Values - OVER/UNDER, bet on values

Cap City Vision - Capital City Church exists to be a prayer centered ministry that equips every individual to fulfill their purpose. We believe purpose comes only from God and must be accomplished with others. One more for Jesus is our focus, because we know that the next act of obedience is the most important one.

And the bumper sticker will say One More for Jesus

Mission Statement: Every person created in the image of God was designed with a purpose. This purpose will always involve other people. Therefore, we believe that we fulfill our purpose by helping others fulfil theirs. This will always be a unique manifestation of what God has called each person to do.

VALUES PYRAMID (BRIEFLY DIALOGUE?) This week we are talking values. Prayer, People, Purpose. Prayer, People, Purpose. Prayer, People, Purpose. My staff won’t forgive me if I don’t say something cheesy right now like this is a pyramid scheme that you will want to buy into, so there it is. But seriously a pyramid because values brick and mortar, inside might be nice carpet, chairs, music, preaching, kids department etc. But our values are foundational.

If Vision is why we say yes, in so many ways our values are often why we say no. Values equal Prayer, People, Purpose. Pastor I think we should do this new thing. Does it grow our prayer life? Does it put people first, does it emphasize our purpose, if not than the answer to the new thing is no. No is not a bad word though we’ve been conditioned to believe that, and rarely like to hear it. Every YES must be protected by 1000 no’s. Every time God tells us no it’s because He’s trying to get us to a better yes.

Let’s talk about gambling a little bit. Anyone in here a gambling expert? Please don’t raise your hand. In gambling, sports betting in particular there is an idea that we can bet on called the over/under.

OVER/UNDER An over/under bet is a wager in which a sportsbook will predict a number for a statistic in a given game and bettors wager that the actual number in the game will be either higher or lower than that number. One of the most commonly used statistics is the combined total score of the two teams.

So for example let’s go to the NFL and say that the Bengals are going to play the Steelers and you believe the Bengals are going to win 42-7, first off that makes you a really intelligent and popular person, but let’s say you believe the score is going to be 42-7. You would believe the total score would be 49. 42 plus 7 is 49 right? So if the over/under number for the game was 45 would you bet over or under? OVER, right. And if the number for the game was 55 and you thought only 49 points would be scored would you bet the over or the under? That’s right, the under.

Now that you are more informed hopefully you will have more future success when you are gambling away your tithe money. Was that too sarcastic? Just having a little fun…but also setting us today for the thought that we want you to know that when it comes to how we carry out our vision and mission at Cap City that we want you to always bet on our values.

The first one is Prayer… and for each of these 3 values we always want to see them above many other things but for each one today we are going to give a specific example of something common that we might typically struggle to bring focus to our value rather than another idea. Here’s the first example.

Prayer over Programs

We have done a lot at Cap City over the last year or two to bring great emphasis to prayer. We began to host a prayer and praise meeting on the first Wednesday of every month. We have individuals in a room right now and every Sunday morning service praying over the service while it is going on. We began this year with a 21 day focus on prayer, then took a focus on praying for 3 individuals a piece to give their life to Christ. I hope you are still praying for your 3, I pray for mine every day. I continually hear from people that are checking out Cap City how much they appreciate the freedom that we allow and encourage for people to come and pray at any time during the service.

From the outside looking in, others may judge a church like ours believing we are “growing” as a church because of the type or quality of music we have here at cap city. Maybe they think we focus too much on social media presence, or we emphasize an aspect of attractional ministry or hospitality. Maybe we are too relaxed in the way we dress or so seeker friendly that we might be compromising on standards. We will never apologize for trying to remain relevant in a post-Church world that needs to feel like they have an entry point into the church, and we will never use spirituality or holiness as a means to excuse ourselves from excellence.

Instead we believe that excellence matters, but… excellence is empty of its power without prayer.

So it’s Not prayer instead of programs, but programs fueled by prayer.

Ecclesiastes 3 says theres a time for everything which means we can’t do everything all the time, so prayer is not the only thing we do but it is the most important thing we do. God did not call us to ministry but intimacy. Did you hear that? God called us to intimacy with him. We get so caught up in specific callings about what age group or gender or geographical area God has called us to work in, but GOD’s greater call… is to intimacy… with HIm. This is prayer over programming… Our ministry calling… THEN flows out of our intimacy with him. This leads to value #2 which is people. We said last week, If you keep trying to develop and determine purpose with yourself as the central focus, you will continually be frustrated.

Purpose is for one another, and with one another.

So we choose people over processes. A calling that is founded in prayer will lead us to ministry that values people. For this value we will consider how we want to bet on…

People over Processes -

We miss people because we get to caught up in our processes. We get caught up in our way of doing things, we think more about what needs done instead of who it is being done for.

When we complete processes we get a shot of dopamine that we want to experience and then chase again. Do you know why so many of us would prefer to focus on processes instead of people? For starters, it’s because people are messy, right? People show up late, and forget appointments. People talk back, and share their opinions. Focusing on the process excuses us from responsibility.

I held a training and no one came… I did the process… Did you take the people you invited out to coffee to explain the importance of the training?

I sent a reminder for people to sign up so i acted responsibly. Did you ask them if they needed help with the sign up process?

We had Vacation Bible School, We had pizza for the teens, we served coffee for the adults, if they don’t want to come here not sure what else we can do.

Programs are good, Hospitality is crucial, but people come to church with their friends. We don’t get to sit in our castles and expect people to join the kingdom. When the church isn’t growing the people aren’t going. Let’s do this real quick, how many people first came to this church because they knew someone that already went here, just stand for me real quick and stay standing. Have a seat.

True leadership, True Christianity isn’t looking to excuse itself from responsibility. But instead we look to take ownership. If purpose is with each other and for each other, than ownership of our vision means that we prioritize people rather than processes.

Processes still have value and still have their place, Processes and policies protect people. But the processes and policies have no value if the focus isn’t on benefiting people.

Bet on Prayer

Bet on People

And, Bet on Purpose

Bet on…

Purpose over Preferences -

I posed these two ideas against one another because often I think we put limitations on carrying out purpose, based on where they might challenge our preferences. For this point I pulled a list of Church Leadership Expert Thom Rainers top 10 church arguments, that I thought you might enjoy this morning. Let me share these with you and in a few cases share his comments with you.

Argument over the appropriate length of the worship pastor’s beard (I think I saw a verse in Scripture that indicated it is to be no more than 1.5 inches longer than the pastor’s beard.).

Fight over whether or not to build a children’s playground or to use the land for a cemetery (I’m dying to know the resolution of this one.).

A fight over which picture of Jesus to put in the foyer (I just want to know who took the pictures.).

, A big church argument over the discovery that the church budget was off $0.10. Someone finally gave a dime to settle the issue (This one has actually happened to me before at another church, I threw down a $10 and said meeting adjourned.

A dispute in the church because the Lord’s Supper had cran/grape juice instead of grape juice (Of course it should be grape juice. It’s right there in Hezekiah 4:11.).

Arguments over what type of green beans the church should serve (I could have resolved this conflict quickly: none.). Many of you know that would have been my comment as well

Major conflict when the youth borrowed a crockpot that had not been used for years (I bet it was a bunch of crocky old adults.).

An argument on whether the church should allow deviled eggs at the church meal (Only if it’s balanced with angel food cake for dessert).

A disagreement over using the term “potluck” instead of “pot blessing” (I get it! The concept of luck contradicts the theology of a sovereign God. This issue is very serious. Good luck trying to resolve it. ).

A dispute over whether the church should allow people to wear black t-shirts, since black is the color of the devil (Are you sure he’s not red? That’s what I’ve heard.)

He actually had a list of 25, but unfortunately I had to reduce it to 10 because I realized the other 15 sounded a lot like arguments I’ve heard in just about every church, and may have even taken place in our church’s history.

I’ve said before that many scriptures that we read give us instruction that directly address a concern that is relevant for all humanity.

Philippians 2:4 “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” The writer Paul then say instead be like Jesus.

Sometimes the vision mission and values will mean we do something the complete opposite way of how we might prefer or even believe it should be done individually.

I was at my son Luke’s school this week for a parent athletic meeting. This was a meeting where the Athletic Director got up and addressed some crucial ideas with the parents of athletes who plan to play sports in the fall. He addressed things like health and safety, participation fees, and academic requirements. Then he addressed the parents about how to be a good fan. I won’t cover all he did, though he did an incredible job, but for our message today I want to share one specific point that he made that was fantastic. I wonder if you are here as a parent today and you know alot about the sport that your child is playing. Maybe you think or even know you are smarter or know better than your child’s coach. Some might see where this is going, but I love that our AD acknowledged this. I believe sometimes you as church members are more knowledgable about something in the church than I am. But the AD said this, what if you are yelling at a game, instructing your child to do something opposite of what the coach has told the player to do? What if your idea about your child is good and he changes course, but the rest of the team was depending on her or him to follow the coach’s instructions? Maybe your child will look like a star in the moment, but what if costs the team the game? Everyone tracking with me? We is greater than me, and remember last week we said You Me and Jesus can do anything, but moving in the same direction has to take priority over everyone doing whatever they want.

Bet on Prayer

Bet on People

Bet on Purpose

I would venture to believe that no one in here thinks it wrong to value prayer people and purpose, but I want to bring everything to a point this morning by taking just a few minutes to emphasize the word VALUE in general, and as I do I’m going to ask you to evaluate your own values. Let’s look at Matthew 13

Matthew 13:44–46 ““The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells everything that he has, and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold everything that he had and bought it.” Do we value the kingdom this much? Do we value anything anymore?

EVALUATING VALUES

We have to bet on our values

Let me start with a practical application.

Personal Story- how allison and I used our values to come to cap city and how we have that conversation and how we want to do same thing at cap city THEN. Following your values will always everyone say always… make someone unhappy. Unfortunately most of us let others choose our values. Most of you make your decision based on who you will upset the most by not appeasing. We call that oiling the squeaky wheel, but know this today thatif all you ever do is oil the squeaky wheel you never move down the road. Some of us value what others think of us more than anything so we will hurt people by not keeping commitments. We do this a lot right? You sign up for a class, you offer to serve.

You tell someone you are going to do something. Something comes up, and you change plans. One of the things we Americans have become experts at is re-naming sin to make ourselves feel and look less guilty. So you tell someone you are going to do something. Something comes up, and you change plans. Not only is this a lie, lying is a sin, but you are expressing to the other person that you value what you want to do over keeping your word. Texting has made this easier right? Easy to blow someone off when you don’t have to do it face to face. Older people remember when you told someone you would do something and then if something else came up you would tell people sorry I already have a commitment? And get with me on this, the person you abandon, isn’t going to call you out on it, but they FEEL the choice you made, and without saying it, you told them your time or your situation isn’t as important to me as what I want to do. Jesus said let your yes be yes and your no be no. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do, or hard things just because you said you would.

Church if you say you are behind me on vision and mission I need you to hear me as a coach in the locker room for a minute. It’s halftime and we are down by a touchdown and I’m going to push you a little bit, because I want us to win. Do you want to win? Because I’m going to tell you something we were doing wrong in the first half that we have to get right in the second half. And I’m going to come after the best of you, is that ok?

We don’t value the church anymore.

In my ministry, I don’t think I’ve pastored a church where at least half the church hasn’t lied to me. What? Pastor no. Ready for a quick list. I’ll get back with you tomorrow. I’ll fix that issue for you pastor. I’ll start that committee. I’ll be there on time. I’ll teach that class. I’ll have that ready on Tuesday. I’ll write that policy. I’ll run that ministry. I say I tithe when I know I don’t. Pastor if there’s anything I can EVER do to help you, let me know. Seriously church hear me, I’m not cynical about this. I’m asking you to level up. Alot of us know that if we didn’t follow through at work they way we do or don’t follow through at church we’d lose our jobs. Jonathan I’m busy, yeah I know. But that’s your fault. God didn’t ask you to be that busy. This isn’t about cap city or Pastor Jonathan. This is about Jesus.

Allison and I sit in our house week after week acknowledging how someone else dropped out of serving with the excuse they are busy with so many other things. It’s time for the church to tell the world that they are too busy with Jesus. It’s time to tell the sports coach that your child has church on Sunday morning. It’s time to tell the boss you aren’t working that extra shift. It’s time to tell the kids we can’t afford the third vacation or 18th toy because we give money to Jesus. It’s time to put VALUE back where VALUE belongs. The kingdom of heaven is priceless and it’s time we started acting like it.

RESPONSE

I’m going to ask Colton/Team to make their way to the stage. And Jim weethee, And I’ve had this bag in my office for two months and God told me I was going to use it for this message and honestly I brought it up here today trusting the Holy Spirit with what He wanted me to say about it. Pastor Jim Weethee will you come up here?

You can’t say you have values if you aren’t willing to choose one idea over another. When you are given the choice between two things, and you choose one over another you are saying something about what or who you value more.

Jesus said You will either serve me or money. Then said you can only serve one idea or the other

Don’t value prayer when we turn on the tv when we haven’t spent time in prayer

Don’t value people when we… focus on rules and our own effort more than them

Don’t value purpose when we… get busy and the “church thing” is the first thing to go.

Values reveal how we live, not what we say, not just who we are but who we are trying to become.

our true values are so deep that we live by them by default. You can’t change behavior without changing value.

181 pennies in a pound, 53 pounds…

USE IT OR LOSE IT Jim Weethee MAN OF FAITH

As long as he can bow he will pray, penny bag want to do something with them before they don’t have value anymore. Your money and talents are decreasing in value every day they aren’t invested in the kingdom

The song the are going to sing right now is called God you’re so Good, it was a great update to the song we used to sing that said God is so good, because God you’re so good means we are singing it to him. This morning I reflected on the word SO and how much different it makes. Ice cream is good, Graeters peanut butter chocolate chunk is SOOOO good. Pizza is good, Giordanos chicago style deep dish pizza is SOOOO good. We have a lot of things in this world that are good, but GOD is SOOO good. I am blessed I am called I am healed I am whole, I am saved in Jesus Name. Highly favored, anointed, filled with His power, for the glory of Jesus name. Everyone ounce of power, time, and resource that you have is for the glory of Jesus name. Will you turn it over to Him before it loses any more value.

STAND WITH ME

Come tell Jesus you value Him, then go out prove it when you leave here today.

POST RESPONSE

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