Dangerous Darts

I want to thank Rob Pannier for filling the pulpit and delivering a great sermon from God’s word last week as Tahsha and I were out of town. Speaking of Rob, most of you know that he is the director of Hope CDA. That organization helps men get back on their feet and teaches them life skills, how to walk in sobriety, and most importantly, about the wonderful, freeing power that there is in having a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Hope CDA is a ministry that serves the men that are in the program, and these men, through the program, serve the community of Cedar Rapids.

One of the things that they do is that Hope CDA purchases houses that are in bad shape. So bad a shape, in fact, that their mere existence brings down the value of homes around it. They are more than just eyesores, in some cases, they are not fit for housing people safely. So Hope CDA purchases these kinds of homes and fixes them up. The men in the program learn some important life skills and are taught a good work ethic as they, led by their foremen, remodel the different houses.

When the work is completed, they sell the homes. And as I understand it, there is not much profit in the reselling of these houses. In remodeling and reintroducing these houses to the market in a better condition, it helps increase the value of the properties around it, it helps brighten the neighborhoods that they are in, and it is well received by the neighbors in the area who are happy to have good looking houses around them instead of run-down ones.

What Hope CDA does with this is a service to the community, all the while, discipling these men for a year, and sometimes more.

I say all that to say this - I want you to remember Rob and Hope CDA in your regular prayers. Because they are making an impact for the Gospel in the lives of men and here in the community of Cedar Rapids, Satan is fighting. Rob has only been the director for just over a year now, and he is increasingly focusing more and more on the ministerial aspect of Hope CDA, and it seems that at every turn, Satan is there to fight. He fights the things that are going on at Hope, and he is fighting Rob in his personal life as well.

Another ministry that is impacting the community in a similar fashion but as a ministry for women is the House of Hope. Many ladies gathered here in this building for a conference that was put on by House of Hope and their director Jessie Frerich. They are doing a great job discipling and counseling women in Cedar Rapids, and I can also tell you that Satan is attacking them as well. Pray for Jessie Frerich as she has faced some personal attacks as well.

Rob and Jessie are commited to the work to which God has led them, but I guarantee you that there are times when, even though they may not share it with anyone, they feel discouraged, they feel tired, and even feel like quitting. So pray for them. Pray for those ministries, because Satan, recently and over the last year or so, has stepped up his attacks.

And I will ask you to pray for this church, your church, Good News Baptist Church. Because the more we seek to equip our members to do the work of the ministry and the more we make attempts at reaching into the community and impacting it with the Gospel, the more we are faced with attacks from Satan as well.

Outreach Ministries

By the grace of God and His providence, we will be doing more this year to reach outside these walls and touch Cedar Rapids with the Gospel than we have done since at least 2022, and Satan is already fighting. Let me tell you about the plans for outreach that we have as a church for this year. Some of them are already in place, while others are still in the pre-planning phase.

First up we have this spring semester of the Good News Club. We start in the next few weeks. Last time we did it was the first time we have ever done anything like this - getting involved with Cleveland Elementary and doing an after school program there that teaches kids about Jesus - and Satan fought hard. We had a group of 22 volunteers. These volunteers included 12 regularly participating adults with 10 children and teens. We ran the club for seven weeks, and we were so hopeful that a lot of kids would come. So the first week, we were encouraged when the first child showed up, and then soon after she showed up, we were discouraged when no one else did. It was a mixed bag of emotions when that first club ended. We had finally started what we had been preparing for for months, but only one kid showed up.

The next week, more showed up, and then more, and more, until by the 5th or 6th week we peaked at 27 children from Cleveland Elementary were attending the club. Of those 27, 7 children accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, and a few others began to ask questions about salvation. The seed of the Gospel was planted in the hearts of 27 children. We will probably never know the full impact that seed has on all of them, but we did get to see the eternal destiny of 7 of them change forever. That means that 26% of those that heard the Gospel message through Good News Club at Cleveland were saved. That’s a quarter. I wish 1 out of every 4 people that I shared the Gospel with would get saved. But it happened for us last fall. I don’t know if I expected that many kids to get saved, and I certainly don’t think that Satan expected it. But He fought us in different ways throughout those 7 weeks and in the weeks leading up to them.

Our target this spring semester is to have 60 children split up between two clubs at Cleveland. And God is at work, and Satan is at work. Let me tell you how God is working. The school is going to be announcing the Good News Club in their morning announcements, they will be distributing flyers for the students to sign up for the club. And even some teachers will be encouraging their students to go. When I tell you that this does not happen often, I mean it. Tahsha went Thursday to drop off flyers at the school, and God gave her some encouragement. Out at recess were several students that had been in the clubs along with a staff member of the school who has been supporting us from the very beginning. Those kids went and gave Tahsha some hugs once they recognized her, and they were very excited when they heard that once again we would be having a Good News Club soon. One girl who had not come last fall timidly asked Tahsha, “Can I come too?” This, of course, was highly encouraging for her to hear, and believe me when I say she desperately needed this because Satan is fighting this tooth and nail.

Let me tell you how Satan is fighting. Last semester, we had all our classes on Friday. This worked out for a lot of people without them having to step too far out of their comfort zones. The school initially approved the dates and times we requested, and since we are doing two clubs at the same time, they also approved our use of the gym and the library.

However, about a week later, they notified us that we would not be able to use the gym on Fridays because a new program is being started by the school, and since it is a teacher leading it, they get first priority in choosing location and times, and it just so happens that they want the gym on Fridays at the same time we would need it. We proposed another schedule that was approved, then a few days later, we were told that only half of those days were available for us. Tahsha spent days trying to piece together another schedule, and just a week and a half ago, we were finally approved to do the clubs on Tuesdays.

I mentioned that our goal is to have 60 students. Ideally, we would have around 17-22 adult volunteers for this, but seemingly, that is not going to be the case. We will have only about 10 adult volunteers this time around. You know why? Because Satan is fighting again, and he is doing so in a greater way. Because now he knows. Now he knows how effective this can be. If we have 60 kids and 25% percent of them get saved, that’s 14 souls. 14 more souls snatched from the flames. So Satan is fighting. He is bringing discouragement, obstacles, scheduling difficulties, distractions, and everything else he can to keep members of our church from participating in this. And this is just the first outreach that we will be doing.

This summer, the plan is to launch something called Pray-and-Go (slide). This will be an attempt to impact the surrounding neighborhoods of our church with the love of Jesus. My goal is that every house and family that lives in the surrounding areas - that means south of us from Cleveland Park to Rockford Rd and back toward the stadium, and north of us in the same width from 3rd Ave SW to A Ave NW - roughly 240 homes, would be prayed for specifically. I want to be able to contact them in some way, whether by someone knocking on their door and asking them if their family has any needs that we can pray for, or by someone going up to each door and putting a flyer on their door with a number to text their prayer requests to.

And then, we will need people to take three weeks to pray for all of those prayer requests regularly. And text these people back (from the church number) to follow up.

I want to pioneer an in-home, neighborhood Bible study (slide) at my house this year to be able to then expand on that in the upcoming years.

Why these things? Because we MUST get outside these walls. We MUST start completing the mission that we have as a church - to GO and preach the Gospel, to GO and make disciples.

So those are outreach programs that are planned, and rest assured, Satan will attack each of these. And if you want to get involved in them, you will also be attacked. But outreach ministries are not all that we do hear. Let’s talk about in-reach programs. These in-reach programs are necessary. We cannot do effective outreach if we are not strengthening and equipping the members here. We cannot GO and make disciples if we are not making sure that those that are here are becoming disciples. It is impossible for someone who is not a disciple to make a disciple.

And you know who else knows this? Satan does. And you know who is fighting our in-reach ministries? Satan is. So let’s talk about how he is fighting.

We will, of course, continue to study through the Disciples Path. This study started in September, and we started strong. We had a really good amount of members that were coming, but we have lost some along the way. Why? Because Satan is fighting. He has convinced many of you to not come. That you don’t really need it. That Sunday is enough. That you’re too tired on Wednesday. Some of you started coming, made a commitment to continue to come, and Satan has been fighting. You have found out that the worse day of the work week is Wednesday. The most tiring day all week long is Wednesday. The longest day is Wednesday. And that has kept you from coming. All of a sudden your boss is requesting extra hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, making you so tired in those evenings. You think it is coincidence? No! It is a targeted attack!

We have kids ministries that resume next Sunday, and for the next 2 months we will have kids classes until we get to the month of May and have our next Home Group month. And if you don’t think that our children’s workers are under attack you are crazy. That ministry is under attack. Teachers get tired. Satan tries to focus their efforts and attention on other things instead of the proper preparation of their lessons and games and crafts, all of which are supposed to be building on a singular, biblical principle and application. I know, I’ve been there. I know what it is like to be the next one to teach a lesson for kids, and then suddenly realize on Friday or Saturday that I haven’t prepared a lick of anything yet. I know what it is like to have a really rough Sunday morning getting ready to come to church and dread the interaction with children because my heart is not focused and my attitude is bad.

Don’t you think that Satan is fighting the teachers in the children’s classes? Yes! And you know what? Some of you could help. We have two teams that teach on Sunday mornings and they rotate. But you know how many teams we have on Wednesday nights? ONE. That’s it. Zack and Mindy are the only ones that teach on Wednesday night, and there are people here that could help. But Satan will do everything to have you not think about it, and when you do happen to think about it - like when it is brought up in a sermon like this - he will feed you endless excuses about why you can’t do it.

Another in-reach ministry we have is the nursery. We have enough ladies that could work the nursery and provide relief for the ones that are slightly overworked right now. Same thing with Toddlers. We have two toddler teachers. And we need more.

Home Groups is another in-reach ministry. These exist to foster connections with others in the church. They exist also so that you can invite friends, family, and neighbors to a Home Group when they would normally not consider coming to a church service. “Hey, I know you’ve said that you don’t do the whole ‘church thing,’ but after the service, I am getting together with a few families from the church at my house. We are going to have some food, get to know each other better, and discuss a little about the service. I’d love to introduce you to some of my friends from there; would you like to come?” But see, it is really hard to connect with people and even invite others to something you won’t go to. And it is sad that we don’t have more people hosting and attending Home Groups. Y’all, this is a direct extension of our gatherings on Sunday. We have a full body here right now, but I’m afraid that we amputate ourselves when it comes to Home Groups, and honestly, sometimes when it comes to Life Groups too. Why? Because Satan convinces us that staying until noon is somehow so much more than we can bear, for whatever reason.

Then there is a couples ministry, a marriage ministry that we want to do this year. I don’t know how that will look exactly, but it could come in the form of a conference, a multi-week study, or a retreat. Because Satan is fighting marriages in our church - hard.

We have in-reach ministries that are being fought. We have outreach ministries that are being fought. We have ministries that by God’s grace will soon begin, and they will be fought against as well. Because we have an enemy, and he attacks Christ followers.

Ephesians 6:10–11 KJV 1900

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

We are to armor up because there is a devil, an adversary, an enemy that is attacking us. The word ‘wiles’ means cunning attacks. These are deceitful attacks. It gives the connotation that Satan is lying in wait to ambush us. Why? Because that is the most effective type of attack.

It is a natural thing to put on the armor and to pick up the sword and shield whenever we see the enemy approaching. When we are standing on one side of the battlefield and the enemy is on the other side and we begin to approach each other for combat, we can rightly guess that it is time to draw swords and raise the shield.

But Satan is wily. He is sneaky. He does not say, “On such a day I will meet you on this battlefield, and we shall fight when the trumpets are blown.”

No, instead, he lies in wait. He prepares an ambush so that he can attack when our defenses are down.

Continuing reading in this chapter we see that Satan’s attacks are like fiery darts.

Ephesians 6:16 KJV 1900

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Darts implies that they are thrown or launched attacks that are capable of piercing. These would be spears or arrows.

Again, these are arrows that come, seemingly, out of nowhere. There we are, walking along in life, and BAM! now an arrow is sticking out of us. It has found the vulnerability, the chink in the armor, the joint of the plates, or simply the irresponsible soldier that had left off parts of his arms and armor.

But there is the word “fiery.” That word fiery has two meanings. The obvious one is that image that we have because we have seen movies about medieval warfare where hundreds of archers launch arrows that are set on fire toward their targets. However, these were not generally employed against people, but against buildings, or structures such as seige engines. We can see that as a whole body, a structure — or as Paul would say it earlier in chapters 2 and 4, “a building fitly framed together” — Satan would use fiery arrows to ignite fires within the church. Fires that if left unquenched, would spread and damage and destroy the unity and the effectiveness of the church.

But there is another meaning for the word translated “fiery” — to be inflamed with anger and wrath. This is something that I think more resembles the intent of these attacks when Satan attacks individuals. See, fiery arrows were had to be specially made, and they were not great at being used as “anti-personnel” weapons. Their tips were not made for much penetration, especially against armor. However, other arrows were used against troops in the open. These were meant to cause maximum damage to those struck. Some of these arrows were barbed so that it was nearly impossible to extract from the wounds.

In fact, Roman armies had people within their formations that were there to treat arrow wounds quickly. If a Roman soldier was struck by an arrow in the arm, let’s say, this person would his aid, and because pulling the arrow out the way it had entered would cause more harm to the muscle tissue than good, they would push the arrow through the arm and extract it that way. Then, they would immediately flush the wound with wine and pack it with honey to prevent infection.

Anti-personnel arrows were very different than the fire variety, which were not barbed, nor reinforced, nor meant for deep penetration. So when Satan attacks individuals, he uses different types of arrows, and he launches them with anger. And this is something that I think we often do not think about. In wars, two sides battle against each other. The soldiers rarely know the person whom they are shooting at. They fight the battles because their government has declared war against another government, and since they are on the one side, they must shoot a the soldiers on the other side.

I think this is how we think our enmity with Satan works. We behave as if Satan is attacking us because he hates God, and since we are on God’s side, then he attacks us too. This is the farthest thing from the truth. You and I must understand that Satan has a fiery, unquenchable anger and hatred toward us personally. He is not the adversary on the other side of the battlefield that shoots at us because we wear a different uniform, he is the murderer that is obsessed with his target. He knows your name, he knows your routine, he knows your weaknesses better than you ever could. Satan has stalked you ever since you got saved and changed families, and he absolutely hates you. Personally. Violently. And there is nothing that he would like to do more than destroy you bit by bit and finally kill you.

1 Peter 5:8 KJV 1900

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

“Seeking” = plotting against, making plans.

I want to point out some attacks that we often get caught off guard by. In his quiver of arrows that he launches at us with anger and hatred, Satan has different kinds of arrows. They fly differently. When they strike, they have different effects. And though there are many different kinds of arrows that Satan uses, this morning I want to focus on just two. These arrows, these fiery darts are launched with such precision and ambush us so well that most of the time, we do not even realize we have been wounded.

I listened to an army combat veteran tell the story of a time that his unit was ambushed. They were patrolling an area when a roadside bomb was detonated. It launched him into a ditch beside the road and they began an intense firefight with the enemy that had been laying in wait for them. This soldier noticed that the man beside him was bleeding, and he called desperately for the medic. When the medic arrived, he began to check the man but noted he only had minor scrapes. Insistently, the soldier demanded that he check better because there was so much blood. It turns out, it was this soldiers blood. He had been wounded severely and had not noticed that he was bleeding from one of his legs quite profusely.

Another soldier in a different situation reported that he felt as if someone had hit his leg and knocked him down, but when he tried to stand up again, his leg would not work. He felt no pain, so he thought possibly that something was on top of his leg. He continued to return fire until everything quieted down. Finally, looking at his legs to see how he could get out from under whatever was causing him not to be able to move his leg, he realized he had been shot.

So what are the arrows that Satan uses that are so sneaky, so wily that many times we do not realize it until someone points it out to us?

The Arrow of Personal Comfort

The first is the arrow of personal comfort. Last week as we studied session five of our Disciples Path book, The Call, we saw that each Christian is called to follow Jesus. We saw that to follow Jesus there is a cost. And if we are called to follow Jesus, there must be a denial of self.

Luke 9:23 KJV 1900

23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

This is a devastating arrow. And church, I’m going to call it like I see it: we have a lot of people here at Good News that have been struck with this arrow and don’t even know it.

I want to be clear this morning and want to make sure that this is not misunderstood — being comfortable is not a sin. There is nothing inherently wrong with comfort. I mean, take a look around you. We are sitting on padded seats. It’s below freezing outside, but in here its feels nice. When we go to home groups, we aren’t going to eat a mushy, tasteless paste comprising all the necessary nutrients.

No, comfort and pleasure are not bad things. There was, at one time, a large group of people that believed that to be God honoring we must do away with all things that would provide personal comfort. But you won’t find that teaching in the Bible. What you do find are verses like this one we just read.

So let’s break it down. If you want to be a Jesus follower, there are certain things that must be true of you.

Deny yourself. You and I need to learn to deny ourselves. Matthew 8 and Luke 9 give an account of a few people that decided to follow Jesus. Matthew mentions 2, Luke mentions a third, but Matthew tells us details that Luke does not, at least about two of them. Matthew 8:18-20

Matthew 8:18–20 KJV 1900

18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side. 19 And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. [First we see that a Scribe comes to Jesus. Remember, not all Scribes and Pharisees hated Jesus, some of them did believe in him, as we see with Nicodemus, a chief of the Pharisees. However, the majority were against Jesus. This particular Scribe, though, wanted to follow Jesus. The thing is, we do not know if he ended up following Jesus or not. But look at his statement of commitment — “I will go wherever you go.” This is a strong statement of commitment. He is publicly announcing that he is going to abandon his scribal duties and his peers to follow Jesus. This is HUGE! This is exactly what Jesus had been commanding the Scribes and the Pharisees to do — to repent, to forsake their hypocritical lifestyle, and to follow Him. I would imagine that Jesus’ response would be, “Awesome! jump in the boat with my disciples; we are headed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.” But that is not what He says. 20 And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. [Again, we do not know whether after this response the Scribe followed Jesus or did not, but Jesus lets the Scribe know that it is going to be uncomfortable. “You want to follow me? Then you must be mentally prepared for discomfort.” What kind of discomfort? Regular, daily discomfort. Think about this. How often do we lay our heads down to sleep? Every day. Jesus tells this man that he needs to be ready to give up one of the most basic and common creature comforts - a pillow. I can sleep anywhere — it is my superpower. I can sleep lying down, sitting down, reclining in awkward positions. I have fallen asleep standing up, and on a couple occasions, I fell asleep while walking (and continued walking). I will tell you this though, sleeping without a pillow, though doable, can be extremely uncomfortable. It is not something that I like to do do repeatedly or for extended periods of time. I like my pillows. A pillow can make or break a good night’s sleep. And Jesus is telling this Scribe, “We don’t have pillows. You follow me, and every night you will be uncomfortable. Are you up for it?” We often assume, and it is my assumption as well, that this Scribe did not end up following Jesus. But regardless, Jesus was very clear. “If you want to be my disciple, you must be willing to be constantly deny yourself of even the most basic comforts.”

Does this mean that we should go home after this and everyone throw away your pillows? NO! This is not about the pillows. Not for us, not for that Scribe. This is about comfort. How uncomfortable are you willing to be to follow Jesus? How uncomfortable are you willing to be to do what He wants you to do? Is there a limit?

This is what I see and what I have seen far too often to not make a comment about it now. For many Sundays, as we have gone through the series of the life of Christ, I have asked during invitations, “How many of you would say, ‘Mike, if I am completely honest with myself and with God, I realize that there are areas in my life that are not fully surrendered to the Lord,’” or something of the sort. On those occasions, a very few people raise their hands. This leads me to believe that the majority of our church believes themselves to be fully surrendered to the Lord in every area of life. If that is true, why are there ministries in this church that are hurting for volunteers? Why are the same handful of people taking care of the majority of the responsibilities in our church?

The reasoning I get often is the following: “I don’t feel God has called me to _____ ministry, or to help with _____.” To those objections, I want us to go to the Bible.

1 Corinthians 12:12 KJV 1900

12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. [So, we are a body. There are many members, but one body. We good so far?]

1 Corinthians 12:20–22 KJV 1900

20 But now are they many members, yet but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: [Not only are we a body comprised of many members, but every member is necessary. AND every member should understand that every other member is necessary. Member 1 should never think that member 15 is not necessary, or vice versa. Everybody needs everybody else.]

1 Corinthians 12:25–27 KJV 1900

25 That there should be no schism in the body [Schism means division or separation. There should be no division in the body. There should be unity.]; but that the members should have the same care one for another. [Not only should we be united, but we should care for each other. We should show care to the needs of the body.} 26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

So here’s the thing about the body — no part of the body acts independently. If it does, something is wrong. We act together and are unified. And as a body we take care of the body’s needs. Hold onto that thought for a second; we will come back to it.

There is but one head of the body. Take a look at Colossians 1:18

Colossians 1:15–18 KJV 1900

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: [I encourage you to read and study the context of these verses, and when you do, you will see that this verse and the following are talking about Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible God. He came to show us the Father. Remember when the disciples said, “Jesus, Show us the Father, and that will be enough.” Jesus rebuked them and said, “I have been with you this long and you still are asking for me to show you the Father? Don’t you get it? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: [This reiterates all that John 1 says about Jesus.] 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. [Again, a reiteration of the message that we find in John 1 about Jesus as eternal creator and sustainer.] 18 [And here it is...] And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Jesus is the head of the church. He leads it. He is the one that adds members to this church. All those that are members here need to be fully convinced that God has led you here and has maintained you here. If you do not believe that this is the church that Jesus wants you to be a part of, then for your sake, for this church’s sake, and for the sake of the Gospel, please go find the church body that Jesus wants you to be a part of.

Those that might be thinking about becoming a member here. Join only when you are fully convinced that this is the place that Jesus wants you to join.

Why? Because God has a purpose for you in His body. And if you are a member here, there is a purpose and a job for you to do. There are responsibilities that you must take on.

So, for the sake of argument, and I hope that this is true anyway, we will say that every person that is currently a member here at Good News is fully convinced that this is the church where God wants them. This has some very specific implications. Our head, Jesus Christ, has given us a mission. It is the same commission that He has given every church - to make disciples, to preach the gospel. Now, to our church specifically, He has also ordained different ministries to accomplish this task, whether they be in-reach or outreach ministries. These are the tasks and the needs of the body, and as a body headed by Jesus Christ, we will move forward and do what is necessary to accomplish what the Head is directing us to do.

If you are a part of this body, then you need to get involved in its ministries. And please, do not wait for a neon sign in the heavens to appear saying, “I need you to join a Home Group, or help with the nursery, or teach a kids class.” This is your sign. This body has tasks to do, and there is a need for members to help with those tasks. This body has needs, and as members, we need to work together to fulfill those needs. We do not need to wait for “callings” in most cases. We need to just do what God has made us for.

I am thirsty. And throughout the sermon, you have probably observed that I drink from this water bottle quite often. This, for me happens automatically. When my mouth gets dry, my body senses there is a need for water. My shoulder, my my arm, my elbow, my wrist, my fingers, my back, and my neck all go into action automatically to get the water that is in this bottle into my mouth. I do not need to consciously command the different parts of me to act and grip and lift and tilt. This would be odd. I am thirsty, my body goes into automatic “drink-some-water” mode.

When I hurt myself, when I bump my head on something, my hands automatically come up to hold and protect the damaged area. I don’t have to think about it. My body is well concerted in this act.

How many of you have had your wisdom teeth taken out? I was 17 when it happened to me, and I remember that after a few hours, I was supposed to take some pain medication. There was a slight problem though. I couldn’t feel my tongue or lips yet. After a few failed attempts, I had to go to the bathroom, look in the mirror, put the pill in my mouth and drink the water as I watched myself so I could make sure that I was putting the glass up to my mouth right and to make sure my lips and tongue were doing what they needed to do in order to swallow the pill. By the end of this frustrating exercise, my shirt was all wet, because I could not feel my mouth, and because I couldn’t feel it, it was not behaving in the way that I needed it to to do the task that was necessary.

Awhile back ago, I fractured my pinky toe. If you allow Tahsha to tell you the story, she will lie and say that I fell out of bed. This is untrue. What happened was this. We were at a teen camp, which of course means that I was sleeping in a bed that was not my own. One morning, I woke up and I quietly attempted to get out of the bed. This is an automatic thing for me. So, in one fluid motion, I swung my legs over and off the edge of the bed, planted my feet on the floor, and lifted myself to a standing position. Except that I did not. You see, unbeknown to me, I had slept in a position that rendered my right leg ‘asleep.’ Sometime during my sleep, I had positioned myself in such a way that I had cut off some circulation to my leg or something. My leg was no longer receiving communication from my brain. And when I went to stand up, my left leg, which assumed was being helped by the other leg, as was the custom, pushed the rest of my body up and over onto my right side where I collapsed and fell onto my pinky toe, and fractured it.

What happened? My right leg, though physically attached to me, had cut itself off from communicating with the rest of the body. It could not help me perform even the simplest task of standing up and bearing my weight. It had no clue what the body was doing.

How connected are you to the body? Some of you have zero interest in anything else that is going on aside from what you are directly involved in. This Good News Clubs need help. We are short people. “Not my problem.” The problem is that the eyes are disconnected from the feet, the hands and arms are disjoined from the ribs. And the spleen, whatever it does, as no clue what the fingernails are doing.

And you might think, “But Mike, I cannot work with kids. I physically cannot go to Cleveland Elementary.” And you might have some legit reasons that you aren’t involved in certain ministries. That’s fine. But you should be so connected to the body that it bothers you that we do not have enough nursery workers, that we do not have a good amount of workers for Good News Clubs. It should bother you deeply that the toddlers only have two teachers, that Zach and Mindy are the only ones that have taught the kids on Wednesday nights for over a year and that because there is no one else, they have to miss out on connections and discipleship. And to their credit, they are doing the uncomfortable things to maintain connections and still be discipled in ways that most people are unaware, and would not be willing to do themselves.

If you are a member, you need to build connections in this church. You need to be connected in such a way that as soon as there is a need, you are there and willing to help with that need. Back to me breaking my toe. When I fractured my pinky toe, my hands immediately went to cradle my toe. I propped myself up on my left side and my whole left leg became a support for me.

But what help could my eyes have been at that moment? None. There is nothing that my eyes could do in that moment to help relieve the pain in my toe. But I guarantee you that my eyes were very aware of the pain, and they were bothered by it. See, when I went down, my eyelids closed tightly. My tear ducts became active. My stomach, which could do nothing to relieve the pain, churned a little because it was affected by the pain also.

And there may be a ministry in need that you cannot be a part of to physically help in. But it should bother you, and you should pray for it. And you should encourage those that are working in it. Because you are also part of the body.

And when you start to consider the different ministries that exist and the ones that are coming up this year. Your question should not be, “Why should I help in that ministry?” Your question should be, “Why not?” Why am I not going to a Home Group today? Why am I not involved in GN Clubs? Why am I not helping in whatever ministry?

And if your answer is anything that resembles, “Well it messes with my schedule, it is not comfortable to me, that’s my relaxing time,” or anything of the sort, you have been hit with the arrow of Personal Comfort, and Satan’s attack on you has been successful.

You might be saying, “Mike, this asking too much. I think you are expecting too much from us.” I refer you back to the Bible.

Colossians 1:18 KJV 1900

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

That He might have the preeminence. Jesus is the head of this body, the body to which you belong because He put you here. He has a task for this church. If He truly is preeminent in your life, then it does not matter how uncomfortable it makes you, how often you have to rearrange your schedule, you will do it because He is preeminent. He is in first place.

And if you think that it is a crazy notion to center your life on Jesus and the church, then I will point you to one more passage.

Acts 20:28 KJV 1900

28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

There is nothing more precious than the church. Name me anything else that Jesus died for? He died for the church! Yes, the Church, the body of universal believers across all time, but also this church. And if you don’t believe that Jesus died specifically for GNBC, then what are you doing here? We serve the church because we are the church and we serve the church because Jesus died for the church, of which we are part.

We probably do not have time for the next one, so I will list the next Dangerous arrow briefly.

The Arrow of Offense

This is another one of those arrows that Satan uses that are sneaky. Offended Christians are weakened Christians. There is no power in a Christian that is offended.

Let me define the word “offense.” In the Bible, the word offense means a stumbling block. Something that causes one to fall. Hurt and offense are not one and the same.

I want you to look at one verse with me in Psalms 119:165

Psalm 119:165 KJV 1900

165 Great peace have they which love thy law: And nothing shall offend them.

This does not mean that nothing shall hurt them. It means that even the things that are hurtful will not cause you to fall. They will not cause you to give up. They will not cause you to stop advancing. The pain is there.

Ian played soccer for about 5 years. He started when he was just 4. He really wanted to play, and on his second practice, he got tripped up and fell and scraped his knee. It hurt him. He cried a little. The coach checked on him, and he was fine.

The next week at practice he fell again and cried some more. This time, he did not stop so the coach sent him to me on the sidelines. I told Ian, “Ian in this game, you are going to fall, and sometimes its going to hurt. People will knock you over, and it might hurt. But you can’t just lay on the ground crying. So, if you get knocked down, if you fall, I want you to get right back up and keep going no matter how much it hurts. But if you can’t take a little pain because of some scrapes, then I’m not letting you play anymore.”

He fell many times during that season and the following 4 years. He never stayed down even when it hurt. he would pop back up like a Jack in the Box and continue mission — whether that was score goals, counterattack, or defend his goal.

Did it hurt? Sure. But he didn’t let the pain stop him.

Folks, in church, people will say things and do things that are hurtful. Sometimes accidentally, sometimes on purpose, and sometimes, we perceive that something was said in a spirit that was not ever intended.

It is ok to acknowledge that pain. It is right to go to the person and say, “What you did/what you said hurt me.” But that should never stop us from being an active member of the body.

I am purposed to remove the phrases, “That offends me,” and “I find that offensive,” from my vocabulary. If something happens and it hurts, then I have two options as a disciple of Jesus. I either forgive it and let it go if the hurt is minor. I pop back up like a Jack-in-the-Box and drive on.

Or, if the hurt is strong and threatens to make me stumble, I go the the offending party and say, “Hey, what you said/what you did hut me. I’d like to talk to you about it and resolve things.” And we do this meekly, humbly, with only one goal in mind - restoration. Matthew 18:15

Matthew 18:15 KJV 1900

15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

We have talked at length before about forgiveness, and we do not have a lot of time left right now to do a deep dive, but I will say this— there are too many Christians sitting on the sidelines because at some point, somebody offended them. They knocked them down. They hurt them. And they have not dealt with that offense Biblically. They have not forgiven, they have held onto bitterness and anger far too long, and the pain, which is reasonable to have, has turned into an offense, and they have stumbled upon it and fallen.

Invitation

We are about done, and I’ll ask Tahsha to come and play something on the piano as we have our invitation. This has been a difficult sermon to prepare, let alone preach. But it is my responsibility to feed this flock. I have a great sense of urgency that we as a church need to fully die to self and deny ourselves because if we do not, God cannot and will not use us in the manner He has intended.

I believe with all my heart that the things that are in my heart and mind for this year, God has placed there for us as a church. So I am going to do all that is in my power to do what He wants me to do as a member of this church.

I know for a fact God wants me to be involved in Good News Clubs. When Tahsha was organizing the dates, I told her, “I can only help out if it is on Fridays.” Because the other days I am working at a school. When Fridays got stripped away, you know what I said, “Well, I guess I’m working it on Tuesdays.” Why? Because I am fully convinced that God wanted me to do Good News Club and that the change of dates was not a surprise to Him.

Listen, if you are convinced that God wants you to be part of a ministry, then no change or obstacle should stand in your way to be a part of it. I had people tell me last year, “We are committed to coming to this Disciples Path study every Wednesday because we believe God wants us to be hear and connect with the church this way. We are going to complete this.” And now they are not coming. The reasons vary, but I wonder, “Did God change His mind for you?”

I’ll ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes.

Home Groups

WU

1. What stood out to you about the sermon? Are there any questions or concerns?

2. Think of a time you tried something new for God (serving, sharing your faith, giving, a new habit). Did it go smoothly, or did you hit some resistance or frustration?

SF

3. In your own words, what do you think Jesus means by “deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me”?

4. In the story of the scribe who says, “I will follow you wherever you go,” what part of Jesus’ answer (“the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”) stands out to you most, and why?

5. If you had to summarize Jesus’ warning to that scribe in one sentence, how would you put it?

HF

6. Where do you most feel the pull of comfort—schedule, energy, preferences, kids’ activities, work—that can make it harder to say yes to serving or following where Jesus leads?

7. The sermon used the “pillow” image: not necessarily giving up pillows, but being willing to give up comfort. If you had to guess, what might a “pillow” be in your current season (something you really don’t like to give up)?

APP

8. This coming week, what is one situation where you already know you’ll be tempted to choose comfort over obedience (sleep vs. prayer, screen time vs. Scripture, staying home vs. gathering, etc.)? What is a way you can begin to “armor up” for the possibility of that fight?

9. Think of an area where you often say, “I just don’t feel like it.” How might that sentence change if you saw it as an opportunity to deny yourself and follow Jesus?

10. If you had to choose one phrase to pray this week—“Lord, make me available,” “Lord, make me bold,” or “Lord, make me faithful”—which would you pick, and why?