City Team (Little by Little)

Hey our mission team is back!

Praise God for their safety

During my first month here 3 years ago we preached a series called from here to there, where we talked a little bit about where we are and where we were headed. 3 years ago I had no way of knowing we would have doubled in attendance, paid off a million dollar mortgage, and hired a full staff. It’s interesting as time progresses that the “there” we once were moving towards has become our “here and now.” As Christians I suppose there is always a here to there tension. While our present situation is now our “here” it used to be our “there,” the question is where is the new there that we are headed for? Let’s remind you of what we have said about who we are and where we are headed.

Our 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. ONE MORE FOR JESUS!

Our Mission: 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 fulfill theirs. This will always be a unique manifestation of what God has called each person to do.

We will value:

Prayer over programs

People over Processes

Purpose over Preferences

Our Strategy will be manifested in various ministries to accomplish the 4 steps, Engaging, Equipping, Multiplying and Mobilizing and before we leave today we wil present the manifestation of one of those strategies through what we will call the City Team.

But before we do that I want to share a few thoughts from Exodus 23 that will help inform our motivation for the city team and really any of the ministries that we are engaging in here at Cap City.

The message I preached 3 years ago focused on the Israelites taking the city of Jericho in the story of the walls falling after they marched around the city 13 times in 7 days.

Today, I want to take us back to just a few months after the Israelites left slavery in Egypt where God informs the Israelites of how he is going to lead, protect, and provide for them as they made that 40 year journey to the promised land. Let’s look at Exodus 23 starting in verse 27.

Exodus 23:27–30 “I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from you. I will not drive them out from you in a single year, so that the land will not become desolate and the animals of the field become too numerous for you. I will drive them out from you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.”

I want to look at 3 important principles this morning that we can take away from these 4 verses as we consider our days ahead both as a church and as Christians in our journey with Him.

GOD GOES BEFORE US

About a year ago, I was on my way home and my tire pressure light came on. You all know that feeling, just how low is the tire? Do I have to stop right now? I just want to get home. I have an air compressor at home. I can do it first thing in the morning? The light probably doesn’t even work right anyhow? I’ll just tell you more times than not that my tire light doesn’t get my attention on day 1. But for some reason today it seemed as if the Holy Spirit was going to insist that I stopped and got air. So I stopped, and to keep a long story short I won’t talk about how painful the process was with the machine not working, having to go into the gas station etc. But as I left and headed home, right in front of my road there was a huge accident where both cars were totalled and I hope no one was hurt but would be hard to believe everyone walked away from it unharmed.

I bet you’ve had moments like this. Where it almost seemed as if an angel dictated your decisions or seemed to be out front running block.

In verse 20 of Exodus 23 that’s exactly what God said He does for us. He said to the people, “Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.” The passage goes on to say obey that angel because My name is in Him, that has caused some to believe this was Jesus Christ himself. Either way God was making it clear when you are headed where He leads you, He is out front.

From a theological standpoint we classify this is prevenient grace or the grace that goes before us, grace that keeps us from things we aren’t even aware of. When we set out to do His work I would imagine we don’t understand the clearing of the way that He does on our behalf. There is such incredible power in the fact that when you make a commitment to do great things for God, He runs ahead of you to make it a way that we can manage.

Another story came to mind when we think about the difference in a prepared way vs an unprepared way. Canoeing trapper johns, my older brother troy and i once dropped a canoe few miles from deer creek and discovered we had to carry the canoe half way through the trip because the creek had dried up. We all prefer hiking where there are trails, driving where there are roads, WE HATE DETOURS!!! God is paving streets, clearing trails, sustaining streams, and preparing a promised place of eternal rest. Over the next couple of months as we further consider how God is calling, we can take confidence in knowing that He goes before us.

In preparing the way

In forgiving sin

What else?

Transitional statement: There is peace in knowing God is before us, the challenge then becomes trusting His timing.

Let’s look at verses 29 and 30 again.

Exodus 23:29–30 “I will not drive them out from you in a single year, so that the land will not become desolate and the animals of the field become too numerous for you. I will drive them out from you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.”

LITTLE BY LITTLE

Done and dusted! If you are working on a project, that finishing touch is always the best right? When we were working on the children’s wing we talked about moving right into a next phase of construction but we talked about something we called construction fatigue. We know continually walking by an unfinished project wears is out after a while. I mean who doesn’t love driving by the I-70 split headed into downtown and wondering when it’s going to be done. But that’s a HUGE project! God doesn’t do big awesome things in our lives overnight, I mean He can if He wants to, but isntead it’s usally a daily molding of your character and development to position you appropriately for His plan.

As the book of Exodus progresses the people of God were doing ok until Moses went up to the mountain to talk to God. The golden calf that they would build as an idol in the wilderness was a representation of rushing God… of them saying their timing was better than God’s. The enemy and ruler of this world continues to cultivate a culture of instant gratification, because he knows that when we fail to be patient the result is idolatry. The enemy causes our wants to feel like needs and uses our emptiness and anxiety to prey on our flesh. This causes us to seek out things to numb the pain. One more purchase, one more dessert, one more hit of endorphins that will numb the reality that we are lacking purpose. Anxiety is an issue that is tied greatly to pride and control.

For me, one definition of anxiety looks a lot like trying to be sad about tomorrow, while the definition of hope looks a lot like being happy about tomorrow. If you are struggling with tomorrow, it’s time to believe He’s going ahead of you, it’s time to be reminded of His promises, it’s time to stop listening to the voices that tell you tomorrow you will fail, when God says He will never forsake you.

But like the people of God who built the golden calf, often we get in trouble because we run ahead of God.

Instead we need to be like Moses who 10 chapters after our text today, said God if you won’t go with me, then I’m not going.

We need to become more comfortable with the principle of little by little. Every big moment in your life bad or good is a result of this prinicple.

We fall into sin and recover from it little by little.

No one decided in one day to become an alcoholic. No one decided in one day to become overweight. No one in one day decided to cheat on their spouse.

One of the greatest tactics of the enemy is to take God’s greatest principles and pervert them for his agenda.

But there is hope, any great sin that you fell into little by little can be overcome the same way. If you abstained from alcohol today, that’s a win. If you go with a salad today at lunch that’s a win. If you avoid that internet search tonight before you go to bed, that’s a win. God’s mercy is new every morning, and He gives you strength for the day. Let’s drive this home with a list of things that matter today.

We devalue but need to remember, that today matters, here’s a short list of things we can do…

Just For Today

…I will choose and display the right attitudes.

…I will determine and act on important priorities.

…I will know and follow healthy guidelines.

…I will communicate with and care for my family.

…I will practice and develop good thinking.

Just for Today…I will make and keep proper commitments.

…I will earn and properly manage finances.

…I will deepen and live out my faith.

…I will initiate and invest in solid relationships.

Just for today…I will plan for and model generosity.

…I will embrace and practice good values.

…I will seek and experience improvements.

…I will act on the decisions and practice these disciplines, and

…Then one day…………………………. I will see the compounding results of a day lived well.

Transition: and that’s where God brings you into the future He has promised.

When we have confidence that he is out front, and that He will protect us if we don’t run ahead of Him, He will give us the city.

GOD GIVES THE CITY

We won’t look back at it again but He gave them the city.

For God’s people it was a land flowing with milk and honey

For us it’s continual and progressive transformation of our communities, where the gospel message of Jesus Christ heals broken families, restores addicts to wholeness and purpose, and rescues neighborhoods from crime and poverty. But this will only happen little by little, person by person, family by family, ONE MORE FOR JESUS

In Isaiah 60:1–2 The Lord says “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.”

God is illuminating the darkness and wants to do so through His people, through this church. The Lord’s closing statement in Isaiah 60 is

In Isaiah 60:22 The Lord said “The smallest one will become a thousand, And the least one a mighty nation. I, the Lord, will bring it about quickly in its time.””

He is going to expand our borders, make His name great in us, and see now… the Lord even uses the word quickly, but He qualifies it with the phrase “In its time.”

I know we just emphasized that little by little and step by step is the way we are to move forward, but God also says He will do things quickly in its time. With that being said church I believe God is calling us to a sense of urgency, that now is the time to go forward and reach His city. Today He wants to shine light in the dark places, today He wants you to make the next step towards serving Him.

CITY TEAM SLIDE

City team slide bullet points, OWNERSHIP (our church our city, SERVICE (9 month rule), COMMITMENT (others counting on you), CELEBRATION (we don’t do enough of it, IDENTITY (T-SHIRTS!, love how you rock our merch)

I have to be able to talk under each point.

PRAY OVER CARDS - This is part of our strategy, City team is not just 4 projects and 4 celebrations, it represents every person and every way we are committing to the call to reach the city for God. It’s the next little by little.

It’s not a landscaping emergency, it’s 4 intentional ideas a year we will need more than 5 people to accomplish.

Maybe a deep clean of the church, maybe a disaster response team, maybe a community outreach, we just need 100 people today to say I’ll be ready to go when called upon.

Need final slide for city team

SIGN UP SUNDAY

Thrive - people already hitting it, foundations, g1, assistance at welcome center, app walk people through it, say each title just for reference Colton sweet, we can give on app now, how bout that…

Fall Wednesday Kids, if you sign up your kid we want you in the building!

City Team