Answering the Call of Christ
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good morning welcome if you're new here Among Us my name is Jean i surf here at C3 Church as your pastor and I want to start this morning by talking about the Florida uniform there is a Florida uniform here so it was brought to my attention that there are actually some people who are actually from here that was in your news to me recently but for the most part most are transplants we come from other places up North but we do so after vacationing here and so when we come here we wear the Florida uniform right so it is Sandals you can get away with that just about anywhere shorts and then we figure it out a polo shirt right so that'll get you into pretty much any nice restaurant in Naples so you're good to go and basically it's like a t-shirt with a collar on it so it's not too much right so comfy and that's the Florida uniform then you decide to move down why do we keep going back up north we'll just stay here if you're if you're not there yet you will be so we just stay here all the time and then what you do is you're tempted to do is just get rid of all the heavy clothes you don't need them right put them in a bin they've been there for 10 years and so we don't really need those up north clothes anymore like this is the only time you will ever see me dress like this that's it so no hairy legs you know big ugly toes you're welcome so there you go and that's why I do that but otherwise no no no no I get the sandals the polo shirt at most that's it right and of course the shorts you don't want to go out without pants on well that's a thing nowadays we'll talk about that later but anyway so this is the uniform this is what we decide to wear but if you're smart and it's just a tip if you haven't moved down here you got to keep like one pair of dress shoes why and maybe a suit jacket because people get married and people die you're going to need to like wear them at one point or another so I heard a story about a guy he got invited to a wedding he's new here so he has the pair of shoes the jacket he was thinking right and so tries it all on okay it fits we're good to go gets invited to the wedding the wedding comes he goes to the wedding and then something happens to us guys sometimes at weddings now you ladies you think it's cute and I'll explain to you why it's not all right so what happens is sometimes if you make the mistake of getting on the Dance Floor unintended a little girl will come up to you and ask you to dance with her that happens or like you know somebody else said oh go dance especially if you're a pastor so right oh the answer to the pastor because that's cute right so this happens to this guy but here's what happens the little girls what they do is they feel they need to get on board you know so they just step right up on your shoes and you're like this is my only pair of shoes right so they get on and here's what happens to this guy the girl his niece is just like let's just say it nicely a little too old to be getting on board right so but she does and now you wear those shoes I forgot what they're called they're black patent leather with the thing and with the white socks right and but they have sharp heels that dig into your toes right through their shoes and so she's up on there and yeah we're dancing right DJ's playing slow song and he's like okay I can just make it through this one slow song I'll make it right but the women right they got the phones out it's the real it's the story and they go ah right and so the DJ you know he wants to appease the lady so he's like let's do another slow song uh you know the guy's like ah you know this is terrible this is really but it just keeps going on and slow something the guys are thinking YMCA chicken dance I'll take anything at this point just get this girl off of my shoes right so finally it ends and the guy you know he makes it back to his seat and looks down at his shoes ruins there's just tried to ruin my only pairing issues so it's an early wedding they get in the car and you know he takes his shoes off and now if you just thought did he drive home Barefoot you're new here Florida rule you keep sandals in the trunk at all times why sand all that so anyway so tip you're welcome so he puts his sandals on shows his wife's shoes look look what she did okay we'll take it to the repair shop it's on the way home they're probably still open we'll drop them off see if they can get those horrible scratches out okay they dropped the shoes off a week later the wife hey did you pick up your shoes from the repair shop ah no I think I'll get to it later not important because you don't wear shoes all the time down here okay next week hey did you pick up your shoes uh and so he's procrastinating horribly and he doesn't really need them so it's not an immediate problem so the wife the next week she decides to stop she's like I'm letting him run over a cliff whatever two years later he gets invited to another wedding yay so he goes for the suit jacket first right tries on wife honey does it still fit no two years later you got to be careful right so you stay he's not careful so it doesn't fit let me take it to the tailor we have a couple days before the wedding I'll get it taken out a little bit so she's gonna go do that he goes for the shoes you know that feeling like when you lost your wallet or something like that so it's one of those he's like oh or your sunglasses but they're right on top of your head so it's like that so he looks for his shoes up there so what's the first thing us guys do honey where'd you put my shoes right so that's her fault instantly right so just learning learning learning don't do that and so well remember you know the you drop them off at the repairs two years ago no no no no so here's the thing she knows something she's a good wife she knows this if you want to know guys if you want to know like who the last people who got married last the last place you went to a wedding the last person who died you look in the inside pocket of that suit jacket that's where all that information lives right you know even maybe some almonds in like a net bag or something like that a little thing of bubbles some rice that you didn't kill birds with right and then like the card that's all about the last guy you knew that died right so that's all right there she knows this so she reaches in the pocket repair ticket uh you see it was in your jacket pocket his answer why'd you put that there right so he takes the ticket and he's like by chance maybe they'll still have the shoes so long shot right he doesn't want to buy a new pair of shoes only a couple days so he goes and he's like super apologetic at first and then he realizes he's like are you married like it goes yeah he goes see you know it was my wife she dropped them off two years ago procrastinated procrastinated you know finally I got the wedding you know how it is right well the guy working at the store is like surprisingly understanding it's weird he thought like dude two years really you know you don't get this happens all the time yeah I get procrastinating I totally understand so let me go look in the back guy goes in the back rummaging around of course they're probably underneath a lot of stuff all this rummaging around finally the guy comes out he just has the repair ticket though so now the guy's worried he's like oh no did you get the shoes yeah we have your shoes okay that's great because the wedding's in a couple days uh so can I have them um they'll be done next Friday today we're going to talk about procrastination it seems to be a thing though it's a little late like that's called a hand grenade joke right just talk later so somebody on the way oh on the way home that's really slow that's not a hand grenade I don't know what that is but anyway procrastinating that's going to be the theme today I'm sure you're thrilled about it right so last week we talked about rejection and acceptance today we're going to see a theme of well procrastination but immediately so I made you guys a chart and this is a doozy uh this one took a while the Bible not in chronological order if you've been here for a while you know that if you're new welcome uh the Bible is not in chronological order you have to do kind of what I'm doing here to get it to go in like a smooth flow and even then not all Scholars agree it's kind of confusing so I'm using a lot of resources and my brain hopefully to put these things together for you but you're going to see a theme right away disciples they follow Jesus how immediately Jesus casts out an evil spirit immediately it comes out Jesus heals many people immediate immediately Jesus's Ministry uh By the Sea you're going to see that people leave their businesses and everything immediately Jesus heals a man with Leprosy immediately paralyzed man immediately Matthew leaves everything immediately right so you're going to see that here and then you're going to see something that might might be holding some people back so here's what we're going to do if you don't know a lot about how the gospels work I'll share a little with you so you understand why I'm doing this Mark the gospel of Mark is the shortest of all the gospel accounts about 16 chapters and it moves kind of quick it's often called The Gospel of immediately I'm not sure whether immediately shows up more than the other gospels or not but it's more condensed it's kind of packed in there so everything's moving along really really quick through that gospel account takes about two hours if you're going to read it I suggest doing that all right so they're meant to be read the gospels like we watch a movie right and so we don't watch like I've said this before a minute at a time you know we we watch the whole thing we sit down and we watch a movie so we get how it all goes together how the story worked that's how the gospels work they're supposed to be read like all in one sitting don't worry you won't be here for two hours we're just doing that all right so but what I'm going to do it's going to seem like I'm moving kind of quick and that's really into intentional I want you to see something I want you to feel something we're going to get a theme here we're going to hop into Luke a little bit all right so it crosses through and you'll see we'll build on a theme today so don't worry it'll move quick but I'll slow it down for you so let's hop right in mark 116. one day as Jesus was walking along on the shore of the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon that's Peter and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the water for they fished for a living Jesus called out to them come follow me and I will show you how to fish for people and they left their Nets at once Greek immediately unfollowed him a little farther up the shore Jesus saw zebedee's Sons James and John in a boat repairing their Nets he called to them he called them at once immediately and they also followed him leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men where'd you go so they're just immediately leaving we keep going Mark 1 21 Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum when the Sabbath day came he immediately went to the synagogue and began to teach the people were amazed at his teaching for he taught with real Authority quite unlike the teachers of religious Love suddenly a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out why are you interfering with us Jesus of Nazareth have you come to destroy us I know who you are the Holy One Of God but Jesus reprimanded him be quiet come out of the man he ordered and at that so immediately this evil spirit screamed threw the man into a convulsion and then came out of him go back to the chart and I'm going to overview some of these for you just to give you the idea again we're going to move quick but I want you to feel this so what happens is Simon Peter to go back to the house Simon Peter's mother-in-law is sick she has a fever immediately they approach Jesus about it he touches her she gets well she's healed the fever ministers to them lots of crowds start coming to the house gets real busy then Jesus goes away to be alone in the morning to pray it says like an isolated or deserted place they can't find him Peter and the Gang go and find him and he says I want to go out to preach this is the Crux of what I came to do so that is what happens in the next section moving pretty quick will hop to Luke so now we see that Jesus and he does this a couple different times and it looks like kind of weird why would he get he gets in a boat to teach well and Mark it tells us we're going to get into that later that the crowds were like gonna crush him like that's what's gonna happen to Jesus he's getting crowded and so he gets in the boat like to keep away from the people also if you're looking like sometimes we used to preach at the B it's kind of like a natural Amphitheater that kind of works that way so it's kind of interesting he'd be the focus of attention and you can really throw your voice kind of far that's what he's doing so gets in a boat starts teaching and then has a dialogue with Peter he decides to blow his mind so he says you know what Peter throw that over and catch some fish like go out a little bit further catch some fish he's like oh we've been at this all night whatever now we're not going to get anything but because of your word he says what you told me to do I will throws a net over fills up immediately with fish so many hey you get another boat and they're sinking Peter's mind is blown like get away from me I'm a sinful man Lord again I'm going to make you Fishers of people you'll be catching people not just these fish physical demonstration of how many people they're going to bring to the Lord and important they left everything and followed him everything uh if we continue in Luke Luke 5 12 and one of the villages Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy when the man saw Jesus he bowed with his face to the ground begging to be healed Lord he said if you're willing you can make me clean Jesus reached out and touched him I'm willing he said be healed and immediately the leprosy disappeared and Mark don't tell anyone and then he goes and tells everyone Luke 5 17 one day while Jesus was teaching some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby it seemed that these men showed up from every village in Galilee and Judea as well as from Jerusalem and the Lord's healing power was strongly with Jesus some men came carrying a paralyzed man and a sleeping mat they tried to take him inside to Jesus but they couldn't reach him because of the crowd so they went up to the roof and took off some tiles now every homeowner is like oh what are you doing that's expensive right it's a different kind of roof like that roof not a big deal and then they lowered the sickness man on his mat down into the crowd right in front of Jesus seeing their faith Jesus said to the man young man your sins are forgiven but the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves what does he think he is that's blasphemy only God can forgive sins Jesus knew what they were thinking so he asked them why do you question this in your heart is it easier to say your sins are forgiven or stand up and walk so I will prove to you that the son of man has the authority on Earth to forgive sins then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said stand up pick up your mat and go home and immediately as everyone watched the man jumped up picked up his mat and went home praising God everyone was gripped with great wonder and fear we talked about that last week it is fear in the Greek and they praised God exclaiming we have seen amazing things today if we keep going later as Jesus left the town he saw a tax collector named Levi Matthew sitting at the tax collector's Booth follow me and be my disciple Jesus said to him so Levi God up and left everything and leaving everything behind it says and then he followed him so if we keep reading just kind of summarize a lot of you guys know this actually they're at a banquet eating why do you eat with Sinners and tax collectors and you get that sick well right so you know those who are who are well they don't need a physician basically those who think they're righteous right you know I came for the sick those who know they need me who are sick if we keep reading Luke 5 33. now here's where we get the other side of this one day some people said to Jesus John the Baptist disciples fast and pray regularly and so do the Disciples of the Pharisees why are your disciples always eating and drinking Jesus responded do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom of course not but someday the groom will be taken away from them and then they will fast then Jesus gave them this illustration no one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment for then the new garment would be ruined and the new patch wouldn't even match the old garment and no one puts new wine into old wine skins for the new wine would burst the wine skin spilling the wine and ruining the Skins new wine must be stored into new wine skins but no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine the old is just fine they say old traditions and so here there's a link and this is what's really cool about doing bigger sections of text I want you to see something right now so this is like kind of a link right here so you have these old Traders another thing with Jesus people are hanging on to the old wine right the old things they used to do and they're not ready for the new hymn his teaching the Kingdom right so they're stuck on things holding them back holding them down and the Sabbath is one of those things and it's not that the Sabbath is a is a bad thing it's a good thing it's God saving us from our prideful selves that's what this sabbath is it's these extra nitpicky Traditions right so they ruin it with all these different little rules that they come up with and this is Jesus's problem so made another chart I squeezed in a whole bunch of extra stuff at the end and I'm just going to give you a quick overview so you can see something and then we'll get right to the application so what you have now once at the other end there's the paralytic at the Sheep gate the pool of Bethesda you might remember that one the man he's sick for 38 years right so he can't get to the water to be healed so Jesus says what pick up your mat and walk again immediately but there's a problem with it oh you did it on the Sabbath it's working on the Sabbath then you're going to see the disciples they're walking through a field right and they're picking heads of grain to eat Ah that's working on the Sabbath you can't do that that's what Jesus famously says right the Sabbath is made from man not man for the Sabbath then you get to mark and it's the man with the withered hand again it's on the Sabbath and what's interesting in Mark two that's what happens at the end of that right and so if you don't have chapter numbers you'll go oh there's a little theme here because again another issue on the Sabbath at the top of chapter three his hand is withered right they wanted the religious leadership they want to test them out right he's going to work on the Sabbath by healing so Jesus gets upset with them says famously right is it permitted to do good or evil on the Sabbath if you go to Matthew it gives you a little insight so you'd have to insert that there and he gives an illustration if when he had a sheep and it fell into a pit on the Sabbath wouldn't you work like basically by getting it out and he turns to the man and he heals his hand immediately put out your hand immediately it's restored now again there's nothing wrong with the Sabbath I encourage everyone so that's the one of the Ten Commandments I always say that people are prideful about breaking you wouldn't break any of the other ones right so it's the basis right for the rest of the law now we're not under the law but it's the basis they're really good ideas the Sabbath's a great thing it's what they're doing with it they're becoming very legalistic about it and so this is Jesus's issue so it's all framed inside of that like anything else with people right it becomes the old wine and because something that's holding us back something we're hooked on we kind of start maybe even worshiping if we're being real and here's the thing if you're looking at all these Accounts at once and seeing it sometimes those old ways of doing things can cause us to become complacent they can cause complacency the old wine but here we see this overlying theme and you should feel a push pull right Jesus's everything's immediate everything's immediate and the healing is their response to this faith into the immediacy criticism of the complacency so this is what's going on here the call to do things immediately we'll see you'll see you later right come follow me oh you have to bury my dad right Let the dead bury the dead all right now now now Jesus is never like yeah take your time right no and when people people are faithful what happens they're healed immediately everything's immediate with Jesus and you should be seeing this right so we went over that it feels kind of quick so here's the thing to us what is urgent to us how are we responding what might be slowing us down in that call this is often how it is with our faith any kind of back burner the faith stuff for the spiritual stuff other things in our lives that are slowing us down the sense of urgency it can be a lot of things we procrastinate a lot but the Bible shows us something very very different we don't see the response to that call the way we see it here and if we do it's not a good thing the old wine is just fine they say interesting it's critiqued again Matthew left everything behind immediately and we see the appropriate response to Jesus's call immediate but Jesus highlights the wrong response the old wine is just fine they say we see that Jesus calls and those who respond in faith the blessing but some say old wine is just fine they're just satisfied with that to be complacent so this is the gospel Jesus and the flesh what does immediately though look like for us today we are called to follow Jesus what does it look like what does answering the call of Christ looked like in today's context in these accounts people are picking up and leaving everything to follow a physical Jesus in human flesh all right now some say well he's not here how does that look how do I how do I do what Matthew did and some will even use it as an excuse right well I was using the plus that's the apostles right okay what does it look like to follow Jesus now now Jesus's body is the church Ephesians 1 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church and the church is his body it is made full and complete by Christ who fills all things everywhere with himself after Jesus's Ministry in a physical body crucified died Rises three days later and then spends 40 days appearing to his followers then he ascends to heaven then if we keep reading in Acts the church is born the body of Christ so that is here or like the church ages some would say until Jesus comes back and creates the new heavens and the new Earth we won't even need a son nothing way better than here right now the church so the church is born and the church is identified in the word of God as the body of Christ to follow Jesus now to answer his call is to be a part of the church and it's funny this you know you get deep in things and then simple stuff doesn't occur to you sometimes but it occurred to me thank goodness in time for the message today the very definition the very definition of church in the Greek language is to be called that's what it means Ecclesia it's an act part from and like that we see Ecclesia means called from the called so you can expand it in a Biblical way of thinking about it it gets translated the best translation is probably the assembly that's what it is right so that's why something we assemble they're the assemblies right it's pretty good although they get a lot of the other things wrong but but anyway the church that's how we we save it's not a building it's an assembly of called people so if I was looking at that word in Greek and I really wanted it's like a compound word there Ecclesia you see a couple things from the Assembly of those who are called from the world to God that's kind of the picture you get if you're looking at it the right way from the called Jesus calls you're from that group but then you assemble you're a part of the body of Christ you're then with him in that way yet and as powerful as that is I hope you all understand that I tried to bounce that off my wife too I'm like do we need a chart he's like no we don't do you need to put the words up no we don't you know so I hope you understand that like basically churches the assembly from the called you've answered the call when you come here you're answering Jesus's call that's what it means to be a part of the church it's beautiful it's deep it's multi-dimensional it's really neat thing to think about yet here's the crazy thing there are so many today who identify as Christians who have de-prioritized church the very way you answer the call to follow Jesus we see there are many claiming to be Christians and they don't go but we see here that the church is the body of Christ and it's very very funny because those who dismiss this another thing to think about you know think about this context too is kind of interesting hold on right you have the birth of the church and Acts okay then what are they doing they're going around to these Church groups right that's the mission they're going around all the cities and making churches planting churches then from Romans to Revelation the rest of the New Testament the entire context is church Romans the church in Rome Corinth one or two the church and of course I mean all the way through Ephesus the church at Ephesus right Philippians imagine the overseers and the deacons there where the church colossae the church then two people in the church Thessaloniki thessalonica there then to the leaders of the church Timothy Titus like finally man it's just it's the whole context is church so for the people who are saying I don't need Church I'm a Christian without Church you basically have to take the majority of the New Testament and dismiss it dismiss it it's crazy when you think about it that way you know I'm just going to read the gospels that's where it stops like Jesus doesn't descend to Heaven none of that what it's critical he proves he's God he rises from the dead ascends to heaven and leaves us with his church it's important it's referred to as the body of Christ for a reason it's essential in this relationship you need your church and your church needs you now I've said this before I'll make it quick to those who say I don't need church first again it's not biblical Christianity all these things right so they'll quote all these verses from the New Testament the church and say it's happening in the church that's the point it's all about the church so if it's not biblical Christianity it's not Christianity if it doesn't come from here it isn't Christianity that's important second and I've said before say it quick I don't need church that's selfish maybe okay you're you're great I'm sure you got it all together but maybe your church needs you now here's the other thing too you know it's not going to get into it but I've run into people who've left this church not one of them is better for it they're not doing okay they're pretending like they are but they're not okay so for your sake and for the local churches sake we're going to go against what Society tells us to do what imagine that I'm not going to try that again my voice can crack so we're gonna do what Jesus tells us to do so it's going to get interesting but don't worry I'll get us back around we're going to stop enabling people not to come you're all good right so right now it's quiet for a minute there and it was a little scary I know you're if you're here you're good all right so we're gonna you're welcome we're gonna stop enabling people not to come see us to the camera right or so here's the thing let's talk about technology they're so cute this morning I had your sweet little daughter I'd be telling me like I'm going through the warm-up now through my notes checking the mic she said little girl he says you're doing great I was like can you just bring her in from now if she can be quiet like she's sitting right there she's like my mommy yells at me all the time anyway just over the past few years the world has changed right the world's changed and it's both good and bad we learn right we learn when we change it it's changed and some is good I'll talk about the good stuff like technology Technology's been like a big thing and really but you had even me I had to like learn new things and I'm really good with technology generally but I had to learn new stuff you know what's Zoom you know I don't want to do that but okay there's some there's some good stuff in there right and so I leverage the technology I put the number up on the screen I text out a Proverbs Devo if you want it I'll text it to you you know Monday through Friday every morning and that's cool right so it's an open pastoral door it's amazing how many people I can text in a short period of time have a meaningful correspondence with whereas in the old days doing that by phone that would have taken me a week like so one morning I get done that's it like it's a week where the phone calls like not everything is a phone call so and to the old people here just listen you got it you gotta just bear with me young people work right and so when you call them call them call them call they're working they can't pick up the phone right so a lot of the older people they've learned how to text that's a text like just just shoot me a text and here's the thing too we need to talk don't do that it's not very nice right so anyway and just a text it's just a text and sometimes we've been at meetings where we've been in that meeting and you're like this could have been a phone call like why are we here so we've kind of learned how to do those things and it's nice it's efficient I like it makes my job efficient easy I can reach more people it's great okay but the bad end and you hear if you watch the news don't do that anymore but anyway you see them talking about like everybody's got to get back to work and all these CEOs are like come back to work come back to work come back to work why because there's just certain things you can't do virtually it's not the same like pastoring like I can't read body language there's some things if the problem is bad enough I need to meet with you personally it's important because I can't I can't gauge it and then there's oh the holy spirit that you know so that's kind of important right but in a corporate sense there's certain things you can't do plus no accountability people are going to work with no pants on right so that's the thing and then they forget and they turn around they're like oh so right so go to work right so get back to work the same thing is true of the church not the pants part but the accountability part now there are some things you just it's not the same on the line right so it's not the same and I'm going to demonstrate to you biblically how 50 of church cannot be done online you're doing half church so if you're not coming to a church you're not physically coming you don't have to be this one if you're not physically coming to a Bible believing just has to be a Bible believing Church Must but you're doing half Church that's what you're doing you're not you because you're here but you know you're do you're doing half church it's half Church 50 percent there's some things that technology can't replace church is one of them and sadly there are many who have not come back once we did we didn't always do streaming and for the reasons I'm going to let you know even when I was available I didn't do it I was like nope nope nope nope that's not what the Bible says it doesn't say like stream your church services so not but I said no because I knew what it would lead to and I'm going to tell you what it led to what it did these are some bad things some people never came back it never came back I don't need church I'm good okay you know yes you do you know so here's one of the things we're going to stop doing which I believe is enabling and so ready we're going to stop streaming the services did you go to church 30 years ago right how'd it work out right is it okay right duh look anyway we're going to stop doing that right so here's the thing though I want to say something I did not just cancel online church right so past Gene just cancel probably give us like a lot of views right but I did not just cancel online charge no I want to say this listen listen because I'm going to get emails and texts listen we are still going to be putting the messages online okay so it means you got to wait a little bit goes on in the afternoon I'll tell you I'll give you some instructions you'll be just fine so the message will go online our social media Ministries really big I always say that this is a live studio on it there's 100 people here right now then I just passed her numbers I boosted that up there's 87 right so but anyway there's 100 people in the room right now this will go out online to thousands of people we have some really good social media and online Ministries it gets out all over the world it's the most efficient missions you can think about doing it's really cost effective and we reach people all over the world all over the world it's amazing and here's where technology is good because it transcribes it so if you're in another country you'll do like the transcription sometimes it's wrong we saw how that happened right so YouTube isn't always right but generally it's pretty good and I do that with some of the videos on Instagram and stuff so they're shorts and there's long ones it's efficient missions we don't have to send everybody everywhere so it's really good and we are going to keep doing that very important so everybody hear that we're not stopping the filming of the messages what we've realized and it's been heavy on my heart what I realized before we did the streaming was it would enable people not to come to church that's why I didn't do it before we were in a season where I asked you know we had Maple City manager at that time not the same one as now coming to the church I just asked the governing bodies like you know they were Christians too what do we do right what do we do I don't know I don't know everything stream for just a little bit okay and then we all came back and I was like honor the authorities right so it scared me we did it and exact and you know I'm not I told you so but exactly what I thought would happen did exactly the Lord's Day is when we should be gathering in person and what has happened here is that my notes just shrunk and I can't find them there we go technology like they changed my uh my daughter's like Dad you're getting old um some don't we should be gathering in person and some they're content to just watch it from their beds Sunday morning and so here's some of the things that I'm going to stop enabling and be really real with you guys and this is what I was worried about partying not enabling that anymore I'm not and I know it's a thing because I haven't always been a Christian I wasn't a Christian when I first came to church and so we found a church that the service started at 11 o'clock why can nurse a hangover and get myself there by then it's true that's what we did not enabling that no we're not moving the service time later it's a trap don't ask me that question right so let's go to my office no more Sunday is the Lord's Day get up go to church drink less Jesus made wondering why yeah two drinks stop go to bed go to sleep wake up for church in the morning don't be hungover and don't come drunk well you can if you come drunk that happens all the time if you come drunk I love you anyway it's okay we'll we'll get there right I get it but that's not what real Church real people means laziness I've had people telling I'm just lazy thank you for your honesty but that doesn't negate the sin laziness fears now this is a real one because here's the other side of it we're talking about fear right we have people love you I love you but I'm done enabling that fear now you talked about fear everybody has fear it's what it does to you and if it's stopping you from coming to church no no now that symptom is a sin I'm not enabling that anymore it's okay to be afraid everyone has fear you're lying if you say you don't everyone has fear we talked about that last week but if it's keeping you from following Jesus's call I'm done with it and I'm not enabling it anymore nope I reject that isolation we are not supposed to be alone or not we are not especially as Christians we cannot be the body of Christ Alone you're a temple of the Holy Spirit that's temporary right you're not John on the island of Patmos it's not you right you're called to be a part of the body of Christ it's time for Christians to get up don't pick up your bed that's too heavy get up right second I was like don't joke on the heavy things man it ruins the moment I'll start again it's time for Christians get up and get to church now immediately immediately that's what it is to follow Jesus now here's the thing I'm going to quickly address some reasons why some people might think hear what I said think they need the streaming services again you know you must have forgot what happened 10 years ago you didn't have it or you know like whatever you did okay we all did just fine without it so there's a reason think they need it and some are some like reasons and some are excuses first one I'm gonna make this really quick because I really hammered this one it makes people feel bad and God let you heal we got to heal healing will take place work don't tell me you need the streaming service because of work don't do not right like look what what did Matthew leave what did James John Simon Peter where did they leave write the Bible does the review King for me I'll move on I travel this is really funny people travel so they think they need the stream travel around it's not you I'm not talking to you but but they think they need it and so then I travel around so I got to connect with the only way I can connect with the church okay hold on stop stop it you're traveling get out of your hotel room and experience the culture around you that's really cool go try a church somewhere else especially if it's another country that's awesome don't watch the stream here what are you doing wasting your time in the hotel room catch up on my message later right no get out and then here's the other one but there's no church in the area then go tell people about Jesus it's kind of what you're supposed to do as a Christian that boy I'm physically unable to get there okay this is legit and so I'm going to show you why I'm not being a meanie here this is why okay so here's one thing and I don't want you to go this way but I'll just say this right if you're just going to be stuck you know you're going to say it's only the worship part that you're really missing that's all it is it's the message worship that's it first of all we're not the only ones singing these songs just look up the songs on YouTube oh there you go we have a worship playlist in the app but that's not my point don't take that and go yeah that's what I'm going to do wrong that would be the wrong takeaway but I'm just taking another excuse that's what I do take excuses away from you you hate it but here's the thing here's the ideal thing this is so funny like when I started looking at this I'm like this is where it went like this it went like this real quick so first thing if you are home and you cannot get here and I know every one of you if you're because you're sick or whatever and we talk I will send a member of the worship team to you and you can sing together you think that's funny check this out when I was a pit that is a pastor in training I was on the worship team that's where I started they dragged me out I was drunk it wasn't the first time I played hungover right so because I was in bands when I was younger so whenever I got used to it then stopped doing that eventually and then like got called to become a pastor so did that and I went through a long period of training as a part of that training I had to do visitations these are people who are homebound they cannot come in it was a lot more people it was older the congregation for the most part what did I do I brought my guitar with me I'm a pastor in training and I can sing so we sung him as beautiful as some of the most beautiful worship no offense to people who like you know a lot of stuff we minimize it because you all get addicted to it you get to worship the worship and it's bad they're the worship leaders so we minimize it the most beautiful worship that I've ever experienced it was just with one other person and sometimes in a moment of just they're gonna die you know beautiful heartfelt where they meant it meant it beautiful right here's another thing and I'm sure some crazy church is going to start doing this priority are I just ignore I don't watch anything so but virtual communion if they do that I don't know I don't want to know don't tell me it make me mad like the Lord's Supper virtually you can't do that you can't do that if I will put my foot down there but that's the other thing I had in my hand when I went and did the visitations a guitar and my communion kit and we go do exactly what Jesus and the apostles did we have the Lord's supper and we sing him it was beautiful that's so much better than the live stream and here's where it gets turned around it's made ministers lazy back in the day hey so-and-so sick okay gotta get a visitor what do we do now or him what do we do now they can watch a live stream that's what we do now got the live stream they're set right wrong wrong this is where the ministers are wrong there's another one I just want to dismiss this because real quick I love C3 Church there's nothing like it around me okay I know we are experiencing a famine of the word of the Lord like Amo say that is true that is true there's not enough scriptures in the preaching so much about me stuff I get it but again you can watch the messages online so this is for those who live far away snowbirds that's a thing I get it but here's the thing wait for the upload of the sermon and go visit some real humans near you right get out of the house do corporate worship as a body of Christ again we're not the only ones singing these songs there is no virtual replacement for the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit when we come together and are united as the Ecclesia there's no replacement for that you cannot properly do worship Church worship alone you can worship alone but it isn't Church it isn't church it's not the same it's literally the definition of church coming together online isolated church is an oxymoron here's the other thing real quick and I got to say it because a lot of people won't think about this but this is true so the same people some of the same people who are watching online they're satisfied just to watch it online that's it they're like oh isn't it a shame that the churches are closing isn't it a shame yeah it is you know why they're closing because you're not supporting it financially or physically you're not supporting it it's such a shame that the church is closing yeah it is yeah I agree it's a shame you got to support your local church you have to support your local church those of you not I don't need to preach to you on this but if you're new just please just even if you made lunch I get it it's Naples I make lunch plans too you know go upstairs and see our Cafe don't don't miss it we're having recovery meetings there it's awesome it's like a community center it supports people it's a place we get together we have our fellowship it's wonderful and here big screen right that's why we have Community movie days where people can come in maybe they can't it's expensive you want to take five four kids to the movies oh my gosh right so we have a popcorn machine it's just like the movie theater they get popcorn they watch a family movie no bait and switch we love you it's a church they know we love you come back don't you think that's a good thing to have in the community shouldn't we have more of these right but they close why and I can paint a picture because it's probably actually I know it's happening somewhere very close to this building within walking distance practically there's someone watching another church a huge mega church somewhere else online why because they went streaming with us right and then the suggested video that comes up under ours when they're done is some big church and what it looks a little better that's flashier and they're telling you what you want to hear but that person down is not supporting their local church and so local churches close that's what's happening no we're good don't worry keep supporting we're okay all right but this is true you need to support and to those I get it you know just be careful what you should watch online I mean if it's popular like fast food is it good probably not be careful but you need to support your local church Jesus says what love your neighbor who's your neighbor that's a neighbor you're not loving your neighbor you're not loving your neighborhood church if you're doing that support your local church and that goes for back home when you go back up support that church don't watch me online support your church if you want to catch up on the message later great following Jesus today begins with being a part of the church so when we want to know what following Jesus looks like outside of the gospels we need to turn to acts and here's the scripture I'm going to give you and I'll explain it and we'll come to a close Acts 2 42 all the believerses Jesus ascends to heaven the Holy Spirit comes in power all the Believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship sharing meals and a prayer those are the points on the auditorium wall just outside the auditorium that's what that is how does that contextualize today Apostles teach you no Apostles I'm not an apostle don't call me that right the word the teaching of the word everything begins there everything that's it it's everything if we do nothing else that it's important Fellowship being together that's what they did these are the instructions we're supposed to do too you really can't get that online the right way sharing meals and this includes the Lord's Supper cannot do that online and prayer 50 of church cannot be done online you do in half church if that's all you're doing so following Jesus this way means making him a priority that means dropping some of the things that may be holding us back from coming in it means making this a priority that's what being a follower of Jesus begins with it's not the totality no but it begins there answering the call so you can continue it as well through the church just some opportunities I think that'll tell you about some more just really quickly I mentioned the text thing I will text you every morning if you want me to a little Proverbs Devo and it's my door virtually opening we can talk but then that can lead to a phone call or a meeting if you really want one the fellowship go make a friend go upstairs and make a friend and that's our small group who do we have small groups yes but they're not program guided they're Holy Spirit guided and so that's what happens you get together the Holy Spirit nudges you you go talk to someone hey you make a friend and then maybe you go have coffee or lunch during the week that's your small group anything bigger you're going to get lost two two or more gathered there you go just the two of you make a friend get real that's Church you keep doing Church throughout the week buddy up we continue to use these tools of the church to continue in that faithful following of Jesus these help us maintain that resolve to the resolution we work together supporting one another one of us kind of gets bogged down come on we need each other the church Jesus is calling us into that resolution immediately and when we answer that call he brings us into relationship indefinitely I want to close with scripture Hebrews 10 23. let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm for God can be trusted to keep his promise let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works and let us not neglect our meeting together some people do but encourage one another especially now that the day of Jesus's return is Drawing Near as we work together we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God's kindness and then ignore it for God says at just the right time I heard you on the day of salvation I helped you indeed the right time is now today is the day of salvation amen