Main Character | Rodrigo Vargas

What's good Union Houston, let me hear you out there. Welcome to week five of greater. We've been discovering that in the kingdom of God, God doesn't just call us to be great, but he invites us into a relationship where we become greater versions of ourselves by being transformed into reflections of Jesus. That's what we've been talking about. And if today is your first day with us, we want to say welcome. We're glad you're here. We want you to know that you're not merely a guest. You're an answered prayer and Union Houston exists to connect people to God with the gospel of Jesus. And that gospel says that doesn't matter what your past looks like. Doesn't matter what you're presently going through or what your struggles are, and it's to leave you where you are today, you're going to watch it through it. Yeah. Yes. They love you may not be able to see you, but we love you and we can't wait until the day you join us here in person. Greater is not about trying harder. It's about becoming who God created you to be. Greater moves us from believing to becoming, from faith to fruit, from mere information to life transformation. And we've discovered that religion will always test boundaries, but a relationship will trust the Lord and that Jesus is inviting us to respond to what he's calling us. And that the fruit of that is the results of our lives. And in order for us to produce good fruit, we must remain rooted today. Jesus is going to take us one step further. He's going to take us deeper because fruit requires growth. And just like a fruit on a tree, it cannot be picked, it cannot be harvested until it is ripe.

Therefore, it must grow and it must mature, which is a huge part of becoming greater. We're about to visit a moment where Jesus has been and is teaching, shaping, stretching his disciples, showing them what the great connection looks like, exemplifying what it is to live in the great commandment and leading them all towards the great commission. But let me set this up as to where we're going today. At this point in Jesus's ministry, he's healed the sick, the lame, the blind, the lepers. He's casted out demons. He's given the disciples that same authority to do the same thing he did. He's calmed storms. He's walked over water. He's fed thousands miraculously twice already. Now, Peter, James, and John, his inner circle, have seen him transfigured into glory, into heavenly glory. And because they've experienced this, they've seen, felt, and experienced supernatural moments with Jesus. Now, this is important for us today because they're becoming greater versions of themselves. And just like we are in our faith, we're becoming greater versions of ourselves. But, but, but, but, but they still lack something. And this is where the message will speak to us today. They still lack maturity and humility. One cannot become greater without becoming smaller. I'm talking to you today. Today the goal is for us to become greater by becoming smaller. So in Matthew chapter 18, which we'll be reading, Jesus confronts the very thing that keeps us from growing. See, we want the benefits of the kingdom. We want to be the main character without kingdom character. So we're going to read and prayerfully peer into this conversation that Jesus is having with his disciples and today because the Holy Spirit's in this room, he's having with us. Would you stand with me as we read the word of God beginning at verse one?

At this time the disciples came to Jesus and asked who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven he called a little child to him and placed the child among them and He said truly I tell you Unless you change and become like little children You will never enter the kingdom of heaven therefore whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and whoever Welcomes one such one such child in my name welcomes me if anyone causes one of these little ones and Then he gives a description of what he's talking about those who believe in me to stumble Want to stop there for just a moment and let the Spirit of God really speak to us Jesus is warning us and saying hey If anyone causes one of these little ones those who believe in me to stumble It would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck And to be drowned in the depths of the sea these are strong words by Jesus by the way Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble What what a passage for this past week to be read in church whoa Such things must come but woe to the person through whom they come If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble cut it off and throw it away It is better for you to enter life maimed and crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire And if your eye causes you to stumble gouge it out and throw it away. It is better that for you to enter life That for you to enter life with one eye Than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fires of hell now

I want you to point out and highlight for yourselves that he says it is better for you to enter life This is important because sometimes we read this passage and we think he's talking about the afterlife he said hey it's better for you to enter life with one eye See that you do not despise One of these little ones who believe in me for I tell you that there are angels in heaven Always see the face of my father in heaven for the son of man came to seek And to save the lost let's pray father god we thank you Thank you for your word, thank you jesus for these words that you're speaking to us today I ask in the mighty name of jesus that the holy spirit move in this room and speak to us today Make us greater by showing us who you are showing us your character showing us your truth Showing us what you want for our lives and what areas what we must become smaller So that you could become greater in our lives Open every eye to see every open every ear to hear and soften every heart Heart and heart to receive the seed of the gospel today Holy spirit help me deliver that Which you have deposit Into my spirit and I pray this in jesus mighty name and the people of god said Amen You may be seated Now here the disciples asked a very dangerous question and they opened up pandora's box on themselves Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? What they were really asking is a jesus Who gets to be the main character in this story? Who is john wick? Right The title to your message today is main character Main character

main character And that's a double entendre for those rap fans We're talking about main care we live in a world That's obsessed with main character energy Oh spotlight chasing Platform seeking influence craving applause wanting I like to use the word for them. They just thirst You know people that are thirsty hey listen I know some pastors that are thirsty I can point you out oh he's thirsty I could tell everyone wants to be known everyone wants to be seen everyone wants to be the center of attention and we see this everywhere in every sphere of life even in the way people approach activism causes and things that they're passionate about let me show you people jump into protests hashtags and viral moments because they want to be seen as someone who cares about this issue but caring is not the same as costly compassion it's not the same for instance many will shout abolish ice no kings oh my favorite one is free Palestine free Palestine I think they like to scream free free Palestine right I don't know where they were about 15 years ago when I was repping my Palestinian Jersey everywhere now it's cool see now you get clicks and viral links you know now everybody oh he's for free Palestine on social media but never never actually love serve house help or even sit with the people they claim to be advocating for now I want to be clear with you I'm not just talking out of the side of my neck I have no shame in telling you as your pastor that my family and I had personally hosted helped and loved both legal and undocumented immigrants oh my god and if there is a problem with that it's okay not to come back here some of them are sitting in this very room today with you as an ambassador of Christ you must be very careful to ensure that your opinions do not outrun Christlike compassion because posting does not equal loving marching does not equal serving and visibility does not equal responsibility people want to be seen as caring but do not want to carry the cost of caring for example some of you people went to the no kings protest God bless

you but then you oppose the arrest of a monstrous dictator by the name of Nicola Maduro whose corruption violence oppression murder has devastated Venezuela and Venezuelan people including members of my own family and friends who have suffered loss of homeland family property and financial stability you know what Jesus calls such people hypocrites yet these same voices by the way I'm not done with the hypocrites these same voices are absolutely definitely silent about the Islamic regime in Iran a brutal government murdering its own people with millions of Christians on the underground church that we support in the last few weeks they have murdered over 40,000 people have injured 300,000 people and over 50,000 people have been arrested why because they want to be free and they don't want to live under the yoke of Islam the social outrage is selective y'all right because selective outrage gets the clicks gets more attention and more popularity me and pastor Sarah were on a cruise last year for our anniversary and we sat next to a gay couple amazing we said we ate dinner almost every night right next to them so we had great time we got to know each other they're from Canada from from Quebec from Quebec and and and they told us a very sad heartbreaking story about how their own gay community had kicked them out. Do you know why? Because they would not go and march for free Palestine. You see one of the spouses is Jewish and her grandparents were murdered in the Holocaust. But if you don't march you're canceled. This is what the world is pressing people to do. For the record I want to tell you that Union Houston, I'm proud to say, is deeply invested in the persecuted church globally. We support, we advocate, we help, we build up believers in Iran, in Palestine, in Egypt, in Lebanon, Afghanistan, and beyond. But I want to tell you this is this is my biblical conviction not my political position. Every person is made in the image of God and deserves dignity and we only have one King and his name is Jesus. I want to further say that I made a statement just a few days ago and you'd be surprised how many people bashed me for making such a statement but I'm not fazed by it because I know I

stand on the Word of God and so did Jesus. So when I say to you that I understand our country needs to enforce laws but it should enforce it with dignity and respect. Again this is biblical not political but people will take the political route because they want that main character energy because you want to be liked because you want to be accepted amongst your social circles. I know far too many young people where they went to college and all of a sudden they're friends with all these conservative people and all of a sudden that everything they say and do is conservative. Just like I know young people that have wandered off and gone into these super leftist weird Marxist area of life and they come back and try to tell me that men can get pregnant. It's the same thing. I'm here to swing at both of y'all just in case. How many of y'all know someone with that main character energy? Always loud. He's always right. He's always dramatic. He's always the center of every story. Where's my nephew? He's around here somewhere. He's the center of every story. Jesus is flipping the script though. In the kingdom of God the main character is never us. The kingdom of God is what I like to call the upside-down kingdom and Jesus turns the whole conversation upside down on us. Greatness doesn't begin with being the main character. It becomes by becoming like a child. Jesus is calling us to a complete orientation of the heart. A childlike transformation rooted in trust, dependence as like a child, and humility. A conversion that isn't just about initial salvation. It's an ongoing daily turning away from the main character to Jesus Christ who is the main character. You cannot strive for the crown and reach the cross at the same time. You got to be converted. See greater starts with conversion not competition and comparison. This world pressures us to compete, to one-up each other, to keep up with the Joneses. I know many of you have struggled maybe struggling through that right now. You feel like you're behind because your high school friends are already ahead of you. Because your college friends are already making so much money. Because they got a bigger house. Because they got a pool. It's tearing us apart y'all.

Everyone, everyone claims to have their truth. This is the only truth. And if you don't agree, you know what they do? They cancel you. They get rid of you. They insult you. They insulted me this week. It's comparison, competition and consumption disguised as confidence because it's killing our ability to walk in the footsteps of the kingdom of God. This is why the apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 12, verse one through two, a truth that is desperately needed in this cultural moment. Therefore, I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercies to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Offer your bodies. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is good, pleasing and perfect will. Before Jesus talks about humility, before he talks about responsibility, he warns us about accountability. He talks about a conversion, not conformity. And he's holding us accountable to it.

Matthew 18 opens with the disciples arguing about status. Who's the greatest? Who ranks highest? Who gets the spotlight? Who's the main character? Do you know why their egos were inflated though? They had seen Jesus transfigured. They had seen something no one had ever seen before. But let me ask you a question. How many of us have done this very same thing once God has saved you, anointed you, gifted you, blessed you, or once we thought we know more than Susie Jo who keeps relapsing? Jesus doesn't answer their question. He changes the conversation entirely. He flips their entire value system. He brings a child into their mix and says to them, unless you are converted to become like a child, like a little child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. In other words, greater does not begin with competition. It begins by conversion. Greater does not begin with your status, your title. Greater doesn't start with comparison or competition. Greater does not begin with consuming every week and not pouring out at all. Greater does not start or begin or take place by being seen. Greater begins with a repentant heart. Now, when Jesus says change,

he says the Greek word strepho. It means to turn around, to change directions of where I'm walking, to completely internally pivot. In other words, like military people doing a bow face. Now, that cannot happen without first repentance, which is the word metanoia, which is to change your mind. Jesus is saying you don't need a bigger platform. You need a different posture, and that requires you change your mind, your heart, and your soul. This is complete transformation. Jesus grows us in the kingdom of God. Church, his people are grown when we are willing to be children, dependent, trusting, and surrender. Children don't really compete. They don't compare. They don't go around and be like, man, I got better shoes than you. They start that in middle school. Children don't go around like, I got a better haircut than you. But they might say my dad's tougher than your dad though, but that's what we want to do. My dad is bigger than your false gods. Are you catching what I'm driving? Children don't pretend. Just trust me. I go to lunch almost every Sunday with baby Zion,

and she'll tell you, I got to poop in the middle of lunch. She ain't lying to you, right? She'll sit on my lap eating her chicken nuggets and fart at the same time. She ain't trying to be something with a lady. She's going to start that way. She's in middle school. Children don't go around posturing shit. Children just simply come. They come. That's the conversion Jesus is looking for us in us. That's what he's urging us to do because you cannot step into the kingdom greatness with a competitive heart, a comparing spirit and a consuming mindset. You cannot follow Jesus while fighting for that spotlight that's on you. The disciples wanted to know who is the greatest. Jesus responds to them, the greatest is the one who becomes small. This is the first step of kingdom maturity, conversion, not competition. Because the kingdom of God honors the humble. The kingdom of God honors the humble, the lowly, the unseen, the overlooked, it's why he picked Mary. Psalms 138 says, he looks kindly on the lowly, the lofty, he sees them from afar, he keeps them away. In other words, God draws near to those who are humble and he puts himself far away from those who are proud. But just like many Western Christians today,

the disciples either fought for truth, ignored it, or let pride get the best of them. This is what happens and this is why denominations exist. Okay, they believe a certain quirk in interpretation of scripture that didn't exist in the early church, so therefore they think they're better than James, Peter, and John, Paul. So they got to create a whole new system because they got it wrong in the beginning, fella. And so Jesus confronts our pride. He's overturning our entire value system with something that is unexpected, a child. Now this is important because in the ancient world, a child had no status, no authority, no power, no platform, no legal rights, yet Jesus places a child at the center and essentially says, this is what greatness looks like in my kingdom, my upside down kingdom. Maybe you've heard this, the last shall be first, the least shall be the greatest, the lowly are lifted, the overlooked are honored. The disciples were arguing about position and Jesus is teaching about posture. He's teaching that true kingdom greatness is not measured by accomplishments, by applauses or attention, but by humility, that's it. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. Humility is thinking of yourself less. We always want to be the victim.

We always want to be the victim. It's always their fault, right? This is releasing the need to be impressive. It's rejecting desire to be important. Sometimes we play the victim because we want to be important. It's refusing to fight for the spotlight. The upside down kingdom cannot be experienced with main character energy. The humble can be taught. The humble can be taught. This is why he honors the humble. The humble can be taught, not the proud. You try to teach a proud person, forget about it. You're wasting your breath, like talking to a brick wall. As a matter of fact, you might get a better response out of that brick wall than that proud person. They're a stiff neck. The humble can be shaped. The humble can be trusted. Now, hear me out, Union Houston family. The most dangerous thing in the kingdom of God is not a demon. It ain't the witches. As a matter of fact, witches come here and they got to leave because the power, the kabod of God is too much for them. The power of the Holy Spirit. They tremble. They don't know what to do.

They jitter in their chairs. They got to go. The most dangerous thing to the church is a Christian with pride. Is a disciple with pride. Pride competes. Humility receives. Pride demands. Humility depends. Are you demanding something of God? Or depending on God for something? Pride climbs, humility kneels. Our biggest obstacle isn't sinful people. It isn't the heathens. It isn't the witches. It isn't the backsider. It's a disciple. of Jesus who have not yet answered the call to serve, to give, and to be used for kingdom purposes. That's the greatest danger we are facing. And as your pastor, I can tell you the greatest thing you can do for me, for this house, is to help me serve our community by allowing God to convert you into a servant. Jesus isn't lowering the standard in your life, he's revealing the only doorway to greater is through him. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. God will not share his glory with the proud, but he will pour out his presence, favor, blessings,

anointing, and greatness upon all those who are humble. And I believe he's calling you higher today. He wants to take you higher and it requires humility. He wants to get you higher, but it's gonna require you kneeling before him. He's gonna take you higher, greatness and higher, but it's gonna require we become smaller. See, cause greater carries the weight of responsibility. We hold, this is what he was telling the disciples, you are responsible to your witness. Somehow or another in the Western church, we got away from preaching and teaching that we are responsible for the witness that you carry. You are responsible for the witness that you carry. You are not your own anymore. You have been paid by a price, a price been paid. So we can't go around just giving opinions off of life. Jesus does something powerful here. After he redefines greatness, he immediately shifts the conversation to responsibility. Because you cannot separate humility from responsibility of being humble. Humility is the posture, responsibility is the proof that we're humble. The moment you enter the kingdom of God, you are entrusted with the weight of care, accountability and spiritual responsibility for others to witness to them. Now, I did not say to go out, get a sign and says, repent or burn in hell and stand on the corner.

That's not effective. I did tell you that he's called us to love that dame coworker you can't stand. That one primo you got, that when he shows up at the party, you're like, oh, this fool again. That's who you got to testify. That's who you're witnessing to. Jesus goes from holding up a child as a model of greatness to warning the disciples, what happens to those who cause one of these little ones. Remember he defined it. Let me read it to you. If anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe it be. Hey, do you believe in him? You're a little one to stumble. If we cause another to stumble, it'd be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and thrown into the depths of the sea. I've heard that verse be used to attack human trafficking and sex offenders of children. And although God has another verse for how he deals with those wicked people, that's not what this verse is about. That verse is about how you handle your life and how sometimes we do things that are not Christ-like around people that are searching for God and you cause them to stumble.

That's what it's about. So the same energy you gave it when you don't like pedophiles is the same energy you got to take responsibility and be like, I got to get my life right. I got to get my prayer life. I got to read my scriptures. I got to start walking this out. I got to keep my mouth shut. Jesus ain't playing here. I know y'all love the Jesus. Oh, bring me all the people and let's feed them all. And let's, you know, walk on water and save Peter every time he does something stupid. I know y'all love him, but we need this one. We are responsible for the impact of our life. You are responsible for the impact of your life. Take responsibility today. We are accountable for the souls God has assigned us to witness to. Take accountability for the people around your life. We carry a weight, whether you want to or not, too bad. We carry it. Luke 12 48 says for everyone who has been given much much will be demanded. I love how we like to take that in prosperity gospel churches and yeah oh a lot we keep a lot of those who entrusted are given much but he first said to those who have been given much a lot has been demanded and from the one who has been entrusted with much much more will be asked. This is why Union Houston we talk so much about the disciples journey. If you don't know how to get on that there's a little qr code in front of your chairs there you can scan it you can go to our connection point ask all about it because you cannot be responsible

without accountability you cannot be accountable without community. To all my returning citizens welcome home but I'm gonna tell you something the only way you're gonna stay out from behind bars listen to me while you're those of you praying for parole I'm praying for favor you're gonna get it this time around but listen when you get out you gotta get in community and stay in community. You are responsible for the faith you model. Yeah yeah listen I I still have this it's been 18 years since I used cocaine Xanax drank and did all this crazy stuff okay it's been 18 years since I've been in in a strip club been 18 years since I was a heathen are you with me and there are still people that look at me be like hmm he's faking it okay so I carry a weight too I need to model my faith I need to model my faith it's what I signed up for I don't feel don't feel bad for me the words you speak I can't comment on that don't know what to tell you it's okay to say it's you're it's okay not to have to say everything about all everything okay you're not running for office okay you're not a history professor at Harvard or Yale you know he he you know you're you're not you know you're you're not Malcolm X the example you said we carry the weight of the example we set the influence you carry the way you love and the way you refuse to love you may not have asked for it but influence comes with the salvation of Christ Jesus saved you he didn't just forgive you he entrusted you with your witness he appointed you with your witness he assigned you with your witness he anointed you to be a witness he called you to his mission to be a witness the problem is many believers want salvation without the responsibility they want forgiveness without the accountability they want grace without growth listen once you touch grace you've got to start growing in that grace greater always requires a response but you can't say I didn't I don't want to deal with those people oh my god my disciples some of my disciples have been a they you know the lord the lord has blessed me with some of the most hardened men in America came to Union Houston to be shaped and I love it because they're some of the most powerful men of prayer the most powerful men of faith wasn't Peter a hard person I love it but this is always comes out oh pastor you don't understand I can't deal with that type of dude I guess you forgot you were that type of my my player like what did you forget I just look at

oh see I know my mess you don't remember I remember oh pastor I don't do accountability I don't need people I love this I don't need people all up in my business I wonder why I don't want anyone correcting me mira muy muy let's follow you I get corrected pastor Susan corrected me this past week I was oh you're right my bad that was my bad she loves correcting me no no no pastor I don't want to be in a connect group I'm an introvert it's a it's a small connect group I mean you're not gonna be I'm not gonna you don't come up here and start speaking to everyone, you know what I mean? I don't want anyone speaking into my life because, you know, I don't know where they've been. Oh, I guess where you've been is better. This is the main character energy I'm talking about, but this is not kingdom maturity. Jesus says, true greatness is not seeing how high we rise, but how low we can go, how small we can become. How well you protect, disciple, and care for the little ones. And the little ones doesn't mean children, it means a new believer, a young disciple, the spiritually vulnerable, those still fighting their way. Can I tell you, some of you people in here, and I love you, and you can stay here, and it's okay, you're still fighting through sin. See, no one teaches that, that you're still fighting through sin. That's what discipleship is for. That's what discipleship is for. That, listen, we have to be careful

and to steward the least, the last, and the lost. This is why we say we love God, we love people, and we make disciples. We're responsible for this. You're responsible for how you walk with them, what you allow, what you normalize. You're responsible about what you post. I know that it's your social media, and I know you get to do whatever you want with it, but listen, young ladies, you can't be posting thirst traps and then posting devotionals the next day. You can't post to me. You're not trying to show them the back of your T-shirt. You're over here like, look at that bottom apple. Look at that peach. The cat's out of the bag, y'all. You're responsible even in that. You're responsible for what you tolerate. So young people, you got some friends, are they still smoking dope? Hey, look, I love you too much, but you can't continue to be doing, are you in or are you out? Are you playing with God or what? Like, what are we doing here? What are you running for? Hey, it helps me sleep. Okay, take melatonin. Eat a turkey sandwich right before bed. A glass of warm milk.

What happened to that glass of warm milk, Ms. Elsa? Good God, everything's smoking weed. My anxiety, the Holy Spirit takes care of that anxiety. By the way, I read a study last year. It was fascinating how a guy that was for pro-cannabis did a further study and they realized that too much cannabis actually affects people when they stop, have more anxiety than they had before they started smoking. As your pastor and shepherd, it is my response to make you aware of this and give you clear, simple steps to go. So here, I'm gonna tell you, you're new, attend a connect group. You know, listen, just go out there, what's your connect group? The pastor keeps talking about connect group. I'm not in one, I need to get in one this week because the Holy Spirit told me, not the pastor. He's loud, he's obnoxious, but the Holy Spirit told me I gotta get in a connect group. Number two, next week is meet the team. If you haven't been, I don't know what to, don't worry about that, just come meet us. Just come meet us. I'll sit with you. I'll hold your hand through the whole process, deal. I want you to meet the team because you need to get involved and then the last thing is go through our learning portal. I was reading all this feedback about,

my God, this is great. I never knew these things about Jesus. I never knew this is how the church operated. I didn't even know this is our response. Go through the portal, get learning. I teach all kinds of stuff on there and we're gonna add more stuff in the weeks to come because real maturity is not proven by how much scripture you can quote, highlight in your Bible, but how many people don't stumble because of you? Kingdom responsibility means seeing yourself not as the main character, but as a co-laborer with the main character, Jesus Christ. Someone who helps others grow, not someone who gets in their way of their growth because Jesus values what we often overlook and we've overlooked this part of faith. Before we go any further, let me give you some really crucial cultural background that a child had what's called zero leadership. status. Jesus was being culturally subversive. He is saying look greatness belongs to those the world considers zeros, nobodies. After teaching about humility and responsibility Jesus again tells them this is this is about value. What do you value? See sometimes we don't serve and we don't get involved because we truly don't value the others that are walking in. Because here's the truth what we overlook Jesus runs towards and I want to run towards what Jesus is running towards. What we ignore Jesus goes after. What we dismiss Jesus dignifies. After warning about causing little ones to stumble Jesus revealed the Father's heart. A heart that treasures those the world sees at least

the least the last and the lost. See that you do not despise these little ones for I tell you their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. Jesus is telling us be careful how you treat the ones culture ignores and the upside-down kingdom values the unseen, the overlooked, the misfits, the outcasts, the unnoticed, the unimportant of course by worldly standards. Why does Jesus value them? Because he sees things differently than we do. Where we see inconvenience he sees an inheritance. Where we see weakness he sees worth. Where you we see a problem he sees potential. Kingdom greatness is not about being celebrated it's about being said. It's about being the main in not being the main character it's about becoming are you ready for this? This year we're all gonna become local servants. It's about becoming a local servant. We must rely on him, co-labor with him, grow in him. We can't reach the people Jesus cares about unless we carry his heart and we can't love the overlooked unless we're humble. We can't become co-laborers unless we mature beyond ourselves. Jesus is building a movement not of celebrities but of local servants. Now if you don't remember this a few weeks back when I taught on Joppa this is exactly how Joppa jumped to Antioch and the global church was born. It was with local servants. It was not with influencers but intercessors. Not main characters but kingdom collaborators. The the upside-down king, the kingdom of God invites us into a global movement of revival, avivamiento, made up of local servants. I'm calling for local servants. At Union Houston we are the local servants. We carry towels not titles. Not main characters but servants of the main character. We believe local servants leads to global impact and we serve faithfully where God has planted us trusting Jesus to do what only he can do. Why? I'll tell you why because Romans 2 4 says this, God's kindness is intended to lead people to repentance. When we serve we show God's kindness. Revival doesn't start with stages, services, and large crowds. Revival begins when men and women are postured like Jesus with towels, service, obedience, and that kind of service pours out his kindness and people come to repentance. Now my question to you is, don't you want to see that happen in this church? Embrace the

local mission of God. Do you want to see the globe, the world know Jesus like that? Become a local servant. If you want to transform the world we must be faithful to the little ones that he's entrusted to us because Jesus plays high value in what we overlook and he's calling us to do the same. Union Houston, this is our calling. This is our posture. This is our invitation to greater. We aren't building main characters. We aren't raising, we are raising local servants. who are willing to carry the heart of Jesus, the responsibility Jesus gave us to every space we walk into. And that's what unleashes revival. Before we leave this moment, Jesus has given us a holy invitation. Not an invitation to be the main character of his script, but to be changed, converted, humbled, and sent as a local servant. Because everything Jesus taught us today, everything leads to this moment right here. Jesus is inviting us to become greater. Will you surrender your story and let him be the main character of your story? Not just to visit, not to sit, not to observe, not to admire, but let yourself enter the upside down kingdom where greatness begins with humility. Where becoming greater is by becoming smaller. This is your moment. Don't let it pass you by. Would you stand with me? I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes for just a moment.

If you've been attending for some time, this is your moment. If you wandered from church to church and because someone hurt you at another church, it's had you gun-shy to commit yourself, this is your moment. God won't lie to you. The spirit of God doesn't lie. He's leading you to this moment. This is an invitation. With every head bowed and every eye closed, I wanna invite you to accept Jesus into your heart. If you've never done it before, you know that you've messed up, you've failed, you've sinned. Maybe you ran from God. You knew him and you ran from him. This is your moment. That you believe Jesus is the Son of God, the living God. That he lived, suffered, and died for our sins, but after he was buried on the third day, he rose again so that when you put your faith in that, you may be risen to new life. If that's you, I wanna pray for you because what you've just done has made a decision in your heart to accept Jesus into your heart. Would you raise your hands so I can pray? Father, thank you, Jesus. Father God, I thank you. Lord, thank you for your ministry today

that as you continue to minister, our prayer partners are up here and as they minister to people that need prayer, Lord, I ask you two things. One, move the person that needs prayer out of that chair to come, get a touch. And to be with those that are gonna minister that prayer to them. Let it be a heavenly moment. Let it be a divine appointment. Let it be the place of supernatural exchange.