Resonate, what up? Good to see you. My name is Chris. If I don't know you, I'm a
side pastor here at the WSU venue of our church, and man, I get to do something
this morning that I think is one of the things that brings me the most life out
of anything that I've ever done, and that is to preach to you out of the Bible
and let's go together into Scripture to hear what God has to say to us this
morning. So as Brian said, we're walking through this sermon series called Blur.
Week one, we heard about the Imago Day, this Latin word that means in the image
of God, and specifically that we as humans were created in the image of God.
Week two, we heard about men and said, hey, Godly masculinity does this. These
three things are done for the glory of God. Protect, lead, and provide for the
glory of God. In week three, which was last week, we heard about Godly
femininity, and what does it mean to be a Godly woman? And that Godly women nurture
their relational and their beautiful, adorned with good works for the glory of
God. And so what I'm excited to do today is to break this down and to ask the
question, if that's what men and women do, why? Why is it that God asks us to do
these things in Scripture? If he says, do these things, men, do these things, women,
for what purpose do we do those things? And so if you've ever asked the question,
what is my purpose? If you've ever asked the question, why am I here? If you've
ever asked the question, God, why have you created me like this? I want us to be
able to look into Scripture today and answer those questions. And I'm really
excited about this, honestly. As Brian said earlier, Josh and Keith, our
executive pastors, are overseas in Asia looking at a potential resonate church
plant overseas, which is really, really exciting. And so I get to be here and say
some stuff to you that I wouldn't normally say if the pastors were here. So
you guys are on with me. But hey, in order to do this, I think that it
is important for us specifically to see ourselves the way that God sees us. So
before we ask the question, God, what is your purpose for me? I want us to ask the
question, God, how do you see me? So let's look at how we're wired specifically
and then allow that to push us forward to look at what God has purpose us to do,
okay? So this morning, what we're gonna do is look at how God sees us and allow
that not only to push us forward towards his purpose for us, but also to
reflect on who God is and see us being created in humanity as a reflection of
who God is, okay? So we look at characteristics of ourselves that
reflect God. Literally, the artist, the creator God, we're gonna look at those
things for ourselves. So if you would turn with me to, in your scripture, to
Psalm chapter 139, if you don't have a copy of scripture with you, you can look
up on the screen. We'll have it behind us. Psalm 139. There's a couple of
questions that we have to ask ourselves. And then the first thing that I want to
say to us as we turn to Psalm 139 is that we must see ourselves the way that
God sees us. And so in order to do that, the first thing that we must understand
about ourself is that God has designed you intentionally. And we see this in
Psalm 139. So if you're a note taker, I'm right there with you. Psalm 139,
verses 13 through 16, say this, for you form my inward parts, you knitted me
together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. My frame was not
hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths
of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance and your book were written all
the days of my life, every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as
yet there were none of them. I want us to go on a journey really quick and
imagine that God before the foundations of the earth is creating you. Okay? And I
want us to imagine before there's anything in the world that we're standing
in the room with God as he's creating us. Okay? He's got you in his hand and he's
looking at you. Okay? Now we can imagine what this might look like. Maybe you're a
fly on the wall. There wasn't flies back then. But if you're a fly on the wall
metaphorically speaking and you're watching God hold you in his hand going
to create you intentionally. This is difficult for us to think about because I
think that we tend to see God as assembly line God. We tend to see God as
mass producing God and we don't tend to see God as intricately woven designing
us God. We tend to see him as the Walmart God where you can go and buy things in
bulk, the Costco God, and we don't tend to see him in the way that I think he
wants us to see him which is the Etsy God. You guys ever buy anything off Etsy?
Okay, when you buy something off Etsy you know that someone's sitting down
hand-making that thing. They're putting their blood, sweat, and tears into it.
It takes a month and a half to get shipped to you. But when it comes to your
house you are stoked about that thing because you know somebody worked
really hard on it. And so I want us to imagine God looking at us as he is
creating us intentionally. Like he's got a blueprint. Psalm 139 says that all of
the days of your life were known and numbered and written in his book before
anyone came to be. So imagine this before your parents met each other God
knew about your life. Before your parents were born God knew about your life.
Before your grandparents came together were born he had your days written in
his book. Psalm says. So we see our gender, masculinity, femininity are designed
intentionally by God. Our body, the way we look and design intentionally by God.
Our personality, the way that we function in society is designed
intentionally by God. And can I just be the first to say this is difficult for
me to see personally. When I test, I test as introverted. You guys know what that is?
Introverted or extroverted? I heard extroverted. I was like is that when the
bones are on the outside of your body? I didn't take geometry or whatever that
class is. It's exoskeleton I think. Not exoskeleton, not extroverted. And how
many of you are extroverted in the room? You guys know? Pretty good chunk of you.
Okay, can I just say this? Before the earth was created God existed in
the community. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Together in
eternity passed forever. If that's not extroverted God, I don't know what is.
God is an extrovert, okay? And he's formed you with specific qualities that
mirror who he is. And it's difficult for me sometimes to see my introverted
self and I go man how come I cannot stay around the party for four hours like
everybody else? And what I've failed to see in my past is that God uniquely and
intentionally designed me as well to reflect his glory. When you see in
Scripture, Jesus comes into human history, you see him to kick off his
ministry, goes and spends 40 days by himself in the wilderness. If that's not
introverted, I don't know what is. Jesus was an introverted person and what we
can see from God is he has characteristics that he gives to each
person intentionally. So he wants to use your gender and he wants to use the way
that you look and he wants to use your personality for his glory. You guys with
me? The second thing that we must know about God designing us comes from
Romans chapter 12 verses 6 through 8. So if you would journey with me to Romans
12, 6 through 8. The second thing we have to know is that God has gifted you
uniquely. God has gifted you uniquely. We see this in verse 6. Having gifts that
differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy and
proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his
teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in
his generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with
cheerfulness. God has gifted you with certain things that he desires to be
used for his glory. And these are beyond your gender and your personality and the
way that you look. These are your passions. These are your burdens. These are your
stories. I think there's a great fallacy in the church nowadays that says that if
we imagine God sitting down at a table creating us, that he's going to give us
certain things to use for his glory. And the great fallacy of the church is
this, that once you come into a relationship with him in your lifetime,
that he asks you to put those things down and live a passionless life. I don't
think that's true. In fact, Jesus in John 10-10 says that he came to give you life
to the fullest. So there's a problem with the church nowadays that we have
this idea that once you come to know Jesus in a relationship with him, you're
supposed to stop doing every single thing that you did before and live a
boring, mediocre life only given to God. And the truth is that your life you're
supposed to live is only given to God. That is absolutely correct, but he does
not desire you to lay down the passions that he has specifically gifted you
with when you come into a relationship with him. And that's the truth. We see
this all over scripture. Your passions, your burdens, your story. Can I ask you
what is it that burdens you? What is it that specifically burdens you? Did you
know that's a gift from God? Like what is it that breaks your heart when you see
broken families? Does that break your heart? When you see assaults, does that
break your heart? When you see children who don't have parents, does that break
your heart? What's your burden for specifically is a gift that God has
given you. I have family members who have a specific burden for the elderly. Okay,
like they open up legit like old folks home so that the elderly can come and
sit with them and be taken care of by my family members. Like people who are on
hospice, you know hospice is like given six months or less to live. I have family
members who take those people in and say, my burden for you, the gift that God has
given me is that I would take care of you as you're about to pass away. And I look
at that person, I go, man, that is a gift that God has given you. I don't think he's
given me the same gift. I think he's given me the gift for college students. Like
I have a burden for college students, but I don't know if I yet have the burden
for the elderly like some of my family, some of my family does. So what is it
that burdens you? Do you see that as a gift from God? And finally your story is a
gift from God. Like imagine God sitting down with you in his hand saying, I know
all the days of this person's life and I'm going to allow him to walk in the
days that I want him to walk in so that his story specifically can be used, his
story specifically can be used as a gift. I think some of you guys have
experienced this, even from what I've heard about the women's retreat yesterday.
Some of us in this church are now starting to understand that our story is a
powerful, powerful gift given to us by God. And he desires for us to walk in that
and he has gifted us uniquely. And I think the last thing that we must
understand about the way that God has wired us and designs us comes from 1st
Corinthians chapter 12 verses 12 through 14. I'm going through it fast I know so
it's up on the screen. But it says this, just as the body though one has many
parts but all of its many parts form one body so it is with Christ for we were
all baptized into one spirit so as to form one body whether Jews or Gentiles
slave or free we were all given to one spirit to drink even so the body is not
made up of one part but of many. And if you go down to verse 27 Paul says this
in 1st Corinthians now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part
of it. So what we see from 1st Corinthians 12 is that God has purposed
you corporately. He has purposed you to be around people. I have this
conversation with people all the time where they go I love Jesus and I read
my Bible and I pray I just don't like church and I don't like organized
religion and so I practice my religion on my own and I think that that is a
terrible understanding of who God has created us to be. Like on a soul level
we were not created to be able to do it on our own. That's why we're not both
introverted and extroverted. That's why we're not both thinkers and
feelers. That's why we can't all do our taxes and play basketball. I fall in
neither of those actually. So I need people around me to help me with those
things. The truth is when Jesus comes to earth one of the reasons that he does is
for relationship. Like because there's a fractured relationship he comes into
human history and allows humanity to be reunited with God in relationship we
were created for relationship. Not only with God though with our brothers and
sisters in Christ and this is seen in 1st Corinthians 12 verses 12 through 14.
And I think it's funky as well that that it's difficult for us to see that God
has created us and to accept that the way that he has created us but then when
it comes to asking others to help with our shortcomings and our problems we go
no I don't want that. It's defilement. I'm not sure that that's how God created us.
In fact all of scripture and the character of God himself living in
community with the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit would point to the fact
that we made in his image were designed for community with others. We're designed
for it. I was I was thinking about the way that God has uniquely equipped each one
of us and I thought we're kind of like snowflakes. Every snowflake is like an
individual design and it falls. Remember in like third grade you cut off the
snowflake your teacher's like oh it's so nice didn't actually look really nice
like a square not actually a snowflake that was me. But the snowflake analogy
you're a beautiful snowflake and it's absolutely true you are unique. God has
purposed you specifically uniquely gifted you intentionally designed you but
one snowflake falling does absolutely nothing. I don't put on my coat when I
see a snowflake fall or when I see a snowflake hit my windshield. You know what
I'd put on my coat for? A blizzard. A blizzard. When snow comes together in mass
quantities it is powerful and it's the same exact analogy with the body of
Christ. Paul uses the analogy of the human body working together but imagine
one snowflake trying to make a difference is much much more powerful in
blizzard conditions. I have some friends who are saying with me and my roommates
this weekend who are from West Texas they were telling me a story last night
by the way right now West Texas is getting like record numbers of like
basically Louisiana is getting massive snowfall schools are shutting down
roads are closed they don't have snow plows there don't know what to do it was
cool for like three days now it sucks. And they're telling me this story about
my friend Brian is telling me this story about when him and his friend Billy went
to drive to Colorado to experience snow and on their way back drove through the
western part of Texas and had never been through that part before and
experienced a blizzard and it shook them up because they had never
experienced the power of a blizzard like that and they didn't expect it so they
were wearing shorts and a t-shirt and it's like massive snowfall they're
driving for 10 hours 20 miles an hour and they get to this hotel and they're
freezing and they walk up to the clerk say hey can we have a room and it turns
out the next morning they go out to their car and their tires are frozen to the
ground it's difficult for them to move their car because it's incredibly cold
and because it was massive snowfall and that does not happen from one snowflake
and I want you guys to know this yes you are very unique yes you are very
beautiful design in God's image but he did not intend for you to be falling by
yourself he intended you to be part of the movement of the church and that's
why we gather here that's why Resonate Church is here to be a part of this so
I want us today to to stand in awe of the way that God has designed us because I
do truly believe that when an artist creates something beautiful it's a
reflection of the artist I do truly believe that we
can stand and say that we are uniquely designed because God had the desire to
design us uniquely and so we see the way we design
reflects God's wonder we reflect God's love reflects
his glory and I hope that we stand in awe and wonder of God and say you have
created us so beautifully and therefore we understand
something more about your character and your beauty
there's a quote by potentially the the greatest artist to ever walk the earth
Kanye West I'm just playing it's by Michelangelo
different time period but Michelangelo says that the true work of art
is but a shadow of the divine perfection the true work of art is but a shadow of
the divine perfection and here's what Michelangelo
understands and this is this is kind of theological so if you guys like theology
you'll be tracking with me for this but Michelangelo understands
that the divine the divine design of us as humans
is but a shadow of God's divinity the divine perfection
is gifted to us but it's but it's not gifted in full
okay the truth is right now if you were to think back two weeks ago to the
manhood sermon or last week to the womanhood sermon
you'll hear that at the end of those things that men and women do
it's for the glory of God okay but I need to tell you this
simply because we are created in the Imago day the image of God
Latin word does not mean that we are able to give God
the fullest glory a day which is the glory of God simply because we are
designed in the image of God does not mean that we are able
to give God his full glory okay we see that amongst the world right now
broken world in fact one of the greatest tragedies
the greatest tragedy of all time is that we as humans were created in the image
of God but deny him the glory that he deserves
we were created in his glorious image but deny him
the glory and so Michael Michelangelo understands
is this that the truth is we are not perfect
but God is most glorified in perfection
God is most glorified in perfection so I want to dive
back into scripture for this and let you know that in the very beginning as
God is creating the world he looks at his creation
he sees Adam and he sees Eve and he sees everything he's created says it is
very good why is it very good because it's perfect
God doesn't call anything good that's not perfect news flash
if you are not perfect God does not use the word good for you
we look in scripture in the baptism of Jesus
in the very beginning of his ministry God comes down from heaven
the voice booms from heaven the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus
and he says this is my son in whom I am well pleased why does he say well
pleased because Jesus is perfect and Jesus himself in Matthew 548 says this
quote be perfect for my father in heaven is perfect
what Jesus calling us all to live perfect lives
is impossible how are we supposed to follow up with that
Jesus the example of somebody made in the image of God check this out
Jesus when he comes into humanity comes as a man
man we learned in Genesis chapter 127 is created in the image of God therefore
Jesus comes into humanity in the image of God right
what he does with this whole life is point glory to God
how he's perfect Jesus points glory to God
because he's perfect and he understands something about our fallen sinful
humanity that is so captivating that is the
emago day is not directly correlated with the glory of day it's unfortunate
but it's the truth there must be something in the middle what is in the
middle at ties emago day to glory a day that thing is called the missio day
it's a latin word and i'm going to define it for you the missio day
the mission of God to bring justice and salvation to the world
through the collective effort of his people Jesus and the church
to bring him glory forever it's a lot to write down i'm gonna say it again
the missio day is the mission of God to bring justice and salvation to the
world through the collective effort of his people
Jesus and the church to bring him glory forever
the missio day means the mission of God Jesus
is able to glorify God being made in God's image
because he is a part of God's mission therefore there must be correlation
between the emago day and the missio day in order to lead to the glory of day
okay we ask any christian in the world right now the majority of them if you
ask him this question why did Jesus come to earth
they'll say something like this um Jesus came to die for sin
and so that we can be reunited with with God in a relationship so that we
could spend eternity with God forever in heaven is that true
absolutely 100 true but that is not the only reason
that Jesus came to earth his only purpose for coming to earth was not so
that we could be united with God forever in eternity in heaven
Jesus came to earth to demolish to annihilate
sin so that sin no longer has to reign in us as the body of christ and when
that happens there is perfection given to us
what happens when there's no sin there's perfection so Jesus comes to eliminate
sin so that he can make imperfect perfect so that
the people of God can finally give glory to God after being
created in God's image guys you guys with me that makes sense
Jesus comes to make imperfect perfect the missio day
is making imperfect perfect Jesus does it perfectly
and so here's what i want us to do as people who are created in the image of
God who want to give glory to God who do we look to as the example
of being able to do those two things Jesus how does he do it he goes on the
missio day on the mission of God for him it looked like this walking around the
earth telling people repent of your sin the
the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel he goes and he
dies and he says i am the way and the truth and the life
so the mission of God for Jesus was to die for sin
the mission of God for the church is to tell people about Jesus who died for
sin therefore the church is God's current greatest
redemptive work in the world that the mission of the church is to be
the greatest weapon that God has in order for to tell people
about the imperfection that can be made perfect through Christ
and that is what he calls us to do as the church
without the missio day and being involved in it the glory of your life
is brought unto yourself if if we are not aligned with what
God is doing in history and his desire to bring
all of creation all of humanity back to him in relationship
and to do that through the church telling people
about the ability of that through Christ if we are not aligned with that
then the glory of our lives is not given to God the glory of our lives is
given to ourselves and this is why you can have
a male who leads walks in front who protects
learns MMA and provides by by making 50 to 80 to a hundred
thousand dollars a year and he is not a man of God
because the missio day is missing and something is
a great chasm is in between his image of the
the glory of bearing the image of God and actually giving God glory there's no
mission there so i want to encourage us with this
church on the top of my notes this may seem funny on the top of my notes
i have written encourage the church you're like man how is this encouraging
this sounds like i'm getting beat up i don't want a spiritual broken rib
this morning i want us to be i want us to be encouraged to this
and because of this i think the the amago day ties in here
we are perfectly designed for the mission of God
we are perfectly designed for the missio day so God sitting in eternity past
looking at you and i he's going okay story perfect for the mission
okay the way this person looks perfect for the mission
the gender perfect for the mission i'm outfitting this person
exactly with what they need to be specifically used
designed intentionally for my mission so that
when they understand the gospel so that when they come into a relationship with
me they can be sent out in mission
they can be sent out in mission God's plan for your life
is to join the missio day and church we are the primary vehicle
for the mission of God we are the primary vehicle
for the mission of God i was i was doing some uh some research
and and asking some of my friends who are in rotc about
what does it look like to be perfectly equipped and outfitted for mission
okay and i came across this this is from one of the army websites that says this
today troops in iraq and afghanistan are outfitted with
advanced armor and other protection including high-tech vests
anti ballistic eyewear earplugs fire retardant gloves night
vision eyewear thermal weapon sights and other gear that makes them more
deadly to the adversary that's pretty sweet all in all soldiers today
each are packing more than 80 items weighing about 75 pounds
from socks to disposable handcuffs to strap cutters for slashing open a seat
belt if they have to flee a burning vehicle
and we look at the way that america's outfitted our soldiers
and we somehow don't realize that god has done the exact same thing for us
exactly everything that we need to be used powerfully for
his mission he has given to us the intentional design the unique
gifting and the corporate purpose all come together
in christ when he says go and make disciples of all nations
and he tells us to do it as a part of the body of the church
so man when you hear uh lead protect provide for the glory of god
i want you to think lead protect provide in the missio day
which leads to the glory of god there's a mission there women when you hear
be beautiful be nurturing be relational for the glory of god i want you to hear
that in the missio day for the glory of god because if you miss
the mission that jesus is doing if you miss the work that the holy spirit
has been doing for all of history if you miss
god's grand plan to save all people and bring all people back to himself
then we miss giving god his fullness of glory that he deserves
we miss it
so so how does this actually happen church how do we actually
actually live our lives so that god is brought glory
you live life for the glory of god by exercising your giftings missionally
where there is a need as a part of the church
you live your life for the glory of god by exercising your giftings missionally
where there's a need as a part of the church
if we think about what has god specifically burdened us
passioned us for and then we ask the question where is the need
and we use what he has gifted us with those burdens and those passions
in the place where there's a need for the sake of mission we have then
given glory to god when we are a part of the church doing it corporately
we're doing it that's what god calls us to exercise your passions
your giftings missionally where there is a need as a part of the church
for the glory of god but but here's what this means uh
and here's what it takes in in light of our beautiful design we have to be able
to lay that design down in light of our snowflake type
personality and looks and giftings we have to be willing to lay those things
down and say i'm not more self-consumed with the
fact that i am made this way than i am god consumed with the fact that i am
made this way we have to be willing to lay those
things down so let me ask you the question what are you passionate about
what is it that gives you life what is it is it basketball
is it cooking baking styling hair what is it that you are passionate about
please church see that as a gift from god and please church use that as a part
of the mission of god to bring people back to him
please this is the blur in society this is where it gets blurry
where we lay things down even as a part of of the church society we lay down
the things we're passionate about and say those are not mature things so we're
not going to do those things anymore i would say if you have a passion and a
desire to do something that is not sinful do it for the glory of god
do it missionally for the glory of god
what are you passionate about find your passion
find somewhere that there's a need and then do what you're passionate about
missionally as a part of the church so some some of you guys are like
i understand what i like to do i'm not sure where there's the need
where's the need chris so glad you asked
freshman okay society tells you freshman this is the year to gain 25 i did it
myself society tells you this is the year to gain 25
to throw uh throw away everything that you had coming
in from the high school and to live this year as if this is a standalone year
and it doesn't roll over into next year but freshman i want to i want to address
you specifically this is not the year for you guys to lay down and die
this is not the year for you to come to the end and go man i have so many
regrets about everything i did this year freshman can i invite you into the
missio day that god has already invited you into
like like can i can i stress the fact that there are 3974 freshmen on our
campus living in 23 residence halls can i stress that fact that you are
surrounded by the need and you have a gifting that god
wants you to use in that need
Greeks 1603 men in 24 fraternities greek women 1846 women in 14 sororities
there is a grave need around us church
grave need and we have been perfectly outfitted to suit that need athletes
400 plus athletes across 15 sports teams so many people
so many people that god is saying i love those people
i love him and i've perfectly equipped you to be towards them
so how's this encouraging this is encouraging because we're plan a
like when god thought about 2014 15 at wsu in polman washington he thought
about a resonate church and he thought about you
like like he was thinking about you when he placed you in the time and history
that you're at in the place that you're at some of you are like i can't believe
i came to wsu i shouldn't have gone here i told my family i never would
somehow i ended up here and it might be by coincidence i would go no
that's not coincidence the days of your life were written in the book
before any of them came to pass song 139 says you are here to be a part to take
part in the missio day can i tell you that resonate is
planning churches across the west coast and college campuses and
potentially across the world because we don't want to be a church that doesn't
take part in the missio day like there are people who are
literally going to graduate from their majors and say i'm going to lay aside
all of the money that i could make and i'm going to move with a church plant
because i believe that my life give god gives god the most glory when i'm
living my life on mission to do what i'm passionate about where there is a need
guys there was a need at central washington university so you know we
did plan a church there there's a need in wsu in polman you know we did plan a
church there at university of Idaho there was a need
what do we do plan a church there it's what we're passionate about we're doing
it as a part of the church it's for god's glory no questions asked
no questions asked
so i want to ask can we reject the notion resonate
that we were saved by god in order to be in a relationship with him
forever and live mediocre passionless lives in the meantime
can we completely reject that notion that god wants us to live the fullest
life when the fullest life is a life on mission
i want us to embrace that holy as a church i want us to embrace that holy as
our site in your villages and specifically you
i think some of us are going man that's for the person sitting next to me no
no you were planned a for god at wsu you were planned
a for god wherever you're at that's his desire for you
so i'm gonna ask you to uh to text your village leader i want you to text your
village leader um what you are passionate about
and i want you to text him or her where you see the need
what are you passionate about and where do you see the need
and if you're not in a village i would love to connect with you after service
and get you connected in the village because i think that that is the first
step to the corporate church on mission for your life
so i'm gonna invite the band back up in just a second
but uh i want to end by by letting you know about something that happened in my
life uh last year um actually started two years ago i i met
um uh a kid who was coming to wsu as a freshman
um at the alive program so uh so in the summertime
we uh had some people from resonate stay back
and uh and connect with students who are here for a live and and we met a kid
whose name was kyle and uh and kyle um was an interesting
unique kid kyle uh likes engineering and he likes
math and he likes um video games and board games and card games
and kyle is awesome so awesome some of you guys know kyle
we met him at a live and at that's this point in time in his life he did not
have a relationship with god he did not know jesus he did not believe
in christ and some things happened in his life where he met some people
who ended up sharing the gospel with him and at some point he made this grave
decision that for the rest of his life he was going to live his life for god's
glory this happened first semester of last year
okay um fast forward to spring break of last year kyle and i found
ourselves on the same spring break mission trip
okay and this mission trip was a regional mission trip that was that was
going around the northwest to find a campus on which to plant
a church why passionate about planting churches passionate about christ
want to be involved in the missio day want to do it as a part of the church
want to be used for the glory of god let's do it all of the checkmarks are
there kyle and i found ourselves in the same place
for this week kyle is a freshman like when i say fresh
i mean like four month old believer and i am like four and a half year old
believer at this point and and we're sitting together we're dialoguing about
this trip and uh and i need to confess to you some
some sinful parts of my heart he's telling me what he likes to do
and in my heart i go aren't you beyond that point like like haven't you
graduated from playing video games is that not something that it four months
old into a relationship with christ that you
have put aside are you not done with that yet
and uh and for the rest of the week i remember
speaking with kyle and and him telling me a story later on
about how um he had met some people in the circ which is the
the central washington version of the cub who uh who enjoyed video games
and who enjoyed playing card games and uh and he
ended up making friends with these people over the fact that they shared the
same passion for video games okay not only this
they invite him to a LAN party i don't know if you know what a LAN party is
it's a you put all computers together and you play
and and it's it's it's great apparently never been to one
kyle gets to go to him because he's passionate about video games these guys
passionate about video games he understands the mission of god and i
remember hearing the story and going i have completely missed it god
i have completely missed it how am i so prideful to think that kyle must lay
aside his desire and his passions for what you have given him a specific
passion for which is not the same thing you're giving me a passion for but he's
using information and i'm gonna call him out for for not being mature
nah now kyle understood something that i didn't
understand he was four months old doing a relationship with christ and i was
four and a half years kyle understood he's passionate about
something he sees a need merges the two for mission
as a part of the church and glory is brought to god you guys know that there's
a church on central's campus right now i have to believe there's some gamers in
that congregation have to believe it 21 people
accepted christ last or this year so far 17 people baptized
two Sundays ago praise god the mission of god is being pushed forward by people
who are passionate about what he has gifted them with and kyle understood
that now kyle's a village leader in our church
now kyle makes disciples and now kyle has been a believer for a little bit more
than a year but he is killing it if you guys know kyle he's killing it
and he's reaching people who i personally could never reach because we don't
have the same affinities we don't have the same circles
god has given him a gift that he has not given me and he's using that for god's
glory
so let's take after kyle let's let's take after the people
who are willing to do what god has given them
where there's a need on mission with the church for his glory
i think this is encouraging to us and i hope that we see that god has
designed us specifically for this and if we miss this church
i'm afraid that we're missing a lot about our relationship with god and who he
wants us to be so i'm going to pray for us as a church
and i'm going to invite the band back up
heavenly father god i have to be uh
in awe of who you are lord in awe of the way that you have designed us
uniquely intricately specifically lord for your glory you have outfitted us
perfectly for the work that you would have us to do lord you have put us and
placed us in the place where you want us to be on
mission so lord i pray that you would open our
eyes to that this morning i pray that as a church we would have
our eyes open to the fact that we are plan a
and that the fullest life is given to us when we exercise what you have given us
for your glory lord allow us as a church to be the people who step out in
mission to tell people about christ who came to make
imperfect perfect again
heavenly father i pray that we would do this for your glory jesus
i pray that we would plant churches for your glory god i pray that villages
would expand and grow for your glory god i pray that people even here in this
room would get connected to the church body for your glory god
lord would you do these things because you're good and because you deserve it
lord and because our lives ultimately point to the fact that you are
a beautiful creator and a beautiful artist and a beautiful author
all for your glory god we pray these things in the name of your son jesus
amen
