Ready, Set, Go
Go!
Good
morning and welcome to the Creek!
ItÕs great to have you here with us today. We are concluding our series, Ready, Set, Go today when the message creatively called ÒGo.Ó Have you ever wondered who comes up with these titles? This one belongs to Todd.
Last
week, Kevin told us how to get set for the race. He started the message off with a personal story of his days
as a cross-country runner. So, I
thought that I would tag along with his racing imagery and tell you about the
time I ran in the 26-mile Boston Marathon. But, the truth is that I have never been to Boston, I have
never ran a marathon, never ran cross-country, never ran the 800 or the 400 or
even the 100 yard dash.
When I was in high school, the physical education teacher set a goal for our class for everyone to run the mile in 8
minutes or less. Well, that never
happened. Our class did not reach
the goal because of me and a few of my friends.
I canÕt
blame Kevin for bragging on his athletic abilities. He is what he is É he is
faster than a speeding bullet. I
mean Michael Johnson, Donovan Bailey and T.O. better take a back seat because
we have K-Lo here.
Every
week we encourage each other to Òspeak from
our experienceÓ and I end up with a racing message called, ÒGo.!Ó I do not know a lot about running
a race. But, I know this. When I hear the word, ÒGo!Ó it usually
means itÕs time for action. Today
É.as a church, itÕs time for action.
Our theme
verse in this series comes from 1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners
run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
When
runners step up to the block, the announcer typical says, ÒOn your mark, get
set, GoÓ and the race begins.
Nineteen years ago this month, twenty-four people gathered in a borrowed
living room and started the race that we now know of as Stevens Creek
Church. We did not have much, but
we had a passion to reach beyond ourselves and reach our friends for Jesus
Christ. We believed that God was
opening a door in this community. Over the years we have
seen some amazing things take place in our congregation. ItÕs fun to look back
and see what God in the lives of so many of us.
Today,
however, our goal is not to look back, but to get ready, get set, and go into
future that He has created for us. Psychologists
say that you can divide the world into two kinds of people: people who love Star
Trek and people who hate Star Trek. I am not a
treky. Those of you who love Star Trek will remember that every show began with
this tag line: Òto boldy go where no man has gone before.Ó
One of the most prominent figures in the New Testament
was the Apostle Paul. He was a
pioneer for the Christian faith.
He boldly carried the message of Christ into new areas. So often when we see extremely
successful people, it is not uncommon that we ask, ÒWhatÕs the secret of their
success?Ó If we had an opportunity
to talk with the Apostle Paul, I think that we were learn very quickly that his
success came from a commitment to pray bold prayers and a willingness to walk
through the doors that God opened for him.
ItÕs one thing to pray, but itÕs another thing to go É
to walk through the doors that God opens. For years we have prayed that God would expand our borders
and give us an opportunity to be an influence for Christ in this
community. Today, I believe that
God is saying, ÒGo!Ó I have set
before you an opened door.
In fact these words come from the book of Revelation,
chapter three, verse eight.
Revelation 3:8
ÉSee, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.
I believe that God has called us together. He has equipped us and has opened the
door for Stevens Creek Church. The
question that we have to wrestle with is this: ÒAre we willing to walk through it? Are we willing to go?Ó
In the Old Testament, the Prophet Isaiah was given an
opportunity to influence his generation for God. Listen to his response.
Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
Are we willing to go? When God prompts us with a need or a ministry, do we respond
by saying, ÒHere am I. Send me!Ó
God created the church to be his mouth piece to the
community. We are his feet. We are
his hands extended to the community.
God could have chosen many different ways to communicate his message to
people. He could have written it in the sky. He could have plastered across the mountains. He could have used the weather systems
or whatever. But instead of using
these means, he sent his one and only son Jesus to come to this earth and live
as we live.
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
When Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, he gave the responsibility
of his ministry to you and me. He
has called us to ÒGO.Ó
Matthew 28:19-20
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
So, today we have to decided what are we going to do
with this call. Are we willing to
go? Are we willing to serve Christ
and his church?
When some of you hear that question, you immediate
come up with some excuses why you cannot serve Christ and His church. There are some myths floating around
here at the Creek about serving.
1. Education
Myth
Some of you think that you cannot serve because you do not have a degree in
ministry or more than that you donÕt even know the Bible like you should. Very few of us know the Bible like we
would like to know it. You do not
need an advanced degree to serve.
You just need to walk through the open door. You just need to be willing to ÒGO.Ó
When a person accepts Christ as their Lord and Savior, he gives them a
gift, a spiritual gift. Listen to
1 Corinthians 12:7.
1 Corinthians 12:7
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
LetÕs drop down a few
verses.
1 Corinthians 12:27
All of you together are ChristÕs body, and each of you is a part of it.
We are called to help
each other. Everyone is
necessary. If you are not using
your spiritual gifts, then something is not getting done. You cannot live on the fact that you
donÕt know enough.
When
God called me to start this church, I was twenty-six years old. I had never pastored a church
before. I did not know what I was
doing. I was willing to ÒgoÓ. Along the way, I have made a
number of mistakes. ItÕs not about
what you know; itÕs about stepping
out in faith. ItÕs about walking
through the open door.
Some
of you need to do something. Get
involved. I donÕt know where, but
talk to our Director of Connections, Dorna Adams. Stop by a table in the Atrium. Talk to my wife Patty. She is heading up a Christmas Tree lot for the Youth
Ministry. You do not need a
horticultural degree to help her É just a willingness to be nice to people and
extend some Christmas cheer. Next,
we have the age myth.
2. Age Myth
Some
of you think that you too old;
some of you think that you are too young. Think about David in the Old Testament. David was only a teenager when he
stepped through the opened door and faced Goliath. Some of you are saying, ÒI am just a college student. When I
get out of college, IÕll serve.Ó
No, God has you right where you are to be his hands extended. You are not given a free pass because
you are in college.
By
the time I was twenty years old, I had preached in twenty states. Let me be honest, I did not speak at
very many churches like Stevens Creek.
I spoke at small churches.
I just walked through the doors that God opened. You must do the same.
Some
of you are saying, ÒIÕm too old.Ó
Moses was 80 years old when he led the Children of Israel out of
Egypt. One of the members of our
building committee is Larry Hannon.
He is 75 and he refuses to retire from serving Christ and this church.
You are not too old to be used by God.
ItÕs not GodÕs will for you to move to Florida and collect sea
shells. He wants to use you to
make a difference in his church.
Some
of you are saying, ÒBut Sunday is my only day off.Ó If you are that busy, then Sunday is not your problem. You have deeper issues. Through the years, I have learned
this about scheduling: People do
what they want to do.
WhatÕs another myth?
3. Comparison
Some
people refuse to ÒgoÓ through the open door because they have their eyes on
someone else instead of on Christ.
You need to be who you are and not try to be someone else. God created you to be you. You are not created to be Billy Graham
or Mother Teresa or James Dobson.
You have been designed by God to do what you have been gifted to do.
Too
many people say ÒI canÕt sing like ToddÓ so I am not going to do anything. Do something. I canÕt sing like Todd. Some of you are shower singers. Well, I am a prison singer É. Behind a
few bars and lost the key.
DonÕt
compare yourselves with other people.
Paul wrote:
2 Corinthians 10:12
É When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
You have to be who God called you to be. You have to use the gifts that He has given you.
1 Peter 4:10 (NLT)
God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you.
When we use our gifts, when we allow GodÕs generosity to flow through us, then we have a sense deep inside that says, ÒI was made for this.Ó ThereÕs nothing like knowing that God has used you to encourage someone along the way.
It is important for all of us to remember that every member is a minister. All of us are in the ministry. Ministry simply means using your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality and experiences to help somebody else. Any time you do this in the name of Christ, you are ministering. Every member of this church is a minister. Everyone of us is called to serve.
Yet
some of us choose not to serve. We
think that we are not smart enough, we are not old enough or we are not
talented enough to serve. Some of
us take it to another level. We
think that we are too good to serve.
4.
Too good to serve
Some of you are
thinking É. I know where this is going.
They want me in the nursery changing diapers. I am not doing it. I know where this is going. They want me out in the parking lot smiling at people. I ainÕt smiling at nobody. They want me to clean this place
up. They want me to paint. I am not doing it.
Some people have the
attitude: ÒObviously Marty, you
donÕt know who I am.Ó I am
qualified to teach multiple Bible studies. Obviously you donÕt know the positions that I have held in
past churches. You just donÕt
understand.
You
are right. I donÕt. God is not impressed. You know what impresses God? Serving. There is a story in John 13. Jesus is there with his disciples and obviously a mistake
had been made. No one had hired
someone to come in and wash their feet.
This was a custom in those days.
They wore sandals and walked dusty roads so it was a custom to have
someone wash feet. Jesus
bent down and washed their feet.
The one who made their feet washed their feet. Jesus did that as a model. This story teaches us that if we want to be like Christ,
then we must serve one another.
The
way that we will win our community to Christ is not by condemming them or by
telling them how bad they are. We
will win them by serving them and loving them.
I
believe that next week there is going to be a single mom pull in our parking
lot. SheÕs got two kids. She has
not heard from God in over a year.
She is going to walk up our sidewalk and people are going to smile at
her and greet her and call her a name other than ÒMommyÓ. SheÕs going to find her identity.
She
is going to go to the nursery and one of our volunteers will say, ÒWe are going
to take care of your child today.
You wonÕt have to worry about anything.Ó She is going to walk into a clean auditorium. She is going to be greeted and shown
where to sit. She is going to
listen to a band play. She is going to listen to a message and God is going to
speak to her. ItÕs all of us
bonding together to serve her and wash her feet and that is going to bring her
to Christ.
Next
week there is going to be a married couple walked down these aisles. Their marriage is on the rocks. TheyÕve looked at each other and said, ÒLetÕs
give God a chance to heal our marriage.Ó
They are going to walk in and we are going to greet them, love them, we
are going to take care of their kids.
We are going to do everything we can to wash their feet. God is going to
put that marriage back together. God is going to do an incredible thing because
we were willing to wash their feet.
Let
me ask you a question: Are you too
good for that? Then, who are
you? Are you better than
Jesus? If we are going to reach
this community then we must learn how to wash feet. We do that by serving.
Today
God is calling you to serve. He is
calling you to walk through the open door. WhatÕs your response?
Are you willing?
For some of you, itÕs time to pray, ÒLord, open the door.
Make a way where there seems to be no way.Ó Some of you have been in the same place doing the same thing
for month after month. You are not
making any progress. ItÕs time to
do something different. ItÕs time
to pray: Lord, open the door.
Matthew 7:7
"Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
ItÕs
time to ask God. It time to seek
His face. It is time to knock and
allow Him to open the door.
For many
of us, it is just time to go. We
have prayed enough. Now, it is
time to walk through the doors that are already opened. God has provided you with
opportunities that you have never embraced. You have a calling on your life and you have used every
excuse possible to get around that calling.
You have
been called to serve Christ and His Church, but you have bought into the myths.
God
has placed in this congregation people with great resources. We have been given
talents, gifts and special abilities. Now we use what we have been given. It is time to obey his promptings. I believe
today that God is going to tap some of you on the shoulder and say, ÒI have called you to live a new kind of
life. I have called to get in the race. I have called you to make a difference.Ó
God is saying, ÒGO!Ó
Walk through the open door. Some of you are saying, ÒWhy?Ó Why do I have to serve? I want to answer that question, but it
will take me a moment. IÕd like you to do something first, if you would.
Take out
your wallet or your purse. IÕm not going to ask for an offering for the
building campaign, so donÕt worry about that. In addition to money and cards,
people often have pictures in their wallets. Would you show those pictures to
the person next to you and tell them why you carry them around? OK.
Now, look
at your picture for a moment. Do you have anyone in those pictures about whose
spiritual life you have concerns? Is anybody in one of those pictures at a
point where things are sort of shaky between them and God?
If you
do, IÕll tell you something. You hope that somebody in this world will care for
that person. You hope that somebody in their world is going to notice them and
pray for them and do something to reach out to them.
You hope
somebody will stand near the door for that person. You hope that some church,
some place in their world is not content that things are going OK, but that
they will be creative, and they will have compassion, and they will be
generous, and they will take risks, and they will help that person that you
love find the door to God.
Why is serving important? Because everybody
that you see, is someoneÕs son or daughter. Behind every door that you drive
past this week lives a person for whom Jesus died—a person who
faces an eternal destiny of Heaven or Hell—and the Crucified One that we
serve still comes to every heart and says,
Revelation 3:20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my
voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
The most tremendous thing in the
world is for people to find that door—the door to God.
ThatÕs why we are here. ThatÕs why we serve.
ThatÕs why we give.
Closing thoughts and prayer.