Acts 25: How To Help People Come To Know Jesus

[Music] [Music] good morning are you guys ready yeah it's good to be back I've enjoyed my time off today we're going to be looking at Acts 25 and this is one of those chapters that many of you might get a little bored with when you're reading because it's repetitive and and we shift from this guy named Felix this guy named Festus and you're like oh my gosh I don't understand this but there's a lot of truth here that you need to understand specifically in regards to how we talk about Jesus around non-believers so all of you this Christmas you're gonna have family friends over you're gonna be guests at somebody's house some of you are going to go to Christmas parties you're gonna be in situations where you're placed around people who don't know Jesus and you're gonna have the opportunity to talk about Jesus and some of you are gonna do very very well about that and some of you're gonna lead people to Buddha so my prayer for you okay is that you will lead people to Jesus based upon how you talk what you say and how you carry yourself and this is a great example of when we get upset of when we get angry people don't get saved and so even the Apostle Paul who's the greatest Christian who ever lived he gets upset gets into this heated discussion and the lost guy in the room Festus is more lost than when they began so let's begin with a word of Prayer and here's my prayer today is that the Holy Spirit would help us to help people to come to know Jesus some of your husbands or wives don't know Jesus some of your children don't know Jesus some of your best friends don't know Jesus some of you don't know Jesus and my prayer is that you would come to know him because he Jesus exemplifies God's love for you and it's the only way to experience that love so let's pray together Heavenly Father we just thank you for this morning and we just ask God that this morning you would renew our faith God that you would teach us how important it is Lord not only that we believe in Jesus but that those beliefs resonate in our lifestyle and our behaviors we pray this in Christ's name Amen so look at verse 1 it says three days after Festus arrived I am a Jerry Seinfeld fan and so if I say Festivus my apologies Festivus was this great holiday that George Costanza invented if you are a fan of the Seinfeld show and for whatever reason I'm brainwashed and what read Festus I say Festivus for the rest of us but so who's this guy Festus okay Festus is the new guy so he's like Donald Trump elect he's the new guy he's transitioning into power felix is the old guy like brock obama heading out accept fastest wasn't elected really he was appointed because Felix got deported to Rome why because an emperor by the name of Nero wants to talk to him personally so if any of you know anything about the history of the Roman Empire Nero not a nice guy he invented fun things like burning Christians at the stake feeding Christians to the lion all of that stuff to lions all of that comes from Nero so we're not going to hear from Felix again for the rest of his life because he's gone and had a conversation with a crazy Roman Emperor named Nero and they appoint this guy Festus to come and try to soften the relationships between Rome and Israel because this is boiling over and just so you know in about six years it's going to erupt in a revolutionary war where the Jews attempt to overthrow Rome and it's it's terrible the Jews are slaughtered why because Rome is the real deal when it comes to armies and soldiers and organization and literally millions of Jews die Josephus the great historian says 1.1 million Jews died in this conflict it's absolutely terrible so they're trying to avoid this so they send Festus to try to soften things so he arrived in Caesarea what is that Surya if you come with me to Israel in 2019 it's our next scheduled trip we will go to Caesarea it's beautiful it's on the Mediterranean ocean the Romans built it as their capital their governing place you know the difference between Caesarea and Sacrement or accessory excuse me and Jerusalem would be like the difference between Santa Monica and Sacramento so Sacramento is the government head of California but Santa Monica Los Angeles is kind of the cultural head of California and so that's where it was Romans liked to govern from the beach and the Jews liked to govern from the mountains where God had identified as their city so he comes in to Caesarea to take over his new Ron's responsibilities and he goes to Jerusalem so Jerusalem it really trips people out when they see it think like driving to I'd a while so you pass through him it you go up you see this beautiful mountain range that's what Jerusalem looks like it's a mountain city absolutely beautiful so he met the leading priests there and the other Jewish leaders and they met with them and look at this the first thing they want to talk about is their accusations against Paul Paul's been in prison for two years he has made some enemies they want him dead so Felix knew that he was he was innocent but what he did is he kept him in prison two things number one to protect Paul a Roman citizen number two to appease the Jews because they wanted him dead and he was trying to do a favor to kind of quell you know this revolutionary attitude so they brought them all together and they asked Festus for a favor so right this is a new guy we want a favor you want things to be good with us here's what we want we want you to transfer Paul to Jerusalem why so that they could plan an ambush to kill him on the way they want him dead but Festus replied that Paul was at Caesarea and he himself would be returning there soon and so he said those of you with authority can return with me and if Paul has done anything wrong you can take you can make your accusations so a couple days later Festus returned to Caesarea and on the following day he took his seat in court and ordered that Paul be brought in when Paul arrived the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem gathered around and made many serious accusations that they couldn't prove okay turns into like a Jerry Springer episode it just gets weird and bizarre and Paul does not denies all the charged charges and if you don't know who Jerry Springer is god bless you you probably go in heaven okay so Paul didn't I buy all the laughter most of you or not so listen up so you can get saved okay Paul denied the charges I am not guilty of any of the crimes against the Jewish laws or the temple or the Roman government he said then Festus wanting to please the Jews remember there's political tension here he says are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there now here's where things get a little weird because Paul doesn't know who Festus is just like many people we're not you know not exactly sure you know how is Trump gonna rule how's he gonna reign what is that gonna look like made a phone call to Taiwan Oh little scary people aren't exactly sure you know how that's gonna be Paul doesn't know Festus he knew Felix he doesn't know fast this is he's like wait a minute I'm not gonna go with you a stranger to Jerusalem with these guys who want to kill me so Paul says no this is the official Roman Court I ought to be tried right here he says you know very well I am not guilty of harming the Jews if I have done something worthy of death he says I don't refuse to die but if I'm innocent no one has the right to turn me over these men to kill me he says I appeal to Caesar now most of us aren't historians but you know if you are a historian you know that a Roman citizen could not be condemned to death anywhere outside of Rome so no matter where you were you know if you were up on the German front if you were on the English front you know fighting the crazy Scottish you know wherever you were at this point time in the Roman world if you face charges that could ultimately kill you or or take your life you could appeal to Caesar and to Rome and whatever local government you were in they had to pay to ship you all the way back to Rome so you could stand trial before the Roman High Court and he says I appeal to Caesar which is interesting because who is Caesar at this point in time Nero kind of a scary gamble but Paul has done it and he believes that God has called him to testify before Kings and the rulers and the principals of this world and so Festus conferred with his advisors he doesn't know very well he says you've appealed to Caesar and the Caesar you will go a few days later King Agrippa arrived with the sister Bernice to pay their respects to Festus why Festus is the new guy in town a grip as the king of the northern kingdom he's come to pay respects to the king of the southern kingdom so they're gonna connect and you know have a party whatever so during their stay Festus discussed Paul's case with their king he says there's a prisoner here he told him whose case was left for me by Felix thanks Felix when I was in Jerusalem the leading priests and Jewish elders pressed charges against him and asked me to condemn him I pointed out to them the Roman law does not convict people without a trial they must be given an opportunity to confront their accusers and defend themselves when his accusers came here for the trial I didn't delay I called for the case the very next day and ordered Paul brought in but the accusations made against him weren't any of the crimes I expected now here's where we're gonna focus the next 25 minutes together verse 19 and 20 he says instead it was something circle this word it was something about their religion their religion so here's Festus highly educated brilliant guy he has literally thrived through the ranks of the Roman army and he has ascended to power a very very strong and powerful political position and here's this bright guy right a graduate of Harvard Yale and he's saying man I don't understand any of this it's something about their religion a dead man named Jesus who Paul insists is alive here's this brilliant guy who's listening to all these arguments who's listening to you know Paul talk and then the Jews talk and Jews talk and Paul respond and Paul respond and then then they rebuke rebuke him and it goes back and forth and back and forth and here's this brilliant guy that's just lost he doesn't have any clue and let me just tell you this Christians arguing amongst each other doesn't save anybody say whoa whoa whoa whoa wait a minute pastor Matt this isn't Christians arguing against Paul no but it started that way if you remember when the Apostle Paul went back to Jerusalem this whole argument started within the church and now it's spilled out of the church and now it's spilled into the streets and now it's a court of law and now it's confusing people who are lost and dying and going to hell and this is tragic every single one of you has a Christian friend or knows somebody and you tell them you go to sandals and they're like sandals mmm you know and they just give you that look like you're going to hell hmm and you know why that is because Christians would much rather critique another Church than actually win the lost for Christ that's why and it's not just you know people against us that I hear people say think oh you go to the exercise you know we're sandals everybody picks on us let's not pick on somebody else and it's just it's just so sad even in my own denomination Southern Baptist right now are fighting amongst themselves over this issue you know called Calvinism and if you don't know what that is god bless you I love you but it's so sad because they want to argue over how people get saved rather than trying to get people saved it's just sad you look at what's happening amongst our beautiful movement in Southern California you know three years ago Pastor Chuck Smith passed away and since he's died man Calvary chapel's a mess there's an in fighting in that denomination and let me tell you something is that going to lead people to Christ or is it going to confuse people for Christ at the end of the day we have to come together agree on the main things and tell people about Jesus because go we got Festus in the corner who's going I don't understand all this and so much of what we argue about just seems like bizarre peculiarities in our own faith the world doesn't understand the difference between Catholic and Lutheran and Lutheran and Baptist and Baptists and calvary chapel and calvary chapel and san delight they don't understand the differences in all that okay and they shouldn't have to it's our job to make it simple for them to understand so listen to what he says instead it was something about their religion a dead man named jesus who Paul insists is alive underline these words I was at a loss I'm totally confused I was at a loss as how to investigate these things write this down Jesus is confusing to people who don't know him it's confusing so stop trying to confuse people so stop trying to argue well in the Greek they're like what let's talk about Jesus in the English how about that how about that how about we not talk about Jesus in the Hebrew how about we not argue over which translation of the Bible we should use how about we just translate Jesus in a way that people understand I mean it is in saying right it's insane the things that we fight over and insist upon I mean it's crazy it's absolutely crazy the things that we are willing to disagree about and here it is you know you got your uncle Festus who's sitting around you know the kitchen table at Christmas and and he's hearing about Jesus and you're singing about Jesus but you're living like you're you love Satan I mean come on stop this arguing doesn't lead anybody to Jesus I mean how many of you guys are motivated to change when you argue okay when my wife and I argue I am not motivated to be a better person you know what honey thank you for pointing out all of my faults I am going to take that energy and I am going to become like Christ in this moment right now I don't do that I mean how many of you guys have been like in the middle of an argument and you've just all so in a halo appears and you're like oh oh my gosh I just got saved right okay you don't like it so stop arguing and so here's Paul and here's the Jews and they're arguing back and forth and Festus is pulling his hair out and guess what he says you're all nuts and by the way guess what the world thinks about religion we're all nuts and you know why that is because we're arguing over all these differences and we're not presenting the truth that people need to know so listen if you have a family member a friend a husband a wife your kids don't confuse them so how many of you guys have got a chance to listen to the debrief we got thousands of people that listen to that we do this segment at the beginning now called learning Christianese you know what that is it's not Chinese it's Christianese and what is it it's a language that Christians speak that no one understands that's what it is and so we say things like this I'm just bathed in the blood okay cult leader you know that's bizarre we say things like this I'm gonna pray for a hedge of protection I mean can you imagine if Donald Trump ran on a platform we're gonna build a hedge between US and Mexico that doesn't sound real thorough you know but apparently Satan's afraid of shrubbery I don't know what it is he's like oh my gosh a bush I can't attack your family but Christians say these things and we just assume that everybody knows what it is right we've seen songs here I raise my Ebenezer whoa buddy whoa need to back off you and your Ebenezer which by the way is a stone of remembrance but we don't say that and so we wonder why how is church today I don't know I I don't know you lost me okay so Jesus is confusing to people who don't know him and we're not going to win people to Jesus by arguing especially with each other especially with each other I mean you want to turn somebody off in a small group everybody fight in your small group you come back next Tuesday when that fun it's like an episode of Fox News come on back right okay you guys are fun this morning I like this all right okay so here's the issue how can you help people understand Jesus I can help people understand Jesus number one by being clear about who Jesus is so we've been in this series all year long called two fifty-two we've studied two books of the Bible 52 chapters in Luke and acts when you combine them together there's 52 weeks in the year we've studied each chapter so I've asked you to read each chapter I've preached on each chapter we do the debrief each week which is a free Bible study where we go deeper and I answer any question that you guys have about the chapter and try to make it as crystal clear why have we done that because you can't explain what you don't know you can't explain what you don't know okay don't come to me and ask me okay the science behind how an airplane flies I don't know I don't know I just pray that it does when I got an airplane this is what I pray Lord put an angel on each wing and get me where I need to go amen that's what I do I don't know how it flies I don't know how the thrust engine and all of that stuff works I hope the pilot does and I hope the mechanics who built it does I can't explain that stuff okay doesn't make sense to me I'm on a big piece of metal in the air I don't understand that but I do understand the Bible and I do understand Jesus so you need to be clear about what's important to you when it comes to Jesus so you got to be crystal clear about who Jesus is okay how are you going to lead somebody to Jesus or tell somebody about Jesus if you don't know anything about him and that's why I want to encourage you guys you know listen to the deeper each week we go deeper on a deeper level and it's an opportunity for you to grow and have your questions asked so be clear about who Jesus is and this is important in our world today it's absolutely important this past week Tammy and I were watching one of our favorite shows I love the voice I love to watch it and there's this young african-american gal she's 17 years old she's got the most amazing voice I've ever heard and she just laid it down and she's sing a gospel tune from the 1940s see that you know radio used to sing about Jesus and so she sang this song about Jesus and it was just it was mind-blowing but what was what was so sad is the coaches Blake Shelton in particular who speaks art speaks who face I guess he speaks country but he sings country music but here's what he said and I'm not saying Blake Shelton's a bad guy I'm saying he's wrong on this issue he said this is what I love he said what I love about being in America is we can all connect to God in our own way now let me translate for you so some of you think oh yeah that sounds great let me let me tell you what Blake Shelton just said God is not here God is down here and I as Blake Shelton and you as Americans we get to connect with God in whatever way we choose here's the problem the Bible says God is not down here he is up here God is elevated and lifted up and he is higher than you and I and we and we don't choose how we write our broken relationship with God God chooses how we write our broken relationship with him and he has chosen his son Jesus Christ who is the only way to write that relationship and that is a matter if you're Buddhist Hindu atheist Christian or just plain stupid all of us all of us can only connect with God in the way that God has chosen for the relationship to be restored and that's through Jesus Christ that's it and you need to know that because you're gonna sit around a table and people gonna say well I just believe let me let me translate this is what people will say I just believe you can make your own religion up well good for you and some of your friends are gonna say this well I just believe all roads lead to the same play place great just drive home pick a road pick a road pick a road and call me an hour will come bicha okay when you're in Barstow going help Oh all roads do not lead to the same place they do not there is only one way one way and as Christians we need to remember the beautiful Jesus movement that took place that started in California it started with this idea of one way you would go to church he NAB all these hippies wearing their you know bell-bottom jeans and their flip-flops and their tie-dye shirts and you would go to church and there'd be worship and everybody be pointing one finger up there's one way one way in one way only billy graham used to lead marches down huntington beach on the sand one way one way and the churches lost that and we need to remember hey that's great that you're a buddhist there's beautiful things about Buddhism there's beautiful things about Islam but there's one way to God there's one way to God and I'm glad that culturally your religion has inspired you it's blessed you it's it's helped you there's one way to God and Jesus said this he said I am the way not a way the way I am the way and by the way the Apostle Paul last week What did he say he said I am on trial because I am a person of the way the way Jesus told him I am the way I'm the truth and I am the life let me tell you some of you are not Christians this is why it's so important you want to live forever then you need to it be attached to that which has the power to allow you to live forever God is life life emanates from him it all comes from him and if you want to live forever you need to be attached and with him and that's why Jesus says I am the way I am the truth and I am the life he says no one and you can pray about whether or not that includes you no one comes to God but what by me that's Jesus that's Jesus you see we don't get to choose how we fix our broken relationship with God God chooses how we fix it and he has chosen Jesus all right next one so first we got to be clear about who Jesus is next one we got to live into submission to Jesus Jesus says this so why do you keep calling me Lord Lord when you don't do what I say you want to know what confuses people when you call Jesus your Lord but you live like he's your buddy Jesus is not your buddy he's your Lord or he's your nothing okay your Lord tells you what to do and you do it you do it always running through my kids I asked my kids to do something they say I'll get to it I said I don't know I'm gonna get to you that's what's gonna happen I'm gonna get to you you're gonna do it right now because I'm your dad you're my child you're gonna do it right now but you know as Christians we do this to the Lord all the time the Lord says I want you to do this you know Jesus thank you thank you for that input I appreciate that I'm gonna get with my small group and we're gonna pray together we're gonna get together we're gonna pray we can have some worship we're gonna break bread and I'm gonna pray about being obedient it's disgusting it is absolutely disgusting listen to me some of you are married to a non-christian you wanna know the best way to get your spouse to submit to Jesus as Lord you submit to Jesus as Lord that's the best way that's the best way and single people that are dating people who are not Christians how on earth are you going to get them to meet your Lord when you have not presented him as your Lord you see what you're presenting him as as your buddy and Jesus is not didn't preach you know the great commandment but the great suggestion that's what a buddy does your Lord commands you and this is the commandment you must love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength in your neighbor as yourself are you doing that and what does that mean God must be first in everything in everything and that includes obedience you see there's something about being a genuine Christian that is attractive to people who are lost what they love about you is your authenticity or your authenticity what they care about you is is your truth what the world can't stand is hypocrisy we don't need any more of that there's too much of that it already runs rampant and you're never gonna be perfect so that means when you mess up you own it you tell people about it you share it look man I blew it but you got to submit to Jesus next you want to help clarify who Jesus is then you gotta learn to love people like Jesus man there's never been a person on the earth who loved people like Jesus did he loved people he loved a man Jesus loved people so well on the night that he was to be betrayed he said one of you is going to betray me tonight at as it has been predestined since the beginning of time do you know the disciples had no idea it was Judas and you know why that is because Jesus loved Judas just like he loved Peter just like he loved John just like he loved James Jesus loved Judas just like he loves you just like he loves me Jesus loved people and the best way to get someone to listen to who Jesus is he's by loving them this past week one of my friends man they lost their spouse and in it broke my heart the day before Thanksgiving their spouse died of a heart attack it was it was tragic and it wasn't foreseen and they're not Christians they know who I am I know who they are you know we've interacted our our lives connect a lot and they're not Christians do you know what my friend needed in that moment as she mourned the loss of her husband it wasn't the gospel it was the Gospels love that's what she needed and so you know what I gave her a hug I said I love you I'm here for you I appreciate you I'm so sorry for your loss if you ever need anything you know who I am you know what I'm about I'm here for you and we just hugged we just hugged you know I have to earn the right to share the gospel in people's lives and the best way I know how to earn that right is by loving them loving them right where they are in whatever they're going through and whatever is happening in their life now let me say this love doesn't mean that we don't stand up for truth love doesn't mean that we don't speak the truth okay real love speaks the truth you know why I tell my kids the truth because I love them I love them and the world lies to them and so I tell them the truth Jesus says this so now I'm giving you a new commandment this is from Jesus you're not supposed to pray about whether or not to do this you're supposed to do it because he commanded it he says love each other why would Jesus have to command us to love each other look at each other look it I'm just looking look at a couple of you if Jesus didn't command us to love you you would be lonely right I got to love you man I gotta love you we've all been there with people that we love people that we love one of my favorite lines is from one of our pastors his wife got so upset with him one time they were in a fight she says I am choosing to love you right now that's like hitting somebody with a Jesus bat just like whack you know I don't want to love you but I am choosing to love you right now it's a grey line love each other just as I have loved you you should love each other and your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples once again why shouldn't we argue about everything I guarantee you if you and I sat down and we talked theology probably every single person in this church would disagree with me at some point somewhere so what does that mean we got to love each other we got a major on the majors and we gotta let the minors go but many of us we want to die on the minors and so God God wants us to be unified the enemy wants us separated so we're constantly separating and constantly being divided and that's why it's so sad that's why denominations are falling apart it's why movements stop and lose momentum because we're constantly looking for an area where we can disagree we got to look for areas where we agree okay and by the way Christianity isn't the only religion that teaches love but it is the only religion that teaches where love comes from you see as a Buddhist you can learn to love as a Muslim you can learn to love but it is only as a Christian you that you can learn where love comes from you see first John says this love that didn't come from us came from God and God loved us the Bible defines God as love love is something that emanates from God because it's who he is it's not something that we create and we only get to experience it because God has blessed us with it so we get to tell the world where this beautiful thing called love comes from and we get to tell them how to experience it because it is experienced by faith in Christ and it is experienced in fellowship with his church his Christians who are called to be loving to be loving next we got to practice self-control like Jesus I don't know if you've noticed this but the world has gone off the deep end absolutely off the deep end and as Christians we have to be different now more than ever we have to be unique because the world has gone insane I mean it's always been insane now it's just acceptable okay with the Lord's Authority Paul says this he says live no longer as the Gentiles do okay what does that mean Gentiles means non Christian non knower lover of God that's what it means he's not talking about ethnicity here he's talking about a separation from God he says live no longer as Gentiles do for they are hopelessly confused hopelessly look at our world look at our world right think of all the technology all the knowledge we've got nuts anybody a family Olympics anybody like the Olympics okay Gino the Olympics the International Olympic Committee has stated that they are not able at this point in time to identify clearly gender I'm not kidding you I was like I can do that I can do that get every athlete get them in a line give me five seconds with each athlete I will tell you you're on this side you're on that side this side that's I paid me a million bucks I will be able to identify every single person and they're like we can't do that we don't we don't know what gender is like you don't that's our world that's what our kids are being taught in school with jet well I don't know what gender is meanwhile my grandpa is going huh right they're hopelessly confused not only that they have no sense of shame they live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity I don't know what it is about me but somebody tell me what is it about my face that says weirdos talk to me in weird places what is it what is it about me okay and why is it always in the bathroom why is it always in the bathroom where somebody wants to talk to me I'm not there to talk to you you're not there to talk to me we are there to do our business and get out right and get out don't talk to me the other night Tammy and I are out to dinner and I got to go the restroom and I and I get stuck in this line a guy line right this is like Lady pain here right because women always have to wait in the line so there's a guy line you know and there's one restroom and I'm sitting there and I'm standing next to a drunk guy and he just starts talking to me I'm like oh I just need to pee shut up you know come on it's on sitting there and he's talking to me and what comes out of his mouth was just so shameful you know what he told me he said he's out to dinner with two women one is his wife and one's her best friend and he said I just so hoped that one day I can be with my wife's best friend I said buddy you just shared that with the wrong person man is it I was a swinging a mess bro swinging him is and I lost my mind on him I mean how is it that we live in a world where we expressed to a complete stranger in a pee line that we want to commit adultery that's our world no shame whatsoever no shame whatsoever I'm just gonna cheat on my wife I'm gonna follow my heart yeah well I'm gonna follow my fist in your face you knucklehead right I mean you can't do that if you're not Christian you can't do that I've looked for that verse it's not there okay listen they they live for lustful pressure pressure pleasure okay so they live for lustful pleasure and they eager they circle this word they eagerly practice every kind of impurity but that isn't what you learned about Christ listen to me Christians we're called to be different just like vegetarians choose to abstain from meat we as Christians choose to abstain from things the world desires and God is right God is right and our desires are rarely right listen saying yes to Jesus means learning to say no to yourself and so many people say this well Jesus would want me to be happy no Jesus wants you to go to heaven and then you'll be happy listen following Jesus doesn't mean our bad desires go away it means we have new desires that lead us to say no to those bad desires all right two points left how can I lead people to Jesus how can I lead people to understand Jesus you got to become generous like Jesus Tammy and I were dining out with some friends this past week and we had a long dinner and we caught up and we hadn't been able to connect and so I motioned for the waiter to give me the bill because we needed to get out there cuz we had a kid at home and we need to make sure that he was in bed because teenagers struggle making the right decisions so we wanted to get home make sure that he was in bed cuz he had school the next morning and so I motioned to the waiter and said hey I need the bill and she came up to me and she said oh no somebody took care of your bill now we were we were at a nice restaurant it was a very very expensive meal I'm gonna guess about a hundred fifty bucks I said so much someone took care of our meal she said oh yeah I said if someone paid for all of our meals fried you have to clarify because sometimes Christians are cheap and they're like well I'll pay for pastor Matt but Tami's on her own you know it's Pastore Appreciation Month not pastor wives appreciation month so I just got to clarify and so I said so they took they took care of the whole bill I said yeah I said well what about the tip so I want to make sure that you know that the person has taken care of for the service that they rendered because they work hard she's oh yeah they tipped wonderfully so thank you tell them thank you very much another waiter came over and this is what she said she said who are you which was a little uncomfortable at first as I said what do you mean she said who are you I said what do you mean she said people don't do that she said your bill was almost 200 bucks she said who are you you know which you know apparently nobody cuz she has no idea who I am right she's just who are you she said why would someone do that why would someone do that I said I'm their pastor and it was pastor Appreciation Month and they were just saying thank you she said what church do you Pastor I said well sandals Church Jesus Oh Clawd Hickman that's what she said Oh Oh dick man I'm not making this stuff up I was like yeah he's a big deal he's a big deal yeah big deal but you know what it gave me an opportunity to talk to her and to other servers at this restaurant about Jesus and this is what they're saying this somebody's somebody's generosity gave me an opportunity to say you know what this is why they did it because of their luck because of our love for Jesus and their appreciation of me teaching them about Jesus it blew her away because people don't do that I mean you might pay for somebody's meal at McDonald's right now it's on me as long as it's not over ten bucks but this was an expensive meal and it listen it caught the attention of the server's so become generous like Jesus Paul says this I've been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard and you should remember the words of the Lord Jesus it more blessed to give than to what to receive and by definition that makes you different that makes you different last point serve others like Jesus man two weeks ago I was off on the weekend and I went to our Woodcrest campus and our East Valley campus that's celebrating their one-year anniversary today they have a building our hunter Park campus we have a building our Woodcrest campus they don't own a building we rent a school and every single Sunday morning at 6 a.m. volunteers pour into that junior high campus to set up an entire church for a thousand people on their days off and so I had it I had a day off and when sandals Church started do you know who set up the church I did I drove to another church to pick up the chairs drove to another thing I used to drive a trailer until I crash it into the Arco station at the Plaza so then I I don't do that anymore so yeah I'll never forget that day why are all those people running it's because the trailer was on the side I was like wow those guys are really freaking out nobody died it was cool but I got to go there and I got to be with these blessed people who work full-time jobs take care of their families and on Sunday mornings they get up at 5 a.m. and gathered together at 6 a.m. to set up the church and so they were a little surprised to see me because they watch me on the screen there so I walk in there just like it's ok come in peace and they just said why are you here pastor and you know what I said because it is an honor and a privilege to serve you as you serve Jesus it is it's a beautiful thing it's a beautiful thing we have a very very short time life is very short we have very very short time to serve Jesus in the way that he's asked us one of the first verses I memorized when I became a Christian in college was this verse it's verse on your outlines and it's mark 10:45 I would encourage you all to memorize it it says for the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as ransom for many Jesus is our model if we want the world to see Jesus they need to see us serving on little-league serving us serving in basketball league serving in the PTA serving and when people ask why is it that I can always count on you you say because I can count on Jesus and you point people back to Christ because we live in a world where everybody wants the experience and nobody wants to serve Christians should be the greatest servants of all let's pray Heavenly Father God thank you for this amazing church and these amazing people Lord I'm so blessed to be able to call sandals Church my home god I pray that all of us would be convicted and evaluate our life and figure out where we need to change and where we need to more accurately reflect you I pray this in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Sandals Church

Views: 6,850

Rating: 4.652174 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: a3vbegdmvKc

Length: 40min 38sec (2438 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 09 2016