All In Week 4 Serve

Intro

Page 51

Well, hello and welcome to All In. I'm so excited that you're here today. Today is going to be a great day. If we have never met before, my name is Aaron, my wife. Stella and I are so honored to be able to be on the pastoral team here at Living Faith Church. And if you have your books, it should be on the table right in front of you. Your book looks just like this. We're going to be on page 51, It's the blue page. And at the very top it says serve make a difference today. We want to talk about serving in the local church. But really we're talking about how you can be a part of making a difference, not just in this church, but in the city. And so I'm excited about this.

Let's start today by reading Ephesians chapter 4,

Ephesians 4:16 NASB95

16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

You know, this passage of Scripture gives us a picture of a human body, but he's actually talking about the local church. But it's a picture of. The human body, it says that the local church has joints, it has ligaments, it has a skeletal structure, it has all these pieces just like a human body. But then it says it's fitted together to work properly. Now I'm assuming you, just like I, have had seasons of our life where the body is not quite working. Right. And it's really frustrating.

As a matter of fact, not too long ago I sprained my left ankle. It caused me for quite some time to walk a little funny. It was kind of tender. And even though it's just a small little part of my body, it made a big difference in my overall performance.

And I want to encourage you. I think that the passage of Scripture is highlighting for us, that even though there are many of us in this church, even if just one person is not operating in the design that God has called you to, it makes it makes a radical difference. But when we are all together unified and heading the direction that God is leading us in, we're all working the way that God has called us to with our passions and our abilities and our personality and our gifts and talents; What a work we can accomplish.

The vision of this local church is to get “The Gospel In Every Home”. And I gotta be honest with you, It will not happen with just the pastoral team, with just the staff. It is going to take every single one of us working in the capacity to which God has called us.

And so I want us to go through the next the next few notes that we have. And I want us to take a look at what God is sharing with us today./

1. Glorify God

Number one- as followers of Jesus, we serve to glorify God. That's why we're here to give Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, all of the glory and everything that we do

Colossians 1:16 NASB95

16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

You know this church was not created just by a person. Although on our historical documents may say that the first sermon was preached by reverend Raines, and so, the building was built by Brother Wescott, the first trustee was Melvin Cook. But in reality, this church was established by the Lord Jesus Christ and everything that we do is because of the Lord. Jesus Christ, everything happens because of Him, and so everything that we are doing today is for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not a personality church, we are a presence driven church. It's Jesus.

2. Build His Church

Now number two: We say we build his church and extend his Kingdom. But I want to remind you that we do that because we are the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it's through the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirit's power. Take a look at this passage of Scripture in Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1:8 NASB95

8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

It's the power of the Holy Spirit that makes all of this happen.

Page 52

Now go ahead and turn it over to page 52 if you would. Here we talk about the Dream Team.

3. We Build His Dream Team

We are building his dream team now. We are one dream team here at Living Faith Church. What does that mean? A dream team is the composition of all of the serve teams that are happening inside this local church. A serve team might be in children's ministry, on the connect team, or coffee, or production teams. A serve team might be These are all serve teams. But when we come together, we are the Dream Team. Why the Dream Team? Because it takes every single one of these teams working together in unison and harmony to fulfill the dream of God for this church. The vision of this church to get “The Gospel In Every Home”. Now God has placed you here in Hermiston OR he's placed you here at Living Faith Church and, and I say that not to make anybody feel trapped, but if you feel like God has called you to be a part of this the Lord put that in your heart and He's put you here so that you could use your gifts, your talents, the abilities and the passions of your heart to reach a city for Jesus Christ.

4. Connect With New People

Number four: We connect with new people. I love being able to do this on a Sunday and throughout the week. I love being able to connect with new people. And this is the joy of every person in this church. Did you know that statistics show that people decide if they like an atmosphere or not within the first seven seconds of entering a front door. That means, we have seven seconds to show any guest who comes to our place that they have chosen the right place. We want people to experience the power of Jesus. But the truth is that people experience Jesus through you. You know, I’ve learned that it's possible for people to love Jesus but not love the church. However, what we want is for them to love Jesus and Living Faith Church all at the same time

5. Build Relationships with teammates

Part of the way we do this is by building Relationships with teammates on our serve teams. It is my desire that lifelong relationships would be formed on these teams. Discipleship happens in the context of relationship, The process of letting go of old ways, of old thought patterns, of old habits to follow in the ways of Jesus Christ is hard, and we need each other. With relationship there is accountability and without those relationships, the tendency is for our life to just just fall back into the old ways. So it is important that we build relationships.

6. Empower Others

Number six: We empower. We are here as a church to equip and power and release people for the work of the ministry. That's what I want to do. That's my passion, that's my desire. And I want that to be the same for you because when we empower others to lead, we are building up a storehouse of blessings in Heaven. This is what Jesus meant when He said “store up treasures in Heaven”. Those treasures are people. When we equip, empower and release others to lead like Jesus, we build up those storehouses of eternal treasures.

7. Celebrate The WINS

And lastly, we celebrate. We celebrate the wins. We celebrate the wins. Take a look at this:

Luke 15:10 NASB95

10 “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

That's Luke chapter 15 verse 10. You know I was just reading in the book of Psalms that God actually built into the nation of Israel a regulation that when He delivered them out of Egyptian slavery He said, I want you to celebrate through song and through feast. I want you to celebrate what I have done. And how interesting it is that that Christ has kind of built this pattern for us that when there is a walking away from an old life into Gods new life there must also be a celebration. Because through the process of celebration we actually create vivid, emotional memories. We're reminded never to go back to our old ways. But were are also filled with faith. Faith that if he He can keep me out of that life, and if He can bring me here, than He can do the same for you. And so I think it's important that we celebrate. You know, we, we celebrate every single Sunday morning with worship, with songs and the band is fired up. We go straight into the presence of God. But I want to encourage you, don't let that be the only time that you celebrate. Celebrate in your serve teams. Celebrate in your groups that you're a part of. Celebrate with your family. Did you just quit smoking? Make that a cause for a great celebration. Did you just pay off a bill that you've been wanting to pay off for a long time? Make that a great cause for a celebration That a family member, a husband or a wife or a child just come to know Jesus Christ. That is definitely a cause for a celebration. I think that we should be a church that always celebrates. I believe that heaven itself is going to be one massive celebration for eternity.

I'm really excited about that. I wanna take just a moment and tell you just a, a story from my own personal life. When I was a kid, when I was much younger, I, I was leading worship in my youth group. I was living in Portland, Oregon at the time, and I was leading worship in the youth group. And be honest I wasn't that good. I remember one Wednesday, I actually was met at the front door by a girl who looked me straight in the eyes and said, please tell me that we don't have to have worship today. It was kind of bad, but I was working at it and I was getting better at it. So, each Wednesday I would go into the main auditorium and I would grab the all the pieces of the sound system and I would carry that into the youth room and I would set it back up. All the microphones, the amplifiers, the sound board, all the cables, everything that it took to make sound in there. And I would take it all apart and I would set it back up in there. I remember so many times I had to replug things in because I would get it wrong. I was still learning what to do. And I remember actually on Sundays, the the guy who ran sound was kind of frustrated with me a little bit because it was never set up the the same way twice. And and so there was some frustration there, but you know, as time went on, I got better at it. Years later I went to college in Dallas, TX and I studied worship arts there. I got involved in a church, running sound, lighting and video production. And this actually started to become a great hobby. Now many years later, in 2015, my wife and I. Moved to Portland, OR and we planted a church in that city. A few years later we merged that church with another one. I found myself with without without a ministry opportunity. I was driving for Uber at the time and I remember praying to the Lord, saying God, I just want to do something else. Just a few hours later I got a phone call from a guy that I talked to a couple months prior. He said, I've got an opening, will you come and work for me? It was an audio video company, and I actually was installing sound systems and programming sound systems for churches all throughout the Portland metro area. And what God had put inside of me as a young kid as a passion ended up becoming a source of income for my family.

Your story may not be as dramatic as mine, but I say that to you for this reason. I want you to understand that it is very possible for you simply to put your hands to work doing something within the church, and all of a sudden the Lord will cause you to realize that this is actually a passion. You know what? This is actually something I really enjoy doing. You might just be there serving drinks at the coffee bar and all of a sudden the Lord will unlock. You know what? I've got a passion for this. I got a passion for serving people in this way. I believe that there is something, a blessing and a favor that is unlocked inside of our life when we choose to say, Lord, I'm going to put my hands. I'm going to put my feet. I'm gonna put my gifts and my talents to work in your Kingdom here at your local church.

And I want you to think about this for just a moment. What if you went away on a journey and and your wife stayed at home and you hired a couple guys to say, I want you to take care of the home. I want you to take care of my wife. Make sure that she has all of her needs taken care of. Make sure the lawns mowed. Make sure that any any repairs in the home are done. I want you just to take care of everything that she needs. And you were to come back and you found that those men did that job and they did it well and they went above and beyond. How much appreciation and gratitude would you have for those people? It would be a great amount. And I believe that it's the same way within the church because, you know, the Bible tells us that the church is the bride of Christ. And so when we're serving here within the church, we're actually serving the bride of Christ. I like to say we're serving God's wife. And so I believe that there is a blessing, a special favor that is unlocked over our lives as we choose. And say, Lord, I'm going to serve this local church. I'm going to do what you have asked me to do. I'm going to use the gifts and the talents that I have to serve within this local church.

And so I would ask you to pray to the Lord and say, God, what would you have me to do? What gifts have you put in my life that could be used for your Kingdom work? And I believe as you do that I believe there is something special that the Lord wants to unlock in your life, a blessing that he wants to unlock. In your life. So right now I'm going to turn this over to our table host and I'm going to they're going to hand you a piece of paper and next step piece of paper. And I want you to prayerfully consider what your next steps are.

Page 54

If you turn to page 54 in your book, that page begins a list of all different kinds of ministries within the local church. At the very top, it says dream team opportunities. There are Creative teams, Generation teams, Pastoral teams. All kids of serve teams. There are literally hosts of opportunities within this local church. And I want you to pray and ask the Lord, is there something that you would have me do, a ministry that you would have me serve in to be a part of. So let's, let's close our eyes, let's bow our heads, and let's pray.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I just ask right now that you would just speak to each one of us. And Lord, allow us to hear your voice. Lord, I pray that you would speak to us in our heart and our spirit and our mind as we pray over these opportunities. Lord, I pray that you would highlight where you would like us to be. Lord, I believe each one of us, we have gifts, we have talents, we have abilities, we have passions, things that would fit within our personality. So, I pray that you would allow us to understand where you would have us serve. We want to serve, We want to be a part of your church. We want to be a part of your dream team, so that more people will be brought into your Kingdom and that people would be discipled, empowered, equipped, and released for the work of the ministry. We love you, Jesus. Amen.

Thank you so much for being a part of this conversation today. I hope that it's encouraged you. I hope that it's inspired you. I hope that some of you walk away from here knowing exactly what your next step is and i look forward to meeting you face to face Fod bless