**Job well! What a morning, huh? Wasn't that great? Love our worship team; they just do such a great job. And by the way, I want to say a special thanks. I know it was a ladies' event, but I want to say a special thanks to all of the guys that served, and especially our worship team. Man, great job! It was an awesome time. Last week was one of those great weeks. Sunday, Pastor Kevin was here, and man, he tore it up, didn't he? Did a great job! You don't want to ever miss when he's coming around; he's always so good.
Then Tuesday night, we had the volunteer shindig. That was great! Wow! And then Friday and Saturday, you ladies had the time of your life. Sounds like a song, doesn't it? The time of my life.
I've had special guests with us today, as well as over the weekend, was Miss Paula, one of our favorites. Paula, stand up and give everybody a wave! [Applause] Miss Paula is one of our favorite members. She travels to different places, but it's always home when she comes here. She did a great job. I would just say that her book is out front; it's called "Dear Sister." I read it like this: "Dear Brother, there's something your friend wants you to know." So get that book! Through better understanding of each other, we can heal the divide between sisters and sisters. How about brothers and brothers? All right, we can do all of that!
Wow, we're just so blessed here at the Father's House. If I haven't told you lately, I want to tell you that I love you with all of my heart, and I thank God every Sunday that I get the privilege of doing this with you. Just think, we could all be in the hospital somewhere, but God's granted us to be here today, and we serve Him well.
It's a great day today! First service was absolutely packed out. The second one's a little better; I think the rain stopped, so everybody thought it was a good day to go to bike week, and so they all took off on their motorcycles. Maybe, I don't know, but it's good to see you here today.
Now, Easter's coming! Easter's coming, and I know that you're going to invite 20 or so guests. So if you invited 20 or so guests and we didn't have room for them, that would really be a tough time. So for Easter, we're going to add some seats in here, take that on up. But we also need to do something else on Easter. We're going to do three services on Easter: we're going to do a 7:30, a 9:00, and an 11:00.
To divide outright so that we have enough people, we've come up with something that is so super cool, and it's called a ticket. Right now, people say, "Oh man, I got to go; I got to get a ticket to come to Easter service." I don't understand. Well, there are a lot of churches you can go to that would have 5,200 empty seats on Easter, but here, this is a place where people are loving God and loving each other.
So here's simply what I'm going to ask you to do: we have color-coded tickets. 7:30 for blue, 9:00 for purple, and 11:00 for red. Red, eye lean eyes! All right, so that's it. After service, after service, between now and Easter, especially today, you need to go outside. If the sun is shining, the tall tops will be out in the sun. Go to the table that's blue and get a 7:30 ticket for blue. Go to the purple and get a 9:00 ticket for the blue, and 11:00 for the 11. Be sure to get some for your friends. Did I say that wrong? No? Okay, all right, we TR.
So anyway, you take the ticket to a friend that you're inviting for Easter and say, "You are so lucky! I was able—blessed, a better word—okay, either word: lucky, blessed, favored, trust, wonderful, you got it! That I have a ticket for you and your family, and I'd like for you to come. We got a seat for you! Is that awesome? And it's a 7:30, 11:00, or 9:00. Which one do you want to come to? Use those tickets to invite people.
Now, if you're not going to come, turn them back in because we want to make sure we have room for everybody. So 7:30 actually is going pretty quick. I watched in the last service; 7:30 is yours, so that's a good one. But if you're serving, you may want to serve all three. We have people that are doing that.
So we're doing three services: what? 7:30, 9:00, and 11:00. It's the blue tickets, purple tickets, and the red tickets. Get a ticket; don't be left out! All right, it's awesome!
Well, if you have your Bible with you, your iPhone, your iPad, let's hold it up and let's say this together: This is my Bible. It is the word of God. It is the revealed word. All my heart is receptive. I am obedient, and I will never be the same again in Jesus' name. Amen!
Father, we come to you again in prayer, and you said in everything by prayer and supplication, let our requests be made known. So we just ask you, Lord, to teach us today. I'm not coming as a know-it-all and have more information than anybody else. I'm just coming as a funnel through which what you've been speaking to me for the last three or four months that I can share with your church today.
I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would anoint me because without you, I can do nothing. It's just empty words, but with you, there can be supernatural things that happen today as we listen to the word. So even as we listen to your word and look into your word, touch our ears, anoint our hearts to receive your word because it's so important how we receive your word.
So today, Lord, we thank you for that, and at the end of today, we pray more than anything else, Lord, that you will be glorified, the saints will be edified, and the enemy will be terrified in Jesus' name.
Hey, I want to start in this series, The Third Edition. Can you believe that you've been through three seasons? This is a season, Extreme Makeover, called The Church Edition, which leads up to the last of this month, which is our Easter service, but it's also our 28th church anniversary at the last of this month. Isn't that great? 28 years, and we're still going strong, stronger than ever! That's awesome! Now we just get another 28, and we'll be fine. Okay, we get that going.
But I want to talk to you today about some misconceptions because a lot of times in conversations and watching on the internet, I see people with misconceptions. Some of these we think we know, some we've heard, maybe some we've thought about.
For instance, misconception: French fries are not from France; they're actually from Belgium. French fries come from a cooking term called "to French." I know some of you men are thinking a different thing, but to French cooking—let's bring it back to cooking, okay? It means to cut in strips, and then they would fry them. So therefore, you had frenched fries.
How about fortune cookies? They're not from China. In fact, fortune cookies as we know them were brought to us by Japan. If you go to China and you eat in a restaurant, you will not get a fortune cookie unless they think you're an American, and that's what everybody does in America.
Also, how about golf? Golf is not an acronym for "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden." Sorry, the word golf was a term well before somebody came up with that acronym.
And here's another one: I hate to burst this misconception bubble, but Napoleon was not short. We hear people say, "Oh, that's a short person; he's got a Napoleon complex." Well, when you read history, Napoleon actually, in fact, was an average height for a Frenchman at that time. He was 5'7", and he was actually a little taller than the average Frenchman.
Now, the issue comes when you somehow—I don't know, you'll have to explain it to me. Steve's trying to, but I couldn't get it. So in France, 5'2" in would be in English 5'7". So he was not a short man. Sorry to bust your misconceptions.
So I say that to say this: if we all can assume something that's right, but it's a misconception, I wonder how much more on things that are important to God's heart that sometimes we've heard or believed a misconception.
So let me share a few of those with you today: misconceptions that we believed or thought about the church.
First of all, here's a misconception: the church is a building. Many people speak about the church to say, "Oh, we're going to that church," or "Over there is our church," as though a building is a church. A building can't embody all of God's word that teaches about the church. Our church meets in a building on 2301 South Street, and our church meets through the week. How many of you are doing small groups this semester, life groups? Raise your hand.
So our church meets there during the week. The church is not a building; we are the church. Say that with me: we are the church. Say it again: we are the church. That would be like you taking a selfie and then posting it, saying, "That's my family." No, that's you! But the church is not just a bunch of individuals; it's all of us together that have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. The church is God's people.
I'm thankful for buildings; they facilitate what God is doing, but we are not the church. The church is not a building. Say it with me: we are the church. Say it again: we are the church.
Here's another misconception: the church is an event. Okay, in other words, "What time does church start?" It's going to be like an event, or "We have to go to church on Sunday." Phrases like that really frustrate me because it reinforces the concept that everything about a church is an event.
That way, I can check out of being church, and I'll just go to church and participate in the event. Well, you know, if I attend church on Sunday, then I've met with the church for the week, and now I'm officially off the hook. Talking about church as though it's an event frees us up to attend occasionally rather than integrating our life into church life.
The church is not an event. Say it with me: we are the church.
Here's another misconception: the church is where we get our needs met. I hear people say, "Well, I want to go to a church where I can be fed." So in essence, what they're saying is to me, the church is a service center. You know, like Home Depot for home stuff, Office Depot for office stuff. So the church is where I go to get whatever I need.
I go there to get married; I go to church to get buried; I go to church to dedicate my baby; I go to church for crisis intervention; I go to church for counseling. There are two flaws in that concept.
First, we are the church. If we are the church, you've got to realize that it's all about us. Second of all, the church isn't a location where we go to get our hunger pains satisfied for the week.
Here's what the church is: I really believe this. The church is a gathering of those who follow Jesus on a mission. On a mission to set aside their wants, their needs, in order to sacrificially serve and show a hurting world that God loves them.
So what that means is that we have our legacy offering coming up. The green envelope is there at the end of the month. We all bring a sacrificial one-time-a-year giving, and this goes to missions. As we sponsor, next week I'll share with you where all we go with our missions. In fact, we've got a brochure out there that will be updated this week about 40 or 50 different places where the missions offering that we give goes straight to people that are in need locally, nationally, and around the world. That's because of this.
So pray about what God would have you to give sacrificially, and you can give that now or bring it at the end of this month, which is our anniversary, and also it's Easter. It's going to be a great time that we celebrate, leave a legacy, serve the world. We are the church.
Number four misconception: the church is a place for perfect people. Not! I mean, just think about that. I've heard people say, "Well, you know, I try to go to church, but those people were not perfect people." Welcome to the body of Christ! If we only allow perfect people in here, some of us wouldn't make it today, right?
Do you understand what I'm saying? I think we need a sign in the foyer that says, "No perfect people allowed at TFH." We're all becoming. Look at your neighbor and say, "I hope you're becoming." All right, hope you're becoming. You're not perfect, but you're becoming. That's right!
When those religious people come around the Father's House—and you know what I mean by those religious people—they always know what to do, tell you what to do. On the internet, they show you what to do. Leaders should do this, and you ask them, "Where's your church? What have you done for the Lord?" I've done nothing except back and just criticize everything.
No, no, come on! The church is not a perfect place. Also, coming to church doesn't mean that you're better than unchurched people, right? Jesus said, "By this will all people know that you're my disciples, that you love one another." Just because you're in church, because you're a Christian, doesn't mean that you're better than anybody else. You've just been redeemed, and we should thank God about that!
I'm not telling you we get it all right. We don't. I mean, even like some of you are thinking about the tickets. Well, you don't like the idea about the tickets. Well, if it works, I had a great idea, but if it doesn't work after Easter, we say, "Who thought up with that?" I think that was Colette; she's the newest one on the staff, so I think she came up with that.
We're not perfect; we get things right, we get things wrong. I'm telling you that. And so, listen, look around again. Don't trust everybody you see. We have a lot of people come here from a lot of different places, that's right.
And I'm just saying, if you've got to get up and move and go somewhere, take your purse with you. Don't assume that the Holy Ghost is going to guard your purse, and somebody else may see that purse as a temptation. You understand what I'm saying, right?
I mean, we don't check credentials; however, we do facial recognition when you come in this building. This is a high-tech security place because we've got a bunch of lovely kids next door, right? Yeah! So we don't allow backpacks or big bags in the auditorium, right? They shouldn't be here, right?
We have people come with backpacks, and our security team will immediately—or ushers will say, "I must check your bag." That's right! What do you mean you check my bag? Well, I've got to check your bag because, you see, I'm not going to just trust all of us to just somebody that wants to come in like they did at Joel's a few weeks ago in the middle of that Hispanic service or at the end of it.
So we check your bag, and if you don't want your bag checked, then leave it outside. And if you don't want to part from your bag, then we'll see you somewhere else. Do you understand that? Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Right? That's right!
And listen, we're not perfect. We don't always have the best worship. Sometimes Scotty will hit a wrong note, but you won't know it! That's right! Because he never lets you sweat. Some of our singers may be a little off-tune; that's okay! You should stand beside me and Tim! That's right! You should see us! That's right! It's a joyful noise!
And listen, let me just be honest with you right now: I don't always have the best sermon. Sometimes I'll bore you to death, but guess what? You come back next week; it might get better! All right? Especially if you pray for me!
There's a goofy term going around: "Church hurt." Oh, I've been hurt by the church. I've been hurt. So the church is the church that didn't hurt you, fool! Right? And I mean that in the most godly sense. People hurt you, yes, sir! The body of Christ, God's church did not hurt you, but it's people that come together like me or you, and I might say something to offend you.
So don't say the church offended me; say that Terry offended me. And if I offend you, then the Bible says you're supposed to come to me and tell me I offended you, sir! And most of the time, I'll say, "I'm sorry, forgive me." But if it's a truth, I'll say, "I'm sorry; I could have said it better, but it's truth."
We'll let you come in here and sit and sulk for a few months, but after that, you've got to get over it! You've been to Chick-fil-A; sometimes they gave you a bad piece of chicken, but you still go back! [Laughter]
Here's what I know and believe: since I've been a kid, the global church, the big C, of which we're a part, is God's choice to bring His kingdom to Earth. He chose it when He sent His son Jesus, and Jesus purchased the church. There are church expressions all over our city. There are church expressions that will meet this week in homes. There are mega churches; there are smaller churches. And those who believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, they are an expression of the big C, the church.
That's why you will never hear me—and if you hear any of our staff, which I dare you—will hear ever criticize another church. You won't hear that here. We may not believe every man that leads a church, but you will not hear a word of criticism come out of our mouth about another church in this community.
I say to people all the time, there are a lot of great churches in Central Florida, and we're only one of those. And we're not here to fight anybody. You'll never hear me, even if somebody hurt me, you'll never hear me say about the church, "The church did not hurt me," but people. And so we have to get over it, right?
Say it with me: because we are the church.
And number five, the church is not optional. If your kids wake up on a Sunday morning and say, "Are we going to church today?" you've taught them that church is an option. It's one of many choices. It's not optional. The scripture says, "Don't forsake the assembling of yourself together as some do as the time grows more evil and evil."
It says, "Don't forsake that." There's something important that happens. I mean, it's not optional because Jesus founded the church. Amen! Matthew 16:18, He said, "I'll build my church, and all the powers of Hell will not conquer it." Right? Jesus is the head of the church. I'm not the head of the church. I've never said, "This is my church." It's not my church; Jesus, it's His church, and we get to be an expression of that part of the body of Christ.
That's why we don't all look the same. That's because we refuse to be a white church; we refuse to be a Hispanic church; we refuse to be a black church or a whatever church in between—purple, green, yellow. We are the body of Christ, and it's made up of people of different colors and different backgrounds, and we are not ashamed of that today because Jesus is the head of the church.
Ephesians 5:23 says He's the savior of the church, which is His body. And Jesus loves the church. Ephesians 5:25 says Christ loved the church, and He gave Himself up for her. See, a lot of people know that Jesus shed His blood for our salvation, John 3:16. You believe that, but I'm going to tell you also Jesus shed His blood for the church. For the church!
And I'll talk more about that in the next few weeks. He shed His blood; it's not just something that comes in. He shed His blood for the global church, and Jesus died for the church. He died for our sins; He died to purchase the church. Acts 20:28, and Jesus nourishes, cherishes, and sanctifies the church. Ephesians 5:25, and Jesus directs the church.
We don't try to do anything. It took weeks before we said we're going to do 7:30, 9:00, and 11:00 on Easter. And as we grow, people say, "Are you going to build another building?" Heck no! We're going to go to multiple services. You say, "Can you? Are you up for that?" Yeah, I'm up for that for a little while longer, you know, 15, 20 years, something like that. You know, I figure I got that going.
Jesus directs the church so that today when we leave, when we leave, we're on mission. Amen! I saw that on a church once that said, "As you were leaving, now you're on mission." Now you're on mission! He said, "I want you to go to all the world, and I want you to show the world how much that I love them. I want you to add value to people, and oh yeah, tell them about this Jesus that's coming after you." Amen! That's our assignment: to serve the world, to make disciples.
Here's my quandary; here's what breaks my heart: that a Bible-believing Christian could claim that they love Jesus, and yet they just casually toss aside something that He valued and laid down His life for—the church. If you really love Jesus, you would love what He values, and He values the church, and He values you.
It's like people coming to me and saying, "I love you, but you know your wife is a little difficult for me." Well, after I throat punch, yeah, then we move on! And she may not be as good as me because she's better than me. I remembered that from the last service; I want to be sure I get that right.
The church is not optional! Yeah! Martin Luther was once asked if Christians really need to be part of a church, and they were standing around a fireplace. He took the tongs, reached in, pulled out a live fire coal, and he put it up on the mantle. He said, "Watch!" And the ember that was red hot began to fade until there was nothing but some smoke.
Then he took the tongs, lifted it up, and put it back in the fire, and immediately it lit up again. All week long, you got the daylights beat out of you, and there you are, where you are in the midst of all of that. But when you come to church, isn't there just something about it that you get warm? I mean, I feel warmer. Do you? Do you feel warmer? I hope so!
The church is not an option. Say it with me: we are the church.
Number six: a lot of people say, "Well, you know, the church is just made up of something that a man made up." I'll talk about that next week. Now, denominations are man-made; there's nothing wrong with denominations, and we'll talk about it next week.
But for people that build a place to camp and they don't keep moving, then people gather around that. And I just want you to know, and I'll talk about that a little bit next week, but Ephesians 1:23 says Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church.
Read this last sentence with me: the church is Christ's body, which He speaks and acts by, which He fills everything with His presence. Look at that! The church is Christ's body by which He speaks. You are His mouth; you are His eyes; you are His hands. And we reach out to a world, and you are sometimes the only Jesus that people see.
I remember how one of our great guys here used to be an IBM executive and a real heathen, had no place for God. But God put two men in his life: one to fish and the other loved to golf. And how he said they took me along beside them. And he said, "I fished with them, and you know what? They never talked to me about Jesus. I golfed with them, and they never talked to me about Jesus."
But he said one day, "I said to them, 'I don't know what you have, but you've got something different than me. You've never condemned me; you've never pushed me aside, and I see Jesus in you, and I want to know how to find that Jesus.'" That's our Who We Are! That's our assignment! He speaks to the church.
The church is not man-made. Say it with me: we are the church. Say it again: we are the church.
And number seven, here's another misconception: well, the church is becoming irrelevant, and the church is dying. You've been listening to fake news! It may be surprising to you how much that Christianity is growing.
How many of you feel like that everywhere you go, there's a Starbucks on every corner, right? Well, there are only 15,400 Starbucks in the United States, and there's only 35,700 worldwide. But there's almost 4 million Christian churches worldwide!
Yeah! You should hold your head up a little higher! Don't believe those naysayers that the church is dying. Now, the church may die in some Southern Bible Belt places where people have gone to church instead of being the church.
And there's a world around us that are reaching out to Christ, and God is blessing them, and God is helping them, and we say amen! Amen! Amen!
May surprise you that over the last 120 years, the church has increased tenfold, growing from 400,000 churches in 1990 to now over 4 million in 2024. And it's expected by 2050 that there will top 5 million churches around the world!
Wow! Not everyone, like you see, not a building. There are churches right now in Dubai, churches in Iran, churches around the world that are holding up Jesus.
Listen to this: by 2050, Africa will become almost 1.3 billion Christians, Latin America 686 million, Asia 560 million, Europe 497 million, North America 276 million. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the powers of Hell will not conquer it." That's right!
The church is not dying! Say it with me: we are the church!
And so here's what I know: we are declaring that we are a family that gathers together to be sent out and to make disciples. Now, we got two guys that are going to Guatemala this week as part of our outreach, and I'd like for Mike and Matt to come and join me on stage. They're going to be going on a mission trip this week to Guatemala, and they are representing us.
They will be going and be on some little motorcycles, about 650, 700 CC, something like that. Maybe they'll give you a 50 CC; that'd be good! So who knows? But they're going to be riding through the mountains of Guatemala, dropping off some of those motorcycles to missionaries in need, and they're going to be ministering to people all along the way. They are our hands; they are our hands reaching out.
We say, "You know what? We may not be able to go on this trip, but we got some more planned, right Mike? We got some more planned." But this trip, these guys are going for us! Awesome!
Now, if they offered me a big Indian like Steve's, God, I might have gone! But I know you can't get through those streets. Would you stretch out your hand? Let's pray for these guys.
Lord, we pray for Matt and Mike. We pray You'll protect them, keep them through those windy, dangerous roads up in the mountains. We pray, Lord, that they'll have a heart for the missions that are there and the missionaries. And Lord, as they drop off those motorcycles to allow some of these missionaries to get to places that they couldn't get on their own, we just say thank you, Lord!
Thank you for the Father's House! Thank you for the Father's House that is a mission-driven church that goes and sends and gives in Your name. Amen!
Well, when you see them after church, pat them on the back and tell them you'll be praying for them! All right, thank you, guys!
28 years ago, the last Sunday of this month, Anita and I came here. I was teaching at a seminary in Georgia; she was teaching; she was working there. We came here only knowing about a handful of people, and God sent us here to start what we call the Father's House.
It could go by any title because it's really not about the title. The important thing is church. At the end, we gathered. We ran an article in the paper that said we're starting a new church where everyone is welcome, everyone would be needed, and everyone would be changed.
We had a very simple, unapologetic mission that's been fine-tuned through the years, and our mission, as the girls led us a few minutes ago in saying, let's say it together: we are bringing hope and impacting our community by leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus. That's what it's all about!
on Mar 03, 2024
