A P.A.R.T. | The Great 8 (Transformation Church)

Hi, my name is Will, and today we're talking about what kind of church we are. So what kind of church are we? We are a church that values being a part. What does that mean? Being a part means we are people actively representing transformation. We are spiritual contributors, not spiritual consumers. We are the church. We exist for the world. Acts 2 42 says it like this. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and the sharing in meals and to prayer. What does this mean? The early church valued being a part. They got together. They were involved in each other's lives. They were involved building the church. Matthew 28 19 through 20 says this. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. The church, we are the church. We exist for the world. We're called. Go out and make disciples. We're called to go reach the world. We're called to be active, to move. My whole life changed by me becoming a part. And that's why I'm so excited to talk to you about this. That's why I'm passionate about this.

Because me being a part of what the local church was doing completely shifted and changed my life. I want to briefly talk to you a little bit about who I am, my story. I'm a pastor here at Transformation Church now, but it was not always like that. I used to be a drug addict for about 10, 11 years, struggling with anxiety, struggling with depression, all these things. And I wish I had more time to share more about it, but I don't. I just need you to hear what God has brought me from, from the drugs to even, I ended up getting arrested. I ended up serving some time in jail and did my time. Listen, your boy was guilty. Okay. Let me be very clear. And I was in there and that was when God really started to move on my heart. I had a moment where I gave my life to Jesus and everything started to change. I felt different. My surroundings and everything, your boy was still locked up, but I still was living free. I can't even explain it. What God did to me is absolutely incredible. And so I was trying to figure out, now what? And I feel like maybe for some of you, you're trying to figure that out too. You're in a season of like, what do I do? Now I want to tell you what happened for me is all God said was to serve. Nothing else. Listen, I wish I could tell you he gave me all these, this list of things to do and do this, don't do that. But what happened was God just said, I just need you to serve. I didn't really know what that meant, but when I got released, I did my time, I served my sentence. I did exactly what God told me to do.

I got a part of a local church. I got involved. I started making movement. I started being active in a church and what I saw God do through that is absolutely incredible. There's so many doors. I wish I could go through all of them, but me being a part of a tribe, a small group completely led to me meeting community that I again, then got to go do outreaches and serve with, and then I got to meet people, learn how to pray over people, see healing, see miracles. There was all these things, but it started with me becoming a part of something. And so now I can look back and I can see where I'm at today, man, I went from a drug addict to being able to be a pastor at an amazing church. But it started with me getting in the game. It started with me saying yes. And what I'm here to tell you as you are watching and you're learning about culture and what we are as a church, I need you to hear me say this. God wants us to transform the world and He also at the same time is going to transform you. He's going to transform us along the way. How does this happen? We need to say yes. We need to be active. We need to get involved. And so I'm here to encourage you as we are a church that are actively representing transformation. I need you to do me a favor. I need you to become a partner here at Transformation Church and you take a next step, become a part of what we're doing here. If that's you and you want to become a part of what Transformation is doing and you want to get in the game and you want to see what your next step is, I'm going to ask you that you do me a favor, that you text APART to 828282.

Can you do that for me? I'm telling you. Your yes, I'm telling you, will lead to things that you can't even imagine right now, but it starts with you taking that step. So remember, this is who we are. We are the church that values being a part, people actively representing transformation. Until next time, go out and live a transformed life.