We Belong Together

person next to you but don't say anything just look at them look at them from top to bottom just we'll see you never know a little weird but I try to join that group but they went a different direction in the park and but you have your people your people are here and the Bible says he sends help from the sanctuary every need God has a desire to fill and it is in the house it's in the sanctuary it's just the way God in fact we're gonna be talking about that today we want to welcome those that are here for the first time maybe from one of our campuses here in the Austin area 13 locations as well you're not a facility you're not people that are incarcerated you're not prisoners you're people whom God loves and it's an honor to be with you we have 13 teams of celebration members bringing celebration church live and direct to you and it's an honor to bring the message to you can we just thank God for the 13 that we have the opportunity of those facilities every week somebody comes from the prison summer federal local of course jail and state every week we have those that are released and often the first place they want to go to a celebration church because it's been their home away from home and that's what church is all about and of course for those that are here for the first time maybe you've never been to a church like this before this is very different than the kind of style you would grew up in I get it I know that what it feels like to walk into a church and a church that is very different than stained glass or the pews and whether you're from a Catholic background or a Presbyterian or a first Baptist church in Natchez, Mississippi that was my first church my first pastor that I would hear his name was brother Odine Puckett brother Puckett you have to be careful how you say it and so brother Puckett and so different than my family so different than the kind of people I was right very frail very but powerful man of God first Baptist church in Natchez and it's a Southern Baptist as it gets he called me Joey and he'd look at me and Joey said yes brother Puckett is there any sin in your life man you talking about looking at you through like a radar screen here yeah there's a lot of sin in my life brother Puckett get it out I said okay in Jesus name and so he really made sure you

walked with God humbly and and straight and just he was a man that had a great impact even though I didn't listen to most of it he had a great impact on my life father help us today speak to us through your word and may I help people even though they don't listen to it in Jesus name everybody said amen I don't know if you watched the football game last night I'm not gonna say anything about LSU I'm not gonna say a word about Louisiana State and LSU but feel like the Lord just told me to tell you that God had picked the right man for our organization to lead us and deliver us into the promised land who are there any LSU fans here do we have a LSU fan okay I didn't ask about the Longhorns that's not even it's not even your opportunity yet they played high school they played San Marcos High School I think yesterday they did good they did good but they will be playing LSU here in a couple of weeks and it's gonna be wonderful it's gonna be a wonderful day and nothing the football for those that might wonder why I went to LSU Laurie and I met LSU played football at LSU they paid my way to learn what I learned which is not much I learned that we play football there at LSU and so we just have a lot of fun here around all the things football season and but today we're gonna continue a message concerning what we've been talking about and that that word together come on say the word together together they're just something that happens in that understanding of this togetherness of God and we've kind of taken this whole idea from Psalm 50 and you just saw the togetherness of a small group the power of people being together God in Psalm 50 through ASAP the Psalmist wrote these words gather my godly ones to me so God says gather godly people to me or my godly people people that say they're followers of God they gather they don't isolate they don't go solo they don't disappear though God deals with us individually but he doesn't stop dealing with us individually That's just the law of life. Another truth that we have here in the book of Acts, chapter one, now we're in the New Testament. Jesus, after his resurrection, he comes back

and it says he presents himself alive for 40 days. Literally, he had appeared and he disappeared, appeared and disappeared, just messing with him. And as he was showing himself, presenting himself alive after his suffering, which was the cross, and convincing them that he was alive, for a period of over 40 days, speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God, he gathered them together. The gathering of the disciples, those that were following Jesus. And of course, we would know there would be 120. And then he gave them a command. He gathered to command them. He gathered to empower them. He gathered to purpose them. You can't really fulfill your purpose without being gathered together with other purpose-filled people. That's the law, that's the way God has this worked out. He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the power of the Holy Spirit, which he had promised. And then you see, again, this idea of gathering together on the day of Pentecost, this is in the book of Acts, this is the whole book that really kind of covers the early days of the church. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, this is on the first day the church opened, they were all together. And in that one place, being together,

there came from heaven, a sound, a noise, an experience. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Only those that were gathered together experienced it. There were many disciples, in fact, he had appeared to 500. And he said, go to Jerusalem and wait until the power of the Holy Spirit comes. But 380 didn't stay together. Out of 500, 120 went, it was very clear in the scriptures. 120 made it together. And those 120 were the ones that experienced heaven. They were the ones that God poured out upon. And that's how we are even today gathering because they gathered together. I have a prayer for you out of this message that I'm just gonna speak for the next three and a half hours to you, some of you feel like, well, that's yes, nothing new. But here's my prayer. And this is what I'm asking God to do in you, what he did in Moses. Because I think in age and in time and in experiences, things start to dawn on you. Like you thought one way and then over time, over experiences, things that maybe your mom and your dad told you, things that you would have not believed or things that you would have not agreed with, you start to go, yeah, I think they were right. My son, Mason Caroline, who live in Washington, D.C., Caroline, her daughter-in-law, Mason, they have made clear she's three.

And that first grandbaby, of course, like all grandparents will tell you that, she's the queen. She is the life that we now have. And everything's about made clear. We have two more grandbabies on the way, two more girls on the way. But made clear is still a queen. She's still a boss. We were watching her at a little birthday party by video yesterday and a little boy who she said, "Will you dance with me?" Who's also three, dressed in a Buzz Lightyear outfit. (congregation laughing) Didn't sway her at all. She grabbed that boy and that Buzz Lightyear outfit and started throwing him all over that room. (congregation laughing) And I said, "You better push the activate power button 'cause it's made clear it's gonna run you into the ground." And she did, she just pulled him everywhere. With that being said, Mason told us for years, I don't want kids. I don't think I'll enjoy kids. And frankly, kind of waited as you have two oftentimes in your career and your career path, being in politics and being where he is in Washington, DC. And now he will tell you, in the process of time, it is better to have children than to not have children. He says, "Dad, I wish I would've listened to you. "I wish we could have more, they are."

But now he realizes over time through experiences, you know what, you're right. And how many have had your parents say things to you and as you approach life and as you approach experiences, there's things that you can hear your mom and your dad say, you remember when they said it to you and you're like, "Yeah, I think they weren't that wrong." again around the idea of the church and the power of the church and the importance of the church, big sea church. The Bible talks about this story in the book of Acts where Stephen, who is preaching, and he's about to get literally killed for preaching while he's preaching, he's going to be stoned. But here's what he says. In the midst of this message, he goes, there was a man by the name of Moses. Moses was born in Acts chapter 7, and he is now quoting the story of Moses. Moses having been born, he was beautiful in the sight of God. He was nurtured for three months in his father's home, and after he had been set outside, Pharaoh's daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. You probably know from Bible lessons in Sunday school, the story of Moses and how they were trying to kill all the children, all the boy children, and how he was preserved, and even God set it up to where his own mom would take care of him. And now it would be Pharaoh's daughter that would take care of him. In the end of the story is, as Moses was now being educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, he was a man of power. He was a man of words and deeds. He was powerful. He was blessed. He was beautiful. I mean, he had the whole package. And then watch, and here's that little phrase that I want you to underlie if you have in the Bible or just highlight it. But when he was approaching the age of 40, who's approaching the age of 40? Where are those that are getting really, really old? Yeah. It doesn't say he was 39, but it's probably like he was around 40 or 39, 38, but you know, I'm approaching the age of 80. I mean, when you start to get 62, you're like, I'm getting there. And he's now coming of age. Things are starting to probably hit him in different ways, gets out of bed differently. I mean, there's just all sorts of things that you could imply and throw in there, but it says, and when he began to approach the age of 40, it entered into his mind. It dropped. This thought, and I believe it was from God, and it says in some translations, it entered into his heart or entered into his mind.

But God, I believe, drops this in every maturing person. In fact, I think that anyone and everyone that has lived for some time with God, and you can clearly see, in fact, you would probably say, I know God's hand has been involved in my life. Who can say that you know God's hand has been involved in your life? It starts to dawn on him. Now, watch what it says. What enters into his mind, and this is my prayer for you, that he would visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. I think it was like this, and here's how we can put it into our own modern day experience. He was very aware of all the blessings and all the supernatural events that led him to being alive. He should have been dead. I can think in my own life of car accidents. I can think of December the 23rd, 1985, and that experience, that accident that I had, that should have taken my life. It took the life of the man that hit the same truck 10 seconds before me. I come 10 seconds after him and hit that same 18-wheel truck that had been blocked in the interstate. And I know God's hand kept me from dying that day. And I can probably have other moments and other experiences that God preserved. And I think one day Moses is probably sitting in the, well, maybe he's at 38, maybe he's at the beach, maybe he's down in Galveston, and he goes, what am I doing for God's people? What's my relationship to God's people? My brethren. Now, you could say his brethren were those Egyptians. In other words, what he was probably first thinking about naturally was his, this natural family that he had in the form of the Egyptians, Pharaoh, Pharaoh's daughter. The Bible says he was educated in all the ways of the Egyptians. So I look at it like this. He had a natural family. You have a natural family. You're born into a natural family. You have a mom. You have a dad. You have a brother. You have the sisters. You have your clan. And I think in one way Moses was very aware of his natural, that natural family that fed him and and took care of Him. There's a family of God, and I want to be involved in their life." I pray that in the process of time, in fact, when you look at Hebrews chapter 11 verse 24, it says, "By faith when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." He chose rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater than the riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward by faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who was unseen. You see, I think, like it had happened to Moses, it can happen to you that when you begin to grow up,

when you begin to mature, when you start to come of age, which happens not necessarily by the time on a calendar, it's often your experiences in life. Some people age faster than they actually are. How many of known people who have way more wisdom than they should be at their time on this planet? In fact, that's what you want. Lord, fill me with wisdom. I don't want to have, in fact, nor do I want to go through the things that I know you can teach me through those experiences, but Lord, if you can just download that to me without the pain. That's my prayer. Talk to me without pain. David said, "Guide me with thine eye." In other words, what he is saying is, "Lord, I don't want to have to go through the fire to know that you're the God who delivers. I don't want to have to go through the pain. I don't want to go through suffering." Although we do, and we will, all Jesus said, but I don't believe everything has to be learned the hard way. You can learn by reading what people went through. And when it comes to this time in Moses' life, he says, "I have been greatly fortunate, blessed. I have been given gifts, mighty in words, power, great education. He's got the whole world." And now, of course, he has this thought. But there's another world. It's called the Kingdom of God, and it has to do with God's people. And it enters into his heart at around 40. I now begin, in fact, I want to begin to live my life around the house of God. Now, you know the story. He'd go and he'd show up, but he had to learn the hard way, that you don't make a difference in the lives of people by putting your hand to things in the natural, as he would kill that Egyptian who was, of course, feuding with the Israelite, and he steps in and he kills that Egyptian, trying to do something for God. And therefore, when the next day there are two Jews fighting and he steps up to try to stop the feud, he wants to get involved in trying to help them walk their lives out. And then one of them says, "Are you going to kill one of us like you killed the Egyptian yesterday?" Having before killed the man, the Bible says he looked this way and that way, seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian. Therefore, God said even through that story, "Oh, I saw you." And he takes off and he goes for another 40 years before the burning bush experience. He had to learn the hard way that you can't make people do what you want them to do. You have to just put yourself in a position to allow the Lord to lead you and to guide you. But the big picture is, where are God's people concerning your life? Where are you in relationship to building what God commanded us? In fact, he said, "I've come to build my church because no matter how much you have been

blessed with riches and wealth and career and finances and family without the church, without..." And I'm talking about the Kingdom of God through the local church. You're capped. You're capped with your joy. There's a capping. Can you be saved? Absolutely. Can you be saved without going to church? Absolutely. My question is, why would you want to be saved when heaven is about the church? Do you even think you'll like heaven when it's filled with church people? Maybe God won't let you have to go through the hell of going to heaven. And I want you to think about that, because some people would think going to church is hell-like for them. So therefore, don't worry about heaven. There's a whole other place called hell that you can spend a lot of time with other people. The reality, In fact, heaven is a place for prepared people. There's no one in heaven unprepared. Heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. There are no walk-ins. You don't just walk after you die up to the gates and go, hello? Yes, you know, pushing the voice button there. Ding-dong. And Peter's on the other end. Yeah, it's going to help you. I know I didn't make reservations. I'm just going to walk in because, you know, you know me. And, you know, God loves me and all that kind of stuff. Amen, yeah, God. And didn't kill anybody and didn't steal and did my best. Can you let me in? See, we often show up at restaurants thinking, you're just going to walk in like red ash. You've heard of that restaurant. Takes you six months to get into this stupid place. (congregation laughing)

And we walk into some high-end restaurants and our high-end places or people where everybody's trying to get into it. We think that, well, we're just going to be okay. No, the Bible says whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You have to call ahead. Your name has to be in the Lamb's book. That's the reservation book. And when you show up going, I think I'm going to be there. And he goes, ah, let me, what's your name? Let me see, no, I don't know. Haven't seen this name. My middle name is Buffered, Joseph Buffered Champion. If I had not, listen, even that name won't get me in. (congregation laughing) The Bible says, "Whosoever calls shall be saved. Whosoever name is not written in the Lamb's book of life." The Bible says they will not enter into eternity with God. They will enter into eternity, but not in heaven. Oh, it's not if you're going to live forever. You will live forever. Whether you're an agnostic or an atheist, skeptic, just whatever, nothing. The reality is you're going to live forever. And the question is where? Not if. And the reality is hell was never prepared for you.

It was prepared for the devil and his angels. And those that turned against God, hell was never made for human beings. Heaven was made for us. Eternal life was made for us 'cause we were made to be his sons and daughters. But when Adam sinned as a result, we ceased naturally to be connected to God. And that's why we had to be born again. That's the supernatural birth. And that's what happens when you say, God, I want you to live in my heart through Christ, who died and gave his life as a sacrifice. And the Bible says that when you confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, you're born again. It's by the Spirit. All of a sudden your eyes are open. And all of a sudden Moses realized I'm not on this planet just for my earthly things. I'm here for heavenly things. I went and raised in church. I didn't have a clue about church. And when I came to Christ, I knew immediately. It was almost like this and it just dropped in my mind, dropped in my heart. And I want to do what you did, God, build the church. Because there are people far away from God. There are people that don't know God. There are people that have all sorts of ideas and concepts about God.

And you know as well as I do in churches like ours, especially in the term mega church or in the thought that people lump us in with the screens. They've got all sorts. Did you go to that church with the screens? Are you at one of those churches? The screens and they name all of the preachers and all the people that try to lump us all together and throw in all sorts of shit. I get it, I get it. It's all sorts of stuff out there. And so part of what I like to do is try to debunk all of that. I like the challenge of, you know what, God, let's show. You're not that. And this is not that. And why I want to talk about this today is number one that God would drop in your heart that your world needs to stop just living or existing around yourself. Because if you're an individual that has claimed Christ, at some point God puts it in your heart, what about my people? What about the brothers and the sisters? What about those that are far away from God on Austin, Texas? What about your neighbor? And there's only one source. There's only, and I don't call it an organization, an organism that God has called to carry the gospel on the planet and that is his church. And that's the call. In fact, the Bible tells us in the book of Ephesians,

Ephesians chapter one, verse 22 and 23. as head over all things to the church, gave Christ to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. The way that you and I are filled and fulfilled is through the church. And the way that even God's gonna fulfill you is through the church. Your measure of joy without the church is capped. Can you be saved, yes? But you won't probably enjoy your salvation. Can you be forgiven through Christ without the church? Of course you can. I believe it starts individually. I believe it starts in your home. It starts in your heart. It starts privately. But then it starts to drop the more you mature. These thoughts begin to come to you. This church that the world and every power and principality has tried to extinguish this, this body called the church can't be stopped. And it is what God said he came to build. Why wouldn't you as a God follower wanna build what Christ said he came to build his church? And so I wanna give you what is a beautiful picture of the church. I often have to come back to this story because even being in ministry,

almost 40 years now preaching. Sometimes I wake up going, Lori, what are we doing? Like, what is this thing called church? They come and I bridge and we go home and then we come back. I've told a little story about my oldest son, Mason, in D.C. when I was putting him to bed. He was about three years of age. And I said, Mason, I was tucking him in. I was pastoring in Louisiana. I said, Mason, what do I do? And he goes, you scream at people. (congregation laughing) This is why he's the assistant secretary of treasury with Scott Bessett. He's the youngest acting assistant secretary in the history of our country, 34 years old. And so he's of old soul when he was three. I said, so I'm a pastor, pastor, what do I do? He goes, you scream at people. I said, what else did I do? To try to redeem himself. He says, you hurt people's feelings. (congregation laughing) It's probably true, like, you come to God and I'm here to tell you, you're not right with God. Get your life right with God. Okay, I said, okay, one more chance. What else do I do?

He says, you make people cry. (congregation laughing) He's three years old. That's why he's in a demonic world that he is in now. And I said, what else do I do? He goes, you pray for them and how it's getting better. (congregation laughing) And then he says, and then you tell 'em to come back next week. (congregation laughing) Doesn't that look like the church sometimes? You come, I scream, I hurt your feelings, I make you cry, come forward, go home, and we'll do it all over again. (congregation laughing) In the story that I wanna give you as first kings, in fact, Jesus references this Old Testament story. He calls her the queen of the south. In Matthew, Jesus said, the queen of the south, this, her name is Sheba, the queen of the south will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold something greater than Solomon this year. In other words, if she found salvation, so can you. If she found the way to God, so can you. And the way that she found salvation was through the church, you're gonna see it. So Jesus is saying, I want the church to even be better than it was, and obviously it is better than what it was.

'Cause it is called the church in the wilderness, you understand, even the Bible says Israel going out of Egypt, traveling through the wilderness to the promised land, it's called the church in the wilderness, the congregation in the wilderness. It's in Acts chapter 7, verse 38, the congregation, the assembly, the gathering of God's people, even in the Old Testament it's called the church. So it's not new for the church to only have a New Testament terminology, it's very clear, that's what Israel represents, the church. And so the church on its way in its destiny gets into wild places and of course God is showing us even through the Old Testament picture of Israel. Now watch this story, first King's chapter 10. So if you take this queen, what's her story? Her name is Sheba, the queen of Sheba being from Ethiopia. She heard about the fame of this guy or this preacher, this temple concerning, obviously his name was Solomon, who was, if you will, the pastor, but it wasn't really about him, it was the name of the Lord concerning Solomon, they were all about the name of the Lord and she came to find out if this was real, she came to actually to test with difficult questions. So this church is meeting and she comes and she hears, so she came to Jerusalem and she has her posse, she's got her entourage and got camels and spices and gold and stones and, you know, she's coming.

In fact, she's not just on a tourist trip, she is on her way to find out if God is real. And when she shows up, she gets an opportunity to speak to Solomon, or you can say it like this, Solomon begins to speak to her. And they begin to talk about all that was in her heart because she had difficult questions. Solomon answered all of her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king which he did not explain to her. She was a twisted sister, is what I like to say. And she came to test. She was not convinced, obviously, that the god of Israel was the god of truth. So she came to test, but she also had her own issues, probably with all her wealth, what is life, what's the meaning of life, that whole ecclesiastical idea of I've been blessed with everything. I've had all the food, all the drink, all the possessions, and I'm still empty. And the Bible says Solomon answered all of them. Nothing was hidden from the king that he did not explain to her, but then she took off from Solomon. Then she saw it. She didn't just hear it. The next verse says she saw the wisdom manifested. She saw the house, the building, the concourse. This is the temple. She saw the food at the table. That's the blend, if you will, the coffee.

She just saw the parking lot. She saw the kids ministry. And the Bible says as she was watching this, the seeding of the servants. In other words, how people were in place, the attendance of the waiters, their attendance, their attention to detail, their attire. In other words, people, they were crisp in their way of presenting themselves, the cup bears, and the stairway by which he, and I think the people of God would go up and down. There was no more spirit left in her. Then she said to the king, it's a true report. I heard about this church in my own land. I heard about this potential experience. I did not believe it until I came and my eyes have now seen it and behold, half was not told to me. It's better than I thought. And truly there's more wisdom in this place than I thought. How blessed are the people here? How happy, that's what it means. How happy, how joyful are the people that are here? Blessed be the Lord who has delighted in you to set you on this. There are no other words to build this church. Because the Lord has loved Israel forever, therefore he has made you king to do justice and righteous, to bring justice, to bring righteousness, to bring explanation to this crazy wild world. Then she gave 120 talents of gold

and a very great amount of spices and a great amount of stones. And never was there such an offering like it was given, like the queen of Shiba. What you find here is the picture of church. And what I want to just give you real quickly for those that especially might be new, wondering, yeah, what is this whole church thing about? And maybe you've been kind of kicking the tires, just trying to figure out as if God thing real. And I'll be honest with you, having no church background in my own life, there were things, even from this store, that I still get out of it. And that is number one. God is in the place where people are welcomed. What you find with Solomon is a welcome. I'm glad you're here. And he was very patient with her. He did not rush, he did not try to move. The Bible says he took his time in such a way that every question, everything she wanted to know about God, any and all difficulty, probably some of her past experiences, some of her hurt, some of her pain. She did not leave without feeling welcomed. Pastor Joe, are you a secret friendly church? Are we a secret friendly church? Well, we're not a secret repellent church. I know people go, oh, I hate those secret friendly churches.

No secret friendly churches are compromising churches. They're friendly. They just compromise and tell people what they want to hear. They need to just start being unfriendly. And I know what they're saying. I know that there are ways that the church, an even truth has been cut and chopped into pieces to fit what people want it to be. I get that, making God in their image rather than us being made in his image. I understand that 100%. But if we ever stop being friendly to people, we're not a church. Raise your Bible. First Corinthians 14. The most super spiritual church at that time was the church at Corinth, and they were speaking in tongues, and they were operating in their gifts, and they had all sorts of supernatural experiences, and then Paul says, but stop it because there are unlearned, untrained people sitting in the congregation, and they think you're crazy. I would rather speak five words in a known language than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue so that when they walk out of here, they've experienced God, not your stupidity, or your own fleshly desire to show maybe how spiritual you are. scriptures Paul says it's about people connecting to God and you've got to know when to hold them

and when to fold them. Can you Roger's? Donnie Park. You've got to know and there are churches that won't fold. They're just like we're going to obey that church that stands for that child. And then you gripe and complain that nobody wants to come to your church because you've made it so hard to find God. Solomon and this church experience open their hearts and open their doors and they said to people however you come we're here to explain God. Maybe you've walked in here for the first time maybe you're watching for the first time I'm here to tell you maybe everything you've heard about Christianity everything you've heard about church you don't want anything to do with it. I get it in fact you could probably maybe deconstruct it. I get it. There's bad examples. Jesus said there are people out there preaching in his name that are not walking with him. That's very clear but in our church in our context we want to do it in a way that is pleasing to God and not compromising because the second thing is God is in the place where truth is spoken in love. He spoke everything that she needed to hear and I do believe he spoke truth to her but he did not tell her what she just wanted to hear. The Bible says speak the truth in love so that we can grow up into all aspects of Christ who is the head. From whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building of self in love. Reality is as you can't grow up you can't become what Christ has created you to be. You can't fulfill the call of God upon your life unless you're hearing the truth but we don't speak the truth in a way that is angry or hateful or get you boy we got you girl bad boy bad boy what you're going to do? You arrested put your hands behind your back and we're going to handcuff you. We got him and we're going to hit you with a billy stick and we're going to just make no thank God he put in your heart to even come here today because God loves you and he doesn't want you to be confused about who he is. He doesn't want you to be in sin he doesn't want you to be in bondage he loves you. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Yeah they killed him because he spoke truth. Yes he died doing this because they said give us Barabbas give us a liar rather than the truth. Oh yeah yeah you may leave and you may never come back because you don't like the idea that God has given us the only way to himself is Christ. I don't like that. I want options well Jesus is the option. He's given you an option for God so loved he's the only one that died for you. He's the only one that gave his life for you. Why are you rejecting him? He's the only one that proved himself to be who he was.

And the Bible tells us we speak the truth so that the secrets of the heart would be disclosed in 1 Corinthians 14-25 so that we would fall on our face so we would get before God and worship him at the end of it all is that you would worship God in spirit and in truth. Number three God is in the place and he's in the church where hospitality is over the top. She said Solomon I walked out of experiencing the message in your sermon it was amazing thank you so much but then I saw your dream team and I saw the food I saw the attendance I saw the excellence I saw the attention to detail I saw that there was nothing not thought of in care for the people that were coming this is what we want that's the second mile experience Jesus said go the second mile below people's minds that we have taken the time and we've taken the thought as to how can people have an encounter with the living God but before they will have an encounter with the living God the Bible says they don't have eyes to see but they will see how we take care of them when you walk to the front door. We're not about passing out bulletins here here's a bulletin God bless you now go find your seat if they get a bulletin without getting a relationship they don't if they don't meet people who care about them generally I don't want you at the front door if you're a bulletin pass her out or person or if you're at the front door greeting people don't it's not just about giving a handshake it's not just about opening up the door it's about giving of yourself how can I make this day better for you it's adding value and that's what we want in every area which means some of you are incredibly gifted at hospitality and if you're not serving if you're not a part of the dream team that means we're not as good as we could be and that means God gifted you with the gift of hospitality which is one of the gifts by the way. The gifts were never given for you, they were given so that you could go to God's people and go, "How can I gift you as God has gifted me?" In the process of time, Moses began to realize, "I've got to give my gifts away." And that's what God wants us to do, is give the gifts that he's given us. The Bible says it. Number four, God is in the place where everyone plays a part. It wasn't just Solomon, it was the whole team. The Bible says they're a variety of gifts, same spirit. There are various ministries, same Lord, a variety of effects, but the same God who works all things in all people. Everyone has a part to play. You were not born to be by yourself, and you were not born to not be engaged in making a difference in the building of the church.

I think all of us can relate to the COVID experience. How did that work for us when we were all sequestered? We were all told to go home and stay home. How did that work out for your kids? And now we're finding out the effects of it. Years later, we're finding out the effects, we're finding out the pain, we're finding out the dysfunction, we're finding out the lies. And the greatest lie that Satan will tell all of you is that you can be happy without the church. The greatest lie is that you can be full of joy without the church. You can't because God's fullness is in Christ. Christ fills all things through his church. It's all connected. It's all in relationship. Yeah, you can be saved. Go ahead. But you're kept. You're kept. You're kept in your joy. You're kept in your expression. You're kept in your purpose. I think that's what was happening to Moses. With all of the blessings that he had naturally, all the money that he had, all the wealth that he had, all the opportunities that he had, he goes, "I think this is really not about me. It's supposed to be going to God's people." Which we all have a part to play. Number five, God is in the place where transformation is a goal. She showed up, twisted in darkness, and then by the end of her experience, she is transformed. That's the stairway. Our prayer is that when you come in, you might walk in broken, bleeding, and barely alive. But the end of this journey, by the end of your time on this planet through God's church, boy, you're walking and leaping and praising God. You came in, bend it over. You came in having no hope in any peace, but God transforms us. And the Bible says, when we turn to the Lord, notice in 2 Corinthians, when a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is what? Liberty, transformation. And we all, with an unveiled faith, when you take off your mask, you can behold the glory of the Lord, and then you're transformed into his image. The same image going from glory to glory, glory to glory, step-by-step process of transformation. Number six, God is in the place where joy is expressed. I've already said it, the people were happy. This church is called celebration. It's not called depression church, it's called celebration church, for a reason. No one is effective for God depressed. I'm not saying we don't have depression times. I'm just saying, when joy is not the manifestation, and joy is a manifestation of the spirit of God. I know some of my very deep, reformed brothers, and 9,000 of my books are probably from the reformed world. Most of my books are probably from the 14 to the early 1800s, written by the great reformers. But what they thought was the sound or the sign of godliness was

this full of joy. No, you're not. Joy is an expression of peace. What kid wants to come to you looking like this? I'm deep. Stop it. The reason why children came to Jesus was they saw the joy. And your depth is not expressed in your harshness and your hearted brow. It's in your joy of security and peace and confidence. And it's not something that is fabricated. She said, "Boy, these people are happy." And then lastly, God's in the place where gifts are given. God is in the place where gifts are given. How do you know if God has really worked in your life? Where's the fruit? This woman, in 10 verses, went from walking in with all that she had, almost like a Kardashian. She's got it all. She's got it all. And at the end, she goes, "I don't want any of it." And look at the end of this story in 1 Kings, chapter 10, 23 through 25, she began to give of all of her abundance and then Solomon, or you can say it like this, Jesus became greater and greater in all the earth because of what she was given. And as she was giving more and more, the Bible says he would take it and then build bigger and more beauty for the temple of God. The sign that God has worked in your life is what stewardship is in your life. And there are people that I know in this church. You have been saved. You have been filled with the Holy Spirit. You are in church week in and week out and you haven't given nothing. The chair that you sat on was given to you by some single mom who said, "God, I don't have anything but I'll give it to you." That chair, somebody bought that chair, somebody so to see to make it happen for you. The toilet paper that some people use in our church, you haven't even bought a roll. It's all for quiet in this church, come on now. The lights. What? What this woman knew? This doesn't happen without a cost. This does not happen for free.

Money doesn't, what did your mom and dad tell you? Money doesn't, what? Money's on trees. And I think the wisdom of this woman was, "I have been blessed to be a blessing." And I can promise what you won't be and what you won't see is until you start letting go, you'll never see God let go. It's the law given it shall be what? Acts chapter 20, the Bible tells us Jesus gave us these words. It is a greater blessing. He himself said it is more blessed to what? He then to say, "I'm not telling you to give. I'm just telling you if you're mature, you will. I'm just telling you if you're a God-follower, you will." No one had to preach this to me. I just sought in the Scripture. And I said, "Lord, I want to build your church. And I want to see your church advance. I want to see more campuses. I want to see God in the name of Jesus expressed in the arts of people. And I want to challenge you. I want to challenge you for the remaining part of this year, Lord. I know we're upside down in our finances. Lord, I know we can't make our mortgage payment. I know that a lot of people, when they get saved, the biggest battle that they face is their financial battle. That's because you were making decisions without God. You were making purchases without God. Now God is in your life and you realize there's some things that you can't get out of like your bills. That's true.

But one thing I can tell you, you won't get out of it until you start putting God first in all things. And when you do that, when you do that, by God's grace, I don't think Solomon said, "Now you need to give." I just think the Spirit of God began to speak to her. Lord, you invested in me. I'm going to invest in you. And it's called a stewardship. It's a stewardship. I know all these things have come from you. Now I give it back to you. And the tides just simply is that tide. It's the first. I give it back to you. And I can just tell you God will not be in debt to you. He pays and he rewards and he gives and he will supply when you build his house. Some of you are Shiba's. Some of you are still lost. In fact, you're probably in this room today going, "I don't know God. I'm a Shiba or a Heba." And you're twisted. You're in bondage. In fact, you're not free. And you know you're not free. Or maybe you know your name's not written in the land's book of life. Or you think you're going to heaven. Listen, you can't be a five. "Oh, I think I'm a four." I don't know. You've got to be a ten.

There's no grading skill here. You see either you're in Christ or you're not. He came and he says, "Whosoever will let him come." Some of you, you've been a Shiba. In other words, you've experienced this goodness of kindness. Now it's time for you to be like a Moses. "I want my days on this planet, Lord, to be about what you came to be about." And that's your church. You want to build your people and add value. Make a difference in the lives of people. Every head, bow, and every eye, how many would say, "I am that Shiba. I need forgiveness. I need grace. I want to know God. I want to know freedom." If that's you, would you just slip up your hand right now over this place, yeah? You don't have the assurance of eternal life. Why would you take a chance? Why are you going to risk eternity? When you think you might have another moment, you may not, today's the day of salvation. If that's you today and you want to be saved, can you, in fact, can we all say this prayer? I just want to help you. I believe you died for me. You shed your blood so I could be clean and holy, for only through you can one be clean and holy. I look to you today. As my Lord, my Savior, my King, and my reason for living. Now, Lord, drop it in my heart to serve your people. My life is yours, and all that God's people said.

Amen. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]