Activating Your Faith || Victory Church [Book of John Roundtable #3]

We weren't made just to consume, as we heard Pastor Johnson always say, Harsha, Harsha, Harsha. I hope I don't make that sound when I eat chips. Hey guys. How was your weekend? Did you check out the message? Yes, I did. I watched it in service at Norcross. It was really good. It was really powerful. Yeah, it was. Hungry for more. Man, the woman at the well has my heart, and I found myself just thanking God for her so many times over the last couple of weeks. I'm so grateful that we've been spending so much time with her. And so I want to take us back to a scripture that Pastor Johnson honed in on over the weekend and just ask you guys a couple of questions about it. So it's from John 4, 28 through 30, and it says, the woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could he possibly be the Messiah? So the people came streaming from the village to see him. So we see two things here. We see that she came to the well and she had something. She had a jar, but she left after meeting Jesus with no jar, but with a mission, with a purpose. And so she went into the village. And I love what Dr. Birch said, Pastor Johnson's seminary teacher, that she became the model disciple because she immediately went into action after meeting Jesus. And so I'm curious for you guys, when you are out in the world, whether it's a coffee shop or somebody that you're actually doing life with, how do you talk to people about Jesus? That's a great question. Well, I'd say for me, it just kind of naturally flows into the conversation. I think there's something that we see here in general, but I think it's just true. It's just like when you love something, you speak about it. And I just think when you've given your life to the Lord and you really do love the Lord, it's kind of hard not to speak about him in ways. I think I get accused a lot of speaking about him too much. And I think it just flows in natural conversation. I just think when we're talking about life or life circumstances, I just think God is a part of those things. So when we're discussing how it's going, how we're working through it, it's just natural that I have to talk about how the Lord is teaching me things through that and how he's molding me and shaping me in those things as well. I love that. Very bold. Were you always that way or did you learn to be that way? How did you come about that boldness to be able to just... You know, I think it's funny that you said, I don't, I think I don't see it as boldness anymore. I think I used to see it as boldness, but now it is just kind of part of my conversation. Like I

don't see it as something I have to like work to speak about because it's so part of what I speak about now at this point. I think I notice it when people bring it up, but I don't think I consciously think about speaking about the Lord. I just think it is actually just part of our conversation or my conversation in my life that it just naturally spills out. I met someone at a cafe recently and I was in the line with them and I was just waiting with them and she was telling me her story of her life and how she met her husband on a dating app or something like that. And I was like, wow, that's amazing. I feel like the Lord has been showing me and I'll just, it would just naturally come out and I can see maybe they'll react in a certain way, but I just have to speak what's going on in my life and it just naturally flows out. And so through that, it eliminates the fear or the resistance because I'm not trying to push something on them. I'm just telling them the true experience I'm actually having with the Lord. I love that. So we weren't made just to consume, as we heard Pastor Johnson say, Harsha, Harsha, Harsha. I hope I don't make that sound when I eat chips, but I get a lot of chips, but consumers consuming the things of church and just coming and maybe even not even just consuming, but criticizing the church and complaining about the parking lot or the lines at the check-in for children's ministry or, oh, they didn't, those weren't my favorite worship songs or becoming a consumer of the church is dangerous. And so Pastor Johnson challenged us to, to activate, what was it? Eat, elevate, activate and translate, I believe, to activate our faith and not just be consumers by serving. And so tell me about what that's been like for you and how you've different areas that you've served in, what that's done in your own heart and how would you, how would you tell somebody else that they should do that too? Yeah. So when I first started coming to Victory, I came in high school and that was also those years where I met the Lord, gave my life to Jesus. And throughout that, I became, I started serving as well as a student. And once I graduated and I became a young adult, I most recently started serving in youth ministry as an adult leader. And to be back in a space where not only I met the Lord, but I was around leaders who poured into me, leaders who were passionate about Jesus

and passionate about the next generation to invest into me, that I have this privilege to now do the same thing for the next generation and the generations after that is a huge blessing. And I would say to anyone who is maybe on the fence and maybe has, you know, maybe those criticisms at church of like the lines are too long and the worship didn't do the songs that I liked and all these things. I think that when you realize what goes into it, when you realize actually being the hands and feet of just even being a part of the Capital C Church, you see all of the hands and the pieces that come together to make a Sunday morning, to make a Saturday night service possible. You realize that waiting in line is okay. Like being able to sing songs that put your heart in a posture of surrender and a posture of an awareness of who God is really changes your perspective. Once you serve, your perspective really does shift. And you see that, oh wow, all of these pieces that God has created us to be, all the gifts that he's given us, all the skills like he has given us. And we all come together every week to serve in some capacity, to bless those who are coming in who do not know Jesus, to bless those who have maybe never stepped foot into a church before and to provide them an experience

to meet Jesus. And so I absolutely love serving. I love serving every week. And it's just been a huge blessing to just see the fruit of just saying yes and the fruit of the obedience that it takes to serve. I love that. It reminds me of the perspective difference between a renter and an owner of a home. As a renter of a home, you maybe don't take as good of care of it. You don't care how much it costs to fix the HVAC or whatever it is. But as the owner, you know how much it costs to replace that unit. And you know how old it is and you know all of the intricacies involved in it. So you're gonna take better care of it. And so I love that perspective of when you serve, you see what goes into it. And so you have a better appreciation for it. That's really good. Absolutely. How about you, Connery? You know, I'd kind of second that in some ways. I think I had such good leaders when I was coming up specifically here at Victory that I saw them lead and they led me deeper in my faith. And so we're kind of going through a season of transition right now with young adults

where some of my leaders have kind of transitioned out and there's like a bit of a gap where it's like, okay, well, who's gonna do this? And I think me and some of the other people I serve with were kind of looking at it like, wow, these people really took that mantle when they were our age. And now we're at the point where we get to do the same for other people who are now coming in. So that's the one element that really spurred me. Is that intimidating? I don't think so because I've seen them lead so well that I feel like I know that we can do it because they did it. I would say that. And also I would just say, I am just some quick backstory. Like for me, I lived in three countries and I've been to different churches and I just think we're very privileged to be able to serve in the capacity that we get to serve here. The work that I do now, I can only do because of the things that I was doing when I was serving here and what they taught me and they've enabled me and given me so many more opportunities that I would never would have had had I not stepped into serving. And I know that initial step of taking

that initial step to serve was a bit of a big step for me. But I just think within a short period of time, I saw, like you're saying, like the flip side of serving. Like it's really, as much as I get out of serving, I get to see other people receive from the things that we're putting our hands to. And that's the biggest privilege, honestly. Yeah, it's so good. I'm just so grateful for a house that not only teaches the goodness of the word, but then activates our faith. And creates avenues that we can do that. And going back to the woman at the well, she was, by all intents and purposes, unqualified to deliver this message to this town of Jesus being the living water. But that's what qualifies her. And I just love that God uses us in our unique circumstances, no matter how we were raised, no matter what country we're living in, no matter what stage of life we're in, we have something to give. We can give from our finances, we can give of our time, we can give of our hearts, even in a line at a cafe, to tell people who God is to us. And I'm just, I'm so grateful. And I just, I love watching

what the Lord's doing here at Victory. Me too, I love it. I'm excited for what God's gonna continue doing in and through just our obedience, just as the Capital C Church, but also specifically at Victory Church, just what he's gonna continue doing in and through us. I'm excited. Yeah, let's go. Thank you guys. This was an awesome conversation. Thank you for having us. Yeah.