This Is Who We Are | Tyrone P. Jones | Building The House | Full Service

🎵 🎵 To be in the house of the Lord. There we go. Good morning Church for the City. What a fantastic day to be in the house of the Lord. Thank you for standing. If you're new here, we want to know you. We want to know your family. So tap that disc in front of you. If you are watching online and you're new, hit that digital connect card. We want to know you. We want to start with a scripture this morning. In the word it says in Psalm 34 and 1, I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. So when we are wake up in the morning, we will praise the Lord. When we go to bed at night, we will praise the Lord. On the mountaintop, we will praise the Lord. In the valley, we will praise the Lord. So we're going to pray and get ready for worship. Dear Heavenly Father, you are a mighty, mighty God. We thank you for bringing us into this house this morning, Lord. God, we know that when we come into your house, we can expect a move from you. So Lord God, we come into this service today expecting, knowing that you are mighty and you are wonderful, Lord. We give you all honor and praise. In your name, we pray. Amen. Let's worship. I will set this house on solid ground Jesus be my cornerstone All the world can give is seeking sin Every night I weekly know will not stay So I won't waste my days on earthly things Jesus be my all in all All my treasures stored off shores of heaven In your ways are where I've kept them You are all that matters You're all I'm chasing after All my dreams and all my seeking First belongs to you, your kingdom You are all that matters You're all I'm chasing after All the wealth, power, and king could want

Could never satisfy my heart Laying down my titles I'm surrendering my castle The only throne I seek is where you'll be Casting all these crowns at your feet I will give my life to the cause of Christ Jesus, you're my all in all All my treasures stored off shores of heaven In your ways are where I've kept them You are all that matters You're all I'm chasing after All my dreams and all my seeking First belongs to you, your kingdom You are all that matters You're all I'm chasing after All the wealth, power, and king could want Could never satisfy my heart So I'm laying down I'm surrendering my titles, I'm surrendering my castle The path is narrow, there's no big door How could I meet you here and still want more? I'm in awe of you, I'm in awe of you In awe of your majesty The path is narrow, there's no big door How could I meet you here and still want more? I'm in awe of you, I'm in awe of you In awe of your majesty Yes, I'm in awe of you, I'm in awe of you I'm in awe of you In awe of your majesty

All my treasures thrown off shores of heaven Your wings are where I've kept them You are all that matters You're all I'm chasing after All my dreams and all my seeking First belongs to you, your kingdom You are all that matters You're all I'm chasing after A wealth, a power, a king, a war Can never satisfy my heart So I'm laying down my titles I'm surrendering my castle So I'm laying down my titles I'm surrendering my castle To you alone, praise the Lord, Jesus To the one who died A crown of thorns to the one who died The lash and spade for the hands and feet Thou were pierced by nails for the sacrifice That has torn the veil We crown you, we fall face down We worship you, we all cry out You are worthy, God You are worthy, God We crown you, we fall face down We worship you, we all cry out You are worthy, God You are worthy, God Oh, oh, oh To the one who

Buried life away Who took upon his name All our guilt and shame Hanging on a Across the earth, for the world we love With His precious blood, oh Jesus Purchase man for God We crown you, we fall face down And we worship, we all cry out You are worthy God You are worthy God We crown you, we fall face down And we worship, we all cry out You are worthy God You are worthy God You are worthy God We crown you, we fall face down And we worship, we all cry out You are worthy God To the one who endured all the shame of the cross To the Lamb who was slain as atonement for us To the Son who overcame all the power of death, we praise For the stripes, for the wounds, for the beating of bone For the tears, for the blood that was willing to pour For the mercy, for the wonder, for the majesty My man To the one who endured all the shame of the cross To the Lamb who was slain as atonement for us To the Son who overcame all the power of death, we praise For the stripes, for the wounds, for the beating of bone

For the tears, for the blood that was willing to pour For the mercy, for the wonder, for the majesty Of your name We crown you, we fall face down And we worship, we all cry out You are worthy God We crown you, we fall face down And we worship, we all cry out You are worthy God To the one who endured all the shame of the cross To the Lamb who was slain as atonement for us To the Son who overcame all the power of death, we praise For the stripes, for the wounds, for the beating of bone For the tears, for the blood that was willing to pour For the mercy, for the wonder, for the majesty We crown you, we fall face down And we worship, we all cry out You are worthy, are you Jesus? Worthy, are you Jesus? We crown you, we fall face down You are worthy Jesus You are worthy God We crown you, we fall face down And we worship, we all cry out You are worthy God ♪ Jesus, you alone are worthy of love ♪ ♪ Jesus, you alone are worthy of love ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy of love ♪ ♪ You alone are worthy of love ♪ ♪ Maybe we made this complicated ♪

♪ More than it was ever meant to be ♪ ♪ Hasn't it always been about the same things? ♪ ♪ Lord, bring us back to simple things ♪ Come on, with one voice. ♪ You be the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you, my Savior, all in all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ You teach us to deserve the moment ♪ ♪ To serve and to sit here at your feet ♪ ♪ You keep us awake to what's important ♪ ♪ And just like men, you chose a better thing, yes ♪ ♪ You be the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you, my Savior, all in all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you, my Savior, all in all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ You are the center of it all ♪ ♪ My heart belongs to you, my Savior, all in all ♪ ♪ You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name ♪ ♪ My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ You know how I love you, yes ♪ ♪ You know how I love you, Jesus, I love you ♪ ♪ You know how I love you, yes ♪ ♪ You know how I love you, Jesus, I love you ♪ Come on church, let's turn our attention to the screen as someone goes public with their faith. My name is Andrew. I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth,

and his only son, Jesus Christ, who suffered, died, and rose for us. I believe in the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. As a baby, I suffered from an affliction that could have ended my life before it even began. But God spared my life and saw it fit for me to endure the race. As I grew up, I grew into the world not knowing the love that God had for me. I lived to feed my own flesh by my own strength I lived for the world. It was only by the grace of God that he put me in a position to serve the homeless. I was unprepared to, but God foreknew that their faith would awaken my own. He moved my life so undeniably that I could understand who he is, that he had gone before me and conquered death and granted me eternal life. My life was never mine to begin with. God could have spared me from this race, but he has marked me and I shall give my life to the Great Commission. Today, I am going public with my faith. Andrew, Jesus said every disciple should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And because of your confession of faith, today I baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And according to Scripture, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Ready? Let's go. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Jesus, yeah ♪ ♪ And my whole life for Your glory ♪ ♪ My whole world, come on, sing it out ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor, it's for Your glory ♪ ♪ Yes, it's my days, tell the story ♪ ♪ Let it be, yes, Jesus, for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ Oh, and my whole life, and my whole life for Your glory ♪ ♪ My whole world, for Your glory ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ Yes, it's my days, tell the story ♪ ♪ Let it be, all You are, everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life, and my whole life for Your glory ♪ ♪ My whole world, for Your glory ♪ ♪ Everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ Yes, it's my days, tell the story ♪ ♪ Let it be, all You are, everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And oh, how I love You, yeah ♪ ♪ And oh, how, oh Jesus, we love You, oh ♪ ♪ And oh, how I love You, we adore You, we adore You ♪ ♪ And oh, how I love You, come on with all the voices, yell ♪ ♪ And my whole life, my whole world, for Your glory ♪ ♪ All alone, for You alone, everything ♪ ♪ It's for Your glory, it's for Your glory, and it's my days ♪ ♪ All alone, everything for the honor of Your name ♪ ♪ And my whole life, and my whole life, for You alone, my whole world ♪ ♪ You're my everything, yeah We adore You, we love You, we adore you, yeah ♪ ♪ And in my days, tell the story that We did, love You all, yeah ♪ ♪ We did, for the honor of Your name, and oh, how Ah, just tell them that, just tell them that, yeah We love You, we love You, yeah ♪

♪ Oh, we love You, and oh, how I love You All the voices in one voice, and oh, how I love You We sing it out, yes, and oh, how I love You Jesus, I love You ♪ ♪ And You be the center of it all My heart, oh, it belongs to You My Savior all in all You're the one I hold on to With the beauty of Your name, my soul will live Come on, sing it Jesus, I love You And my soul's tears to say Jesus, I love You And my soul will live to say Oh, Jesus, we love You Oh, in this holy moment Oh, we glorify the name of Jesus We glorify the name of Jesus Oh, Jesus, I love You sorrow our peace God oh you are a refuge come on in this place whatever season you're in wherever you're at just lift up the name of Jesus we speak Jesus over every situation over every demonic power that tries to come against us we speak the name of Jesus for every disease all sickness we speak the name of Jesus we speak the name of Jesus against poverty we speak the name of Jesus against illness we speak the name of Jesus against depression and anxiety we speak the name of Jesus against all sin Lord against all form of darkness every influence that tries to come against this land Lord God we just lift up the name of Jesus and proclaim your victory in this place we sing the name of Jesus confidently and boldly knowing that we are covered in the victorious blood of the Lamb we sing the name of Jesus in my whole life before you glory in my whole life before you glory for the honor, all the honor even if it ran down my skin let it be of you, all and everything for the honor of life

Oh, how I love you for everything you've done Oh, how I love you Jesus, I love you Oh, how I love you Oh, how I love you Jesus, I love you Lord, we thank you for the cross, we thank you for the resurrection, and we thank you that you're still moving and working and breathing upon us, God, we thank you, we love you We're so glad we joined together in worship and exalted the name of Jesus Before we transition to the message, we're gonna do a minute to mingle Go find someone you've never met before, just greet them today, ask them how long they've been attending this church, and we'll prepare for the message ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Well, welcome to Church for the City where we'll teach the word of God, we'll encounter the presence of the Lord and spread the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ We're so glad to be in God's house, amen It is truly, truly a great day Thank you for joining in with us Can we give a shout out to the online campus, those that are in prison and the jail that are tuning in Thank you so much Now, you know, we're in this series on building the house, but we know that the foundation, the root I would say the lifeblood, honestly, of the church is prayer

And we're gonna have a guest here, Lee Brooks, that will be here August 6th through 8th We'll be doing a prayer seminar All of that information, if you tap the disc, it should give you all the times when the teaching will be Maybe a QR code, it should be on the website But we really believe that every one of us should have a greater depth in our prayer life Ministry of prayer, intercession of prayer And so, Lee is wonderful, been doing this for many, many years Teaching these kind of seminars, got great stories So you'll be blessed on that, it's $25 that includes the material and our times of fellowship, and so I'm encouraging you and personally invite you to be part of that. Now as for our generosity, I do thank you for your giving. Every time you come into the building, there's opportunities to give. The ways to give are on the screen through the app and giving to the text in the number, scanning, code, tap, etc. Thank you for that, I do wanna just note something and probably just bring a little highlight to New Life Pregnancy. During serve day, the team helped package baby wipes, baby cloths, diapers, those kind of things for people who come in to their agency. Some are coming in for help, some are coming actually for some direction in life. And New Life, 250 to 350 people a month go through there for assistance and also many for decisions on life and keeping the child. So I thank you for your support of New Life and the team here for what they have done and for what New Life is doing, thank you for that. All right, I'm gonna ask you to go ahead and stand again. I know you just sat down and got comfortable, but if you can take your Bible, we're gonna go to Luke chapter 15. I'm gonna sit and teach today, Luke chapter 15, and we're gonna look at verses 1 through 10, Luke chapter 15, verses 1 through 10. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.

Here's the word of the Lord. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawn near to him, and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. That's the key right there. This man receives sinners and eats with them. So he told them this parable, what man of you having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I found my sheep that was lost. Just so, I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loves, sorry, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she had found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, rejoice with me, for I found the coin that I had lost. Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. So far, the reading of the word, can you say amen? Well, Father, I pray that you help us today to bring forth this message. Lord, I thank you for your anointing. I pray that I will decrease, that you might increase. I pray, Lord God, that you would give me guidance through the delivery of the word and wisdom, Lord, in how to put together the words to be spoken. I pray that it comes across with clarity, clarity in delivery, clarity in receipt, that each person who hears, each person who's watching, each person, Lord God, that will view this later, will be able to receive something from the message. Father, you are good and you are gracious.

I thank you for your faithfulness. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen. All right, are we working on a... You guys can be seated. All right, I'm going to work into this on... This is our third message on building the house. And that first message was the house Jesus built, and you recall that. It was built on a confession, built on Jesus himself, built to win, built by the gospel message. That's the house. That's the identity of us as a church. The mission we covered last week, which is why do we exist and the purpose. And we talked about being called to reach the world, called to serve, called to equip the saints, and called to glorify God. This week, I want to deal with the DNA. This is more so the who are we, who are we. Honestly speaking... What we talked about last week on mission, every evangelical church basically should have that same mission statement. Every church that's a church should be reaching the world, serving their community, equipping the saints, glorifying God. That doesn't necessarily distinguish the church from all other evangelical churches. But who we are, the DNA of us, what people experience when they have an encounter here, that can be a little bit more distinguished. You may not necessarily see the same emphasis from church to church. Kind of the big idea of this is a church isn't defined by what it says about itself. So a lot of things that can be said about the church, but what really defines a church is what consistently grows within the people that gets expressed. And so, you understand the concept of DNA. Usually what is genetically passed down that's part of our DNA causes us to reflect who we are.

You notice it very much so, of course, if you go to a family reunion. You're going to primarily know a lot of those folks are related. Walk alike, talk alike, look alike, right? Because of the DNA. About three weeks ago, I think it was three weeks ago, Ty Jr. and his family was in Rocky Point, and one of Virginia's friends texted her and said, I have never met your son, but he's walking right in front of me. Never talked to him, never seen him before, but I know that's your husband's son. He walks like him, talks like him, looks like him. That's DNA. The first time I met my biological father, I went to meet my grandparents, my paternal grandparents, after I had met my dad. And when I went to the door and knocked on the door, my granddad opened the door, of course, and greeted me. He says, I don't know who you are, don't know your name, but I absolutely know you're Jones that belongs in this family. There was just the look, everything about me. So, DNA always reproduces itself. And that's the same of churches. Buildings don't have DNA, people do. People do. And so, churches, our church shouldn't be necessarily known by what we have on the website. We should become known for what we practice and what we celebrate, what our culture is. You find that everywhere. If I was to go to an Anglican church today or an Episcopal church, I could pick up the book of common prayer and I will know exactly what the liturgy is for that day. I will know where the base of the sermon will come from. I'll know the order of service, the prayers I was going to pray.

That is part of their DNA throughout the Anglican and the Episcopal community. Some churches have that DNA that it's known for their traditions. Some churches are known for their programs. Our sister church, Turning Point, they're in Hopeville, although it's a great church, but they're known for their men's home and their women's ministry of lifted up living. Some churches are known more by personality and music. Elevation will be a good illustration of that. They're more known for Stephen Furtick and Elevation music. And when we live in a time in a society where people are really skeptical of institutions, it's not just primarily what they believe that people are asking, but who are they and what do they do? That's what people is asking. So I want to walk through four things that are very much part of the DNA, who we are at CTC, who we are. And the first one is this, we love the word of God. We love God's word. Now, that should be common among everywhere, should be, should be common among Christians. But no church will be healthy if there is not a love for the word, the hearing of the word, obedience to the word, teaching of the word, preaching of the word, submission to the word of God. That absolutely ought to identify us and what we express. This passage in 2 Timothy 3, 16, 17 really is based because, get this, the word of God is the authority, it should be the authority of the church, but it's the authority of our lives. Our life is based on what the teaching of the word is. And if people get off track, it's the word of God you bring them back. Act two. When churches start doing things

that are just not defined by the word of God, it ought to be a caution to you to not be part of that church, honestly. That should be the authority of our life. Listen to what Paul said to Timothy. All scripture is inspired by God. Right there, it can be a hard pause, meaning God is our boss. If the word of God is our authority and it comes from God, then God is our boss. And useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. That's what the Bible is designed to do. It informs us of what's truth. It informs us. It informs us of what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we're wrong and teaches us to do what is right. That's the whole purpose of God's word. And as we, as people of God, if we have a desire to want to be more like Christ, to want to be more reverent to our Lord and Savior, to want to be people of God who absolutely reflect that, the word of God ought to be the primary source of our life. Am I talking to the right church? The authority. God uses the word of God to prepare and equip his people to do everyday good work. All of what we do, the substratum of our life, every single thing that happens in our life,

decisions we can make, can point back to the word of God. Now, that's a New Testament passage, but this is foundational from Genesis on. Even when you look at in the Old Testament, when the people of Israel was coming back from exile and Nehemiah and Zerubbabel and others was leaving the charge to take them back to their community in Jerusalem. After they started building the wall, they might've started building some of their homes. I don't know if they had started building the temple yet, but certainly had got the wall completed around Jerusalem. Nehemiah knew that the reason that our people got in trouble is because they strayed from the word, and we don't want them to do that again. So what did Nehemiah do? He ordered all of the people together. Now, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people gathered together in an open setting where they stood to hear the word of God preached, spoken. Men, women, and children. If you read that text in Nehemiah 8, they stood there a good long time. You get a break every week when you get out of here an hour and 15 minutes. If we was in the Old Testament, you'd be still here. World Cup would be long over. Somebody got to text you and tell you what happened. They stood there because they wanted, they wanted, Nehemiah wanted Ezra to read the people the entire law.

He read it. He explained it. The people listened attentively. And as it's being read, they're worshiping. They're repenting, they're rejoicing because they understand we need to get a love of God's word. Can you say amen? Jesus himself, when the disciples who were still a little confused. I mean, sure, they saw everything Jesus done, but they saw him also get crushed and beaten by the enemy and the ones that he was coming to deliver. They all saw him get killed and in the hands of people that he shouldn't have been in the hands of because of the authority that he was, get put in a grave and then raised up after three days. You can imagine all of this stuff swirling around in their head. But Jesus said, listen, let me just remind you of what you're seeing. All of this was in the scripture. So in Luke 24, 27 and 44, 45, he could have done more miracles to try to prove more stuff. He could have just kept saying, come on, fellas, you ought to get this. But what did he do? He walked them through the scriptures. He walked them through the word of God, letting them know if you want to know about me

and who I am, it's all in the scriptures. It's in the word of God. Same thing with the early church in Acts chapter two. Once these folks come to Jesus Christ, 3000 souls in one day in Acts two, the first thing that they do is devote themselves to the teaching of the word of God, to the Bible. So much so we pick up in Acts chapter six, the church is growing. People are being disciple. Preaching is going on. They're putting people in groups, trying to teach them. But contextually, I want you to remember this. Once these folks left Judaism and left the Jewish religion in that context, these folks was getting ostracized. Some of them was losing their homes. Businesses was getting shut down. Remember, they are a Jewish community. And now these folks have left Judaism and going to Christianity, following Christ. Religious leaders, et cetera. business leaders was shutting these folks down. There was some great humanitarian needs because of their loss. That's why you see in Acts chapter 4, I believe it's also in chapter 5, where people were selling extra things that they had to help the people out because they had a need. So the humanitarian need was there. They were doing their best to care for the people. But in Acts chapter 6, they come to the apostles and say there's a group of people that's not receiving the care. The apostles noticed this. They said this, we apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. Now by no means are they not talking about a food program being important. It was important for them. But they realized that the most important thing here was teaching the word

of God. That's what we need to do. We need to keep teaching the word. And let's establish folks to take care of the food program. They recognized that teaching and preaching was still the most important thing. And listen, I can tell you, Lady V and I have put people in houses, paid their rent, paid their car payment, and fed them, and they still are far from God. All of that might have helped their personal needs, but it done nothing for their soul. The only thing that can convert the soul and purify you is the word of God, the preaching of the word. And so they established some people that helped them say, okay, we need to, we need help doing this so we can keep preaching. And look at verse number 7. So God's message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted. Why? Because of the ministry of the word. And so locally, personally, corporately, we love the word. We love the word. We love to read it. We love to hear it taught. We love to hear the word preached. That's part of our DNA. That's who we are, is loving the word. Can you say amen? Second thing is empowering all peoples. Ephesians 4, 11 through 13, I won't read the whole passage. It will be on the screen there. And of course, the apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, all of the people being equipped, teaching people the word of God that they can continue in the faith and become more mature. The reason I wanted to use this verse, because it talked about all of God's people being equipped, all of God's people being equipped. And so we, again, I've done some of this last week, so I won't rehearse too much in 1 Peter 4.10. But remember this, every believer has a gift. Every believer in the body of Christ has a gift. Now, I want you to think about this all the way through. That means the six-year-old or seven-year-old in your house that you let take communion, that has been baptized, remember they have a gift. They are just as gifted as you are at 70 years old, because the giver of the gifts is in them. And so, because people are gifted, the scripture encourages us that everyone can be empowered to do the work of the ministry. Now, catch this, women and young people alike, look at Joel 2.28 and 29, hear this, I will pour out my spirit upon all humanity, all humanity, all people, multi-generation. I believe Tesla's gifted, but all, I will pour out my spirit on all humanity. Then your sons and your daughters, watch this, will prophesy. Your old men will have dreams. Your young men will see visions. I will even pour out my spirit on the male and the female slaves in those days. The Holy

Spirit is poured out upon all humanity. He doesn't distinguish who he gives his spirit to to serve in the body. Are y'all following me? He doesn't distinguish it. He doesn't send it out like light and say, okay, pour that out here, but just skip over that one, skip over that one. I know they're in my body, but don't pour out. No, no, no. It's upon all males and females, young and old. That's why we encourage young people. That's why we teach them and train them and cultivate them. I am not one that believes the generation that we're training is the church later. No, no, no. They're part of the church now. I believe in generation now. Don't let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. Discipleship comes along, but we don't have to worry about them having the gifts. That comes from the Lord. We train them and help them and teach them and release them and empower them. Even so with women serving in ministry, listen to this in Romans 16, one and two. I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is a servant of the church in Syncria. That you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the Saints So don't distinguish among her assist her in whatever business she has need of assist her For indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also So we have no concerns or no problem with women serving in ministry now now watch this I want you to understand this you may repeat these words again here these words again with all of the Stuff that goes on in theological circles. You should know it There's two words. I want you to get in your knower one is egalitarian Egalitarian the other one is complimentary now. Let me tell you the difference in those two Egalitarian believes that all people are of equal value and deserve all the same rights and same opportunities That's egalitarian Egalitarians believe women and men can do all the same things in the church. There's no distinction Complimentary and it's a theological view that men and women are equal in dignity and Equal in value, but they possess distinct complementary roles and Responsibilities meaning there is some distinctions in some places that they serve Hear me I and CTC is complementarian whether you understand that or get it or not. I could care less That's what we are. We're complimentary. We've settled on that as

Elders meaning this do we believe women can serve in the church? You see I'm serving all over the place. You see I'm doing things all over but as complementarians in this sense We do not believe women in the New Testament. You will find them being the lead pastor over church or serving on elderships That's what distinguish us as complementarians versus egalitarians now again if that bothers you and affects affects you God bless you. This is who we are We believe in empowering you of all ages to do things that serves the church But we believe the Bible is clear on who leads the church from that governmental position And so we don't distinguish in that in that sense now what they did in Acts chapter 6 was absolutely brilliant Because here's what the Apostles determined If we if we if we believe that the only people that can do ministry is us we're gonna bottleneck this thing It's gonna get stuck somewhere. So they thought no no, we have to keep doing the main thing and we empower people to do the other things that are just as Important church was growing too big the twelve knew they couldn't do it all on their own And so they carried out what God called them to do and they empower people to do others We don't believe in and building around personalities we believe in raising people up Everybody has gifts. Everyone has a purpose Everyone has a place and so we are church committed to equipping every believer for the work of the ministry empowering people through the Holy Spirit Regardless of age and gender and releasing them to use their God-given gifts to build up the body of Christ. Can you say amen? Here's number three Prioritize that prioritizing God's presence. This is a big one Let me just say it simply this way and I'll break this down The only thing that distinguishes you From anybody that you're gonna meet when you leave here and go to Walmart or wherever you're gonna go home If you got people in the house that don't know the Lord The only thing that distinguishes you from everybody else is that you have the presence of God and they don't You follow me on that remember this Paul said this if if you have not the Spirit of God, you're none of his the distinction between you and Everyone else is that you have the presence of God

You live a life where you have the presence of God with you where people who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord Savior do not have the guidance and presence of God in their life that distinguishes us from everybody else now Moses as you know was the one that was the lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and Take them into the promised land if you've read through the wilderness Journeys, you know, there was a whole lot of struggles. They had a whole lot of issues a whole lot of problems Moses was struggling with the people God there was a couple of times which is it's always It's always interesting for me to run across those passages where God tells me get out of the way I'm just gonna blow them all up and just start all over God was even having having struggles with them, but but he went to Moses said listen, you got to get on with it I need you to get the folks to the place get them to that place where they can worship in the land that I set aside now notice what in Exodus 33 listen to Moses then Moses Said to the Lord see You say to me bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me Yet you have said I know you by name and you have also found grace in my sight So Moses saying you saying you know me you saying I found grace in your sight You're giving me a responsibility, but you're not telling me how I'm gonna be able to do this Where's the help that I need to do this now therefore I pray if I found grace in your sight show me now your way that I may know you and that I may find grace in your sight and listen to this and consider that this nation is your people and here's what the Lord said my Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest Then Moses said to him if your presence does not go with us Do not bring us up from here for how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight Except you go with us So we shall be separate your people and I listen to this from all people who are on the face of the earth You hear what Moses is saying listen if you don't go with us People ain't gonna know what's different from anybody else if you don't go with us

This cannot get accomplished if you don't go with this I cannot get this done if you don't go with this people will not know that we belong to you So the Lord says my presence will go with you that distinguishes us From everybody else in the world are y'all following me. It's the presence of God That's the overarching thing that should be the desire of every one of us You shouldn't even walk into a job interview without the presence of the Lord You shouldn't even try to make a sale in real estate without the presence of the Lord You shouldn't even get in your car and not ask the Lord to be with you as you go on the road Everything about you ought to say I cannot do this Without the presence of the Lord Let me give you a good old Yuma high criminal formula you plus you equal you You plus God equals God with you Everything you do ought to have the presence of God You shouldn't have a desire to make a decision without Lord. I need your presence. Am I talking to the right church? and so So David when he was when he came in as King not when he was Anointed he was anointed early as you know, and there was years and years before he actually sat on the throne But one of the earliest things David did he the Ark of the Covenant? The Ark of the Testament. It's also called Represented the presence of God whenever they were to go before the presence of the Lord They had to go before the Ark of the Covenant. It was some other location. David was living in Mount Zion David said no No Let's go and get that Ark of the Covenant and you bring it here to where we're worshiping to where I'm living I do not want to do this and leave these people without the presence of the Lord that which is a contrast To what Saul had done Saul didn't even really care about the Ark of the Covenant Saul tried to leave the nation without the presence of God and you saw how that went for Saul David says no No, I know what we need is God's presence and he brought the Ark of the Covenant and placed it up on that hill

So that they could be in the presence of God at all time. That's the whole idea of the tabernacle of David So catch this folks Do you know that you don't need to come into this church building to go into the presence of the Lord? Not now you should because you want to hear the word you want to be in the community There's so many reasons on why we go to church, but do you know every morning when you wake up? You have the ability God has invited you to come into his presence You can sing you can worship you can pray you can dance you can fall out You can run around the building your house. You can do whatever you want Why because the presence of the Lord is there with you now? Here's something that sometimes becomes a debate among theologians. I come as you know from the Reformed camp everything I teach is Reformed theology, but also Contrary to a lot of Reformed people very Pentecostal and very charismatic and and you'll hear it often in our psalms You'll hear it often in in our prayer come Holy Spirit and and people from the Reformed camp They'll always say why do you? pray that come for the Holy Spirit to come when the Holy Spirit is already with you and the Holy Spirit is already in You why do you pray? It just sounds like Confusion is what they would ask And and and and here is the truth surely the Holy Spirit is with us Holy Spirit is in us Holy Spirit is here But that statement is not a matter of talking about the Holy Spirit coming to us Geographically when when that statement is made before I get up here when I say come Holy Spirit I'm not asking the Holy Spirit to come from Kansas City to come be with me while I'm preaching what I'm when I say come Holy Spirit I mean come Lord in revelation and manifestation of who you are Let the Holy Spirit be revealed in this let the Holy Spirit reveal and I'm no different than the Bible folks David did the same thing when David went through his stuff when when David went before the Lord and he knew he had the Holy Spirit but he says Lord do not take your Holy Spirit from me when Isaiah when the nation was in Corruption he said rend the heavens and God come down By no means was he saying that the heavens was sealed up and God was not everywhere what he was saying Lord come and Manifest yourself in the moment of this covenant Crisis, we see it throughout the new the book of Acts in Acts chapter 4. They had the Holy Spirit

They had been filled with the Holy Spirit But when they were under persecution they went in a room and they said Holy Spirit be with us So that we may continue to go forth with power and with boldness The whole thing is not asking God to come from some other geography We know that the Holy Spirit is with us everywhere But in everything we do we want the Holy Spirit to be manifest We want the Holy Spirit to be revealed Listen when I stand up here to preach I want the Holy Spirit to be manifest when we I don't want just songs I want the presence of the Spirit of God when we're worshiping when people are serving I don't want them just saying how you doing? I want the presence of God in them that they manifest the Spirit of God when people walk into the house We want the Holy Spirit of God to be present in everything that we do. Am I talking to the right church? the Holy Spirit of God and So Jesus said it like this apart from me you can do nothing So every time the the church says come we're agreeing with him throughout the Bible I'm gonna tell you this the greatest gift that the church has The New Testament Church is the presence of God now The greatest need of the church is not better strategies. You got to have good ones The greatest need of the church is not larger budgets. You need to have a good budget The greatest need of the church is not greater influence The greatest need of the church is the manifest presence of the Almighty God People's lives are changed in the presence of the Lord I'm telling you I've had moments in my life at my worst when all I could do Was turn on some worship music and lift my hands through tears Cry out to God ask him to be with me ask me for his presence now I'm gonna tell you when all that was done the situation I was crying about hadn't changed but something changed in me because the presence of God said I'm with you. I got you I'll take you through this. It's the presence of the Almighty God flowing in his people now. Here's the last thing When you experience God's presence you begin to love what God's God loves and that's lost people That's lost people we pursue

We pursue the loss Jesus is mission was to seek and save the loss you see that in Luke 19 10 Here's Jesus statement for the Son of Man came to seek and save the loss That's a clear as mission statement of Jesus And if that if we're part of the body of Christ, then that's the mission statement for us a healthy church doesn't Merely wait for people to come we go after lost people We go after lost people We identify lost people We see lost people in our family. We see lost people among our people group We see lost people in the various circles that were in that's what we read two of the three parables But that's what those three parables will about in Luke 15 The lost sheep the lost coin in the prodigal son. I want you to I want you to notice this the man had a Hundred sheep Ninety-nine of them was secure but one got lost and at that time the lost one Had a greater value than the 99 that was secured The lost one he left the 99 who didn't need him at the moment Didn't need him But the lost one did The value of that lost person was greater to him him than the 99. The woman had 10 coins. She had 9 of them that was safe and secure, but one of those coins got lost. The need for her was not to sit there and keep watching the 9. The need for her was to go after the one that was lost. The father had two sons. One of them stayed home. That wasn't the father's greater concern. The greater concern was the lost boy that was still out there. Jesus is teaching us a principle here, that we have to value lost people and not just say, okay, we got our 99. We don't need no more. I got my 9 coin. We don't need no more. We got 2,500 people. We don't need no more. Those folks out there have value. They're lost. They're without the Lord. Their life doesn't end well.

The alternative for them is not good. We can never lose the value of lost people and just say, oh, that's them. That's just their life. Whatever it is, what it is, it is what it is. Our heart's desire ought to be like Jesus. So much so, Jesus came down and died on a cross, not for righteous people, but for lost people. For lost people. And so Jesus says, when each one of these things, it ends, there's joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner. So we're a pursuing church that values every individual. I want you, I'm going to, these last two verses, Isaiah 59, 10. This defines the condition that everybody is in before they come to Christ. You can put your name in this. Tyrone gropes like the blind along the wall, feeling his way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, Tyrone stumbles as though he was in the dark. Among the living, Tyrone is like the dead. That's everybody who doesn't know Jesus. That's why we help people that are far from God find life in Christ. We're never satisfied with people groping. We're never satisfied with people stumbling in the dark. We're never satisfied with people clinging along walls, trying to find their way. We're never satisfied with living people living among the dead. We help people who are far from God find life in Christ. Jeremiah 17, 5 and 8 says this, this is what the Lord says, cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert. You can see the picture when people don't have no hope for their future. They're just like shrubs in the desert with no hope for their future. They live in a barren wilderness in an uninhabited salty land, but blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. Look at the contrast when people trust in God. They're like trees planted along a river bank with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green and they never stop producing. Why? Because they went far away from God to find a life in Christ. Far from God to find a life in Christ. And all of a sudden now their life produces. I said it last week. I'll say it again. Life is short. Eternity is real. People matter most. Life is short. Eternity is real and people matter most. So this is who we are. We love God's word. The foundation of the house will never change. We empower all people. Everyone has a place in the house. We prioritize God's presence. God is the honored guest and true head of the house. True head of the house

is our Lord and we pursue the lost. There's always room for more people to come to Jesus Christ. Always room. Always room. Now let me just close with this and I'll pray on how this works out in my head and my heart. On why these four things to me is absolutely the base of who we are. Because you can't have one without the other. If you were just a word church, word, word, word, but not the presence of the Holy Spirit, you just building people up for dead religion. Building up with dead religion. If you empower people, release them, train them, release them and send them out, but don't give them biblical truth that you're sending them out with, they're just going out to be a bunch of humanists. If you have the presence of God, where the spirit of God is moving high and working and we're seeing signs and wonders and miracles, but we don't have the word of God, we're just developing a bunch of emotionalism. If you love the lost, but you don't have the spirit You don't disciple people. They're just a bunch of shallow folks that don't have a deep relationship with the Lord. We are a church that love God's word. We are a church that prioritize the presence of God. We are a church who absolutely pursue the lost. We have this kind of DNA because of who God has created us to be and is to reflect out of our life and to everybody else. You know, there's going to be a day, let me tell you this, there's going to be a day. People ain't going to remember what this building looks like. People ain't going to remember what the sign in the front looks like. They're not going to remember what the website looks like. Day, night, honestly, there may be a day when people don't even remember me. But I tell you what they will remember, that CTC is a church that loves the word, empowers people. We are a church that pursues lost people and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They'll remember that.

Everybody stand, if you would. Let me pray. Father, I want to thank you now for this opportunity we've had to share the word of God. May, indeed, it land with clarity. May each one of us, Lord God, embrace who we are even in this house. Lord, may we live out these DNA traits that we love your word, that we empower people, that we prioritize the presence, and that we love the lost, that you may be glorified. In Christ's name, we pray. May the people of God say amen. God bless you. Have a great day. Jesus, I love you. You be the center of it all. My heart belongs to you, my Savior all in all. You're the one I hold on to for the beauty of your name. My soul will live to say, oh, Jesus, I love you. My soul will choose to say, Jesus, I love you. My soul will live to say, Jesus, I love you. Amen, amen. Oh, we love you, church, and we'll see you next Sunday.