Balanced Discipleship

Amen. Amen. Once you turn your Bible Acts chapter 22, going to be in words 38 to 46, so I'm very excited. My good friend, John will be teaching for us this morning, so why don't you give him a nice Fellowship. Welcome like, you're happy to see me.

It's all yours.

Good morning. What a blessing it is to be back here in Cleveland and

Okay. I think I just swipe and I'm going to be swiping at it, okay.

Imma Imma Be swiping. It is a it's a good thing. I think it's been about 3 months since the last time I was here and share it, we had a good time together and fellowship and I'm thanking God to be back. Some of you may not know. I am a formal church planning strategies and slightly wet in the world. Is that? Well, what I've done in the past, my wife and I we are, we were commissioned missionaries all around the states. Starting churches and my job was to go in until town that didn't have a church. And my wife and my children, we went in and we expect a blush. That church of course my children was babies and most of it fell on my shoulders. To my wife was a, she still is a teacher and a and a nurse, but I did all the leg works in the door knocking. But the question is, you know, when you look back on the, the New Testament Church, And as a church planter strategies. the question always come to mine why churches today are not growing the way they did in the biblical days it's it's something and even for someone like me been doing this for 44 years, It's a challenge, it's something to think about because somehow another the church has moved away from church Rolf. And, and sometime we get offended. When we talked about numbers, you know, we talked about numbers match, but why the past all we want more people and more people and more people? Because when you look at the Book of Numbers, they did the census there and they always get two numbers. And in the book of Acts even Jesus had 12 disciples and and and and there's 120 in the upper room and then on the day of Pentecost, three thousand Souls were saved. So numbers have always been a part of what we do it. Don't you want? Nice numbers in your checking account. We like numbers we do and, and, and that's it, that's very important. But one thing I've learned Coming back to a church that I started, I think 37 38 years ago in Greenville cuz I was up in Oklahoma City and then Little Rock. And then then back in Greenville, I noticed that the church is stagnant and it's not growing. And then, of course, just like a troubleshooter. The first thing I did, I put on my church planner strategist hat and I begin to think. Now, what would cause a church not to grow. So the thing you have to do is compare it with the the first church, the New Testament Church got to go back and look at what did these. Disciples do to cause the church to grow out of their obedience to God. And then, then I look back on some of my church plant. I have started about 57 around the country and I'll go back and look. And say now, what's going on, what's going wrong? And then what I did talk to your pastor the other day. I just finished a workshop over in Greenville. We just finished a workshop talking about Sunday school and getting the church to grow. But what I wanted to do it, I know I got a lot of bullets on my PowerPoint. Don't get frightened. We going to get out of here at least by 3. Okay. But a lot of the pictures on there are just four illustration that I want to show you. And and and we going to do just that let me go right on that. It Let me just some time preachers like to find out if Pastor and the preacher don't work out for you then you may want to be a comedian. So let me try my comedian-actor. You can let me know if I got a chance at it. The question is, why churches are not growing? There was a little boy went into the into the restroom to use the restroom. A while. I was in the restroom in the stall, he dropped a dime of his $0.35 that he had to use back in the day. Not now you can't buy lunch for $0.35, but in my day you can get it for 15 + 20 + 25. +, I saw it went on up but just a little boy had $0.35. So he accidentally dropped a dime in the come on. And he was one that he was real hungry. He said I want to eat but I'm not putting my hand in that toilet to get that dime out of there. So he walked around and he guarded that stall, make sure that no one else went in there and flush the toilet and he will lose his Diamond. He went home hungry all day and so what he did, he pondered and walked around and he walked outside the stall for a moment. He said to do. So you walked back inside of the stall. Took that last quarter that he had in his hand and drop that quarter down off into the store and into the toilet. And then he said to himself. $0.14. Put my hand in the camo, not worth it, but $0.35, it is so he reached in And got the $0.35 out, you got to find out. It's something worth something to invest in it. And what about the, the church? How much investment are we willing to invest in the church? Maybe at first, we may only invest a small amount. But if you really want to get into the investment, you got the invest all of it to make a move until make a change. You know, it was that old saying about who contribute more to the Farmers breakfast, the chicken and the pig was having a debate and the chicken said, well every morning I get up and I give the former two eggs for his breakfast and the pig say well I don't know how much you contributing but I give my backside every morning for some bacon for the farmer. I'm telling how much will really contributing to our church. What we trying to do to help the church out. And that go. Okay well I'm 2 minutes away. They're all right. What I'm going to do is I'm going to read this and what I'm going to do is that we can cover the red marks just a little bit, but I do have some things that I want to do a long. And then I have some pictures. I want to show you then after that we'll close it out. So, like I said, three will be wrapping it up. The book of Acts the second chapter is says the first word that Thunder out at each of us. And it says repent not any Ministry, any time you going to do something, you got to repent. The first century Church said that you need to repent to in order to make things, right? You got to turn things around. Then I must get down to what he said. Forgiveness of your sin when you repent. Then you got the truly have forgiveness of you. Seeing a lot of folks wrestle with forgiveness. They just feel like I've done so much in my life, that God cannot forgive me, but listen, we serve a God that can forgive any and everything that you ever do you ever think that you are too dirty to whatever out of the mainstream that God cannot save you with Pastor? You don't know what I done. I don't need to know, but I do know that the god that we serve can cleanse each of us all this in our lives and then it goes on and save and you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, see the three things right off the bat, that's the jumps off the page at us. They repented. They said they understood forgiveness of sin and they received the Holy Spirit. That don't feel something that will help us understand discipleship. And what happened in the New Testament Church, what happened in media, my church start and what's going on in our country today. Now, look back at it with me. And verse 39, you can see here, I got highlighted them read. It said, the Lord, Our God will call another word, God is calling, and that the calling on each of Our Lives. He's calling us. That's a call from God, and it's a call from the cross. And the cross, the calling from the cross, is a call to discipleship. You cannot dismiss discipleship, you can do what you want to say and say what you want to do, and I'm still may not work, but I'm telling you that may be confusing, but what's not confusing is that each of us need to understand that will call the disciples and that's what we should be doing. Then it goes on to say in verse 40 and with many other words and he testified intro, lyrics them saying be safe from this corrupt generation. Now, that's one thing that we forgot how to do will get save, and we love the Lord. The Lord heard my cry and Hallelujah. And I'm saved. But what about saving ourselves from this corrupt generation. Another word! God save us from the sin that Adam and Eve committed in the garden. He saved us from that, but then he said, there's a lot of corruption going on. That we need to save ourselves from another word for get away from it. Identified and say, I'm not going to involve the net. How do we know how to get away from? That kind of seeing how do we know how to do what God is called the church to do? How can we do that? And that's the question that we need to answer you today but it said, those who accepted his message, we're about tired and he has numbers 3,000 people with added to the church. How can we add people to the church today with the mindset that we have? And how things are going? Listen, everybody want to listen to some television, evangelist some feel-good message, and it's not about that. I want those old-fashioned preachers that brought up and understood that a listen, when you get save your life change. That's just the bottom line. I'm trying, I'm slowly trying to get it right. And there's a song out there that I can't holler. I like the beat, but I don't like it. I'm climbing up or I like that song, but it's not biblical. Is not biblical. I'm Climbing Up On The Rough Side. Listen, try my best. Okay, I don't have to try my best to get in. So it's already written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I mean, I'm already in my name is sign up and and and that's the way that work and then we need to look at this passage and they were going to get into the meat and potatoes of this verse 42 and they devoted themselves and other words they made a commitment to do the things that God had called them to do and then they committed to fellowship and then it committed to prayer and then verse 43, scuse me. And Many Wonders and sign were being performed through the apostles. Now, if we really want things to be working the way, it should work in the Church of the Living God in, when we get involved in commitment, and fellowship, and in prayer, then you can see things in the church to begin to happen. Your pastors can get up and just preach home. Hey, folks, going to get saving their lives are changed because we are devoted we committed and we have fellowship and we in prayer and God would do Mighty, wonderful things in the fellowship, a 44, and all the Believers was together. We're together. Every one of them had the same kind of understanding about God's word every day, they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex. See, you didn't have to what I do in Greenville out to send out text messages. Do I have to find out all kinds of information to remind people tomorrow Sunday? You shouldn't have to do that, you shouldn't have to do. I remember when I was a little boy back in south Mississippi, I'm in the Halls got out the Hog Pen, and Mom still got to get some corn and I want you to put that coin. The same place that came out, they got out of that. Hog Pen, you put some corn down through there and going on the wood. The last place you saw him rooting around in the mud and just come on back in the house and what they did when he finally got back to that spot they start eating corn, all the way back and you put some corn inside. The the pain, they go right. On back in there. Go back in and sometime. That's what God does with us. When when goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, but God does when we go wrong, God to not goodness, or he sent out Mercy, but he sends something to bring us back home and that's important. But then what it says, the last in the last part of that, they ate their food with a joyful and humble attitude, that means so much when a Believer can come together. But now how can we get the church where it needs to be? I'm to the introduction. I think I did that, right? Feel like something then go right? Okay. Okay. All right. Now, I've always supposed to be some bullets come out. Okay, bear with me.

I think they going to come out for a limb. I got my back up somewhere. Pretty well, what I'm doing wrong and you back it up, one more here. Okay, now you make it come out, okay, with you do that and some Bullets Over There. Are there go. The question, is this morning is why the first century Church grew so fast? Why did it what happened? Why they did it give me the next to the next bullet. Hit it say here are several things that caught my attention about the New Testament Church growth. And as I became a Church Groves specialist and get some things that caught my eye about this New Testament Church. Here it is, people receive the word people got on one Accord people, repentant people Fellowship. People share their fate and people carry one for another. Give me the next one here. so, let's take a look at then and now,

Am I first Church Plant? We did many things right? We just did it right. We did it right back in the day. There was one thing we did better than anybody else. In Greenville, we did better. That was our discipleship training Ministry to scripture but you got to take the message of the Bible. And leave it out. You got to live the message out. People learn how to love each other. It did learn how to share with each other, and they learn how to fellowship with each other. That's important. And they did that. And that's what the church need to do. But you got to go farther than that. Discipleship is a church heartbeat forgot. And I mean, if the church is Alive and Well, discipleship is what's going to keep it alive and going forward? A church that fail to make disciples is a church that has lost its way in the darkness of the night in a complete dark world with no Identity or no. Hope for the future. Now that's a sad plight to be on offer ugly thing for church to be in the dark. While the Bible said declared that we are the light of the world. Disciples is God, discipleship is God heartbeat and requires for living. A successful battles, Christian Life is the word balance is important. If you going to be a disciple, you got to have a balanced life. Well, how did I do that? Well, discipleship, training, but will continue to point the save to the two disciple. Other for the kingdom work. Another word discipleship was constantly Point people to the lost that they may get saved and explain when you get saved. That's the first step. And once you get saved, you go out and share and help, somebody else gets saved. Do you teach them how to decipher somebody else? And then they go out and get somebody say discipleship is a process. You got to work with, you can't just throw in the towel. The first sign is everything going the wrong direction? A balanced approach to discipleship is what the church needs the most and miss. Mrs. Delice, Ephesians 4:12, discipleship for the training of the Saints of the work of the ministry to build up the body of Christ. Now, I know that most of us all we care about is I want to study the Bible. I want to get into the word of God, but see, I care about that too. But what's more important to me is not just what I learn. But also about what I do, discipleship should teach you to learn the Bible and then apply. Let me say this here. Back in my day, I start starting churches back in 79. You know, we somehow what you call discipleship training, that would be late in the afternoon on Sunday afternoon about 5. Now we are we have gotten rid rid of discipleship training, we don't train anyting but if I decide to come up and the Lord, leave me up to go to work for my good friend over here, she going to order and take me before I can get in there to do in as I can. I'm going in to grab some noodles and charger shooting people up. You got to be orientated when I was when I was in south Mississippi and I became a shipbuilder and I build ships and submarines. I couldn't go out in the store with a wrench, into a hammer and start beating on all that vegans of dollars of equipment. You have to take and be orientated and learn what you do, you do learn the words but you go out and actually try to sit as well. And so Ephesian, Paul said you got the Train the Saints for what reason, so they can work the ministry. And is it how, how long until we all reach the unit of the Fate is that growing into the mature, man. We got to hang in there and we got to grow these churches. But it has to be bounced. You cannot just simply just say, well, you know, I'm starting to buy go to Sunday school. I had a requirement at every Church plant that I started. And the requirement was, if you, if you didn't come to Bible study and you didn't come to sunday-school, either one of them or both of them, then you can sing in the choir, you can be our sure you can do anything. I don't want nobody up there, singing in the choir that don't know, Christ. Are at the door passing out bulletins and don't know price. I mean how can you tell somebody else about Christ when you don't know anything about him? Give me the next one here if he's at 4:14 if that then we will no longer be little children. Now that they know about a good reason, why the church is having so many issues today because of a lot of a child mindset and we never took the time to grow up and do what it says in verse 15. But speaking the truth in love and then verse 16 said, grow of the said, I promote the growth of the Body for a building up itself. In Love by the proper working of each individual member or individual Parts. In other words, we need to understand that we in this thing together, and he's part need to function properly, but for you to come and I got nothing wrong, and trust me. I'm a strong believer. I will send every degree. I'm a strong believer in education. But what I like on my ride like about my first part of my education, I have two years of community college, junior college in that day as an automotive technology Automotive technician. That went to the shipyard went back, and it got three more years until you learn how to build ships and submarines, five years of vocational, College five. Now I had to go back and get my Associate's and bachelor's and my Master's and my all that you do after being saved. But the training is important, The trailer. I didn't go out and grab a big 18-wheeler with out there with a ham on a ranch and that, you know, hey y'all, I'm a mechanic. I can't smell it and can't spell it either but I'm one. No, it doesn't work that way. So it's important to give me the next flight if you with. So what are your kids doing Church? Look like okay, the first thing in the church and it's using this information here and he's church we haven't called worship. Now we're ship is something that what we believe is that we get in tune with God. Worship by definition of worship, worship is to Lose Yourself. In Jesus Christ and find yourself. So wrapped up tied up and Tangled Up In God's word letter, where I come in here to worship. I leave out to serve, so you don't, you don't just come to church. You say where I went to church today. Y'all and it's good. But when you come to church, you coming in to worship. Now, what God does to each of us. He looks at our hearts and when we come in and begin to worship, God, look at what we doing, and then God sent out. And I'm going to put a test, I will put a test. I'm going to see what you have learned when you leave the building. He got no, the heart. And when you leave the building God had a test on you. He said now, what about worship? Give me the next one there. In Fellowship, you know, we think sometime we think Fellowship is eating some cake and drinking coffee and drinking juice. No Fellowship is fellowshipping with God. The father got the song. Got the Holy Spirit. Fellowship is also fellowshipping with each other food and got nothing to do with it. Give me the next room and then discipleship. And then discipleship is the one that sometime we just overlooked it, we don't look at it that much. Some folks are when I got back to my church in Greenville, after being gone twenty-five years. Some, do you know what the word discipleship mean? And somebody told me I'm tired of hearing discipleship. I said, what there's no way we can be a church without discipleship. Give me the next one. Now, and then mission mission is not somebody wearing a white dress and with a hat on and going across the street, giving them something to a nursing home. Mission is doing things home and Thorn Mission alike, going to do it, something for somebody else and give me the next one here cuz I got some things I need to cover evangelism. Now evangelism, its appeal of the church is a part of the church. What we're doing about that. We see all these things that got listed here. What are we doing? I was just simply saying it just on the page that's where it's at and I'm going to leave it right there where I hope you don't leave it right there. But what is evangelism and very simple? Evangelism is somebody told me about Christ. Somebody told me I can come over here and eat and I went to this person's house to eat when I got in there. Till everybody was sitting around just eating and we just enjoyed ourselves and all the sudden the Master of the House stood up and say there is no cost for this meal that you were having you today, there's no calls. But what I do want you to do, I want you to get back up and I want you to go out and find your family and your friends and your co-workers, and I want you to tell them, there's a place that you can eat. Buffet style that won't cost you anything. In other words, the best way to frame that up and the best way to unpack it is this way. We are one beggar, trying to tell another beggar where to find bread. That's who we are. That's what I've been jealous of me. Is you trying to tell other Beggars, come to the master's table? I have eaten with him. And the food is plentiful and it doesn't cost anything. Give me the next one, if you would. And then prayer how many times have we have Prime Ministry and will pray, but do we really mean it? It's probably just a book in, you know, how a book as you got a book. And over here, in a book in here, we open up with service with a prayer with clothes service with a prayer. I wasn't sure if that's the way we are. I would guess that's the way we look at prayer when you get somebody to be over your Prime Ministry but never prayed. Never blessed food. Never done, anything. You wouldn't ask somebody be the band, The Looking director over evangelism and never shared Christ, you won't to be able to Mission and won't even walk across the street. They have a little 85 year old lady, take out garbage, can to the corner, you know, you won't answer my To Be A discipleship leader when they won't even help their own families.

Give me the next one if you wear and teaching we have that as well. You know, I remember baby back in the day when I first started preaching and I know it and I know some of yall old enough to know that that that you have with the call Hooper's Okay. So you said no, like I don't know what you talk about. I'm too young to call Hooper's and back in the day, I was a preacher that mean that you hold your ear and you and you let him have it. Both barrels of what you do. But I'm in, when I was a whooping preacher, we can even keep the lights on. Couldn't pay the bills but which are teaching them. And the members came in with the finances and the help that we needed to help us do this. Now, the question is, how can we get all this done? This is a part of your church. It may not be implemented right now, but soon already as you get larger, you have to implement these things here. Worship, that's singing and music and your choir Fellowship is a picture people doing a, how to connect with God and connect other with God. Discipleship is teaching people how to work together as a team. As a family mission is getting it. Done evangelism and sharing. You get your face but other than you praying and an intercessory prayer with other and teaching them but not giving that Miller one right now but it doesn't come out. Okay, how we going to do this? Are we going to do it? Because if you have too much of anything is not going to be good if you take a cake and I'm not a cook, my wife just not allow me to go in the kitchen just a little bit. But I do know if you put too much sugar in something, it's not going to be right and you can't put salt in place of sugar because his nose not going to be right. So how we going to bounce all that, which God gave us to do, how we going to be able to study the Bible and take what's in the Bible and put it in practice, it and make it work for us. It has to be balanced and that's the way we do it. We're going to work to do that and and in discipleship is the way we going to have to do that. Now. Freaking out, you got my attention. OK. Google home right here. Now, how we going to get people to worship properly Fellowship properly discipleship, it has to be a balance written in there in the DNA. In every Church. There's a DNA and every human being if you like your daddy or not. Do you like your mom or not? I'm sorry, but you got their DNA if that's your daddy. That's right. You got the DEA Mama that you just like your daddy. He is my dad about the other. Okay, I'm just like him then. So it's important understand how we're going to do this, how we're going to balance and what I did since a since they cut out Sunday night service at church training without done on Wednesday night I put together a messages that deal. What I do I set them up I'm I confess if I'm going to talk on Deacon's I would teach on Dickens for about 2 Wednesday night. Then I come back with something practical to tell them, this is how the deacons need to be operated. So you can't just teach him with the bible, say that you can should be this just like the preacher and and and that's it. If that's all you going to teach, it's not going to work. You got to, you got to, you got to, I think Barry White Practice, What You Preach by her, that her to last night. But all I'm saying is you got to be. If you don't learn how you understand, you've been teaching the concept, Fellowship and worship and prayer and evangelism. You got to be able to actually do it. And I remember on Evangeline and I remember skip down. If you would go with you, you going to see you, just get, start, skipping down, or maybe I can do it down. Okay, keep going back up there real quick. I'm at these pictures are back at 1 now. Okay. God bless us with everything to grow that church in Greenville. Everything we need. Now, you can see when I first started, just me barber in the children, then God began to send people when he sent people. Then I had to train these folks now, but they have to be willing to open up for training. If you don't say well, now I'm pretty sure I'm not doing nothing. All I want to do is sit right here on this chair and come in, enjoy you every Sunday, you know, I'm so glad that when it came to my mama and my wife. I told my mama training, my daughter, my sister's how to wash dishes and cooking and an even better that they use a straw board with lye soap off of South, Mississippi off, and Mama, my Mama talk my sisters and then I went out and I'll chop wood and work in the fields and did things that a man and I was talk with a man should do and then I saw my wife on many occasions even now with our grandchildren, I saw my wife in there. Okay, you mix it up this way, you put this in, you put you some out and turn the oven on. Put that much, do this, do that. That's discipleship. That's what. That's what you call a mentor and a military relationship. In other words, you got to be able to teach somebody how to do something now. All I want to do is come out for Bible study small group, all I want to do, but I don't want to pick up. No paper. I don't want to clean anyting. I don't want to knock on the door. I don't want to share. I will do none of the go to work. Just picture you and your wife have it all done when they get here and we will be just fine. Now, it doesn't work that way. These folks here, you see on the screen when it came in, I need some staff. So they came and took him to training taught them. What they need to be doing how to keep all the information in the record. You look on the other side, I had deacons and I had a different one here with some people that has smile cuz it was contagious. Both of these are retired School teachers now, but 30, something years ago while helping me a way you could give me an extra and then You can see where children Ministry, that second picture right there on the, on the left side of my left is a few parking. Notice sister Jones in that picture. There she was a baseball. Coach shoes are baseball coach. I mean anybody, but but everything went leaning on me and Barbara week before we gave our jobs away or give me the next flight. And then are we provided music Vacation? Bible School backyard, Bible Club. What is a backyard Bible Club? Have you thought about that or sometime? You'll know the answer already right? It's a backyard Bible Club at this when you go into Community two or three And do a Bible study with the children in the community. Feet. We wanted to kick you out of the church to go do something. You can't just hang out at the church like past. I just want to see what you do it. No, I want to see what you doing. Give me the next five. These are some of the things we did in the community, and I've done it every church start I ever did Greenville Highway around Community Center. Amy, Covington Community Center, the Boys & Girls Club. Start thinks it is a big apartment complex right behind my church and then does a farm house down in Ashland Mississippi, just south of Greenville. I went down to the farm and what he did, he invite me to come down every Thursday and he would take and let his Farmers set around on tractors and, and them into boxes and he paid them to listen to me. And then he paid me to preach to them but we went out and then I remember when we begin to build our church and was wondering how we're going to cut the trees down in the Pecan Grove, how we going to dig the dirt and do all of that, that farmer that I was sharing Christ with his staff of the farmers? Got so committed to their jobs. That the farmer said, brother, Eddie since you help me with my men that come into work on time, then I getting drunk and then I do a lot of stuff. He said I'm going to send up a big bulldozer and guys with chainsaws and we going to clean that land for you. And we're going to take the dirt older it out, and put the new did everything for you free of charge. I'm telling you, when you begin the reach out, got to reach and give me the next slide. And then These are things we did with the local schools in the area. Partnership with those local school, you can't sit here when kids are out there and they need to be a part of your turn, I mean it, when there is no kids, there's no life. I mean, somebody get stagnant, they ain't nothing happening to give me the next from here. And then we did partnership with Mission teams. We built on our own church. We went and built on the other phone calls, as we clean up at a place called The Seaman Center. Down in Pascagoula Mississippi, we were nine and with people coming from all over the world getting grain and we minister to them and we gave them Bibles and their own language. Give me the next slide. And then of course we had small groups with Bruce at home the young lady on the my right side sitting there with the Yellow Hat on. She was a professor here at Delta State for a long time and then she transferred over to Ole Miss and and she she just retired from over there and hold mitt. And of course, that's Miss Jones standing there with about a lady with the rust color on. I'm bad with my colors, but barbarians are good with that. Hope I just tried that right? Give me the next flight. And and and that little guy, little skinny guy there on the right, that's me. And when I, before I exercise, My table muscles and and a butt. But you have to take and train your future leaders. All those young folks on both side of that thing there, a medical doctors, they are principles. They are teachers their own their own business. Their manager district manager has a lot of them went on and did great thing just because we trained them, we invested in them but you got to take a study of the word but make the word practical, make it a present-day application. When you come to church, you expect to find Pastor. Tell me what I can do. Say, at first, when I first started churches years ago, my biggest job was just trying to find something cuz everybody wanted to do something. And so, I had a director assistant director, the Secretary of system, secretary Outreach assistant, Outreach Pride leader, assistant prior leader, call trying to give everybody a job that wanted a job. But nowadays, you can't find a leader, you can't find the director over anything. And if I want to do anything, But you got to have your Christian Life bounce. Jesus said, you can be in the world but not of the world, that's a balance peace and now I want you to be there in the world now but but, but don't let it consume you. That's a balance, you can't let football and soccer and other things Entertain You to a point that you can't do what you need to do for God, give me the next line. And of course we had some good ministrator that guy on the left side is my HDMI Church administrator and that guy on that. So I don't know who he is. That's me. Back in the day we had we had a fashion show and didn't do it either but what I did was what I am by the coming into showing fashion, but when I came in through a dollar bills at me or what, anyway, I take it out and put it in offering but I didn't give me the next flight. Okay, and did we worked on people houses? We helped prepare things. Church going to get outside these doors to do something. But how would somebody know how to drive a nail? You got the teacher. How would I know how to use a skill? Saw? You got to teach him how it's not know how to change the oil in a car. Got to teach him. How do you know which way to rotate your tires? You got to teach him a church can do what you can't do all of it, but you can find something past. I want you to teach me to do something to do missions and help others. Give me the next flight. This is what we did with discipleship, training the DT stand for decided, you're training. That is discipleship training to DT, and then you got Master lights, 1 and master light to teach people how to do, how to witness, and how to live their lives. If you tell me all remember to survival kit, remember that? And then you may not be familiar with it. The next to SWAT SWAT. That's not the guy that comes in the community with the guns, when somebody done been selling bags of weeds. And that's not what that's all about. The word, SWAT stand for soul-winning Action team and we train our members. And so when an action team, another word when the regular Outreach team could not go and do something. We sent this team into solving city, are we sitting in Terraria? And, of course, we went there. They looked around like, okay, they don't have a gun and we did. We have T-shirt has SWAT written over it. I didn't think that all we three we we did that but you don't go in and hit it with the words, W everything all over your shirt. And then cwt is Dan for continued weakness in training and then SS, of course, start for Dan for Sunday school. You have to begin the train people in all these are nothing but why trainer shoes wide trailer sure aren't you need to know what to do. You know what if I was if I if God didn't call me to preach the job, I want the most is to be arsha. That's what I want. I just want to be at the garage door. I want to be the first one people. See. And so, I'm so jealous of that ensuring every church or Pastor what I do, I stand at the front, my wife can tell you. I spent outside of the front door of every Church, a pastor and I greeted, everybody, that came in the door. I love her. Shrink, you got to have that gift and that want to do it. It can be cold and I've been hot. It's been hot, and I'm not there with a suit on, just sweating down. And my wife said, how long you will be out there, you just get out of that, son. I'll be trying to get out the Sun, but I'll be greeting. The, everybody that come in that door, I stay out there from 10:50 till about 11:25 and then I walk in and they sing Amazing Grace and then I go right on to the pulpit and preach and some time I'm dressed. Like I am now and when people show up and open the door for him to come on in and give him a hug and they say, it shows a nice church, are y'all in? And have no idea that I'm the pastor. And then when I go to the pulpit, the past, open the door for me, the path of shook my hand, about the hug me, see a church need to be family friendly. But how do you do that? You have to teach people. Everybody need to be taught. Not just the word of God. But how to apply that word of God in your life? You give me the next line. And that must be commitment to teach other, come on out with it. Keep on, going to Christian lies, need to be balanced. We must grow it. And then we must teach others, Timothy. Tell us that. And what you have heard from the presence of many witnesses. Commit to Faithful Men. You got to find men. Listen, I'm going to be honest. You step up the women were following? I mean, yesterday was yesterday, we had our conference yesterday and the woman's got there before the man, we must have had about 40 women sitting in the audience, and I say, ladies of it, I want it to mean going to come. If they were pastor, we always been there when they went. Well, we've been there, I'm telling you, but men when you step up the everybody else will fall in the next flight. And then we had to, I put stuff in check way to bring it down and quit, bring it down, okay? From being a fully committed Christian issue, If you come look said he sent him to the mall. If any man will come after me let him deny himself. That really mean to deny myself. You know. It was going to tell you to stay home and tell you that you tired. You worked last night. So I'm going to tell you this in the Bible said, you must deny myself. So I'm going to tell you, I got a headache, I ain't going some headaches only show up on Sunday mornings, don't they? They just show up on Sunday and would you got the train that body saying? Listen, I'm getting up and I'm going out but the Bible said got to take up the cross a daily. What's what does that mean? A lot to pick up my crawl meet able to me. Across is not made for caring, or will we just walk around 10 Mi across? Just, I'm kind of heavy, I'm bear this cross and I'm trying to make it. I'm trying to come up on the Rough Side of the Mountain, trying to get in. I'm telling you across. Is May for crucified. And when you see something in your life that doesn't look like it dinner 5 with price, you take your cross. Put it in the ground. If you got a anger problem now that to the Cross, is he got a commitment problem, nailed it to the Cross, whatever it is. You identify one person sitting other day talking with forgiving people, and I said, now, how can you say that and you work in the church? Because every first Sunday we have the Lord's, Supper, the Bible say, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on your wrath when you're angry and mad. So we got to teach people what they need to hear from God's word, but teach them that if you going to be a true disciple, you got to act on the road and apply a present application. You got to do it. You got to do it, you should have a case of Payne episodes. Whatever that mean and I'm going to next line. Oh, and we must get our priorities straight. And in Lucas said, Jesus, said, made it clear. You cannot be my disciple if you don't do these things. Look down at the Luke 14, 27 and whosoever do not bear his own cross. His own cross. Now, how many times did We complain about how heavy are across? Is a remind me of this, man had a problem with his cross. They went down to across shop. And all these crosses that he went in and said, the manager said, how can I help you? Well, my cross is not fit me any longer used to be okay, but now I just not right either, but just look around. And if you see something you like, let me know and I'll come there and do your invoice and and I'll sell you that cross. So he put his Krauss down in the corner and the beginning to walk around to every single crawls in that p.m. to long, do some too heavy, just a mess, the wrong color. This is this and that and that he just complained about every one of them and when he finally got one, it came to what he finally got one. He said this was perfect. I want to buy this from how much is this one? The manager said that when there is not to say you can't get that one. You can't buy that one cup that cross is not for sale. I don't know why it's not for sale cuz I got to have it. It fit me perfectly. Everything is great with that. Crawl. I can I feel good. Tell me why can't he He said that's easy. That's the same cross that you brought in.