to know.

Lastly, my boss and your Senior Pastor… thank you for pushing this as an important vision for Georgianna. Thank you for inspiring us at our first event this past fall… and for seeing the potential in men… husbands, fathers, business leaders… whatever our realm is… the importance of men who take our faith seriously.

One last hand for everyone… this wouldn’t happen without them.

And thank YOU for coming… seeing the important of what can take place here… and making the time for it.

PASSAGE

And that’s what I want to talk about for just a few minutes tonight… WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT

If you brought your Bibles or if you have it on your phone… go to Matthew 13, starting at verse 44...

So Matthew 13 is this section of, like, marathon teaching from Jesus.

It is brilliant parable after brilliant parable… it almost seems like Jesus’ greatest hits :)

And he speaks in parables… these little made up stories… because he is trying to communicate the very Kingdom of God.

An idea so big… and so important… and so far above their understanding… that he shares it in a familiar way to give them some handles to begin to grasp it.

Because this is what a brilliant teacher does.

And as He talks about the Kingdom, in verse 44 He says:

Matthew 13:44–46 NIV

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

REFLECTIONS

What do you do when you find something important?

When you find something you something you just can’t pass up?

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I have this horrible habit of spending way too much time browsing Facebook Marketplace.

Does anyone else do this?

Here’s what’s weird… In my 20s it was a horrible habit of being on Facebook and posting or scrolling and trying to get the comments and likes.

Now in my late 30s, almost 40, I have noticed that my browsing habits are quite a bit different.

I’m looking on Marketplace… because it’s basically an online garage sale… all the time.

So whenever I pick up my phone you can just picture me as one of those old people driving around on a Saturday morning, looking for garage sales, and shopping through people’s junk!

I’m basically an old man… just a little more tech savvy about it!

And I have found some good deals… There’s been some guitars or some tools here and there that were great buys...

There’s also been some guitars or tools that I probably should have passed up!

But every now and then I’ll find that thing that I just CAN’T pass up.

The deal is too good. I need it too bad… and if I don’t act now… someone else may get it.

And when that happens… I will usually bug the crap out of my wife until she’s sick of hearing about it and let’s me go get it… usually that night.

BECAUSE IT’S IMPORTANT! Because I can’t pass it up.

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Now a Marketplace find might seem kind of silly… but I think we all know this feeling.

Maybe it’s a price you won’t see again… or maybe it’s a job opportunity that you have to jump on… a work project that could make or break your future

But you have this need, almost obsession, because you will never see it this way again… it will never be this good of a deal… you will never have this chance or this offer … again.

And so you will go so far as to derail your wife’s dinner plans… because you just have to have that leaf blower… or whatever it is.

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The problem is that most often… these opportunities that we feel like we just can’t pass up… are actually NOT the most important in the grand scheme of things.

When is the last time you felt like you just couldn’t pass up your child’s games or recitals or performances?

When is the last time you felt like you just couldn’t pass up making that special dinner for your wife?

When is the last time you felt like you just couldn’t pass up a chance to join with other people of faith and to worship God on a Sunday morning?

-Like, I just can’t miss this… what if I don’t have this chance again?

When is the last time you felt like you just couldn’t pass up a chance to be in deeper fellowship and relationship with men you could lean on?

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I think all of us might affirm these things here on the spot tonight… after all you wouldn’t be here if this wasn’t important to you… and I’m grateful you’re here.

But if we’re honest, we have to take a look around, or take a look at ourselves, and admit that- by and large- men today do not always live like this is true.

And more often than not it seems like those just can’t pass up opportunities look more like the golf course on beautiful mornings… or the boat when the fish are biting just right.

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But if we go back to Matthew… according to Jesus and His parables… it’s the KINGDOM OF GOD that is like that treasure we just can’t pass up.

So much so that we’re willing to sell everything so we can buy the entire field where we found it!

It’s the KINGDOM OF GOD that is like the pearl that the merchant just HAS TO HAVE.

And he’ll do whatever it takes to get it.

APPLICATIONS

Whether it’s the KINGDOM OF GOD… or your presence in your kids’ or grandkids’ lives… or whether it’s the leaf blower you found on Marketplace… there is a quality that we see when we just can’t passing something up.

When we will do whatever it takes

It’s urgency. That quality is urgency.

We have many different aspects of our lives and things we’re involved in… and some may matter more than others… but none of these things will be “can’t pass it up” important… until there is an urgency to it.

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Let me suggest something to you tonight. Your faith is not just important right now… it is urgent.

Your faith is not just important… it is urgent.

There are many reasons why… let me share just one with you…

In today’s world… specifically related to church involvement we have some statistics on this…

Did you know that if a child is the first person in a household to become a Christian, there is a 3.5 percent probability everyone else in the household will follow?

If the mother is the first to become a Christian, there is a 17 percent probability everyone else in the household will follow.

But if the father is first, there is a 93 percent probability everyone else in the household will follow.*

Gentlemen… your faith is not just important… it is URGENT.

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I would love to be healthier.

I would love to eat better… and to exercise more.

And there are many days that I make time for that.

But let me confess something to you. The instant that my wife wakes up in the morning and says it might be too cold for a walk… I am ALL IN for skipping it.

The INSTANT she suggests eating out… instead of eating the rice and vegetables that we have at home… I am ALL IN.

The INSTANT that someone suggests platefuls of BBQ for a men’s ministry event… I’m going to be there!

Eating healthy and exercising matters to me… until it doesn’t.

For the most part Allison is driving my healthier decisions… and if she has a weak moment… well I’m toast.

It matters to me, it’s important… but it’s not urgent.

Your faith is not just important… it is URGENT.

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Again, I know you know this… you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.

But when we falter… we need to find a way to recover our urgency.

You may have heard Jay talk before about some of the research that we have done. And one of the things we found out was that 71% of our surrounding area are without a church home.

Here’s what I think...

I don’t think that Merritt Island… or Melbourne or Suntree or Viera for that matter… I don’t think it’s full of bad people.

I don’t think 71% of our men are bad guys.

I think we probably have a lot of good guys! You know them, you’re friends with them, you work with them… they may be family. They may coach your kids.

I think we probably have a lot of good guys… and they may not be totally against Jesus or the church… BUT… it’s not urgent.

It’s not urgent for them.

They’ll go one day… but this Sunday it’s too nice not to golf.

They’ll go one day… but right now they really need ahead on work.

They’ll go one day… but Sundays are the only time they have for themselves.

Faith might matter… they may even say it’s important!

But it’s not urgent. It’s not something that they just can’t pass up.

They’re not ready to sell everything they have… to buy the field.

It’s important… until it’s not.

WE

So what does it look like for M2M to be a ministry full of men whose faith is an URGENT matter to them?

How does it change how you do business?

How does it change you as a husband? Or you as a father?

How does it change your weekly schedule?

*Hopefully you’re consider that question right now as we cast the vision for small groups.

What does it look like for YOU to make church urgent for your family?

What if you made sure the alarm was set on Saturday night?

What if you made sure everyone had their Bibles ready to go on Sunday morning?

What if you were fixing breakfast for everyone to get them ready to go?

What if you were getting the kids dressed or fixing your daughter’s hair?

Granted, some of you may already be doing this… but I wonder if, for some of us… it goes more like my morning walks.

The moment mom suggest we sleep in… or just do the virtual church even though you’re in town… you’re ALL IN!

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Honestly, I don’t know what the urgency will look like for the 71% of the population around us… but I do know they are looking for it.

One more time look back at Matthew 13, specifically the part about the pearl.

It says:

Matthew 13:45 (NIV)

the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.

What’s he doing? He’s LOOKING for them.

In the first part of the parable, you might think that the guy just happens to stumble upon a treasure… but it specifically mentions that the merchant has been looking for, searching for a pearl.

I believe that 71% is looking for something.

I believe they’re looking for the treasure that we have found.

I don’t know what will make it urgent for them… but if your friends and neighbors and family are looking for something… I want you to be a man where it can be found.

I want you to be a man going after the Kingdom of God with an urgency...

because you CAN’T pass it up.

CLOSING PRAYER

Who You are, who we are, who You’ve called us to be…