Embracing God's Promises: Living Out Our Mission

1. "People ask me all the time, hey, man, what's different? What's the difference between Granite United and other churches? We don't talk about other churches. And I'm going to tell you what is cool about Granite United. We got this thing called a stump speech. It's kind of like our elevator speech. When people say, hey, tell me about your church, I always reply this way. I say, we are a great commandment church. Here's what this means if you're new. All right. Because remember, at Granite, we want to know what does the Bible say? Where does the Bible say? And what are you going to do? OK, because we're serious about this because the word of God, Jesus said, my word is truth and the truth shall set you. So we want to know what the Bible says. Right. And so I always say this. Well, we're a great commandment church. And this is what this means, because if you're going to come to Granite, you might as well hear this now. And if this is going to be a church that you lock arms with, we're going to be a church that loves God and loves other people. Amen. Love other people. Number one is a great commandment. Then we're going to be a great commission church. What is a great commission? In short, it is this, that we're going to go everywhere telling everyone about Jesus. We refuse to allow Jesus Christ to be our best kept secret. Amen. And we're not going to do that. I mean, because hope has a name and his name is. And then here's the other thing. We're going to be a great a golden rule church. All this is Bible. What is the golden rule? The golden rule, Jesus said, listen, how about we just treat other people the way we want to be treated? All right. And what we're called to do as hope dealers, as we make disciples. The truth is, at the end of the day, we're just extending to others what our heavenly father has freely extended to us. Grace, mercy." [49:30] (106 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "Here's a question. How many of you are thankful that we serve a long suffering, impatient God? Raise your hand. Oh, yeah. Some of you have really worn God's patience out. I get it. Right. We're all there. Right. Thank God that he is a God who loves us. He meets us where we are, but he loves us too much to keep us there. Amen. And so as a church, we are a church that strives to live on mission. And this is why a number of us, 22 of us, actually, and a number of people in this service, went on this trip. Raise your hand. I know we got Kelly, Jimmy, Hanoi, Patrice. We got the Graves over here. We all went. 22 of us just got back from Guatemala. And so, yeah, it was great. Matter of fact, there they are right there. That's the gang right there. we had such a great time. It was absolutely incredible. And we really do believe as the body of Christ that we're saved on purpose for a purpose because, God's got a great purpose for us. Amen. Do me a favor. On the count of three, look at the person on the other side of you. Point a finger at that person and say to them, God's got big plans for you. And give them a round of applause. Ready? One, two, three. God's got big plans for you. Give them a round of applause. I'm just telling you, it's true." [50:46] (86 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Missions is the heart of God. As a matter of fact, the greatest missionary to ever walk the planet, his name was Jesus. Jesus left his home. He crossed the galaxies. The word became flesh. Jesus Christ left his home, came to us to chase us down. I've come to seek and to save those who were lost. Jesus Christ came here to step into your spiritual poverty, and brokenness. He came here, the Bible says, he became poor so that we can become spiritually rich. Who's thankful for that today? Amen. This is the Bible. Jesus said, I didn't come as a missionary to be served. I left my home to come serve you because you needed hope. You needed help. And all God's kids said, amen, right? And here's the beautiful thing about the Bible. The Bible says this, when we ask God to break our hearts for what breaks his. When we chase after the things that Jesus Christ modeled for us, there is a blessing that comes with that." [55:08] (69 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "I want to hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant. I want to step into eternity, and I want to be blessed where it actually matters in forever. Amen. I'm grateful that our Father blesses. I'm grateful that our Father blesses us in the here and now, but I want to make sure I'm blessed in the when and then. I am going to unlock something for some of you today that it's going to help you 1,000 years from now. I'm going to unlock something for some of you that's going to matter 10 years from now. Are you saying 10 years from now I'm going to be in eternity? Maybe. I'm unlocking something. Then the King would say to those in his right hand, come you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you for the rest of your life. And then the creation of the world. Verse 35. Don't miss this. Don't miss this. This is King Jesus speaking. This is I referring to the King, the capital K, King of kings and Lord of lords. For I was hungry, you fed me. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you invited me into your home. I was naked, you gave me clothing. I was sick, you cared for me. I was in prison, You visited me. Then the righteous ones will reply." [56:43] (81 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "And the king, Jesus, will say, I'll tell you the truth. When you did it to one of the. My brothers and sisters, you were. Isn't that a beautiful passage of scripture? See, they weren't doing it to build a religious resume. They were doing it because you know what? They had the nature of the father. See, our God is a giving God. Our God is a God of love. And this isn't shallow. As a matter of fact, the apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter three, verse 17, I love this verse. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him more and more and more and more and more. In other words, he's like, hey, I pray now that you're in Christ. You. You will continue to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and grow. OK, may your roots go down deep into the soil of what church? He's like, hey, God's marvelous love. And we're like, OK, verse 18, this gets so good. And may you have the power to understand as all God's people should. If you're saved and you know it, say amen." [01:00:13] (76 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "He said, I'm praying. You have the power to understand what I'm about to unpack for you. So Paul's saying through the Holy Spirit, through Paul, how wide, how long, how high, how deep his love. You want to know what he said? Why he says you got to understand what it how is what his love really is like. He's like, because we can barely comprehend it. You got to work at this man. Here's why. Ready? This is so great. May you experience the love of Christ. The Though it is so great, you will what? He's like, this is awesome. Like, it's mind blowing. And as you grow more and more and more and more and more and more, your mind's going to be blown more and more and more and more and more. And listen, it even gets better. You're never going to fully understand it. But what a journey it is. And he goes on to say, keep that verse up. He goes on to say. In verse 19, then you will be filled with the fullness of life." [01:01:08] (71 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "I want you to be so, so filled with the love of Christ that you experience the fullness of life. I'm in love and I don't care who knows it. And he goes, and the power that comes from that. You think the love of God is shallow. No, no, no, no. In Revelation chapter three, actually, there were like these churches. There were seven churches. Jesus like was speaking into one church. He says, you're doing everything right. But man, there's just one thing that bothers me. It's not that you're not doing it, that you're doing things wrong. You're doing right things, but you lost the passion for why you're doing it. And the reason why we want to understand the love of Christ, because when you have the love of Christ in the heart of Christ. Remember when you're drawing little hearts on your, your bookcases, you know, your book covers and carving hearts in trees. And you go to the beach with the big heart with the arrow. C.E. Christie as low heart. A.M. Anthony, my list. And people are locked walking around like man. And they strange. They're like, I don't care what you think, fool. I'm in love. It is. It's absolutely incredible." [01:03:35] (107 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "I just want to say this. This whole message was about thanking you. You know, we're blessed to be a, and I love our church because of your heart of generosity. None of this happens. That's just Guatemala. You need to understand, I think we have somewhere like five or seven feeding centers, a couple orphanages. We work with 30 missionaries. Last Sunday, just in Toga, West Africa, we were part of starting, just in the last 12 months, a sixth church in Toga this year alone, and they had 430 people show up on opening day. All right? And here's what the Bible says. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 6, to me, this is our church. Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money. I love our church because I feel like we love God and love people more than we love stuff. I really do. That's our church because stuff's so unreliable. Their trust should be in God who richly gives us what, gang? For our enjoyment. Thank God. Nothing wrong with having stuff as long as stuff doesn't have us. Amen? Verse 18. Tell them. And this is, I love this about our church. Tell them to use their money. They should be what? And what? Always being ready to do what? Thank you for being awesome. Thank you for giving. Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for allowing us here in Salem, Haverhill, Lawrence, New England, the United States of America, and in other parts of the world. Thank you for living beyond. Yourself living for the glory of God. God's using you and your commitment and your sacrifice in big ways." [01:11:59] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)