Nothing Held Back, Nobody Left Out | Pastor Chris Kouba | United City Church

And so this morning, as we declare God, we are so grateful for who you are, what you've done for us. We fix our eyes on Jesus' Church. We sing. There was no way to you made one. Crazy bone grace, hallelujah. And even though I don't deserve it, you did it. And even though I couldn't hurt it, you give it. We sing, "Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. And all all I, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. Holy, holy. There's only one. His name is Jesus. I give you glory, but all that you've done is even though I don't deserve it. You did it. Yes, you did. And even though I couldn't hurt it. You give it. We sing, "Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. And all my life, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. And who am I that you keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you. And all my life, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. When I think of you and all that you've done, I just say thank you. Then can you just raise your hands and run? I'll lift in both of my hands, 'cause you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I'll give it all that I am. 'Cause you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I'll give it both of my hands. 'Cause you gave me chance after chance, oh, I'm... 'Cause you gave me chance after chance, 'cause you gave me chance after chance, 'cause you gave me chance after chance, after chance, after chance, oh, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful, grateful for you. And all my life, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. And all my life, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. And all my life, you've been right here by my side. And all my life, you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. And all my life, you've been right here by my side. Because of that, for every new morning, for every mercy that we've been given, we can say God, you are faithful, we can say God, you are kind, we can say God, you are consistent. Church, He has never left you, He has never abandoned you. And because of that this morning, And for every open door, see, I call you faithful. And I just want, thank you Lord, for every mountain. And for every time you brought me through, I call you faithful. And I just want, thank you Lord, for your forgiveness. If you pay the price, see, I call you faithful. And I just want, thank you Lord, for your salvation. And you pay the price I couldn't pay. And I call you faithful, and I just want to thank you Lord.

'Cause you gave me chance after chance, after chance. And you gave me chance after chance, after chance. Take it who am I that you keep? God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. 'Cause all I have, you've been right, you've been by my side. Come on, this is testimony after testimony of God's faithfulness. And God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you, I'm all right, I'm all right, I'm all right, I'm all right, if they say, God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. I'm just grateful for our first time visitors. If you are a first time visitor here this morning, we are so grateful that you're here. Worshipping with us can be clap it up for our first time visitors. Come on. And we're going to continue in worship. Jesus, you're so good. I hope it's found in Jesus and we'll worship Him this morning.

In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, in my soul. This corner stone, this solid ground, far through the fuses drowned in storm. But heights, but I want a dance of peace when fears are still, when the striving sees. My confidence, my all and all, here in the power of Christ, I stand, to have Christ. Come on, in Christ alone, He took on flesh, fullness of thought and hell, blessed Spain. This gift of love and righteousness, scored by the ones He came to say, 'Til one that rose, as Jesus died, for in love God, was setting aside, for every sin on Him was laid. Here in the death of Christ, I live some power of Christ, we live some power there in the ground, His body lay, light of the world by darkness, slain, then bursting forth, in glorious day, up from the flower He rose, come on and sing it again. Here in the ground, His body lay. ♪ Line of the world by darkness ♪ ♪ Slick and bursty form ♪ ♪ Home with glorious day ♪ ♪ Up from the proud heroes ♪ ♪ Again ♪ ♪ And as he stands ♪ ♪ In victory ♪ ♪ Since her pulse ♪ ♪ His grip on me ♪ ♪ For I am his ♪ ♪ And he is mine ♪ ♪ Born with the precious blood ♪ ♪ Of Christ ♪ ♪ He is mine ♪ ♪ Of the precious blood ♪ ♪ Of Christ ♪ ♪ No fear in death ♪ ♪ This is the power of Christ ♪

♪ In me ♪ ♪ From life's first cry ♪ ♪ To my final prayer ♪ ♪ Jesus convinced my death ♪ ♪ Stiffy ♪ ♪ No power of hell ♪ ♪ No scheme of man ♪ ♪ Couldn't remember ♪ ♪ Me from his hand ♪ ♪ So he returns ♪ ♪ Oh, he calls me home ♪ ♪ Here in the power of Christ ♪ ♪ I stand ♪ ♪ For he calls me home ♪ ♪ Here in the power of Christ ♪ ♪ I stand ♪ And let's give it up. Let's give it up for the name of Jesus, how he has saved us from our sin and how he rose again from the grave. Now at this next part, the part of responsive reading, there's going to be a few prompts on the screen. Leader, which is myself and what I'm going to be reading. And then the people, which you'll be repeating back in return. So Paul wrote, "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake." Lord, give us a joy that holds up even hard days. He gave himself for the body of Christ,

which is the church. And God made him a servant and trusted with a task to make the word of God fully known. For ages and generations, a mystery was kept hidden. God chose to make known among the nations the riches of this mystery. And we proclaim him warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom. For this we toil and struggle. May our hearts be encouraged. May we have the full riches of assurance and understanding. [Music] And him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And let Nolan lead you astray with arguments that only sound convincing. Christ in us, the hope of glory, amen. [Music] I cast my mind to calvary with Jesus' blood and died for me. I see his wounds, his hands his feet. My Savior, all that curse and truth. His body bound and drenched in tears. They laid him down in Joseph's tomb.

The entrance healed by heavy stone. Messiah's tomb and all alone. ♪ For praise burning of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ Praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For in this day we will sing a praise ♪ ♪ O Lord, O Lord our God ♪ ♪ And on the third and break of dawn ♪ ♪ The Son of heaven rose again ♪ ♪ Oh, trample bear, where is your sting ♪ ♪ The angels roar for Christ the King ♪ ♪ The angels roar for Christ the King ♪ ♪ O praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ O praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For in this day we will sing a praise ♪ ♪ Oh praise, O Lord, O Lord our God ♪ ♪ Shall we turn in a rose of love ♪ ♪ The blazing sun, the blazing sun ♪ ♪ Shall please ♪ ♪ I will rise ♪ ♪ My gaze, my gaze transferes ♪ ♪ On Jesus' face ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ O praise the name of the Lord our God ♪ ♪ O praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For in this day we will sing a praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, O Lord our God ♪ ♪ O praise the name of the Lord our God ♪

♪ O praise His name forevermore ♪ ♪ For in this day we will sing a praise ♪ ♪ Oh Lord, O Lord our God ♪ ♪ O Lord, O Lord our God ♪ ♪ O Lord, O Lord our God ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ O praise the name of the Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ When I beg you keep me on your mind ♪ ♪ God I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Great, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ 'Cause my say I am ♪ ♪ Ooh, am I mad at you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ No, my life's in all my life ♪ ♪ God, I'm just grateful for you ♪ ♪ Great, I'm just grateful for you ♪ Who am I? That you... God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. God, I'm just grateful for you. And God, tonight you've been right here by my side. God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I'm lifting both of my hands, 'cause you give me chance after chance after chance and oh. I'm giving all that I am.

You give me chance after chance after chance say oh. I'm lifting both of my hands, 'cause you give me chance after chance after chance and oh. I'm giving all that I am, 'cause you give me chance after chance after chance. Oh, praise the name of the Lord, our God, for crazy things forevermore. For anything we will seek your praise, O Lord, O Lord, our God, O Lord, O Lord, our God. O Lord, O Lord, our God. O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, our God. O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, our God. 10 o'clock, how are we doing? It's really, really good to see you. Thank you so much for being and joining with us here at United States. It was an incredible morning of worship. I tell you, when Richie gets going, I don't even know what he's doing, but I'm like, just keep doing that. I just keep going. God is moving. It was incredible just to hear the church sing the praises of God, just declaring and beholding the name of Jesus as we have been singing throughout this entire time. You did great on the responsive reading. Maybe that took some of you back a little bit to maybe growing up, but man, it's just something powerful about being able to hear God's words spoken over us and being able to say it out loud together. I hope that it is not just something that you hear your voice saying, but instead become something that gets cemented on your heart as you begin to embrace it in every way. Hey, I do want to make a quick announcement to you before we get going here. One of the things that we're going to be bringing back, we're really excited about it's going to be in just over a month, November 8th will be the very first week. We are bringing back at the movies here at United City Church. We're really, really excited about this. Let me just remind you our goal at the movies.

If you've never been a part of it, we use modern day films to teach biblical truths, and we do it in a super, super creative way, and it is definitely a service unlike anything maybe you've ever been to. It's not what we normally do, but it's something that basically what we're asking you to do is to leverage this service in every way for your one more. What that means is that we want all of you to be thinking about somebody that you know who needs to know Jesus, somebody that you know that needs a relationship with him, hopefully somebody that you're praying for, hopefully that's someone that you're inviting, maybe someone that you're sharing the gospel with, and we create certain weekends, and then we also have certain events like at the movies where we're asking you to go all in in your relationship, leverage every bit of leverage that you have to invite them knowing that they're going to be able to hear the gospel, and we want you to leverage that as an opportunity to be able to have conversations with them afterwards. I'm just giving you a heads up one. If you don't have a one more, think about who your one more is, and the idea of a one more is this is that we're always trying to reach one more. As a church, we never are satisfied. We always want to reach one more person for the gospel, one more person for Jesus. So who is your one more, and just begin saying, hey, we got this thing, you want to go to the movies, come up here, it's going to be a lot of fun, we got popcorn and coke, it's all this kind of stuff that's not going to normally do, but you're going to have a chance to hear in a creative way the story of Jesus, invite them, make sure you're apart. whoever you shared about that. Appreciate that. Colossians chapter one is where we're going to spend a little bit of time today. In 2018, whenever I got the phone call from the search committee that asked me to begin discussions about the possibility of being the pastor here at this church. I remember, you know, I'm kind of trying to get to know them and they're trying to get to know me and so we're kind of asking each other some questions back and forth. And I asked them the question, can you tell me a little bit about the church? And what I discovered was one, all of them began to speak with just fond affection for how God has moved in their families and how God has moved in their personal lives and mission trips and things like that that they've been a part of. But I also picked up on,

as they began to talk to me about the church, they all used different names to refer to the church. What you saw was that some referred to first Baptist humble, okay, that was the historic name of the church. Some called it umbles first whenever they talked about the church. Other people talked about the hub, that was the name of the church at the time whenever the church had called me. Other people called it umble areas first Baptist church. And then somebody else while we were on the call said HAFBC. And I'm like, wait a second, what does that even mean? That stands for umble areas first Baptist church. We're all these different names. And what I quickly discovered is that while they're all these different names, every single name represented a season in the life of this church where God moved in profound ways. We're like people gave their lives to this place. And they served this place and they allowed God to use them in the midst of each one of these various seasons. What you quickly heard as they began to describe all of these names was how people got saved during every single one of these names and seasons of the church. What you also heard is that people got buried during those seasons as well. Like there's fond affections for each different season and life of the history of this amazing church. And so I then asked them this question. So where are we going? And without fail, it was like a continuous echo of the same response. We don't know. We feel like we're kind of stuck and we need a direction of an identity moving forward. When I came down to visit for the very first time, again, I'm trying to kind of date them. They're kind of trying to date me or trying to figure this whole thing out. I thought it was funny. I go into my hotel room and inside of my hotel room, there's like a gift basket. And inside of this gift basket was a big bunch of cookies. Check out these cookies, okay? This is an icing on a cookie of all the various names and logos the church had had over the years, okay? Check this out. I mean, there's some one pretty good logos for today, all right? There was some pretty good stuff up there. But it's got God's family place was kind of an emphasis at one point. And then you've got the hub and then you've got all these other ones, the different logos and things that are represented. And many of them have been on signs and literature that have been sent out to the community. I thought it was so interesting though that they also, in the midst of all of the things that they put, they gave these two cookies as well that were right next to it. Pick one. TBD. Like, I mean, they were just kind of leaning into the fact that, hey, we know how God has used us in the past, but we're not quite sure what that's going to mean for the future. Clearly, the group was not saying, hey, we need to figure out if we're going to read

the Bible or not. That's never been a question in the history of this church. It wasn't whether the Great Commission is something we're going to be about. Of course, that's what we're going to be about. But what does that look like for the next season of our church in Northeast Houston going forward? Whenever it became clear to me that God was calling me to come here and to be the pastor, I knew that this was going to be a great responsibility to try to figure out, okay, what is this going to look like for us to have an identity? And what I did not want to do was somehow bring me being somehow the outside guy that knows everything, bringing you and saying, hey, here's what we need to do. Here's some things that I like. Here's a name that I like. Here's a mission that I like because I had no idea. At the end of the day, I needed to be faithful to the community that we were a part of. And I knew that I didn't want to just come up with something that sounded good and two weeks later, no one has any idea what it is. Maybe that eventually it just shows up on a cookie later on for somebody else to come and see. So we brought in an outside consulting group. And this outside group, we had a group of us that were some on staff and then some that were inside the church and we met for a year, an entire year. And that process helped us discover what is this church going to not only be called, but more importantly, what are we going to be about as we go forward? In the midst of that whole process, what began to emerge out of it is we began to do a little bit of self discovery and we realized a number of things about this area and this church that we happen to be a part of. City of Houston is incredibly diverse, relative to most places, but this area also is very diverse. It's racially diverse, it's socioeconomically diverse. There's also a lot of divisions that exist in this area. Think about it, 59 is a division, right? You think about it, the river is a division. You can live on West like Houston, you can live north of the river, and you can live south of the river. You can live in Hoffman and Crosby,

or you can live in a task. You see, there's a bridge that literally goes between dividing these things. There's just natural barriers. 99 and Belt YA are just natural barriers that we have to think about. In addition to that, just think about the fact that like you know each area in this community is different. If you make a certain amount of money, you're gonna live in this zip code. If you make another amount of money, you may live in a different zip code. There's all these different things. And so I remember asking the question to the group, when is the time, whenever the church, and when is the time when the community has really been rallied around each other, and without fail, everybody said, Hurricane Harvey. Everybody helped everybody. No matter who you were, what your background was, where you lived, if you lived in this community, you pitched in to help. I've heard stories now even as I look back and think about it, Summer Creek opened up his doors to Kingwood High School. What she began to see is that people who didn't flood, opened up their homes to people who did flood, and it made no difference where they were from or what their story was, they just opened up their doors. Just to come on in and help.

People pitched in, people served, people loved, everybody else, and it was all just simply 'cause this natural disaster took place, but they knew we need to rally together. We need to come together. So began a situation where the church itself, which personally flooded, also shined the brightest. I hear the stories of our church in that season, and it's just incredible. They won, they kept meeting under a tent out in the parking lot in August, and then they mobilized day after day after day. Despite the fact that their own building was in disarray and having flooded itself to go help the community and those who were in need, shined the brightest. So here's the question for our group that we met together. What would it look like for us to be able to have that same gospel unity, that same serving our community, that same idea of being able to help those in need around us, not only in the aftermath of a natural disaster, but on a random Tuesday going forward. As we met, we ultimately came up with the mission statement that we adopted as a church in 2020 that has served us for the last six years, and I pray God willing will serve us for decades to come, and here's what it is. Every one, every day, crossing every divide to live united in Christ. We prayed over this for months.

We felt like it was something God gave to us. As I was studying this week in Colossians chapter one, the next section that we're gonna look at in the book of Colossians, I wish that I would have known what this passage says when we came up with that statement. Because it looks as though we got the statement out of this text. Like it's exactly what we are needing to be about and what we should be all about. And instead of us just getting good words that could go with a good sentence that seemed to be catchy, we found something, I found this past week. This mission statement comes out of Colossians chapter one verses 25 to chapter two, verse five. I just wish we were smart enough at the time to have been able to realize it at the time. Let me set the scene back up for you as we get into the text. We see the apostle Paul in a Roman jail cell, and he's writing a letter to a church in Colossa that he's never met. This church had been planted by a contemporary of his named Epaphras, and what happened was his people began to get saved and come into the church. And then he had false teachers that came alongside of them and they weren't discrediting Jesus. They weren't denying Jesus. They weren't saying you shouldn't follow Jesus. They were just saying, hey, Jesus is a good start,

but you need something else. You need to add on to Jesus. And so what Paul is doing is he's writing this letter not by making arguments against what they say. He's writing this letter by lifting up the person of Jesus, wanting you to behold him so that you will see you don't need to add anything to Jesus. He is all that you will ever need. This section we're gonna look at in Colossians 1. is the most personal section of the letter where Paul, if you will, writes out some kind of, here's my motivation. He writes out, think about it this way, his mission statement for his life. And I would argue by seeing his mission statement, it becomes our mission statement. Not only for your personal life, but for us, corporately. Let's begin reading Colossians chapter one, verse 24. And would you stand in the honor of the reading of God's word together? Verse 24, now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. And in my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body. That is the church. Of which I became a minister, according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you. To make the word of God fully known. The mystery hidden for ages and generations,

but now revealed to his saints. To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him, we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this, I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those that lay out to see you and for all who have not seen me face to face. That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. And whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments, for though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. You may be seated. I want to point out four things from this passage. You'll recognize them as the mission statement of our church. First one is this. Every one, everyone, one key piece of our mission statement is implied all over this passage is that it is for everyone. This means two things.

First, every one of you has been sent for a purpose like Paul. Like your assignment may look different, but your calling is the same. Too often we have made this idea like there are people on staff who are called to ministry and then there's everybody else. But those distinctions do not exist in the New Testament. What we instead see is that whenever you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, it changes the way you view all of life, including what you're made for. You become a called out believer in Jesus who happens to do that in various ways. You see, back in the day of Colossians, what you had is that you had people kind of moving in trying to act like there were tears of being a believer. So what you would do is you'd have folks that kind of came in and said, hey, Jesus is awesome. He's like the entry point. But if you really wanna be a Christian, then you have to have Jesus and this thing. And if you wanna be like a super Christian, you gotta have Jesus and this and this. We're gonna talk about this more in the book of Colossians, how this continually creeps into the church. But this idea of a tear system is the same thing that we have bought into when it comes to our relationship with Christ, so much so that we would say, hey, I'm a believer, I'm just not nearly into it as much as maybe other people.

Maybe this is an example of a tear system that maybe you follow, take a look at this. This is kind of a latter deal. Maybe you would look at this and you'd say, okay, like there's missionaries, like they're for real. Like they like go overseas or go somewhere else and they like learn a different language. They don't live here and then they go and try to tell people about Jesus. Like if you're like that, you're like the green berets, right? You're the navy seals. Like, dang, I did this when I was growing up. I don't know if this is the case. Now that I am one, it's definitely different. I used to idolize my pastor. Like I thought, man, that guy never does anything wrong. Like he's on the golf course, misses a bad shot. He doesn't even get mad. He just acts totally normal. He never cusses clearly, right? He never does anything, and now that I am a pastor, I'm realizing like, I gave him way too much credit, all right? (congregation laughing) But maybe you think that, all right? You think, I mean, like pastors, like that's different. I mean, they're like, they need money from the church. Like this is what they do, they give their whole lives to this. I am amazed. It doesn't matter who you are. I have literally met people who are as pagan

as they can possibly be. Everybody has a praying grandmother. It's unreal. Have you noticed that, right? Everybody's got a grandmother who like, I was sharing the gospel with a guy recently, and I'm talking to him and like nobody in his family has faith. He's like, but you know my grandmother, she prays for me every single day. It's amazing, right? So maybe you're thinking like, I'm all in on Jesus, but I can't be like praying grandmother's status. That's like a whole different level. Maybe you would think somebody that's like a small group leader, whatever it is. Most people though, whatever their ladder is, they make sure they're not on it. 'Cause they think, well, I could never be that. Like, there's a Bible study that I'm never gonna do. There's a Bible reading plan that I'll never complete. There's a book that I've never done. There's a quiet time that I would never be able to do all of that, and we rank ourselves somehow with the goal of being able to disqualify ourselves to thinking, I'm in on Jesus, I'm just not like that. There are no tier systems when it comes to the faith. All of us, all of us can be growing. We're gonna talk about that here in just a minute. However, we must recognize there's not like

these people are called, and then these people over here are not called. What you instead see is this, is that all of us are called, some of us just happen to be called, and we get to live out that calling in a classroom. All of us are called, some of us get to live that calling out on an O-rig. All of us are called, some of us just happen to be able to live that calling out in an office. Whatever it is that you are, know this, you're called. Everyone means everyone. All of us are a part of this. Question is who are we called to? It says that in verse 28, look at what it says again. He says, "Him, we proclaim, warning everyone, "and teaching everyone with all wisdom "that we may present everyone maturing Christ." Three times, one word is mentioned in one sentence, probably means it's important. He's not making any distinctions as to who you go after. He says, "Everyone is warned. "Everyone gets thought. "The goal is that everyone is in the same finish line. "You have to understand how radical this would sound "to the first century reader whenever they heard this." Because in their minds, they had this idea that in order for you to follow after God, you had to become Jewish in order to do so. Yet now Paul is coming on the scene, and he starts telling everybody that they need to be,

look at what it says in verse 26 and 27, that they're gonna have a mystery that was hidden for ages, which has now been revealed. What he's saying is this, Paul's coming and acting like, you don't have to become Jewish in order to follow after Christ. The first century reader would hear this, verse 27, and they'd be like, "Okay, I'll get it." It says there that Christ lives inside of people. They don't have a problem with that. They have a problem with who he lives inside of. They would be fine if it was Jewish people. Paul is saying everyone includes Gentile people, people without an ancestry, people without a covenant, people with no reason to expect anything. He's opening up the doors of everyone. See, a lot of times we're like, "Oh, we're all about everyone." As long as they look like this, act like this, and are like me. He's saying, "No, no, no. "Everyone means people previously "you thought were your enemies." That's how big everyone is. Look at what it says in chapter two, verse one. He is struggling for Colossae and Laodicea. Laodicea geographically is really close to Colossae. So what he's saying is this, he's all about people that he's never met. Remember, he'd never been to Colossae.

He'd never been to Laodicea. Paul's everyone wasn't just the people that he knew. Paul's everyone was people that he didn't know. Think about the implications of what this means for our church, if we actually believed and lived this. It would mean that we are all about the people that are in Northeast Houston. And we're also all about the people in Puerto Rico, in Poland, in Albania, and Brazil. Places that we send money and missions teams to, even though we may not ever see any of the direct fruit in front of our eyes. Because God has called us, not just something for us. He's called us for something for everyone. This is why we partner with the Grace Bridge Church and help to plant them in colony ridge, because just up the road from us, we have people that we may never meet. But guess what? We get to be a part of it. Why? Because all of us get to be a part of reaching everyone. That's what God wants us to do. This is why, God willing, our church will be a place that not only plants churches in Northeast Houston, but plants campuses in Northeast Houston. Why?

Because we know there are people we have not yet met that we want to go after. Folks, I'm really excited about this. This past week, we had the opportunity as a church. We partner with a group called the Houston Church Planner Network. It's a group that's all throughout Houston. A bunch of pastors all throughout Houston with the sole goal of coming together to try to saturate the city of Houston with gospel-centered churches. And we've been a part of this for a while. We recently just gave a $25,000 check out of our giving dollars to be able to go towards Houston Church Planner Network, which is just incredible. But they also have these regional gatherings. Whenever I first got here seven years ago, I wanted to try to figure out how we could get pastors in the area to come together, not in a spirit of competition, but instead a spirit of collaboration and cooperation. And we just thought this was going to be the way to do it, where we could plant churches together in this area. And this past week, we hosted a regional-- let me show you the picture of it-- the largest gathering that we've ever had. We had church planners in the area that were there. We had local pastors in the area of large churches, a medium-sized churches, all praying together. And we just got to be the host. And what it showed us so clearly is

that as much as God is moving in United City Church, He's moving in all of the churches around us. And please hear me. If we're going to reach everyone, it's going to require a lot more churches than just us. And so therefore, we don't want to be jealous of somebody else's success. We want to celebrate and give and serve those successes. We believe that all the boats rise when the water goes up. And so we want to pray a fresh outpouring of God's spirit, not only in this place that we want to pray for every single church that's all around us. Why? Because we know that we want to have a heart for the Laodiceans and the Colossians, people we may never even meet. Why? Because every one of us are not only called, but every one of us get the opportunity to go after every one out there. Look again at verse 25, because Paul tells us when he does this, he says, of which I became a minister, according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known. Second idea here is this, every one, every day, every day. This is my word, not Paul. He never uses the word every day in this entire passage. But I think that's what he's implying here in verse 25. He uses two words to describe what he is. He uses the word minister and the word stewardship. Let's pick on the word stewardship for a second.

It's the word Greek word, orchonomia. It means household management. A steward was often a slave who ran in a state. The property that he had was not his. He didn't choose it, he didn't buy it, he couldn't sell it, couldn't make improvements on it. He's just responsible for handling it. Being a steward is not a job that you're like, I'll do this on Monday through Thursday, and then I'm gonna take Friday through the rest of the weekend off. It's not how it works. It's a trust that you are under all the time whether you're thinking about it or not. It's the difference between a project and an assignment. A project, start date, end date, and then you maybe move on to another project. An assignment defines who you are, meaning this. If my assignment is being called out by God, then I serve him on a mission trip for a week, but then I also serve him when I'm back home, not on a mission trip. If it's a project, then I'm gonna go serve God on the mission trip, but then I'm gonna go back and do the rest of life, okay? An assignment means this, that I'm gonna serve God on serve day, but I'm also gonna serve him whenever it's not served day. I'm gonna serve him on a random Saturday, but then I'm gonna go back to my real life.

No, no, no. It's instead saying, he's not describing a hobby, he's describing the shape of his existence. Romans 1, 16 says it like this, where I'm not ashamed of the gospel, or is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The gospel is not something that you're ashamed of anywhere or in front of anybody. You may be thinking, well, how am I supposed to live this way all the time? We give verse 29, for this, I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. You don't operate as a minister every day with your strength. You're instead operating out of the resources that God has already provided for you through Christ. If that is the case, that means there's no off seasons. Let's just ask, has your faith become a hobby, or do you see it as a sacred trust that you've been given? Because one of those has an off season. So many people have already made a decision. I'm gonna follow Christ at church, He's gonna have rule and reign over everything that I do when I'm with church people, but the near least with my boys is a different thing. God, you're gonna be the one who's gonna dictate my life and my schedule unless the ball coach decides to schedule something over that time and then he gets to determine everything that I do

with all of my life. Folks, please hear me. The order is messed up. It's instead my assignment is this, and in light of this, what is it that I need to now go and do? God is calling us, every one of us, every day, operating out of the strength of the Lord to fulfill what he's called us to do, which is what? Everyone, every day, crossing, every divide. Crossing, every divide. Look at verse 24. Probably the most difficult verse for sure in the passage, probably in the entire book. Paul says he's filling up in his flesh what is lacking in Christ afflictions for the sake of the church. Like at first glance, you almost think this means that the cross came up short and Paul's suffering makes up the difference. We're gonna find this out next week in Colossians chapter two, verse 14 that the record of the debt that stood against us was canceled and nailed to the cross, meaning there was nothing left on the table. So that means that nothing that you suffer adds a dollar to a bill that's already been paid. Okay, so it can't mean that God, his Christ sacrifice wasn't enough. So what does it mean? We were repeatedly told in the scriptures

that we're to share in the sufferings of Christ. When Jesus was here, he advanced his message through suffering. On the cross, he confirmed it through suffering, and in so many places ever since, one of the main ways that the message moves is through people that are willing to suffer for it. In fact, Paul, after he was converted, got us in a man named Ananias to go get him, and here's what God says describing Paul in Acts chapter nine, verse 15 and 16. But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." Paul's assignment is to take the gospel to the Gentiles, but his assignment is to also suffer while he does it. Okay, so what does this look like for us? It's really, really hard to apply for us, okay? 'Cause we have no idea what it's like to suffer like this, okay? Our idea of suffering is this. We come to church, and somebody is sitting in our seat. (congregation laughs) They know it's our seat, ask the pastor. He sees me here every time, right? (congregation laughs) And it's just like, when the world are they doing? Like, do they not realize what this is? And that's not suffering, okay?

Or I show up on a Sunday and the lobby is slammed, and as much as I try not to look at the first impressions people, they actually engage in a conversation with me. That's suffering, right? Not really, okay? It's hard for us to apply this because we live such comfortable lives. It's not that hard for us. Oh, I don't want to have to invite my neighbor to ask the movies because then they might say no. Oh, man, how hard is that, right? Like, we have all these built-in excuses. I mean, it's just, it's just so hard. Wait, please hear me, if you want to live for your faith outside of these walls, you will eventually experience suffering. And what God is inviting us to do is to live lives of suffering. How do we do that? By crossing every single divide that we need to, in order to be able to experience, not just suffering for suffering's sake, but to advance the mission and the cause of the gospel. What does it look like for us to cross every single divide? Think about this, just remember, Paul is writing this from a Roman prison cell. It is guaranteed in Scripture. Following Jesus will make your life harder, not easier. We're not trying to sell you a feel-good life.

We're being honest with you and telling you, following after Jesus is worth it, but it's hard. So what does it look like for us to cross every divide? Let me just paint a picture for you of what I believe this could be. We want to be a church that reaches successful business leaders and a church that reaches former prison inmates. Sitting on the same row, singing the same songs. We want to be a church that reaches senior adults who've walked with Jesus for 65 years, who cry and have so much joy when they see a six-year-old give their lives to Jesus and give back to us. That's what we want. You who are given their lives to go on the mission field right now, exploring what that looks like, and the same church has two young adults who right now are exploring what it looks like to go and instead of building their career instead give their lives to Jesus for the next few years and let Jesus build their career. We want to be a church that has coaches and teachers and administrators who grieve more over their kids' salvation than they're worried about what the HR policy says about what they're allowed to say or not in the classrooms. We want to be a church that has students who even at the cost of their relational investment with people around it actively reach out to try to reach their friends, inviting them to hear the message of Jesus. Let me ask you, what divide do you need to cross? Real one or made up? What else to get cross for you to go after somebody with the gospel? It isn't just about being friends with them, look at the very end of this though, everyone, every day crossing every divide to live united in Christ. Our goal is not just that we would be good citizens, although we really hope that we as a church are made up of people that are good citizens. Our presence here in this area is not just so that the area is glad that we are here, although we want that to be the case. The goal of why we exist is found in Colossians 2-2, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love,

to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery which is Christ. We want to introduce people to the person of Jesus, and then we want to disciple and grow them into the person of Jesus. Colossians 1 verse 28 says that we would present everyone mature in Christ, all of us, every one of us is growing and has the next step. We all have more to know, we all have more to learn, we all have more to do, and this ultimately leads us back to the purpose of this series, not that you would think that Jesus is a good starting point and then you add a bunch of things on top of it, but instead that we would behold the person of Jesus and as we look at him and as we behold him and as we admire him and as we see all that he is to whom all belong, the one who is for all things and from all things and through all things, the fact that he even knows our name, the fact that he cares about us, allows us to then receive the glory that he has given to us through the person of Jesus dying on a cross and rising from the dead so that we would be a church that is not known for our activities, for our worship, or all of our stuff, but we are known for Jesus. So that Colossians 2, 4, and 5 would be true about us. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ, meaning that we're so locked in on Jesus, the moment we see anything that would distract us or deter us or cause us not to focus on Jesus, we immediately put it out. We're not trying to find the latest and greatest thing because we have the best thing which is Jesus. Everyone, every day, crossing every divide to live united in Christ. Everything falls apart if you don't have the last two words in Christ. Some of you here are near Christ, you're around Christ, you're in the church, but you've never given your life to Jesus so that he could be in you. Would you buy your heads and would you close your eyes all across this room? I want to invite all of you, I want to plead with you to turn from your sins and receive the forgiveness that was accomplished for you by Jesus. He died on the cross, he rose from the dead, he now gives you the chance to believe in him. stuff, turn from religion, turn from spirituality, turn to Jesus. If you've never done that, I want to invite you to pray a simple prayer of faith right where you're seated with me like this. For God, I know that I'm a sinner.

I know that because of my sins, I deserve death and punishment. I believe you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross for me, and that he rose from the dead, and right now I turn from my sin and receive his gift of eternal life. But you come inside of me so that I can be in Christ. Please continue to keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed if you just prayed that prayer of faith with me. Just a moment, we're all going to stand up. That's going to be your cue. Step out from where you are. Come forward, come to the bottom of these steps. Just tell one of our team members, we want to talk with you, we want to pray with you, we want to celebrate with you. Others if you need to come and join United City Church, God is calling you to make this your church home. Church is going to lift up high the name of Jesus, a church that no matter what name you call us, we bleed Jesus. We're about Jesus. God's calling you to be a church, part of a church like that, would you lead the way? Maybe others if you need to be baptized. This is your next step of public obedience, would you come and let us talk with you about that. Maybe others if you need prayer today. Whatever prayer needs you have, the Bible tells us that we have a great high priest, Jesus, who invites us to bring our needs before Him and He will give us help and grace and mercy in those times of need. Let us pray with you. Let us pray for you, Father, I pray that you'd move, you'd heal, you'd save, you'd call people to this church, call people to obedience. Let this be your time, it's in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen, what you stand and as you do, our team is at the bottom of the steps, they're at

the front of the church. Let's pray for you to come, this God is leading you to respond, come on. Let's pray for you, come on, who else? This is God for you, come on, come on, who else? This God for you, come on, come on, come on, who else? This God for you, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on ,come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on lifting up high the name of Jesus. Would you take a seat? We've got just a few quick announcements as we leave and some things to celebrate as well as Jason closes our service. Would y'all put your hands together? Thank Pastor Chris for the message today. It is so good church family to know Pastor Chris what a great message but thank you Lord for your vision for our church pastor and church family. It is so so great to know that we've got great days ahead of us and we've got the greatest news to share to the world. Church we've been able to this morning worship the Lord through singing worship the Lord through prayer worship the Lord through the teaching of this word and now we're gonna go into a time where we get to worship the Lord through our ties and through our offerings and so this is a moment where I'm gonna ask our ushers and serve team to come forward and to simply ask because we just declared that he is worthy of it all and he has asked us to be good stewards and faithful without his he entrusted us so that we can continue the work of his church in and through here at United City. You've heard about all the things that God has been doing and I just want to put a major spotlight. This past week on Wednesday we see you at the Pole across the community and your United City staff both our kids and you staff showed up to 17 different schools to partner alongside yeah to partner alongside many of you moms and dads kids and students to just say we're here with you to punch you to Jesus to encourage other people some schools we shut up with donuts some schools didn't want donuts all good but the greatest

thing is that we get to walk into spaces and places and point people to King Jesus and again I just want to remind you that when you do give you help support these efforts and these opportunities even if it's gathering on the flagpole and encouraging people you're helping deploy our staff and people to these places so thank you again church for your faithful joyful and sacrificial generosity for the advancement of the Kingdom of God we're a Bible Church a Jesus church but we are a kingdom advancing church and just know that when you give you help advance the Kingdom of God. Earlier your first time guests man we're still thrilled that you came today church family couldn't just welcome our first time guests to the room today as soon as we're done in here in just a moment if this is your first Sunday we'd love the opportunity to get to know you as a matter of fact just out these doors in our lobby we have a first-time guest table would you swing by we want to be able to know you but also we want to put a gift in your hands so don't sneak out without being seen or known and without receiving your gift it would be a joint and honor for us to be able to meet you and give that to you at this time I want to go ahead and welcome up some new people to this stage would you guys welcome Zeke and Emily Abella to the stage this morning United City you are a praying church and over these last handful of months you've been praying and asking for God to send us Zeke and his wife Emily Zeke is now our new high school pastor so we can clap one more time welcoming Zeke and his bride Emily they've got three boys pray for them all boys we've got Eli Ezra and Ethan and certainly thrilled that they have said yes and I got to share this with the 830 service as well but it is an amazing amazing thing to see this this man who has answered the call to come and be a part of United City as a matter of fact they've been here since January and we didn't know it and he wanted to jump in and start serving as a high school life group leader and he's got an amazing story and I hope that you guys will all take time to come and get to know him and welcome him take him out for some coffee buy on some lunch y'all but in this story Zeke's been in ministry for a decade and he

did what any great father would do and he had to step aside so he could tend to his son and I just commend him for it and again God just had that stirring in a soul to begin serving and he wanted to jump in and serve as a high school life group leader and Montego our youth pastor got to get to know him and throughout that conversation Zeke's soul was just stern to get back in back in the vocational ministry and Montego's like well as a matter of fact we've been praying for a high school pastor and that was over the this summer and just through many conversations interviews it just made God made it very clear that our high school pastors right here already. got to tell you church family as a dad who's got two high school students a middle school student in an elementary school a mental elementary age student Zeke your ministry will be both personally felt and appreciated but church family would you one more time just welcome Zeke and Emilyabella to staff into United City church and would you stand and let's pray a blessing over them would you send a hand to them as we close out our service today father in Jesus name thank you Lord for our time that we've been able to gather and worship you and to see you God thank you Lord for stirring our affections more for you and the things that you're about God we do pray over Zeke and Emily and their family God thank you Lord for their hand your hand of anointing on them their presence with us and the impact that they're gonna have so father may you do incredible things in and through this man in the ministry that you've entrusted to him for your glory in Jesus name amen and amen church have a great day we love you man what an amazing time that we had today hey if you know if someone that needs to hear this message we'd love for you to share that on socials we love for you to actually go and check out our socials so you can stay up to date on everything happening in the life of United City and if you need to take a next step we'd love to help you do that as well love you guys so much and we'll see you next week (gentle music)