Saved As | Pastor Chris Kouba | United City Church

It is so good to be in the house of the Lord. We're grateful for freedom. We're grateful for grace. We're grateful for the cross, for the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. Hallelujah. ♪ We're grateful for freedom ♪ Come on y'all. ♪ I'm shaking off the heaviness ♪ ♪ I'm dancing out of my regrets ♪ ♪ I'm throwing caution to the wind ♪ ♪ No, I am not ashamed to praise like this ♪ ♪ Some say it's foolishness ♪ ♪ But I say it's worth the rest ♪ ♪ I can't forget what Jesus said ♪ ♪ No, I am not ashamed to praise like ♪ ♪ Sing it out ♪ ♪ Where are those chains that once held me ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ My sin is gonna happen ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ I'm going home ♪ ♪ Looking with the Lord, I'm so ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ So I'll sing out this 'cause I've been ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ They got a free ♪ ♪ They got for freedom ♪

♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ I've found a friend that never quits ♪ ♪ No other loves as good as this ♪ ♪ If I don't care what anyone says ♪ ♪ I'll never be ashamed to praise like this ♪ ♪ Where are those chains that once held me ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ My sin is gonna happen ♪ ♪ It'd be, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ I'll sing again with the Lord, I'm so ♪ ♪ And with the Lord, I'm so ♪ ♪ All he could do, I'm never going back to the way I was ♪ ♪ I'll sing out this 'cause I've been ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ They got a free ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood now to see the candy ♪ ♪ My daddy's paid and my record is clicked ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood now to see the kids ♪ ♪ My daddy's paid and you broke my body ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so did it ♪ ♪ Come on, you took the cross, Jesus ♪ ♪ You took the cross, you shed your blood now to see my daddy's paid ♪ ♪ My daddy's paid and my record is clicked ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for ♪

♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ It was you, Jesus ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ You took your shame, you killed your sins ♪ ♪ And you left it to the cross ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ Where are those chains that won't tell me ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, yeah ♪ ♪ My sin is gone, I'll get it ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, yeah ♪ ♪ They look at what the Lord has learned ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ I'm back, going back to the way I lie ♪ ♪ I'll sing out this 'cause I'm free ♪ ♪ I'm free, I'm free, I'm free ♪ ♪ You took the cross and you broke your body ♪ ♪ You shed your blood now to see the kiss ♪ ♪ My debt is paid and my record is ♪ ♪ As good news this morning ♪ ♪ You took the cross, you took the cross ♪ ♪ You shed your blood now to see the kiss ♪ ♪ My debt is paid, you paid it all ♪ ♪ I couldn't do it, so you did it ♪ ♪ You took it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ You took it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ You took it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ You took it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ You took it, so you did it for ♪

♪ You took it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ You took it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ You took it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ You took it, so you did it for ♪ ♪ Now look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I look ♪ ♪ And look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ Look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back, never going back ♪ ♪ You took it, look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ Look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I look ♪ ♪ Come on, look at what the Lord has done ♪ ♪ I'm never going back to the way I look, no ♪ God, you're worthy. God, you're the center of it all. Hallelujah, our hearts belong to you, Jesus. We're here for one reason, and that's to give you all the honor and all the glory, Jesus. Be the center of this church. Be the center of our home, God. Hallelujah. Come on, let's continue and worship this morning. ♪♪ ♪ Maybe we made this complicated ♪ ♪ More than there was ever meant to be ♪ ♪ Hasn't it always been about the same thing? ♪ ♪ Lord, bring us back to some things ♪ ♪ You be the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you, my Savior ♪

♪ You're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ Oh, the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My silver lives to save ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Teach us to discern the moment ♪ ♪ When to serve and when to sit here on your feet ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Keep us awake towards the morning ♪ ♪ Just like Mary chose a better theme ♪ ♪ You are the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you, my Savior of it all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ Oh, the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My silver lives to save ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you, you ♪ ♪ Oh, for you are the center of it all ♪ ♪ Can we tell them this morning? ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you, my Savior of it all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to ♪ ♪ Oh, the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My silver lives to save ♪ ♪ Can we tell them Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love you ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love you, Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ In my whole life, for your glory, my heart ♪ ♪ For you are the everything ♪ ♪ Oh, the honor of your name ♪ ♪ And if my days tell a story, let it be ♪ ♪ Of you are the everything ♪ ♪ For the honor of your name ♪

♪ In my whole life, for your glory, my heart ♪ ♪ For you are the everything for the honor ♪ ♪ For the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Your mighty name, Jesus, it makes my day ♪ ♪ To have a story, let it be ♪ ♪ Of you are the everything ♪ ♪ For the honor of your name ♪ ♪ In my whole life, for your glory, my heart ♪ ♪ Can we testify of His goodness ♪ ♪ For you are the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Your name, Jesus, and if my days tell a story ♪ ♪ For you are the everything for the honor of your name ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of your glory, my heart ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love you ♪ ♪ We love you, Jesus, we love you ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love you ♪ ♪ Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ Oh, how I love you ♪ ♪ With all my heart, with all my soul ♪ ♪ With all my heart ♪ My whole life, in my whole life, for your glory, my whole world, for your only everything. Nothing else matters, but lift it up the name of Jesus. And it's my days, that I fall, let it be, let it be warm in every place, for your glory, my whole life, for your glory, my whole life, for your glory, my whole world, for your only everything, for the honor of your name. And it's my days, to testify, I hope that you have it, and to be a good only, for all the honor of your glory, oh, I love you. Oh, how I love you, Jesus, we love you, hope for you, are the center of it all, my heart belongs to you, my Savior of the Lord. You're the one I hold on to, for the beauty of your name, my soul will live to say, can you're so tested by this morning, Jesus, we love you, my soul will choose to say, Jesus, I love you, my soul will live to say, Jesus, I love you. [Music] [Music] Well, hello, ten o'clock, how are we doing? It is great to see you, grab your Bibles, open them up with me to Colossians chapter 4, Colossians chapter 4, do me a favor and grab hopefully a card that you saw on your seat whenever you came in and wave it at me, so I know that you did get this, this is your invite cards for at the movies, this is not for you, all right?

This is for you to give somebody else, so write it down, the information next week starts at the movies, it is going to be an awesome, awesome series, we are super excited about being able to bring this back to you. If you've never been here before for at the movies, it's going to be unlike anything you've ever experienced, you're going to come in next week, the lobby is going to look different, the worship center is going to look different, we're going to be watching modern day films and using them to be able to teach biblical truths. And so we just want to try to help you to be in a position to be able to invite someone to come, we've got some incredible movies lined up this year, here is your teaser for next week, and even if you guess it, I'm not going to acknowledge that it's true, okay, just want to give you heads up, all right? But here's a guess as to what the movie is going to be, this movie is about a merger, this movie is about a merger, all right, try to figure what that is, and then use this to invite someone else, hey, I want to make sure, take a look at this resource right here, we've got a bunch of digital assets that you can also download and post on your social media that you can send out that are kind of designed for this, we've got an FAQ page, really, really well done, would love for you to come and take a screen of that that you can be able to help us get the word out about this. Again, most churches and most times, look November is difficult time whenever it's like Thanksgiving, everybody's out of town, everybody's sick, and we just kind of just mail it in for the month, all right? We're going all in the opposite direction, and we want to try to see God do a really amazing work at a time whenever maybe it's a little bit lower normally, and we're going to see in fact God begin to bring folks. So if you've got family in town perhaps, maybe Thanksgiving, stuff like that, bring them, bring them, it's going to be a really fun time for at the movies, Colossians Chapter 4 is where we're going to be. I want you to think about this, how many of you in here have a nickname that you go by, you don't even know by your real name, you actually go by a nickname, would you raise your hands, okay? Quite a few of you, all right? It's crazy. Nobody gets to choose their nickname. Have you noticed that? It just kind of happens along the way. There is a receiver for the Houston Texans who came back last week after a long extended absence. He was hurt and it's interesting because he has one of the most interesting nicknames in all of the NFL. His actual name is Nathaniel Dell, but we know him as Tank Dell, which is quite ironic because Tank Dell is only 5'10". He's actually really undersized to be a receiver in the NFL, yet he has gone by the name Tank Dell his entire life. And here's why, because his mom, when he was born, noticed he had a really large head. And so she called him Tank Head for all of his life. And over time it got shortened to Tank, and now we don't even know the guy's name is Nathaniel. All we know is the name is Tank Dell. Here's just interesting. Think about nicknames. They almost never come on our best day of life. Instead, come on our most memorable day of life. I want you to think about how nicknames can kind of come about. Maybe not ones that you call somebody, but ones that you refer to somebody else as. Maybe you don't know their first and their last name. And if you were to look in your context, the majority of your context, I hope, are made up of somebody's first name that they go by, and their last name that they also go by. But then there are certain people that you don't really know what their first name is, or what their last name is. You just know what you know of them. You just know what they've done for you. You know what they did in the past. And so you might have people in your context that are listed something like this. Mike Plummer, right? You really know his name. You just know he's a plumber and his first name is Mike, all right? Or Jessica Hare. You don't really know what her last name is. You just know she cuts hair, and you liked it, so you got her number. All right, Karen HOA, right? Kind of a thing, you know?

I apologize to any of you named Karen, all right? It's not fair. It's not fair. Karen, yeah. It's not fair at all. Not fair at all. Some of you, also though, have in your context something that only you know what it means, but you very clearly know what it means, and it's this. Do not answer. If this person calls, it's not going to go well. Do not answer that call, and it's like a reminder to you, and it makes sense whenever it's just for your knowledge. But I want you to think about it if the roles were flipped. When people have your contact in their phones, what do they have written about you? What memory do they have with you that reminds them of you? What is it that they associate with you? Let's go even a little bit deeper here. If God had a phone, and he was looking at your contact, what would he have saved about you? Some of you already assume you know exactly what it would be. It's, well, I started strong, but I hadn't gone too well lately. Or he's still waiting for, like, I know they had potential, but it's still waiting to see it. Maybe it's something that happened in your past. Maybe that's something that you did along the way. And you just assume when God looks at you, this is all he seems. We're going to look at a passage of Scripture at the end of Colossians chapter 4 that is a list of a bunch of names. It's a list that whenever you're reading the book of Colossians, most of you skip over it because you can't pronounce those names, and you really don't understand what it is that they mean. Full disclosure, I was going to skip this passage of Scripture in preaching to you the book of Colossians. Until I started to read it and realize there's so much gold in this thing. Like, there's so much that we can learn from it, and what it shows us is the Apostle Paul, who's writing to a church in Colossae that he's never actually been to, but he's saying, "Here's all my friends, here's all my buddies, and I want you to see this is what I have their name saved as." And by seeing this, we get some insight into what God has our name saved as in his contact list. Would you stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word as we read Colossians chapter 4? I want to begin reading in verse 7. It says, "Tikikis will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose." and that he may encourage your hearts. And with him, onissimus, are faithful and beloved brother who is one of you.

They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you and mark the cousin of Barnabas concerning whom you have received instructions if he comes to you, welcome him. And Jesus, who is called justice. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God and they have been a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers. That you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, greets you as does Demus. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to archapace, see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains, grace be with you. You may be seated. I know what you're thinking. I don't know if you actually pronounce any of those names,

right, right? And let me give you a little teaser, all right? If you just say it with enough confidence, no one's gonna challenge you, all right? I know what you're also thinking. How in the world are we gonna preach out of this passage of scripture? Before we look at these names, what I want us to do is to look back to Colossians chapter three, verse 11. Take a look at what it says. Here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free. But Christ is all and in all. Chapter four, verse seven through 18, is the class picture of Colossians chapter three, verse 11. It shows you what God can do with a group of random people who all come under the same umbrella of lifting up high the name of Jesus. That is the description of the church. We're a bunch of random people who may have some loose affiliation with the people that are around us, but overall in the grand scheme of things, there's no reason we should all come together in the same place, yet because we follow Christ, what we do is we end up worshiping, even though we're from all these different backgrounds. Colossians chapter four, verse seven through 18.

Here's what he's showing. He's showing how Jews and Gentiles, a doctor, a prisoner, a runaway slave, a guy who quit on Paul, a woman who hosts a church in her home. Paul is showing what God does whenever people follow after Jesus. And it is a beautiful thing to see. Which probably leads us to the question though. What does Jesus do with somebody like me? Somebody that's got my past, somebody that's got my story. What I want you to see today is this. Your story doesn't decide how God saves you in his context. Jesus does. And I want to show you how Paul gives us some examples of the ways in which Jesus can change our lives. Number one is this, write this down. He renames your past. He renames your past. This is incredible. Look at the names of the two men who are carrying the letter. The first one is tikikis. Look at how Paul has him saved in his context. He is the beloved brother, faithful minister, fellow servant in the Lord. The word servant there is not the best translation. It actually is better translated as slave. And I don't want you to get the idea of the slavery that we think of whenever we hear that word. I instead want you to hear that as a word

of actually affection and honor. It's saying this, that he's so closely tied to Jesus, he's so closely tied to the father that ultimately he does whatever he says. But he doesn't do it out of obligation. He doesn't do it under duress. He does it out of joy. And so he describes him as the faithful, beloved brother who is a slave. Here's why that's so crazy. And with him, Onisimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. Here's what makes this person so crazy. Onisimus is actually a slave. He's a real slave. In fact, his master was a man named Philemon, who actually gets a book in the Bible. Literally Paul writes a letter to Philemon, the owner, the master of Onisimus, the slave. And so what you see is that Onisimus has this past. And here's what's crazy. Onisimus actually was the slave for Philemon and guest for Philemon lived, Colossae. And so what you see is under a cloud of darkness of night, Onisimus runs away from his master Philemon and has been on the run ever since, meaning this. Everybody who lives in the town of Colossae, when they think of Philemon, this is what they think of, Onisimus Philemon's slave, the guy who ran. And so now Paul is gonna send Ticchicus

and look who he decides to choose to also send to take the letter, Onisimus. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be for Onisimus to go back to the place where everybody knew him based upon his one mistake? Can you imagine how heavy that would have to be knowing that he had no idea what kind of repercussions he was gonna have to pay for the fact that he's basically walking back to the place of his darkest moment in his life? Yet Paul looks at him and he says, I'm not gonna look at you in the same contact the way that everybody else does. The way that he describes him, it says there is, that he instead is the faithful and beloved brother. Check this out. He's sending this letter to Colossae. And here's what he says, who is one of you? Hey Colossae, you're about to take a guy who's a runaway. I want you to treat him as a guy who's always belonged. But do you realize how amazing that is? You realize how profound that is? He's got this legit pass, not a made up pass, a legit pass, and instead Paul writes and says, hey, except him as one of us. I want you to look at Philemon chapter, there's only one chapter, verses 15 through 18. Paul writes this letter, we believe it was actually sent at the same time that the book of Colossians was being sent. And he writes this letter to Philemon,

and here's what it begins to say beginning in verse 15. He says, for this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account. What I want you to see is this, Onissimus didn't get a new name because he cleaned himself up. He got a new name because Paul said, whatever he did, put it on my account. That is the picture of the gospel. All of us were in debt. All of us were rightfully accused of doing wrong. And instead, God sent his one early son, Jesus, to die on a cross for our sins. He rose from a dead by believing in him, we get to experience eternal life. And now all the things that used to define us in the past in the negative now get to be defined differently because we're on his account. Not because we've done anything different, but because we get to say, hey, I did do those things, but Jesus paid for those things. Second Corinthians chapter five verse 21, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This hits people in the room two different ways. Some of you live in insecurity, you're always auditioning. The question underneath your whole day is, am I enough? You think about it at work, you think about it at school, you think about it in your marriage, you think about it at the gym, you think about it at 11 o'clock at night when you're scrolling through social media, am I enough? And now there's a view of live with shame because you stopped asking that question a long time ago because you think you already know the answer, I'm not enough. I know what I did. Both of you are reading from the old contact card and it's been replaced. Romans chapter eight verse one says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [BLANK_AUDIO] When he looks at your name, he sees what he did. Maybe your label isn't something that you did, though. Maybe your label is the day that you quit. Look at the next name mentioned in verse 10. "Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner greets you and mark the cousin of Barnumus." Look at what it says at the end of that verse, "Welcome him." Here's the second thing I want you to see today that Jesus does. Number two, he restarts your stall. He restarts your stall. This sentence on that one hand looks pretty harmless until you know the back story.

Years before, Paul and Barnumus set out on their first missionary journey. And they brought with them a guy named John Mark. We're going to see multiple times, his name is listed in different ways. Some say Mark, some say John, some say John Mark, all the same guy. And what you see is that John Mark is Barnumus's cousin. He's like on the 18, right? Like he's got the opportunity of a lifetime. He's getting to be the part with Paul and with Barnumus to go start this missionary journey to expand the mission of the gospel all throughout the world. Okay? And it says in Acts 13, verse 13, partway into the trip, it says, "Now Paul and his companions set sail from Papos and came to Perga in Pamphilia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem." That's all we get. We don't know why. Maybe he got homesick. Maybe he got scared. Maybe it was harder than he thought. We don't know. We just know this that he quit. Fast forward a couple of years. Paul and Barnumus are planning their second missionary journey. The first one was a wild success, but they also had a lot of times of difficulty and trial, but overall they were ready to go take the gospel even further. And it says there that Barnumus brings up, "Hey, we should bring John Mark." And Paul's like, "Oh, absolutely not." Listen to what it says, Acts 15, verse 38, "But Paul thought best not to take with them, one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphilia and had not gone with them to the work." Translation. They bring an acquitter with me.

Like this work is too important. It's too significant. It's too weighty. We can't have guys who are going to bail on halfway through. Any guys that are committed. And look at what things get really ugly in verse 39. And there are rows, a sharp disagreement. Any time the Scripture says a sharp disagreement, that's a fight. All right? That's a straight up fight. So that they separated from each other. Barnumus took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. Paul and Barnumus. Okay? Barnumus's name is encourager, but they get in such a fight over John Mark, they split over it. Like I want you to think about this, okay? Whenever you're in HR, all right? And you go and you leave a company. One of the things that they ask you, if you're an employee of the person that left, will say this question. Is this person eligible for very higher? Yes or no? Paul was like, "No. No chance." And Barnumus pushes the issue and it goes into such a disagreement, they split over the thing. So for years, when you looked in Paul's phone, Mark was saved with this contact. Quitter. He's the guy that quit in Panphilia. We don't associate with guys like that.

We don't hang out with guys like that. Now come back to Colossians chapter 4 verse 10. Who's standing next to Paul in prison? John Mark. Paul sends greetings and Paul is telling the church, if he shows up, I told you about this before, if he shows up, what does it say to do? Welcome him. In other words, he's with me now and you can trust him. It doesn't stop there. Years later at the very end of Paul's life, he's in prison again and he knows this is the last letter and he says this in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 11. Luke alone is with me, "Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry." The guy who quit is the guy Paul asked for by name and the early church held that the same John Mark is the one who ended up writing the Gospel of Mark. Mark didn't fix his reputation of being a quitter by trying harder. Grace brought him back. With Jesus, a stall is not the end, it's just a chapter. Some of you are living in the stall right now. You were all in at one time. Like you served, you led, every chance that you had to be here, you were here, and then something happened. You got hurt. You got busy. You got embarrassed. Maybe you drifted. And you've been telling yourself now what the enemy has done. the ship is sailed, man, you can't get back in. You've got yourself saved in God's context as he's the one that used to.

Used to be involved. Used to follow after me. Used to be passionate about the things that I'm care about. What I want you to know is this, Jesus does not save you as used to. Jesus instead saves, I've got a new chapter that I want to write in your life. Let's get past this stall and let's go change the world. Anasim has had a past, Mark had a stall. The last name I want to show you had neither one. He neither ran, he neither quit. He just had been something that he'd been given that he hadn't finished yet. This is what Jesus does, third thing. He finishes what he gave. He finishes what he gave. Here's something that we all at times forget. It's kind of crazy if you think about it today. We literally have like the Bible on our phones with like 50 translations. It's like no excuse for us not to be reading God's word. People literally gave their lives over trying to translate God's word into places where people don't have it. And we've just got it over abundantly. But it also was a good reminder to us that what you also happen back in those churches is that it was not one where like there was a letter of Colossians printed for every single person. It was one letter and what they did is they gathered

everybody around and they all read it out loud together. So I want you to just picture this thought. Get all the church, all the people at Colossae. Hey, Paul won a letter. Let's all gather around. And they're reading the letter and they're talking through all the things that are there. Colossians chapter one, he's the image of the invisible God. Colossians chapter two, because of his grace, we're to walk in him because we've received the grace of Lord Jesus, we're to walk in him. Colossians chapter three, if then you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. Colossians chapter four, that we are to go and to share this, we're to pray for our opportunities, for open doors to begin to share the gospel. And then they start getting into the thank you section at the very end, which historically meant that the letter was about to end. You got to wonder, I'm guessing I'm just proposing that it was probably around lunchtime, that people are starting to shuffle. It's like you, you're like thinking, how can I leave without him seeing that I leave? I see you every time, all right, just so you know. Okay, and so you're trying to get your stuff together and you're trying to kind of think, okay, he's clearly winding down. And then all of a sudden verse 17,

everybody's listening and say to archapace, see that you fulfill the ministry that you've received in the Lord. Every head in the room goes to archapace. And he's like, what did I do, what did I do? And here's what God says to me, hey man, that thing that ministry that you've been given, that dream that I placed in your heart, that thing that I told you that I wanted you to do, don't quit on it, keep going, man. Don't let that thing die. I know maybe you haven't gotten the momentum that you wanted. I know that maybe things haven't gone the way that you hoped fulfill the ministry. I love how he even says it too, in the Lord. It's a ministry that he received. Fulfill the ministry that you have received. It's the exact same word used in chapter two, verse six, which says this, "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him." We don't know what the ministry was that archapace had received, but what we do know is this, archapace wasn't trying to get a pep talk to kind of ramp up buddy and get to work. No, he was being told, hey man, the God who was faithful to give it to you is the God who's gonna be faithful to complete it. So go, serve, do what I've called you to do. Philippians chapter one, verse six,

and I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ. All three of these men had a moment when their name went public. Enissimus walked back into Colossae. John, Mark showed up and the churches heard welcome him and archapace heard his name read out loud in front of everybody. Here's what it shows us. Belonging to Jesus starts in your heart, but it's never meant to stay hidden. It's never meant to stay hidden. We're a church that talks often. It's one of our core values about next steps. We believe everybody has one, no matter who you are, no matter how old you are, no matter what your story is. And today what we wanna do is lead people to take a next step. One very important step that we talk about a lot, we celebrate a lot and that we do a lot is the testimony of baptism. Paul already told us in his letter what baptism means in Colossians chapter two, verse 12. Here's what it says. "Having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead."

Baptism is literally a picture of the gospel. The gospel tells us that Jesus died on a cross, that he was buried. Literally whenever you get baptized, we say buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life. It's a picture, a celebration of the very gospel. It's not how you get a new name. It's the moment when your name gets read aloud. It's like graduation. You don't walk the stage of graduation so that you can earn the degree. The work is already done. They read your name, all of your family and friends, screams, and then you walk because it's already yours. Baptism's a powerful outward picture of an inward change. I want you to watch the screens and see a little bit about the testimony of baptism. (gentle music) - My life before baptism was a life that I lived for myself and it was kind of a scary feeling. At times because I felt like I was alone in a scary world and I had just graduated high school and just the fears of growing up and becoming an adult are just very overwhelming at my age. So I think just having something to hang on to was very important for me. - I wanted to get baptized because God had come to my life. Whenever we knew Bible, I wanted to get baptized.

So much, I tell my parents, tomorrow, well, when I wanted to be baptized. - When my time come, I'm not going to want to be seated, so it best things for me to do is look at my size and feet and my life. - I wasn't nervous by saying it. (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - So I think it's better to get baptized, you know, because who is me to tell anybody that it's not going to work, you know? And I think that that is the best way to go. Get baptized on every night and when you pass out, you know what I'm saying? You're not going to go to hell. (speaking in foreign language) - I saw the change that God made in my life. Saw the change that he made in my family's life. I saw the power of faith. I feel like when I gave my life to Christ, I was just changed and different in every way. Just for the better. So I think getting baptized is just a public show of faith and I think that baptism just is a good way to just show the world that this is what God can do to your life as well. - Praise God, 10 days ago, we did the funeral service

for Franklin Hamilton, the one you saw in that video. Two years ago, Franklin, an 82 years old bedbound. Got a bad test. I mean, if I can think of anybody that has an excuse, Franklin Hamilton's it. Bedbound? He's 82 years old. What's it going to matter? Yet that was not only his experience going in, but what you just got a chance to see is the joy that comes with obedience. No matter when you do it. I love the fact that you had a young child who was so excited, "Mom, I want to do it tomorrow." And an 82 year old man who would also tell you there's joy folks, I just want to give you the opportunity today to experience the joy that comes with being obedient with responding to him. I want you to know this, if you belong to Jesus, but you've never been baptized. You're just like John Mark. You started, but you stalled. The Bible is so very clear. It says that the first act of obedience today be the day whenever you don't stall anymore we want to ask that you go and be baptized literally today like today i didn't bring any clothes we got everything we got shirts we got shorts we got undergarments we got all kinds of stuff i don't even know what we got all back there we got everything you can think of and more all right ready for you to right now be able to respond and don't let there be any reason why you're delaying what god may be calling you to do i promise you this god wants you to be obedient and what you will experience is joy every single time some of you maybe your

story is the fact that you were younger and maybe you felt your friends kind of pressuring you or maybe you felt like you wanted to be included and so therefore you went forward and you got wet in front of a bunch of people and and it was great it was a neat experience and all of that but as you begin to think back on your life you would say you know honestly i i never really saw much fruit in my life maybe you made a decision in an emotional time at a camp or an event or something like that and then you went off to college and lived as though god didn't even exist you were aware of him because you may have grown up in the church but you didn't act like somehow he mattered and you and now say you know honestly as i think back on my life and my true testimony i would say i think i it's more recently that i've gotten sick but i truly gave my life to Jesus i look i don't want you to somehow invalidate anything from before but let me just ask you this is your baptism on the right side of your salvation if you need to get that right today what i want to ask you to do is to come forward and get baptized colossians chapter four here's what the verse says in verse 12 the pathris who is one of you a servant of christ jesus greets you always struggling on your behalf in his prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of god the goal is that you would stand mature and be fully assured some of you are not fully assured because you know that the order of your baptisms off i'm not trying to say that what you did wasn't significant i'm just trying to tell you what you did before is get wet you didn't get baptized baptism is a public expression of an inward change so for some of you you need to get that on the right side some of you may have been sprinkled folks the the literal definition of the word baptism means to dip under it's meant to be the public expression of the gospel to go under the ground and to come up and so for some of you what you need to do is you need to be biblically baptized you've been putting that off maybe for some of you your situation is this maybe you were baptized as a baby maybe you were sprinkled as an infant and i would tell you this while i'm sure it was a significant moment for your family it you didn't have no idea what was going on it wasn't something that you chose to do and what we want to give you the opportunity today is you make your faith your own and know some of you are thinking man if i do this my mom is going to be mad at me if i do this it's going to somehow cause problems in my family and i would simply tell you this do not allow the fear of your family to keep your obedience to your creator folks for some of you what you need to do is you need to follow the Lord's leading to them and don't allow the fear of everybody else to keep you from experiencing the joy of obedience

i know some of you are thinking well man i don't have a i'm a family here i don't have all my friends yeah i don't have everybody that knows they have these amazing things that they've developed called cell phones all right that have videos on the cell phones you can literally stream the services you can live stream it okay you can video and you can send it out i remember whenever my son was going to get baptized and we were trying so hard to get all the family organized and ten months later we finally get it and guess what there were still people who couldn't come we missed out on an opportunity to teach obedience all because we're trying to make the moment perfect i would tell you the perfect moment is the time whenever you're obedient to what god's asking you to do that's the perfect time game on as soon as i'm going to do i'm going to count down three two one i know we got some folks that are here that are already planning on being baptized today and i'm going to ask you this is going to be your key for us to come forward okay but i'm going to count three two one and what i want to ask is that if you're here today and you want to be baptized if you want to express your faith publicly today maybe you have questions we're going to talk to you about those questions i'm going to count down three two one and i'm going to ask you to stand up are you ready three two one which you stand you stand right now if you want to be baptized thanks god for you come on who else thanks god for you buddy come on who else who else thanks god for you guys come on Hey Scott, here's what I'm asking you to do. forward okay come on this way if you're standing you come forward it's not too late for you you come come on hey church just let you know come on you come I'll see your hand buddy come on who else who else come on who else come on man come it's got for you 16 people at our first service 16 people got baptized this morning already hey if you're a family member or friend of somebody that may sit up and they went back there you're more than welcome to go back there in just a moment I'll give you the cue whenever you can go and watch them we certainly want you to be a part of this experience I'm gonna ask if you would just stand up all across this room and if you would would you buy your head to close your eyes with me there's a group of people that are here that aren't in God's contact yet Paul saved the misamiss as a brother he saved Mark is useful he saved archivist of someone with something left to finish every one of

those rest on one thing it's not their story it's God's and what he's doing in their lives let me ask you this question do you actually belong to Jesus do you have a relationship with him I want you to know that you can today Bible says that all of us are sinners all of us have fallen short of God's standard of God's glory what we want to do is give you the opportunity to know God's and his son Jesus to die on a cross for you he said to take all of his stuff put it on my account put it on my tab and it says that he paid all of them all of them on the cross he rose from the dead and he now invites you to give your life to him and he's gonna save you in his contacts now based upon what you've done based upon what he's today you want to receive Jesus would you pray this simple pray with me dear God I confess that I am a sinner consequences of my sin is death eternal death and separation for you I believe you sit your son Jesus to die across for me I believe that he rose from the dead and right now receive his gift and eternal life it's in Jesus name I pray amen would you look up here our team is gonna be up front we're gonna be at the bottom of the steps you just pray to give your life to Jesus I'm gonna ask you to come forward others if you need to come and join you not in City Church we are a church of a bunch of people with past we're a church with a bunch of people who stalled we're a church that's filled with people who's yet to fulfill all that God's done but guess what Jesus is our story he's the one that brings us all together so if you'll be a part of a church like that which you lead the way today maybe others be prayer whatever need you came with today we want to pray with you and pray for you so here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna pray yet again when I say amen I want you to come this God is eating you to respond father in Jesus name I pray that you would move and hearts today call people to yourself to make life changing decisions in Jesus name I pray amen you come this God is eating you to respond come on there's God for you come on come on who else I would do leading you to respond to him today come on everything to the field of Jesus everything in the name of Jesus this is the house the miracle so we say the Lord in the name of Jesus come alive in the name

of Jesus this is the house of miracles [MUSIC PLAYING] # Everything in the name of Jesus # Let's go out to you. Come on, grow up. # This is the house of miracles # # So we say, come along # # In the name of Jesus # # Come alive # # In the name of Jesus # # Your house is alive # # So we are able to live # # Oh, we bring everything # # To the feet of Jesus # # Everything in the name of Jesus # # Come alive # # In the name of Jesus # # I still believe you're moving # # I still believe you're moving # # God, I believe you're moving # # I still believe you're moving # # In the name of Jesus # # Your house is alive # # God, I will see your vision # # God, I'm gonna be your working # # All things longer # # Are still believe you're moving # # God, you're moving # # I still believe you're moving # # And you're speaking now # # I'll hear you #

# You're working it out # # All people are good # # I'll face my eyes on heaven # # God, I'll receive you # # Receive your vision on me # # I'll believe, I'll believe # # Oh, so we say # # Come alive # # In the name of Jesus # # Come alive # # In the name of Jesus # # God, I'll see your vision # # I'll see your vision # # Oh # # We bring everything # # To the feet of Jesus # # Everything in the name of Jesus # # Your house is alive # # Oh, oh # Father, we do ask that this would be a place, God, where you continue to move, you continue to work, you continue to do miracles, you continue to bring healing, you continue to bring hope, you continue to allow change to break God, you will continue to allow addictions to fall, you will continue to allow sin to be confessed. Lord, may we behold the person of Jesus. Having stared and looked at the beauty of this diamond, may we not walk away and just act the same. But instead, Father, may we respond to you,

may we allow you to change our presence, may we live in confidence knowing that you've changed our future. Lord, may we live lives not of regret knowing that you've redeemed our past. Father, we behold you. You thank because of all that you are and all that you have done. It's in the powerful name of Jesus that I pray, amen. Hey, you guys can take a seat. Let's give the Lord a hand the way He has moved and are missed today. (congregation applauding) I'm gonna ask our ushers to go in and make their way up front and you guys just hang on just a second. I'll tell you when to go. You can go and get in place, but I'll tell you when to go to actually pass the plates. Those of you that are guests, I wanna specifically say a word of greeting to you. We're so thankful that you're here today, thankful that you've joined with us here at United City Church. There is a guest registration form that is in the seat back that's in front of you or you can take a picture of the QR code that's on the screen or in the back of the tap tag. We would love for you to fill that out for us. We just don't want you to be anonymous. I promise you, we're not gonna like sell your information

to all the people that are trying to get you to vote for whoever they're wanting you to vote for because you get plenty of those already, all right? But we do wanna make sure that we contact you and let you know about the things going on in the life of the church. I personally wanna have a chance to follow up with you. So would you do us the privilege of letting us know who you are? You can fill that out. You can place that in the offering plate here in just a moment when it's fast or you can place it in the little baskets as you leave, the bins as you leave. Or you can take it to our first time guest area. We would prefer to do that. But I wanna also let you know as you prepare to give one, just what you're giving two. Next week, we're gonna be doing some very creative, different things to try to reach a lot of people for Jesus in Northeast Houston. And you're gonna have an opportunity to invest in things like that. You're gonna have the opportunity to be able to be a part of what God's doing in the bigger picture here. And so I just wanna encourage you to test the Lord, especially as we think about towards the end of the year. There's gonna be a lot. Everybody's gonna be asking for your money.

Everybody's gonna be asking for money. I don't wanna get in line doing that. I just wanna ask that you be faithful. And you just know that we need a strong finish so that we can head into 2027 at a great place. And that means that we need to have a great next couple of months. And that means for some of you that may be thinking about it or maybe to get caught up, would you please just consider doing that. I do want to let you know about a couple announcements. I already mentioned it to you, but at the movies starts next week. You're really, really excited about this. I cannot tell you the work and time and effort that's gone into it has been incredible. But more importantly, the opportunity is so much before us if we leverage it. What we don't want to do is just do some kind of neat services. We want to have a movement where our people catch a vision for what it looks like to invite their friends and their family and their neighbors to come to church. And so please make sure that that is your priority, not just to attend, but to invite someone else to come with you. We typically have larger attendance for this. And so if you might consider going to one of our other services, this most likely will be one of our larger services. So if you just want to consider that, if you have some flexibility in your schedule, perhaps go to 830 or to the 1130. That would help us a lot. And then also want to let you know that in two weeks, we're going to be having a block, a group's block party that's going to be out on the lawn. It's a Sunday night. We're going to have an opportunity just to have some food trucks and some things like that.

A great way for you to have the opportunity to be able to get to know other people, be up for your groups to be able to have some events together. It's going to be a great time. November 15th, the weather should be great by then already is starting to be really, really nice. And so make sure that you put that up there now. Are we ready to go? No, OK, here's what I'm going to have you do. I got to let a few of you still pass the plate. All right, so here's what we're going to do. Can you just bow your heads in prayer with me? For those of you that need to finish, you finish. But I do one more, two more services today. We've got a number of folks scheduled for 1130 service already. We've got a number of folks that are scheduled for a one o'clock service today. Our team has worked hard in preparation for the Sunday. We need the spirit of God to show up. There's no other way to say it. We just need God to show up. We want God to do what He does. We don't want to do what we do. Let's just pray Father in Jesus name we come before you and we. We ask. We ask that you would move. Our 1130 service is typically filled with a lot of guests. I pray God that you'd speak to these guests in a way like they had never predicted they would ever happen. Father, I pray for our Español service this afternoon. God that there would be such a movement of your spirit. Where next steps are taken in abundance. God, I thank you for the 16 this morning who came not prepared.

Not expecting to make a decision. We ended up going to be baptized. Thank you father for very close friend of mine stood up at first service. I've been praying for. I thank you for the 77 year old lady. You said she's been so nervous but her life group stood next to her. And the opportunity to celebrate with her that life changed. God we can't do that. But you can we beg you beg you for more. You would pour out your spirit and God as we watch these baptisms even now. You let our hearts be full because each one of these people have a story. Story represents your story, your work, your movement in their lives. It's in the powerful name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. Let's watch. This is pretty significant. David is from Hungary and he's actually here in the States for just a few weeks. We've got life streaming right now all the way across the world. So praise God that the gospel of Jesus Christ is bringing proclaim through United City Church all the way to hunger this morning. So David because of your public profession of faith and now baptized you, my brother, the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. This is Laisha because of your public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. I baptize you, my sister and the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit. I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And this is Tommy, Tommy, because of your public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is Eddie, Eddie, because of your public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the

Holy Spirit. All right, this is Matthew, Matthew, because of your public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is Diego, Diego, because of your public profession of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I baptize you, my brother, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All right, this is Tunisia, because of your public profession of faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We've got two more, they're coming, they're changing, so perhaps, let me sense to you guys, let's worship a little bit more, and then we'll come back in just a moment. I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, and I'm as good as you, oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, and I'm as good as you, oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, and I'm as good as you, oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, and I'm because of you, oh, hallelujah. Come on Church, this is a great time to celebrate, you'll live it to the Queen. You got me running out of grave, hallelujah, here I come, let me turn away my shame, and you're never to the cross, become me running out of grave, hallelujah, here I come, oh, you took away, 'cause you took away my shame, and you're running through the broken cross, you got me running out of grave, say hallelujah, here I come, say hallelujah, here I come, hallelujah, here I come, they hallelujah, here I come, hallelujah, here I come, hallelujah, here I come, hallelujah, here I come, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, and I'm as good as you, oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, and I'm because of you, oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, and I'm good as you, oh, hallelujah, I've been washed in the water, washed in the blood, oh, because of you, oh, hallelujah. Say, oh, hallelujah, 'cause you took away my shame, and you're running through the cross, you got me running out of grave, hallelujah, here I come, hallelujah, here I come, hallelujah, here I come, ♫ We're going machine Church family, we've got a sweet married couple here. This is Dora, and this is Brian.

Dora and Brian, we're so excited for you because of your public professions of faith in Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. It's our joy and honor to baptize you, the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We're bear with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in unison life. Congratulations. Praise God Church. Come on Church, let's celebrate the Lord when he's doing today. Thank you guys so much for being here. We will see you next week for At The Movies. Have a great day. [Music] Man, what an amazing time that we had today. Hey, if you know of someone that needs to hear this message, we'd love for you to share that on socials. We'd 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 the United City. And if you need to take the 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) [MUSIC PLAYING]