Stronger Generations - Saddleback Weekend Services

Welcome to Saddleback. Are you guys ready to worship together? Come on, let's put our hands together. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] You And you have been the friend who never left I won't forget your name for all my enemies Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and it's sweet and red It's my heart, it's sweet and red at the time that I've owned Oh, there's something about your name There's something about your name There's just something about your name That makes me cry lonely There is no other name, there is no other name There is no other name, there is no other name Jesus, we're the name, Jesus is your one and me There's just something about your name There's just something about your name The name of Jesus is something about your name It makes me cry lonely There is no other name, there is no other name There is no other name, there is no other name Jesus, we're the name, Jesus is my one and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me The one and the other, the name, the night, the resurrection, and the life

Jesus, Jesus, you're a name, you say you're a name, and you You're a name, you make the stormy still You never fail, you never will, Jesus Jesus, we're the name, I'm the one and the one and the one The first and last and still to come Jesus, Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, there's just something about your name Jesus, we're the name, Jesus, we're the name, we're the name of the whole heart Let's sing it out, try and say Jesus, Jesus, we're the name Jesus, we're the name, Jesus, we're the name Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, Jesus, we're the name, we're the name, we're the name Jesus, we're the name, we're the name of the whole heart Oh, there's feeling in your way, there's feeling in your way There's feeling in your way, there's feeling in your way, there's feeling in your way There's feeling in your way, there's feeling in your way, there's feeling in your way It makes me cry, hold me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me

Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me Jesus, we're the name of the whole heart, and me The land that He brings is the land And we fall down, we lay our grounds at the tree The tree loves the greatness of, the greatness of His mercy His mercy and love At the feet, at the feet of Jesus And we cry, holy, holy, holy, holy And we cry, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, is the land Holy, the land that God brings is the land that He brings is the land that He brings is the land There is nothing tied to Jesus, we cry, holy, holy, holy, holy, is the land ♪ We cry holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, we cry ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, we cry ♪ ♪ Holy, holy ♪ ♪ Holy, give to them ♪ ♪ He is the man ♪ ♪ Holy, He is the man ♪ ♪ Holy, He is the man ♪ ♪ He is the man ♪ ♪ And all the senses ♪ ♪ And all the senses ♪ ♪ Down before your own throne ♪ ♪ And all the end ♪ ♪ And all the rest of us ♪ ♪ Have come before the land of God ♪ ♪ And see ♪ ♪ You were worthy of love ♪ ♪ You were worthy of it all ♪

♪ For from you are our beings ♪ ♪ And to you are our beings ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ ♪ Every voice, come on ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ All these saints ♪ ♪ All the saints and angels ♪ ♪ Down before your throne ♪ ♪ And all the others cast ♪ ♪ And all the others cast ♪ ♪ And crown before the land of God ♪ ♪ And see you are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ Yeah, worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You were worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are our beings ♪ ♪ For from you are our beings ♪ ♪ And to you are our beings ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ ♪ You deserve your worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You were worthy of it all ♪ ♪ All the praise, all the glory ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ And you are all which you deserve. You deserve the glory of me. Oh, oh, when we sing day in night, night in day and day and day. For I, day and night, night in day and day. And since every voice singing out, day and night, night in day and night. And since we're all who we call you, day and night, night in day and day.

And since we're all who we call you, the earth is coming on and you are all who we call you. Day and night, night in day and day. And since we're all who we call you, the earth is coming on and you are all who we call you. Day and night, night in day and day. And since we're all who we call you, the earth is coming on and you are all who we call you. You are one of the obvious all who we call you. You are one of the obvious all who we call you. I know you are all things. And you are all things. You deserve all. You deserve all the praise all. You are one of the obvious all who we call you. You are one of the obvious all who we call you. You are one of the obvious all who we call you. You are one of the obvious all who we call you. And since we're all who we call you. And since we're all who we call you. Thank you so much for joining us this week online. I'm so glad that you decided to be with us. We've been worshiping together and we're about to move into a time of hearing a message from a guest speaker here at our church. But before that, I want to let you know that if you're new with us, I want to encourage you right now to download our app. Set your campus as online community. There's actually a link in the description if you're watching on YouTube there. You can take next steps in your faith, learn a little bit more about our church. Actually follow along in the message notes. Also, if you are new here, when you go there, make sure I want to encourage you. If you're watching on YouTube, if you do all this, when you go there, hit new here. And our team would love to connect with you no matter if you're in Southern California in one of our campuses or somewhere else in the country or the world. We have a community and campuses that we would love to get you plugged into. But it starts with you reaching out.

Also there you can check in with us. We are wrapping up this weekend our five week challenge where we're building on this habit of coming to church every week. So make sure you hit number five or you can kind of start it or kind of go number three number four. And so I want to make sure you do that. It's been an amazing kind of journey to see everybody, all the thousands of people that have been checking in every week building this habit of coming to church. And then we also have the dream team rally that's happening this Tuesday. The dream team are everybody that help make our online community happen. Volunteers from the chat to YouTube, our small group leaders to all the various ministries that respond to things when you reach out to us in the app. We're getting all together on Tuesday on Zoom to kind of celebrate everything God's has done and is doing. And also if you're new to our community, maybe you're interested in getting plugged in and being part of our online community, you can sign up for that and show up to that and learn more about how you can belong to our team. And you can sign up for that all in the app. Well, there's so much going on in the life of our church. So let's watch this together. Hey everybody, welcome to church. I'm so glad that you're here with us today. And I do want to welcome our campuses and those who are joining online. Today we're wrapping up our stronger message series and you're going to hear an incredible message from Pastor David Nasser. But before he comes, I want to just celebrate a couple of things that are happening in the life of our church. Today marks the end of our five week challenge and thousands of you have taken that challenge way to go. I believe God's going to use that in our lives as we continue this habit of being consistent in our weekend worship. Now, I love hearing stories from kids and students and families. And one thing that is really significant is not just attending on a weekend, but getting connected deeper into the life of our church. And one of the best ways that you can do that is through joining us and activate. It's happening the first week of November. It's going to be happening in all of our campuses. You hear about our groups, teams, ways that we can do. and how we can serve you in your journey of faith. So I wanna encourage you to sign up. I would love to get a chance to meet you at the Lake Forest, activate happening on that Sunday night,

the first weekend in November. Also that same weekend, we're gonna be having man camp and that's gonna be an opportunity for men to go deeper in their faith. We're gonna pull away, we're gonna worship together, we're gonna grow and I'll be there together with my good friend, Aaron Graham. So I wanna encourage you, sign up, a man, if you're a wife, get your husband there, for those of you who are men, let's get together and be challenged to be stronger men. Now, I also want you to know, God's using you powerfully all over the world. And one of the best ways I love to look at how God's using us is through helping other churches and start churches all across North America. We do this with an organization called Strategic Launch Network and together with other churches, we just recently launched four brand new churches. Now, God used your generosity to help make that happen. And here's a story of one of those churches of how God is using you to make an impact. - Hey Saddleback, I'm Seth. - And I'm Megan. - And last month we launched Waypoint Church, here in Northwest Las Vegas. And you know, we just love this community, it's full of energy and young families. - But a lot of people here don't have a church home

or know about Jesus. - Before we even launched, we met Oscar at Starbucks. He overheard us talking about Waypoint and was interested, and then he and his whole family started exploring faith. And then at Easter, I actually got to baptize Oscar and his daughter into Christ. - But the story gets better. - So then the whole family ends up joining the team and helps us launch Waypoint. And then last week, his wife Elizabeth and his son were baptized too. - Thank you Saddleback for helping us reach Las Vegas for Jesus, one family at a time. - Thank you. - That was David Nasser comes to bring today's message. I wanna encourage you to open your heart to what God wants to say to you through him. David Nasser has become a good friend and God used him to impact my life when I was in college through his book, A Call to Die, A Radical Call to Obedience. And I'm very excited because that book is being released in the very near future, re-released. And I believe a new generation is gonna be impacted by this message. So today is he calls us and challenges us to make an impact into future generations, wrap up this message series. I know you love this guy. I wanna invite you to join me

in giving him a warm Saddleback church welcome as he comes to bring the message. (clapping) (audience applauding) - Well, good morning. And what an honor to be in this incredible church, a church that has literally changed the world. When God planted Saddleback, he had so much more than so cal in mind. He had the nations in mind. And you have been pioneers in so many different ways being just a courageous leader to help equip the church globally in so many different ways. And then to just honestly get to preaching the pulpit of my new dear friend, Andy Wood. And I look to him not just as a personal person that I trust and have learned from, but one of the best teachers I know of God's Word. I have been watching the stronger series that today we are in the last part of. And honestly, I kind of started thinking, I've gotta watch this since I get to be a part of the series and make sure that I'm kind of like getting the baton passed to me properly. But I've just learned so much. Watching these messages from Pastor Andy and from Stacy about stronger men, stronger women, stronger home, stronger families have been for me personally in my own walk filled with conviction and atta boys in places

where I'm like, yes, I've been living biblically that way. And then moments where I've just kind of taken notes and thought, this is how I'm gonna need to be a better husband. This is how I'm gonna need to be more intentional in my walk. And so God gets the glory, but it would just be a bad stewardship at the moment. If I didn't honor my friend and say, you have such a gift in Andy and Stacy. And God is using them tremendously in the life of people, even outside of this place. So thanks for sharing him with us, all right. It's like, can we thank him and thank you, all right? So such an honor. Like I say, we're in the series together. And this series is basically a really simple premise in that God wants you and I to live a life that is stronger. And what I mean by that is that so often in life people will discount something that is coming up against you. People will discount a strong cold by calling it a week old or people will say, look, the culture, you know, that's kind of how defining or redefining what marriage looks like. It doesn't really have the power that you think it does or the world. this series actually takes seriously sin, takes seriously confusion, takes seriously this reality that so often in this world we have strong forces coming to destroy and rob us and so it's strong but what is stronger than a stronghold is a stronger God. What is stronger than a bad definition of marriage is the biblical definition of marriage. The antidote, the solution to something is not to pretend it's not strong but to say you know what it's strong but God is stronger and if I, if I get the world's playbook it's a strong playbook but if I get God's playbook I get the

strongest playbook and my love for Andy grew even more when he said hey Dave will you come back and preach for us again and then he said will you do the series again and he said you'll be the last one and I said hey you're doing already strong men, strong women, you're doing strong. What's the last one and he said I really feel as I've been praying that this whole thing needs to finish up by talking about stronger generations and that is such a pastor's heart because what he's saying when he's assigning someone like me hey I want this to be about stronger generations is hey what good is it if and now in this moment we get strong men when we haven't thought about little boys that one day need to be stronger men. What good is it if we have strong families who start strong but don't pass the baton and finish strong and every dad in this room wakes up every single day not just thinking about what's right in front of them but what's in front of their kids and hopefully your grandkids where you at grandkids will you wave at me I mean where you at grandparents will you wave at me I know what it's like to wake up every day and think what is the church going to be like for my great great grandkids and this series has that kind of heart not just Andy's heart for you not just Stacy's heart for you but honestly God's heart for you we serve a God who wants us to be one generation commending the works of God to another because simply put it's just too good to keep to ourself. God is a generational God who has a generational heart for a generational church. God wants for us God desires for his bride to have longevity heritage and legacy and we see it over and over again we see the way that Jesus made disciples right who are what making disciples. We see not just Jesus modeled out we see how that idea of mentorship and legacy and that idea of longevity and that idea of heritage and generation after generation commending the work of God the hope of God the good news who is God from one generation to another we see it the way Moses had a Joshua to pass it on down the line we see it in the way that Naomi cleared the brush for Ruth we see David who got assigned to mentor up a Solomon we see Elijah invest into the life of Elisha we see Elizabeth and the way that she was a mom figure she was a mentor to a Mary and today what I'd love to drill down on is another one of those generational relationships the relationship between the Apostle Paul and a mentor in his life named Barnabas now if you're getting ready to study scripture with me if you would go with me to Acts 9 26 we're going to be in two Bible verses today Acts 9 26 and 27 but as you're kind of getting there let me kind of set the table for us and before we read the text that's what we say when we read a Bible verse we call it a text before we read the text I think it's important for us to get some context all right and so I want the backdrop

so that we can really make sure we suck all the that all the marrow out of the text the text is too good just to skim through it so here's a little context before the text we've got two characters right here primary characters in this story and you've got Paul and you've got Barnabas now let's just stop right now and just say Paul is a giant of the faith when I say giant to the faith I'm talking about like since I'm in California right here and I know we've got international campuses that watch all right but I'm talking about like a sequoia of a giant a redwood of a giant I looked it up this morning I can right now get in a car from this pulpit all right and within three hours and 41 minutes stand next to these tallest tree in the world 26 stories tall right here in California when we think about that when I think of the Apostle Paul I think of a 26 story giant deep rooted sequoia. I mean, the man is literally, I was thinking about this. I don't know if you've ever thought about this. Paul is the most quoted person ever in the history of the world. He's not the most important person in the world. That would be Jesus Christ. But he is the most quoted. More people will today quote Pauline theology than anyone else in the world. Think about all the people who named their kid Paul. Think about Paul, the great church planner. Oscar Andy a minute ago was talking about how your church just recently planted four new churches. That's amazing. But think about this. The Apostle Paul is the single greatest church planner the church has ever known. The Apostle Paul is one of the great theologians of the church. He wrote the magna carda of Christianity, Ephesians 2, 1 through 10. Give us a fourth in the New Testament. This was a man, y'all, who spent 10,000 miles on foot going from one place to another. Planning churches, discipling other people, sharing the good news. Eventually, you know, they put him in prison, then they let him out of prison, then they put him in another prison, then he gets shipwrecked, then he's like leaving in the middle of the night. Eventually, he ends up in the mammertime prison. By the way, do you remember that moment when he's in the mammertime prison? If you grew up in somebody vacation Bible schooled it for you or flannel graphed it for you. I mean, he's sitting in the mammertime prison. He's chained to a centurion in a house prison. And while he's there, he knows any minute they're going to come. They're going to take him out of the city. That's what they would do to a Roman citizen. They would take him outside the city walls. They're going to turn him upside down. They're going to be head him. All the blood is going to rush out of his body. Then they're going to sew that head back on and then put him in a catacomb. And in that moment, any moment, they're going to kind of do all that. They're threatening him. He goes, he literally goes,

I've already been poured out as a drink offering. How do you like them apples? And we're talking about the giant in the faith. We're talking about a guy that 2,000 years ago walked this earth and just made his life count for God and talk about generational impact. And 2,000 years later, we're gathered this morning and we are reading Pauline theology. And so when I think about Paul, I think about a giant in the faith. But then, in its shadow, a guy nobody ever talks about. For all the thousands of churches that will talk about the Apostle Paul this morning, I might be the only guy crazy enough to actually kind of spotlight and go head over this other guy named Barnabas that nobody ever brings up. And when it comes to generational wealth, when it comes to passing the baton, the Apostle Paul had a Barnabas. Now, let me back up and say the first time we see the Apostle Paul. The first time that we see him in scripture, he's actually not this giant of the faith. He's an obstacle and not a stepping stone when he comes to the gospel. The first time we see the Apostle Paul, he's at the lion's gate right outside the city of Jerusalem. He's an accomplice to murder. I don't know if you ever thought about this, but he's literally holding everybody's coach as they're stoning Stephen. You know why he's holding everybody's coach? Because he's probably the ringleader. He's probably the head coach and he's telling the quarterback how to run the play. And so he's an accomplice to Stephen's murder. And Stephen's being stoned to death after Stephen's stoned to death, then Paul decides that's not enough. That's not enough. By the way, you might be wondering why was Stephen being stoned to death? Because Stephen comes on the scene and Stephen starts preaching the gospel. Stephen starts looking at a bunch of religious people and he's telling them, hey, you're trying to find salvation to the Jewish law, but you're not going to find salvation to the Jewish law. You're going to find salvation to Jesus, the newish law. And you want to really hack somebody off, get them to feel really good about their self-accomplishment. So I climbed this ladder and I did this. It was 634 mosaic dos and don'ts. Get somebody to climb up it and they feel really ahead of everybody else. Look at me. I'm so spiritual. And as they're climbing, look down and go, hey, when you get up here, there ain't anything up. You've climbed the wrong ladder and you're really made of angry. And so Stephen comes into the life of all these religious do-gooders and he's like, look, it's not about works that you do. It's about the completed works that Jesus did. And they're not happy. And so Paul, this religious zealot, he's an accomplice to Stephen's murder. Then, scene two, you leave that and he's on the Damascus road. Now, the Bible says Paul is on the Damascus road to take

out the people of the way. Who are the people of the way? The way is not a philosophy or a theology. The way is a person. Jesus says about himself, I am the way. I am the truth and I am the life. So Paul is an accomplice to Stephen's murder. And then Paul is on the Damascus road to silence Christianity, silence the message of Jesus. He's against Christ. And the next thing you know, He dies so much bigger than physically. Saul becomes Paul blind to see death to life no longer against but for Christ. And then he becomes a believer. And then after he becomes a believer, he just begins to, now he's on, he's finally found why he was fearfully and wonderfully made. He finds his purpose and he goes out and he starts talking to people about God. Now, you fast forward just a few years. He is still what I would call a young buck. He's got fuzz on his antlers. He's another way to say it. He's not a sequoia but a tender shoot. And in those moments he's a new believer. He's just getting going. He doesn't have a lot of polish. He didn't write, you know, like I said, you know, Colossians, this letter, you know, that's so robust and deep in theology. None of that's happened yet. We're talking about these formative beginning years of his life. Paul is a brand new believer. His reputation is this guy is against God, not for God. Most people don't trust him. He's been out and about doing some work but nobody's ever given him a platform or anything yet. And then he comes back in and that is the context of the text that we're about to read. You ready? And so, brand new baby believer Paul, not sequoia tree but tender shoot Paul. Reputation is who, this is the guy that caused havoc. This is the guy who killed Christians. This is, can I just, can I just put a pin in it and just bring this out to you? You thought for me as I was meditating on this this week. When Paul made it to heaven, when they beheaded him and Paul made it to heaven. You know who greeted him when he made it in? When Paul made it to heaven, some of the very people that Paul murdered said, welcome home. Think about that. Stephen, that he was the accomplished of murder for, Stephen said, well done, come home. Bring me back, I'll preach on that. Anyway, so here we are. We're in this moment, all right? Brand new baby believer Paul. You ready for this? You ready for this? Brand new believer, let's see what happens. It's amazing. So here we are in this little moment, Acts 9, 26. When Paul came to Jerusalem, Paul's about two and a half, three years old in his walk with God. He's taking baby steps, right? He's just getting out of diapers in his faith. When Paul came to Jerusalem, he tried to join

the disciples, but they were pretty afraid of him. They did not believe that he was really one of them, right? All they knew was this guy was our enemy and he's saying he switched teams, but hey, we see a lot of that. Is this for real? They were afraid of him. They didn't believe he was really a disciple, but then Barnabas comes in. But Barnabas, by the way, his name means son of encouragement. Barnabas comes in and he takes Paul and brings him to the apostles, right? They didn't want to meet with them. They were like, we're in hiding. We wouldn't avoid this guy like he's the plague, but then Barnabas that they trusted takes Paul, takes him by the hand, and he brings him in to the apostles. And he told the apostles, Barnabas tells the apostles how Saul, right, was on this journey and had seen the Lord. He's testifying, right? He's a witness to like, hey, man, this guy was on the Damascus road and he saw the Lord. He became a Christian. This guy is not the old guy that we knew that there's a new hymn walking around. For the past few years, there's been this whole new conversion moment in the life of this man. He vouches for him. He says, hey, I saw him on this journey where he saw the Lord and the Lord spoke to him. And then he said, and not just that. It's not just something internally has happened to him. It happened to him internally. He's been talking about externally. He's been proclaiming and he tells them, hey, this guy's been preaching fearlessly, fearlessly, the message of the gospel. And what does Barnabas do? Barnabas walks into the life of the apostle Paul in a moment where no one trusted him and everyone trusted Barnabas. And what did he do? He put his chips in. He decided to say, you trust me. You don't trust him. But because you trust me, I'm going to bring him in and say, I'm going to cover it. I'm going to spend my, my good name, put it at stake, because I am vouching. I am mentoring. This is about generations. And so I am going to put my generational trust into his. [BLANK_AUDIO] Barnabas becomes a mentor to the Apostle Paul Now if you're taking notes, let's just define mentor really quickly a mentor a mentor is actually someone who is a wise And trusted investor. You know what an investor is somebody who buys stock Barnabas bought stock in Paul by the way. He didn't know like we know Paul is some Nvidia stuck up in here, right? He was like, what is this stock? This is crazy stock Barnabas buy stock a mentor is a wise and trusted investor who equips

And God wants us to equip the saints of the woodwork of ministry Generationally as a wise and trusted investor who equips another to flourish I like to say it this way an investor a mentor an elder a father figure a mother figure a Spiritual elder in your life someone who's further up the mountain who who kind of cleared the brush for you helps you That's somebody who I think gives you of essentially the four W's because preachers love illiteration someone give you four W's They essentially bring wisdom That's discernment and know how They bring worth that's resources and relationships Barnabas had resources and relationships Paul didn't have relationships They knew Barnabas. So Barnabas spent his relational capital He had discernment and know how so there's wisdom and then there's worth and then there's with you know What with this is protection of stability. You know me when I say like anybody here got a one-year-old They're doing good just to set up then in a one and a half. They're just kind of walking They don't have a lot of stability your stability is holding their stability doesn't make sense you have with Got a little bin there done that You got a little more stability because you've been going for a while how to do it you become the training wheels you become the stability you become the With I not too long ago someone Administrative a you don't have to even be guilty. Just accused and On the internet somebody accused me of something it wasn't anything bad But they were just like that and instead of like fighting for ever I like to spend all my energy when I'm defending defending the gospel I feel like that's where my energy needs to be spent But one of my one of my elders one of my board members found out somebody was and that he was like let me take care of this Very trusted person in ministry and he just stepped up and said let me tell you this this this this because everybody knew him I was he was blocking and tackling his wisdom and his wit. I was like I'm with that guy You want to get to me you got to go through him Anybody needs some width You know I'm talking about so that's with that's just that practical side of that's what a mentor does a mentor brings wisdom brings Worth brings with protection and stability and brings worth. That's good old fashioned elbow grease and sweat equity

And what happens is a mentor comes into your life and a mentor does for you what you need done that you can't do for yourself you know it's interesting we're talking about all this because in the last three days my wife Jennifer and I have been hanging out with Your Doug's slave ball. I don't know if you know Doug's slave ball if you're maybe new around here Maybe you've never heard of Doug's slave ball But Doug's slave ball has been a part of this church body for a long long time He's a sage and one of the things that Doug's slave ball does is he helps people as Just a wide stage he is the four W's man He helps people do life planning and so the last time I was here Doug and I were meeting And I knew his reputation had just preceded him. He has helped so many of my friends do ministerial life planning So I said hey Doug can I shoot for a favor if I ever get to come back Can I bring my wife and can we spend a few days at your feet and you just we just have a lot of opportunities and and not And I just need to have the sermon and wisdom and you're further up the mountain And so for the past three days Doug's slave ball has been sitting with my wife and I and he's been helping us not figure out Like our life, but we believe it's God's life Blomps to him how we can serve the Lord how we can make our life count the most and so we have been with Doug for three days And I got to tell you it's been it's been amazing by the way when you hang out with Doug's slave ball You don't just hang out with Doug's slave ball you hang out with Doug's slave ball and all the people that had mentored him through the years Three days with Doug's slave ball is literally 1100 we got to a place where I was like stop opened up my laptop push record I go I got to catch up at the the rapid pace of wisdom that was coming my way the width that was coming my way That's honestly the boy and so I'm saying all that to say looking back on it just the last three days It was like drinking from a water hydrant, but at the same time every other time Doug was speaking He was quoting someone else. He was like, you know When I was on the team with pasture Rick. He once said this and then there was some rick is it? with Doug's slave ball, you don't just get Doug's slave ball. You get the greatest hits of all the people that mentored him and he's just passing it downstream." I have a thank you. When I get to heaven, I'm going to hug people that are no longer here, that I spent three days with, that Doug's slave ball just kept giving me quotes from. Does that make sense? We're hanging out with Doug. We get finished with the third day. My brain is just mush. You know? They've just been handing our life. And Jennifer and I were sitting there reading chips and salsa at this restaurant.

We're just kind of talking through some of the things God has given us. And then I texted Doug. I said, "Hey, Doug, just a quick question for you, buddy. We were done." I said, "We were talking about my life plan, my life statements and stuff." I said, "What is your... Tell me again, what is your..." I asked him. I said, "What is your life mission statement?" Because he had made us hone in on a mission statement for our life and quickly texted back. You want to hear this? If this ain't Barnabas, what is? You know what Doug said? He said, "Talk about somebody who knows why they're made by God." He said, "I optimized potential for God's intended design. Drop mic." You know what I do? I wake up every day and I try to optimize potential in God's perfect design in the life of somebody. So, in the last three days, he's been like, "I'm trying to optimize potential for God's purpose." This ain't about you, buddy. This is about God. How do I help you leverage your life, your gifts, your talents, your relationship? Everybody needs that in their life. And Paul had a Barnabas step in by stock. Does that make sense? Everybody needs that. Everything I look back in my life, everything I look back in my life that I've ever been able to accomplish, I've been able to accomplish not because I was awesome, but because someone who was awesome somehow invited me into a room I didn't even belong. It could have never deserved. My entire life has been just on the shoulder of greater men and women who vouched for me, men and women who were patient with me, men and women who came into, that God gifted me to just hold my hand through certain seasons of my life, the valleys and the, you know, the mountaintops. Hopefully, you look back and you can see the same in you. That God never intended for us to do this alone. And God never, I mean, intended us for us just to do this people that are right here. But God said, "And the things that I've poured in you is too good for you to keep to yourself. How are you giving it away and giving it away? How are you optimizing potential in the life of others in the way that they were designed by God to live? How are you buying stock in the next generation?" And what I'm not talking about is just life planning, you know, at that, or leadership. I'm talking about like anybody here got kids? How are you being a Barnabas to the kids in your life? Anybody here? I don't have kids? How are you walking into the foster care system and finding a fatherless kid and going, "God's giving me some stuff to give." Maybe it's the co-worker who just showed up at work. And you know, like three days in, this young cocky kid who's at work, you're just like, "None of that's going to work. Boss ain't going to be happy." But instead of letting him have enough rope just to hang himself, maybe you just walk into the life of a, as a Barnabas, in work, you walk in and go,

"Hey, that's not going to really make the book. That's actually going to yield the opposite of what you think." Maybe you just come in and you're a Barnabas. You're a bigger brother. You help someone have longevity at work. Not big, why? Because like maybe later on, five lunches later, they look at you and go, "Dude, you saved me from getting fired. Why?" And then you can, you get to say as a Christian, "You matter to God. You matter to me. I wish somebody had blocked and tackled from me. I wish someone, man, I remember when I came in and I didn't know any better and I had fuzz on my end. Maybe you do all that." And they go, "Why do you care?" And then you go, "Why don't you and your wife come over and let's grill out." And you're grilling out. And the next thing you know, you're chilling out and the next thing you know, they goes, "Why are you doing this?" And you go, "You want to come to church with me on Sunday?" It's a weird Iranian guy speaking. Then all of a sudden you come in here and you say, "Does that make sense?" Because there's something bigger going on. You put it downstream and then when you put it downstream, it always boomerangs back into your life. The blessing becomes yours because you're just like, "Man, it was all long loan anyway. God just gave it to me to give to somebody else. I look at my life and my entire life has been nothing but that." Nothing but that. I remember if you were here the first time I shared my life story when I got to be here a couple months ago, but I grew up in Iran. And in 1979, when the Iranian revolution happened, my family and I escaped from Iran and we came to America as political asylum refugees. And so we were Shiite Muslims, didn't know the Lord, I end up not a Christian family. And for years and years, I was this outcast of kid just looking for acceptance in all the wrong places, very insecure, just very broke it in my life. And then when I was 18 and two months old, this church walked into my life with hospitality just radically exemplified. They were just gracious to me and my family. And then when I was 18 and two months old, I became a Christian. And I'm giving you that 90 second version so just so you understand.

I become a Christian at 18 and two months old and the night that I became a Christian, all of a sudden my parents who weren't very devout, Muslims became devout Muslims. All of a sudden my father was like, "You cannot be a Christian, but a Muslim." So I was like, "We are?" And two weeks later, the night that I went to get baptized that the church said I became a Christian 'cause they really wanted to baptize me. I don't know if they got extra credit for Dunkin' Middle Easterners. I don't know if they had 99 baptisms, they needed one more to go triple digit for a banner. They just, but the night that I became, the night that I went to get baptized, I went and got baptized. I came home, word had gotten out to my parents that I went and got baptized publicly, and I brought embarrassment to them. And I came into the house and my dad looked at me and he said, "Did you get baptized tonight?" I said, "Yes, sir, I did." He said, "I told you not to do that." And he said, "You're no longer my son." He gave me a duffel bag. He took my car keys, took my wallet, let me keep my driver's license, took the credit card.

He said, "You're dead to me." And he kicked me out of the house. And I moved in with six guys that lived in a one bedroom apartment. We were this like upper, upper middle class family, and all of a sudden, I'd blown up my life. I went from a kid who was going to Europe a couple times a year with my family, and God had just blessed us financially to have my college paid for and all that, to all of a sudden, I'm in a one bedroom apartment with six guys eating ramen noodles every day. I didn't have a bedroom, I didn't have a couch. Somebody else was on the couch. Every night, I'd go to rug. (audience laughing) I'm sitting there and on paper, it looked like I'd blown up my life. It looked like, man, I just like, what in the world? And then I'm in the apartment one day, and the phone rang, I picked up the phone, and this guy was on the other line, and I'll never forget, he goes, "Is this David?" Kind of a country boy from Alabama. And I said, "Yes, sir, this is David." He goes, "David, my name is John Russell." And he said, and I was at Sunday school yesterday, and he said, "You know what Sunday school is?"

I said, "Yes, sir, it's school, it's on Sundays." The community groups, you know. He said, "Yep." He goes, "I was there, and we're having prayer time, and as we were having prayer time and prayer requests, somebody said that there's this young Iranian former Muslim kid who's given his life to Jesus, and they said that your mom and dad have disowned you, and that you don't have college plans now, 'cause you don't have the resources and stuff. He goes, "And so, I just want to tell you, son, we've been praying for you." He goes, "I prayed for you, and I asked for your number, and I hope it's not too wrong. I'd love to meet you." Whenever you got Tom, I said, "Sir, I got nothing but time. I literally have nothing." But Tom, he goes, "Well, can you drive up now and meet me?" And I said, "Well, sir, I don't have a car, but I'll see if I can borrow my buddy's car. I hang up the phone, borrow a buddy's car. I drive to Green Valley Baptist Church." That's where he told me to be. I pull up, there's only one car in the parking lot. It's like a F-950, you know. So I'm like, the kind good old boys have, white pickup truck, contractors have, like an F-150 or a 250, but the ones like, you pull big boats and tractors with, you know, just kind of sitting there.

I pull up, and he's the only car there, so it's easy. I get out of the car, he sees me, this young guy, get out of the car, he gets out of the car, he walks over to me, good old boy, he goes, "Are you David?" I said, "Yes, sir, he goes, son, I just want you to know God's got you. God's gonna give you a bunch of daddies." And then he reaches in his back pocket, he pulls out a check, is folded, he hands it to me. He goes, "You just go do what you got to do to get an education." I heard you're calling the ministry. I said, "Yes, sir." He goes, "Go learn what to say." Meaning, you need New Testament survey, you need Pauline Theology. And he hands me this check, he turns around, he literally does this, he literally hands me the check, he turns around, climbs in his pickup truck, backs up and leaves. I have like 65 seconds with this man. I open up the check and he paid for me to go to school. To go get hermeneutics, to go be around people that were also called in the ministry. Fast forward years and years and years and years and years and years later. I'm married, I'm in ministry, I've got a staff that's working with us. We're traveling around, I'm speaking at Crusades

with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I mean, just go by the grace of God. Just, I've got kids and my wife one morning says, "Hey, I need you to go to the rental place. I've rented a popcorn machine and I've rented a cotton candy machine for a daughter's birthday." And so I go, I'm standing in line, says to the guy who's next to the line, he's talking to him, he says to him, "Hey, Mr. Russell, if you'll go around back with your pickup truck, we'll load it for you." And this elderly man turns around to go get in his car to go around, and as soon as he turned around, I had heard the word "Mr. Russell," and I'm telling you, 22 years later, I hear, and I thought, "That's him. That's the man that I met for like a minute in a parking lot who literally changed the trajectory of my life, who invested into my life." So I just get out of line, I just follow him out. He's getting his pickup truck, and I said, "Mr. Russell," he turns around and he goes, "Yes, he's elderly by this time." He goes, "Yes." I said, "Sir, I'm so sorry to bother you." I said, "You don't know me. You probably don't even remember this." I'm going to guess this is just an average Tuesday in your life, but it was no average day from me. I said, "Sir, over 20 years ago, we met at Green Valley Baptist Church for about 60 seconds." He goes, "Well, I don't go there anymore." So I said, "Sir, that's beside the point." But about 20 years ago, we met in a parking lot, and I was a brand new Christian, sir. I had just given my life to the Lord, and then I was out of my skin. I didn't know what. I had just given my life to the Lord, and in one sense, I had the riches of God, but in

another sense, nothing was making sense. I had so many question marks, and then I met you for 60 seconds, and you paid for me to go to school, sir, and I just want you to know that I'm in ministry today. I just want you to know that there are days, but I get out of my checkbook and I pour into a young buck, and I think, "Man, that's to Russell did it for me." That's just interest off of you. I said, "I've been looking for you for 20 years, I wanted to say thank you." He goes, "Hang on, son." He turns around and goes on his truck. He comes back, he's got his checkbook. He goes, "Well, what do you need?" I said, "Sir, I don't need anything. I don't need anything." I said, "I've been looking for you for 20 years because I've been wanting to say thank you. I've been wanting to know, what can I do for you?" I said, "Sir, I don't know what they're going to put in the back of your truck, but if it's a backhoe, we're going to backhoe today." He goes, "Son, you've got to let me do it because it was never mine." He says, "I don't ever give to God. I just give back to God because you've got to tell me something I can do for you." I said, "There's one thing you can do for me." I said, "Over 20 years ago, you got him the truck and you left and I never got a hug." I said, "I've been wanting to say thank you," and he goes, "Come on in here, son." And so mentorship is not like carve out four days. It was 90 seconds and he bought stock, really bad stock, and it hasn't always formed well. But it's the heart of God. God is the ultimate, Mr. Russell. God has invested in you. How's that stock working out?

But it keeps pouring in you. That's what I mean when I say, "Man, we have a generational God who has a generational heart for a generational church." Don't waste the relationship God has given you. This isn't the series where you're just like, "I've learned how to be a better man. What about the men who don't know how to be a godly man? Go give it away." In this series, when Stacey spoke, I got clarity on what God's design is for a woman. What about all the ladies in your neighborhood that are so confused by all the enemy's lies? Give it away. Who are you mentoring? If you look at your life, God has put so many people in your life. And listen, I know you're hearing all this and you're, let me just finish, I know you're hearing all this and you're just like, "This sounds very one stream down. This just sounds very much like, "Man, Paul got a lot. What if Barnabas get?" He blocked and tackled and did that for him and vouched for him. What if Barnabas get out of the deal? If you're asking that question and then you're missing the whole thing, you want to know what Barnabas got? I wrote it down. I wrote it down this morning at 4.25 in the morning. I grew it to the team at 4th in the morning and they put it in for us. You want to know what was in it for Barnabas? Barnabas wanted to advance the mission. Barnabas wasn't about Barnabas. Somebody ought to write a book and start it in sentence ones. It's not about you. Barnabas knew that. Congress wanted to advance the mission more than to protect his position.

Two thousand years later, how'd that work out for him? I think it's paid out well. Number two, Barnabas wanted to multiply his influence more than maintain his prominence. Another way to say it? He was more about deployment than employment. Number three, last one. Barnabas wanted to raise a successor more than maintain him feeling, like how do I get protected in my power? Forget Barnabas, forget Mr. Russell, forget all that. Look at the life of Jesus. We always celebrate Jesus as coming. We put up Christmas trees, like God with us, Emmanuel. We always talk about, we should, by the way, we should. We always talk about his coming. We don't celebrate enough, his leaving. I love that Jesus was like, I ain't, he looked at his disciples, he gave himself away, he mentored, he made disciples and then he looked at him and he goes, I'm outta here. We ought to not just have a Christmas tree once in a, well, at first one month, we ought to have a big old arrow pointing up, celebrating, he's gone and he is set to us. You will do greater things in my name than even I did. Give it away. Do you believe that the gospel is good news? Is it too good to keep to yourself? Give it away. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you. Thank you for the Barnabuses in the world who step into the

life of the Pauls in the world. People here today hearing this and maybe they're thinking, man, I sure would love to have a Mr. Russell. I hope that they hear this. Mr. Russell wasn't doing this for David Nasser. Mr. Russell was doing this for Christ. I pray that if someone here has a vision for the furthering of God's kingdom, that God then you would bring to them provision. But if this is about like, man, I'd like to get the better house, the better card. It's all me, me, me, me, me, me, and it's about me. I pray that they'd realize maybe the reason that God has not brought a, a checkbook into their life is because that's just going to make them worse, not better. But if they're about you, I pray that you would bring provision in the visions that you've given them for their neighborhood. Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity that we have to look at our life. And I'm just convinced there are people hearing this today and they're thinking about the Mr. Russell's in their life. Anybody here, you're thinking about that godly grandmother, that Sunday school teacher, that, that man who showed up in your life, thinking of all the, anybody here, I've got a Barnabuses in mind. Will you, anybody, and maybe today, if they're still around, text them, thank them, honor them. If they're not around, man, say, thank you, Lord, for the legacy they left behind. And I'm going to honor them by doing the same downstream for someone else.

Lord, you're so good. Ultimately, when we think about all this, you really are the ultimate Mr. Russell. Maybe you're here today and you've never received the single greatest gift of all. Not someone stepping into your life and helping you and mentoring you, but bigger than saving you. If you've never been saved, if you've never truly given your life to Christ, maybe the days of the day, you would come and say, I don't need to mentor nearly as much as I need to save your, that you just pray right now. Receive Jesus into your life if you want to. Just come and just say, God, I'm a sinner. I need of a savior. I give you my life. Save me. Jesus, you live the perfect life. And then you died of sinner's death on a cross for me. You paid the price for my sins. And I received what you did as enough. I don't need a parking lot moment with a mentor. I need a foot of the cross moment with a savior. Save me. Save me. Just like Paul had a Damascus road moment where he came to the end of himself. I'm coming to the end of myself today. Oh, me dies, a whole new me born again. I received the gift of salvation. Save me.

You pray this in your name. Amen. If you prayed that prayer with Pastor David there at the end, I want to encourage you right now in the app or the link in the description if you're watching on YouTube. And just let us know that you put your faith in Jesus. Our team would love to come alongside you and give you some resources to sign up for activate where you can learn how to belong to our church family and so much more. Maybe we'll even plug you into a nearby campus or maybe got putting on your mind right now. Somebody, you should be a Barnabas too. go on that journey. You can let us know who you're going to be reaching out to this week as well in the app. We're going to sing a song right now that the song The Blessing and I want to encourage you no matter where you're watching this from, don't just click out and kind of move on to whatever's next. Be praying and really take a moment to kind of digest everything God's been saying in this worship service even as you're watching online and just experience and listen to what God has for you. So I'm praying for you and let's now worship together. Thank you. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Thanks so much for being with us this week online. Next weekend we are starting a brand new series Timeless Truths. It's going to be a great series so make sure you come back and invite somebody to be part of it and we will see you right here next weekend. [Music]