You Church: Cultivating an Others-Centered Faith

``He didn't come to improve your circumstances or take away your problems or grow your four zero one k. That's not why Jesus came. He came to rescue your soul. He came to save you from sin and reconcile you to God. So when I'm talking about you church, we got a great model. His name is Jesus. This is not just a clever idea taken from some words in a text. This is who he is. At the cross, he took your sin, your shame, your guilt, and your punishment so that you could receive forgiveness and righteous ness and new life and be part of God's family. He did it for you. [00:52:29] (37 seconds)  #JesusRescues

You know, Christianity is not mainly about people trying hard to care for each other. It's a good thing. It is about a savior who loved you before you ever loved him. It is the gospel that points to that reality that Jesus stepped out of heaven. You wanna talk about an others mindset or a you church? He stepped out of heaven for you. He lived for you. He suffered for you. He died for you. He rose again for you. [00:51:42] (35 seconds)  #JesusLovedYouFirst

And even now, he's still caring for his people. We're told that he intercedes for us. He stands in the gap for us every moment of every day. It's what he does for you. And he's preparing you for eternity so that when we get to heaven, it won't be such a big surprise. That's why the church becomes a place marked by another's mindset because it's filled with people who know they've been pursued. They've been forgiven and served and rescued by Jesus. And when that truth sinks in deeply into your heart, you stop living for yourself. You begin loving others the way that Christ loved you. That's you, church, modeled by the one who did it the best. [00:53:06] (44 seconds)  #PursuedAndForgiven

Because the leader of most organizations makes it all about them. And churches are not exempt. We are so tempted to follow people in an idolatrous kind of way, putting them on a pedestal that they shouldn't have. Do you know who the leader of the church is? Jesus. It literally says he is the head of the church. And if you're ever in a place where the leader of that place's name is being said more than the name of Jesus, leave. Because Jesus is the head of the church. [00:34:23] (31 seconds)  #JesusIsHead

The gospel and Jesus' church are not meant to affirm us, but to transform us. That's why we align to God's word. We don't try to get God's word to align to us. That's why we get into groups with people in this community that God has given us, so that we can help each other. Get ready, because Jesus is coming back and we wanna be ready. Don't believe me? Here's what Jesus said. [00:50:54] (23 seconds)  #GospelTransforms

but we talked about like, what has God been doing over the past and what is he getting ready to do in the future? God used that to kinda spur me on to start leaning into that a little bit more. That was a Wednesday. On Monday, I asked a couple of elders and our former pastor if we could talk after the elders meeting, and I shared with them what God was doing. And unbeknownst to me, unbeknownst to me, God used the event to five months later bring us to a pastor transition in a totally do new season and role that God had for our lives. May have never happened if I had never been hit by a car. [00:47:38] (35 seconds)  #GodUsesOurStories

But he prays, look, to supply what is lacking in your faith. These people are currently being persecuted, rejected from their families, run out of town, some of them being arrested. And he says, not that I wanna pray for your safety or your relief or protection or for less opposite opposition. Those are fine things to pray for. But how often have you seen in your past God used things that you thought were really hard or terrible at the time. God uses them to grow you and give you opportunities you would have never had before. [00:43:45] (35 seconds)  #FaithGrowsInTrials

He could have seized that kind of opportunity and power, but he doesn't. He makes it about them. His whole purpose is about them. He's got a you mindset. He's about others. And, you know, not only by the way, you know this is this is not a temptation only for leaders. It's temptation for all of us to make it all about ourselves. Too often in our world, people find their identity in the worst thing that happened to them in their lives. And they'll constantly, for the rest of their lives, call themselves a survivor of that thing. And that may be true, but it's not what our identity is found in. [00:35:00] (35 seconds)  #IdentityNotTrauma