Sagemont Church 5/17/20 Sunday AM Service

good morning sage Bhatt family and welcome to this historic day in the life and history of the sage MOT Church I want to remind you of another day that wasn't too long ago and that was September the 1st of 2019 you recall that on that day this insert was placed in our worship guide that outlined the 12 individuals that made up our pastor search team and I was elected chairman of that committee and we have had a wonderful time working together praying together seeking God's face and I asked the Lord to give me a verse that would keep us on point for the task that was before us and this is the verse he shared with me and I'll share it with you now Romans 15 5 says now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus so that with one Accord you may with one voice glorify God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ I am standing before you today to tell you that God has given us a one mind a one heart and a one voice in our decision 100% unanimous of calling doctor Matt Carter as the next pastor of Sage Mont church we are so excited to have this day finally here and know that God is going to bless in a tremendous way as he's blessed us in these first 54 years in the next 54 as well it is my distinct privilege to present to you and introduce to you right now the Carter Family dr. Matt Carter is going to be our prospective pastor after this day you'll know that God has blessed in a tremendous way his sweet wife Jennifer and their three children JD wave handed and Annie and Samuel we are delighted that they are with us today and I want to just Falls to pray for them and all the things that will transpire in the next few days and I want you to pray with me would you bow father thank you so much for your goodness and grace to us today thank you for your will in this matter we have sought your face we have prayed we have asked you to direct us and Lord you have led us by your spirit in a 100% unanimous vote of our team to present this man and his family to our church to be our next pastor we're thankful for your guidance we're thankful for your love and your mercy and your grace we pray Lord that you would bless pastor Matt as he stands before us to deliver the Word of God today may you stir our hearts and may you bring us together in a unity of heart for the glory of God that we might continue the legacy of say Jamaat Church here in the Houston area we love you we praise you we ask that you'd bless this family immensely in Jesus name Amen Thank You Carters good to have you before we move along with our worship time I have the opportunity to present two more testimonies we had two last week from OS Hawkins and Greg Mott we have two more testimonies today and the first one is from JD Greer that mint name might not be familiar to you but JD Greer is our serving president of the Southern Baptist Convention and after he shares a word with us that I am delighted to share with you that our founding pastor brother John D Morgan is going to share testimony as well listen up they say it's mine I cannot tell you how excited I am about the future of God obviously has for you I could not imagine a more gifted pastor to lead your historic fellowship there that would be more gifted and a better leader than Matt Carter I've had the privilege of knowing Matt now for several years he is one of the finest young preachers of our generation younger Matt I guess we're not that much that young any longer but he is a fantastic preacher he's an incredible visionary every time I I'm around to him he is always stretching me and pushing me and thinking about what what what ought to be done and what could be done he's also just a loyal friend yeah I've had the privilege of having him stay here with me a number of times when he was doing his doctorate and got to know him and see his life in his doctrine up close and he's a man of integrity a man of loyalty and a shepherd to whom you can trust or whom you can trust to lead you to know and love Jesus better he's sincere in his love for Jesus he's an inspiration to me and to many others so god bless you pray for you and excited about your future good morning sage Mart family it's a joy to speak with you for just a few moments because I think these are some of the most exciting days that sage Mont has ever experienced the sage menthe story is going to get better and better I am so thankful that years ago this church made a decision that we would follow the Lord and that we'd be in one Accord they would do everything we could to let the world know that Jesus is king of kings and he's Lord of lords and now God has allowed us to see the story get even better miraculously God put together a team of people representing us with dr. Denny Autry being willing to lead our search team and then twelve people from different walks of life were brought together they walk with God they love the Lord and they went out to seek his will and then in a miraculous moment another sage menthe miraculous moment the team was brought in to one Accord and together they have brought the name of Matt Carter to Sage my church along with his wife Jennifer and beautiful family and say this is the man I've had the chance to visit with him for those moments I could feel the power of God upon his life and my prayer is that as we move forward that sage Mont would be in one Accord I can't imagine what it'd be like if there was a unanimous vote that this is the man that's following Jesus and we're going to follow him God loves his bride the church he loves sage Mott he doesn't leave us to make our own decision he makes it very clear at times this is a way and those who follow me will experience life's greatest moments well good morning stage my church was so glad that you're here to worship with us here and online we're so glad that God has brought us here yet another day and we're grateful for that so let's all worship together and sing it out do we go [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so here you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] it is so good to be with you and it is so wonderful to know that you're streaming with us at home we welcome everybody face book on the website if you're on Roku or Apple TV however you see this today we are grateful this is a big day for us we are so grateful for this day what a halleluiah day this is for us but we're here to worship we're here to acknowledge our Lord Jesus we're here to thank you for the cross we're here to say that we are the redeemed and we're gonna say so in these moments let's think about the cross [Music] they're great [Music] [Music] who you are [Music] [Laughter] lift our boys and see nice [Music] say [Music] [Music] Oh to Jesus surrender all to him I and trust him his [Music] Paul - geez - Jesus humbly ask me [Music] for say today me Jesus or take yes [Music] [Applause] to [Music] Jesus [Music] Jesus [Music] would you sing the chorus one more time Lord [Music] ah to thee [Applause] [Music] amen I'm sure do you pray that is your hearts cry today God thank you thank you thank you for loving us for being so good to us amen would you be seated would you be seated for just a moment this is such an awesome amazing day we have a guest who is with us it's a significant thing in the story and the calling on your life pastor Matt you've told us about the moment going to see your then fiance now beautiful wife and the Lord spoke to you through a song and the one who wrote this so I grew up here in our church his name is out Denson and he's sitting right there at that piano and so the Lord spoke to you will you be the one and again he calls and again he speaks to you and he speaks to all of us today doesn't he hallelujah hallelujah let's listen this great song thank you hear the world full of broken dreams where the truth is hard to find every promise that is kept there are many left though it seems that nobody care it still matters what you do there's a difference you can make but the choice is up to you will you be the one to answer to is call it will you understand and those around you for William change light into a dark tell me will you be [Music] sometimes it's so hard to know who is right and what is wrong [Music] you supposed to stand when the bad lines they draw there is a voice that keeps calling out for someone who's not afraid who will be the beacon to a world that's lost its way will you be the one to answer to is called [Music] you be the one to change light to dark tell me there are still some bands the beamers fight from day to day get the power for me Stan [Music] it's all me [Music] when those around [Music] let's say I'm gonna take his light [Music] to say I will be that one [Music] thank you my friend wouldn't be here without you well now I don't know if I'm gonna be able to preach or not let's pray father I thank you for your word in its power I think your that your story is greater than our story I thank you for the cross I thank you for the blood of Jesus none of us would be here today without all that we love you we praise you even today I pray that your name would be exalted over any man this day is not about a man it's about you I pray that your name would be exalted over Sage my church because we're here for you Jesus and I pray that this would be the beginning rather let it be a continuance of you doing great things in us and great thing among us so that your name would be exalted and lifted high in the city of Houston in the world we ask that in Jesus name Amen all right almost open up our Bibles today to the book of 1st chronicles chapter 11 verse 22 the book of first chronicles chapter 11 verse 22 he's Joshua judges Ruth 1st 2nd Samuel 1st 2nd Kings and then you have 1st chronicles 1st chronicles 11 22 we'll get there in just a minute just put your thumb in the Bible there if you're at home and then we'll go from there well good morning sage montt it is such an honor to be preaching to you today finally and I'd be considered your next senior pastor and I want to before we we get started today and I'm start preaching in the text I want to thank a few people that very much need to be thanked and first I want to thank Pastor John Morgan dr. Morgan I've got to know him over the last month or so and it's just been such an incredible honor in the short time that we've had together just to learn from him and hear his heart every time he was talking and I was learning taking notes you don't believe me ask him I'm taking notes of pastors okay if I take notes because I'm learning from you here and he's just been such a gracious man to me his faithfulness over the last fifty three fifty four years as a pastor is so evident and the people of this church you guys are amazing Holy Spirit is evident among your kindness your love is evident and that is I think that's a direct fruit of his faithfulness as a pastor so thank you dr. Morgan I also like to thank dr. Autry dr. Ginny Autry who gave me permission last night to call him Denny so Thank You Denny I'm still gonna call you dr. Autry but Pastor Chuck Snider Freeman Tomlin Stewart Rothberg bilko all the Deacons all the staff Tammy for it and all the pastor search team that have led through this transition we love you and I know on behalf of sage ma we want to say to all of you thank you so much for your leadership in this transition and so as you may have heard as you may have heard I'm an expositional preacher what that means is I preached verse by verse through the Bible and sort of chapter by chapter book by book that's kind of how I do it but today I want to teach on a subject because I've got I've got one Sunday and then you're gonna vote so you know I don't know if I'm coming back so I got one Sunday here with you and so I'm just gonna pick a topic and we're gonna talk about something and I think it's gonna be a subject that's gonna be very important for us in the years to come here at Sage - this is I want to challenge you and I want to challenge myself that in the years to come I want us to be a church that is full of lion chasers and the years to come I want us to be a church that is full of lion chasers now let me explain to you what I mean by that as you know this church was founded by an actual lion chaser for those of you that have been around sage mom for a while you'd know this you know you know exactly what I'm talking about you've heard the stories the church was pastored for 53 years about dr. Morgan who who actually hunted lions and he was he was I was hanging out with him the other day and I said tell me one of the coolest lion hunting story you got and he started telling me how he tracked on foot a lion for 200 miles over ten days and before they ever encountered a lion 200 miles on foot ten days before they ever kind of land which is crazy to me that's crazy to me because as a rule of thumb I if I personally I don't know about you but I personally try not to be in any situation where I'm lower on the food chain than anything I might be going after amen that's sort of a personal goal of mine and so if you think about it if you're in a if you're in an area where there's actual lions what I've sort of decided is I'm not going into that area because if you go into that area and there's a lion there and he decides that he wants to eat you for lunch he has the ability to actually do that and so I avoid those situations at all cost but here's the thing in a very real sense because this church was founded by a lion chaser that sage Mont has in its very DNA the foundation to be a lion chasing church now for you animal lovers out there I'm not actually talking about going out and hunting lions we're not gonna do that but what I am talking about is this when I say that we're gonna be a lying chasing church so what that means in the next few years that we have together on this planet that we're going to be a church that faces that we're going to be a church that walks towards and even runs towards and Wade's into the challenges that we face as a church to lift high the name of Jesus Christ in this city and around the world that's what it means to be a lion chasing church and I say this today because sage smart you and I we really really are facing a choice as a church and here's the choice and so we can look around at this incredible building we can we can look around at all the amazing programs that we have as a church we can look at all the ways that God is so powerfully moved over the last 53 years and sort of fold our arms and think we've arrived and put this thing into cruise control or or we can look at all the amazing ways that God has moved so powerfully over the last fifty three years and instead get on our knees before the Lord and say and ask God God would you do it again God would you do it again it's a bold prayer God would you do more for the glory of your name and the glory of the name of Christ in the next fifty three years than you did in the first fifty three years and here's an even bolder prayer would you be willing to pray God would you use me to do it that's the choice and so that we face today every one of us faces that choice today really and illustrate what I what I mean about being a church full of lion chasers I want to quickly tell you a story of two men one of them you probably heard of before one of them you have heard of before one of you may not have heard of before and those two men are King David and the captain of his guard his name is benaiah now here's the thing both of these men began their lives they began their careers that were minute that were courageous and and were powerfully used by God powerfully used by God but how the how these two men finish their lives was really radically different and in many many ways Church what made the difference and how these two men finished their lives came down to how they responded to that exact same choice that you and I faced today the choice to raise our hand and say God use me to fight your battles God used me to make a difference in the world for the glory of your name or to be content and to rest on everything that God has done in the past one man chose the difficult path one man shows the easy path and it really did make all the difference in how their lives ended up and so let's take a minute and let's talk about benaiah and so I want you to notice let's go ahead and look their first chronicles chapter 11 verse 22 I want you to notice how the scripture describes and introduces binaya to us I want you to pay attention to that how the Bible sort of like introduces him to us I think it's important first chronicles chapter 11 verse 22 it says in benaiah the son of jehoiada bazzill says he was a doer of great deeds he struck down two heroes of Moab and he also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when the snow had fallen now I love that I think that's really cool because when the scripture introduces benaiah to us it tells us important things about his character and I've noticed that whenever you're introducing someone to a group of people and you're one you've got a group of people that you've got somebody important that you want to introduce to you what you do is you always talk about the things first that most define them and so when I was introducing my wife to you in the video the first video I gave to you guys and I was introducing my wife to you and talking about her I said her name is Jennifer she loves me she loves her children and most of all she loves Jesus right when I was introducing her to you I wanted you to know kind of the three things that that most defined her and so it's interesting to me that when the scripture introduces benaiah to us it says three things it says benaiah was a doer of great deeds it says that he struck down two heroes of Moab that's a big deal Moabites were a big deal struck down two of them and the last thing it says he struck down a lion in a pit on a day when the snow had fallen that's a fascinating way to introduce someone now here's the question for you church why when the when the infallible Holy Spirit inspired Word of God was introducing Benaiah to us why does it include the fact that benaiah killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day why does it do that I think it's pretty simple Church I think the Bible wanted to make sure that you knew that benaiah was a lion hunter he was a lion chaser it's who he was it defined him chasing down lions and facing lions it's who he was it was a part of his DNA it was his makeup it's what he did now what's interesting church is that the the scripture doesn't really say much about that encounter it doesn't tell us why he was walking in a pit on it on a snowy day it doesn't tell us whether whether he was chasing the lion or the or the lion was chasing him the only thing it tells us is that there was a moment in benaiah 's life where he sort of was walking around and he found himself face to face with a man-eating lion and in that moment he faced a choice that was really really important he didn't realize in the moment how important that that choice was in the moment when he was face to face in a pit on a snowy day with a man-eating lion he was faced with a choice to do what I would have done which is to slowly and quietly walk out of the pit amen or to face the lion and kill it I recently read a book about this actual encounter it's called the lion and a pit on a snowy day and and the author talked about the significance of that one moment and B'nai his life that one moment where he made the choice not to walk away from the fight but to walk towards the fight says this says God is always using past experiences to prepare us for future opportunities but those god-given opportunities often come disguised as man-eating lions now hear this because I think it's it's crucial this is how we react when we encounter those Lions will determine everything we can cower in fear and run away from our greatest challenges or we can run towards them and seize those God ordained opportunities now Church here's this point that when benaiah was faced with the choice do I face the lion or do I run from the lion he faced it and here's the thing that hit me he didn't have to do that he didn't have to do that this guy had absolutely positively nothing whatsoever to prove he had he was a doer of great deeds for crying out loud he had already faced down two heroes of Moab and he killed them this guy had absolutely nothing to prove whatsoever but instead of resting on past successes he chose to walk into one more fight to face one more lion and he killed it in sage mode I want you to know that that moment right there that single moment where he made the choice to face the fight not to walk away from the fight absolutely changed the trajectory of the rest of his life let me show you what I'm talking about let's look at verse 24 first chronicles 11 24 it says these things did Ben and I of the son of Jehovah and one a name beside the three mighty men verse 25 it says he was renowned among the thirty but he did not attain to the three watch what it says last there it said and David set him over his bodyguard and so what the scripture just told us is that King David at that time must have been looking for a captain of his bodyguard a guy to personally be his personal bodyguard and someone came to him and said hey have you heard of benign that guy is a doer of great deeds and not only that but he struck down two he was a Moab and not only that David check this out this guy killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day and King David said to himself I don't know about y'all but anybody that'll walk into a pit where a lion is already in it and on top of that it's snowing and kills him I'm in sign me up I want this guy to personally be my bodyguard and it didn't stop there he wasn't just David's personal bodyguard but towards the later on in his life he ended up being the head of the entire army listen guys listen listen listen it was in that moment when benaiah made the conscious choice to walk towards the fight not away from the fight that made all the difference in the future of his life made all the difference now I want to compare but I his story with the story of King David because here's the thing guys later on in David's life we're gonna see King David faced with a very similar choice and that was a choice to walk towards another battle or to rest on his past successes and and sort of walk away and what we're gonna do is we're gonna see David choose not to face the battle we're gonna see King David choose not to walk towards the battle and and in that one decision that David makes just like benaiah really will sort of change the whole trajectory of the rest of his life and let me show you what I'm talking about and I'm gonna read a verse to you famous first that describes David later in his life after he had won countless battles in the name of the Lord this in second Samuel 11:1 2nd Samuel 11:1 don't turn there just listen carefully it says in the spring of the year a time when Kings go out to battle watch what it says you next it said David sent Joab in the spring of the year the time when Kings go out to battle David sent Joab the Bible sort of starts off and says this was the time when Kings when leaders were supposed to be leading their army the army of the Living God fighting his battles it was that time of year when Kings were supposed to be leading but this particular time the scripture says that David sent someone in his place it says that David sent Joab now that begs the question as I was reading this that begs the question what was going on in David's life that was so important then that in the time when Kings go out to battle that he sent someone in his place this time what was this guy there's got to be something going on it was really critical in David's life that he missed out on the battle this time maybe maybe he had some really important governmental meeting that he couldn't miss out on Joab take my place maybe David had some real critical issue in the city that he alone as King had to deal with yeah with me I mean they're they're obviously obviously with some absolutely critical thing going on in David's life then on that spring time when Kings go out to battle that he sent Joab instead of going in sup well let's find out what was going on it was it was so important that David missed out let's find out what was going on second samuel 11 one this is in the spring of the year the time when Kings go out to battle David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel and they ravaged the ammonites and besieged Rama but David remained in Jerusalem in the next verse that tells us exactly what he was doing it was so important in verse 2 it says it happened late one afternoon when David arose from his couch and will just stop right there what was what was going on that was so important what was going on that was so critical to jate David chose not to lead God's army into battle and the answer was absolutely nothing he was on his couch his army is out fighting the battle he should have been leading the Bible said he should have been leading but he's laid up watching I don't know Israeli Netflix I don't know he was he was on a couch and what's fascinating to me is I thought about it is is that David did not begin his life that way David began his life as a lion chaser as a lion killer when he was a shepherd boy he killed a bear he killed a lion protecting his sheep this was the same guy that when the army of Israel is is up on the top of the Valley of Elah David came and said who is this uncircumcised Philistine that is defying the armies of the Living God and when they're all quicker than their boots he walks down into the valley picks up a stone puts it in a slingshot and drops the nine-foot tall giant make no mistake this guy was a lion chaser in his youth but then something happened something happened something changed something began to turn somewhere along the way in David's heart and here's what changed and I think the answer is pretty simple I think David just got complacent he got complacent who knows maybe he was tired I've been there maybe maybe he thought he was too old and he thought to himself you know what I'm tired of taking risk man I'm gonna let the younger guys take the risk maybe he thought to himself maybe maybe maybe he was dealing with insecurity maybe he thought you know what I'm I'm gonna let the imma let the young guys do this because the young guys don't need me anymore I'm just gonna get in the way or maybe he made that decision and most likely he made that decision because he thought he'd earned himself a break he thought he'd earned himself a break it was springtime when Kings go out to battle but David was thinking to himself you know what I've fought enough battles I've won enough victories killed enough Bears I've killed enough Giants I've killed enough lions and some in this season of my life I'm not gonna fight but I'm gonna rest here on my couch now don't shout it out but the logical question for you what did that one decision not to get in the fight but to stay on his couch what did it cost him one decision what did it cost him that one decision to lay up on the couch instead of getting in the fight ended up costing quite a bit let me read it this to you one more time 2nd Samuel 11 - and it happened late one afternoon when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house that he saw from the roof a woman bathing and the woman was very beautiful and David sent and inquired about the woman I saw something this morning in this text true story I saw something this morning in his text I've never noticed before because I was reading through the scripture getting ready to preach I noticed this watch what it says next it says in David sent and inquired about the woman and one said is it not basada the daughter of Elam the wife of Uriah and so obviously David had seen this woman before he had been looking before he had sort of he sort of realized that was her and bluebottle mind this man was walking in complacency he got bored he was he was should have been leading he was up on the top of his roof he walked out he sees the woman he's overcome with lust and then it said he sent for her and that one decision that one decision in many ways would absolutely ruin the rest of his life that one decision that David makes when he should have been leading he should have been the fight that one decision right there his life would never be the same and it's sort of if you think about it some men finished their life really well some women finish their life really well some people finish their lives really well on fire for God serving him you know going after everything God wants them to do for the glory of his name and some men finished poorly some women finished poorly some people get focused on money some people get focused on retirement accounts some people get focused on success and power and approval and comfort and they don't finish well at all and some men and women just finished okay they've got past battles and victories but somewhere along the way they got complacent and they don't finish very well and that's what is going on with David and what led to that place where you sort of just then it has finished his life sort of was complacency so here's the question Sage menthe this is this is the point this is where I'm going listen this is exactly everything we're coming towards today and it's this we are faced with that same that same exact choices of Church and the choice that we're faced is this are we gonna spend the next years of Sage Mont story being a couch sitter or lyin chaser I want every single one of you that is in the sound of my voice that can hear my voice right now I just want you to ask that question and do it before the Lord am I gonna spend the next years of sage Mont story am I gonna be a couch sitter I'm not gonna be a lyin chaser are we gonna be a church that approaches the future years like David where we lay up on the couch being content with all our past battles and victories and successes are we gonna face the future years like benaiah that we don't walk away from battles but we walk toward battles in the name of the Lord now here's the thing that I want to be really clear on Church is this age amount over the last 53 years has been a church that's full of lions chasers you guys have actually changed the world I can't tell you how many stories I've heard over and over and over again about how God has used the people of this church to change untold countless lives in the name of Jesus Christ so make no mistake church is full of lion chasers but the all-important question today is what about the next fifty three years five years ten years twenty years from now will you be described seriously will you be described as a person that at some point in your story will I be described as a person that at some point in my story I got content and I got comfortable with all my past victories and all my past successes and all my past battles in the name of the Lord and lay up or we be known as people we be known as a church well I'd be known as a person that whatever with whatever time that I have left with whatever time you have left you raise your hand and to the Lord and say God if you want to send me Here I am if you want to send me Here I am if there is a pit with a lion in it that you need me to walk in to sign me up god that's your choice which one will it be and guys in case you were wondering I'd like to just really quickly tell you a couple of lions that we're facing together as a church the first one is the city of Houston Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States of America I don't know if you knew that it's got right now 2.3 million people in our city and it's projected to grow 400,000 people in the next five years that's a lot of traffic the next five years it's going to be probably going to jump to the third largest city in the United States and the vast majority of those 2.3 million people are not followers of Christ that's a pretty big lion I'm gonna tell you a bigger lion that we're gonna face and it's the world the world's population is getting close to eight billion people and of those eight billion people around six billion people are not Christians and of those six billion people there are thousands of unreached people groups which are distinct groups of people that have never heard the name of Jesus never heard the name of Christ that they've never been presented the gospel they've never even heard his name and if you think about that that's a pretty big lion that we're facing six billion people that if they do not hear the name of Jesus Christ and trust in him as their Lord and Savior and nr and are cleansed by the blood of Jesus that they will spend eternity in a place that Jesus described as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth I've got some pretty big pretty ferocious lions that we're facing as a church now some of you may be saying to yourself and - come on Matt seriously is it even possible for us to make any kind of significant dent and that number 2.3 million people come on man in it a little bit of an exaggeration to think that this little church can actually make a significant difference in the lives and the eternities of six billion people that do not know Christ around the world where here's the answer here's the answer it's a big fat exaggeration to think that we could do something like that that we could make a dent in something like that if we do it in our power it is an exaggeration if we try to face lines like that in our own strength a matter of fact it's impossible to face lines like that in our own streak but the last time I checked Church when it comes to his power nothing is impossible do you believe it do you really really believe that that nothing is impossible with the Living God here's another question do you really believe do you really believe that God can use you to make a difference and that's six billion people it's one thing to say yeah God can use us amen I believe that but it's another thing altogether to say but God could use me and there's a verse that I shared with you in the first video that I did for Sage Mont it's one of my life verses Ephesians 3:20 and and it is defined my ministry it says this this is now to him who is able to do far more abundantly it's saying God is able to do something this is what the this is what the Bible is saying I'm not making this up I didn't write this this is the Bible and it's saying that God is able to do something far more abundantly if you look in the Greek it's crazy it's like he's saying God can do all this stuff what can God do now to him that's God who is able to do what's he able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask for or all we can think and so what this is saying it's incredibly comforting to me because I know that my imagination is limited sometimes when I start having crazy dreams about God could you really use me to change the city of Houston God could use sage montt to change the world could you really do that then the enemy starts whispers like man there's no way but the scripture just said now to him who is able not us but now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than anything we can ask or even think of that's a lot how is God gonna do this how's going that's not gonna do this far more abundant stuff watch what it says now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than anything we are all that we can ask or think according to the power that is at work within bethmoora John Morgan Matt Carter bill Cole Chuck Snyder my connect leader no it says now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than anything we can ask or think according to the power that is at work in us in you what that verse by the way this is not a verse that's talking about what God can do for you this is a verse is talking about what God can do through you and what it's saying guys is that you have inside of you the Holy Spirit of the Living God is that you have inside of you that your salvation when you trust it in Christ as your Lord and Savior and you repent of your sin and you were washed with the blood that he gave you the Holy Spirit it is in you the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives inside of you do you believe that man let him loose let him go let him work through you he is in you the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is in side of you and that's why Paul says now to him who is able to do more than you can even ask or think of according to the power that is at work in you how in the world are we gonna reach 2.3 million people in the city of Houston with the gospel the answer is you can't but Church I'm telling you right now that he can and he can do it through you you know I know that because he said he can but God is looking for a remnant of people no matter how old no matter how young that are willing to raise their hand and say Here I am Lord sent me I'm gonna land the plane today on this sermon I'm gonna show you a picture and go ahead and show it to you this picture was taken in 1902 a little Baptist Church near Cedar Creek Texas near Athens Texas where I grew up that pastor there on the left was his hand in the air his name jeremiah benjamin moon is a cool name this is a little church i don't know the name of the church i knew it was a baptist church there in some part of cedar creek and and they're having a baptism service i keep this picture i have it framed i keep it up on my wall in my office to remind myself of something because i was looking at this picture years ago and i notice something because it's really cool because every time i look at it and if you ever want to come in my office and look at it's really cool you study i found something new about it every time i don't know why people didn't smile back in the day does anybody know that i have no idea why they didn't smile nobody smile them there's like one little kid he's like four years old in the back and he's grinning his mom saw the picture probably he got in trouble but every time i look at this picture i see something new in one day y'all look at it real carefully because I'm gonna ask you a question alright y'all bring that picture down now let me ask you this one day I was looking at that picture and I noticed something I noticed and it hit me like a ton of bricks I noticed that that there is one thing that every single person in that picture has in common and if you look closely you'll catch it did you see it some of it might have hit you I was looking at one day hit me like a ton of bricks look there is one thing that every single one of these people in this picture has in common you know what it is they're all dead every one of them in 1902 that picture was taken they were just summer day with a bunch of their friends from church coming down to the water have a nice baptism service celebrate the goodness of God in their lives but within the last 118 years every single solitary one of those people live their lives and died and went home to be with Jesus I keep that picture on my wall for this reason I keep that picture on my wall to remind me that life is short I keep that picture in the wall of my office to remind me that you and I have such a short amount of time to make our dent on the Great Commission and then it's over I keep that picture on my wall to remind me that none of us knows how long we're gonna live the some of us have a year some of us have a few some of us have 10 some have 20 some have 30 some have 40 some might have a few more but the fact of the matter is is that every single one of us in this room has a limited amount of time for God to use us to make a dent in the Great Commission which he has given all of us to and then we are going to pass the torch to the next generation and we're gonna go the house and be with Jesus forever and I keep that picture on the wall to remind myself of that and so the question guys that I'm challenging every single one of us including myself today is this question that I'm going to land the plane and be done am I gonna spend the next years of my life on the couch like David or am I gonna spend the next years of my life like benaiah chasing Lions for the glory of God Aylin with this years ago I heard a quote and I've never forgotten you know how you hear quotes and sermons and you read quotes and books and and they maybe they impact you and then you completely forget them but when I heard this quote I don't remember who said it it was so impactful I forgot who even said it but this quote was so impactful on me that I've never forgotten it and some of you are gonna hear it today and you're never gonna forget it either either because it's gonna define the rest of your life and here's the quote says I want to live my life in such a way that when I die all of Hell rejoices that I'm out of the fight think about that I want to live my life in such a way that when I die all of Hell rejoices that I'm out of the fight because when couch sitters died I'm sorry but I don't even think hell even notices but when lion chasers die finally because that's one less mighty worry of God that they have to worry about Sage Mont time is short God is on our side and Jesus Christ is worth it let's go chase some lines together let's pray your head bound your odds closed I think I'd be remiss if I did not remind anybody who was listening to me today whether at home or even in this room that you can't be a lyin chaser if you're not first changed by the Lion of Judah his name is Jesus if there's never been a time in your life where you have said Jesus I need you to change me I need you to save me I need you to clean me up I need you to make me new all you have to do is say Lord I can confess my sins to you and I ask that you would forgive those sins make me clean by the sacrifice that you made on the cross and save me that you'd be my Lord that she'd be my Savior and he'll do the rest the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord maybe you're listening today and you're Christian and if you're just completely honest with yourself you're like mad I've been on the couch I love Jesus I love his church but Matt I've been on the couch just ask him to give you the strength to get up but Matt my knees are weak ask him to give you the strength to get up no Matt I'm struggling to believe we'll ask him to give you the strength to get up but Matt it's been a long time ask him for the strength to get up and father I pray that you would do that not for the name of this church but for your name not for my glory but for yours and father I pray that we would look back on this time that we look back on this day and we would be able to praise you and thank you for all that you've done between right now and then and rejoicing you and say God you were good and you were true to your promise Lord we ask you would do it all for your name so it's in Jesus name that we pray amen to see the things that make your heart to be the church the you would ease [Music] [Music] down and all the walls built up and our earthly grounds lardy's [Music] target [Music] every [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] God are we glory in you we glory in you we thank you this morning it is so good to be your your chosen it is so good to be your son and your daughter this morning thank you for this church and this moment thank you for this season god oh how we pray for pastor Matt for Jennifer for this family how blessed we are god we are blessed we're so full today we're so excited Oh help us to chase lines Jesus help us to chase lines God you weren't kidding hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah we shout Holly saij my church family I now have the privilege of opening up our church into church conference you are now had the opportunity to begin voting whether to decide to affirm dr. Matt Carter as sage Mont Church's second pastor or to reject the decision you're actually deciding to affirm the decision of the pastor search team which was a unanimous decision or to reject the decision of the pastor search team I hope I pray I desire that you do as dr. John Morgan alluded to in the video do the miraculous I would love to see a unanimous vote from sage my church I don't know that that's ever been done to affirm dr. Matt Carter as sage montz second pastor we are open in conference you can vote upwards to two o'clock therefore on behalf of the pastor search committee we recommend dr. Matt Carter as the next pastor of sage Mott church [Applause] well I was just to give instructions I can't right now hold on one second what an incredible day it has been and it doesn't even compare what's gonna happen for years to come and pastor Matt Jennifer we're so glad you're here really glad you're here okay all right whoa okay so now I give instruction okay so I'm at 11 o'clock we are going to be opening up the voting so there's three ways you can do that first and foremost is that a lot of you who have been already have already received your email if you go ahead and check your email but at 11 o'clock you can go ahead and click that and vote right there it's very easy to do if you have problems or issues no worries you can call our church at two eight one four eight one eight seven seven zero and we will have a team of people that will be here to answer those questions for you the good thing to remember is this is that when you call it will ring no you have to leave a voicemail someone will actually answer the phone you have a real live person you can talk to so make sure that you know that that you can get all your questions answered that way the other way is this is that from 11:00 to 2:00 today you can actually drive up here at the church at our drab by voting I will have people at all the interest is telling you exactly where to go so you will not get lost very easy to do you want to bring your PIN with you that would be great and will you will give you your ballot you can vote right there also if you're at a place where you're not you can't be able to get to the church or you did not get an email you can actually still call in and give us or your vote from 11 o'clock today until 2 p.m. today that's at two eight one four eight one eight seven seven zero also we want to remind you that at four o'clock today we want you to come back with us and be a part of our live stream as we as we tell you the results of what's going on with dr. Carter and calling him to be our next pastor at Sage mark church we are so excited that you joined us here today let us pray for us and then you'll be dismissed thank you Jesus for today thank you so much for what you do and how you move and what there are no words to say Jesus for what we we love you and how you we celebrate you because of how we just love you and we're just so grateful thank you for pastor Matt Jennifer's his kids and his family and we're just so so grateful for them I'm just thank you for the word that we want to be lion chasers and we want to do that now we've done that so much in the history the 53 years but can't wait to see whether the next 1,500 holes here at Sage my chair so father we're so excited that as a church family we get to vote and affirm this we're just so grateful for who you are and what you do in our lives and we just give this time to you in Jesus name we pray amen thank you so much for joining us this morning you

Channel: Sagemont Church, Houston

Views: 1,222

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: xG9ouOAupoA

Length: 81min 2sec (4862 seconds)

Published: Mon May 18 2020