Oasis Church | Acts: Generosity is a Must | EJ Brown | Sunday Service 05/05/2024

[Music] [Music] [Music] let's all stand up and praise the Lord this morning Hallelujah woo put your hands together for this one here we go [Music] everything that as breath praise the Lord praise the Lord let everything let everything that has breath that has breath praise the Lord praise the Lord praise the Lord I Praise In The Valley Praise on the mountain I praise when I'm sure praise when I'm doubting praise when I number praise when surrounded yeah cuz praise is the water my enemies drowned yeah as as I'm breathing got a reason [Music] to Lord oh my soul [Music] praise the Lord oh my soul I praise when I feel it and I praise when I don't I praise cuz I know you're still in control my praise is a weapon it's small sound my praise is to shout down Brea I've got a reason to praise the Lord oh my soul prise the Lord oh my soul I won't be quiet God is theive how could I keep me [Applause] [Music] my I praise cuz you're s praise cuz you rain praise cuz you Rose defeated the gra I praise cuz you're faithful praise cuz you're True Praise cuz there's nobody greater than you I praise you're Praise You Praise You R in defeated and Grave praise CU you're faithful praise CU you're True Praise CU there's nobody greater than you prise the Lord oh my soul praise the Lord oh my soul praise the Lord oh my soul PR the Lord my soul I won't be quiet my God is alive how could I keep it I won't be quiet I won't be quiet my god is how I keep it I won't be quiet I won't be quiet my god is how can I keep [Music] it Lord my soul that everything that has bre praise the Lord praise the Lord every let every day us prise the Lord praise the Lord praise the Lord praise the Lord yeah Hallelujah Hallelujah up [Music] amen praise the Lord y'all we all have a reason to praise the Lord don't we yeah okay if y'all don't have one let me tell you you have breath in your lungs right that's a reason to praise the Lord amen well welcome to O's Church y'all my name is Rachel I'm so glad that you decided to spend your Sunday morning with us we do not take it for granted and with that we are not going to waste your time okay all right if this is your first time here please fill out a connect card it's in the seatback pocket in front of you wait you're new here as well aren't you this is our friend this is our friend Valia she is from Texas y'all y'all y'all like that howdy she's a friend of ours from back in Texas I about to say back home that is not the truth from uh back in Texas she leads worship down there sometimes at the church we came from and when she said she was going to come visit us it was like a no-brainer for us to be like so you going to lead worship right so she's going to f out a connect card as well because this is her first time here right if you have smartphone please use the QR code that's also a thing if you have a prayer request if you want to serve with us write it on the connect card and connect with us we are all about connection here which means y'all saw the tables meaning there's pot lugs happening today okay that was some weak claps y'all I was like oh yes yes okay it's fine all right so on the count of three I want to know what y'all brought okay and if you ain't bring nothing just say your name cuz then you know you just brought yourself which is fine because we have plenty of food for you okay all right so on three you going to yell out what you what you made all right so we know when we get to the table who to blame all right y'all ready one two three okay that's not I heard chicken I heard cheesecake I made some peach cobbler you know we got some food out there okay so commune with your body all right sit with somebody you haven't met before talk about their week find out what they've been going going through find out what they've been up to okay there's plenty of food if you did not bring anything it is a okay you brought yourself and that is enough all right amen all right y'all y'all know y'all see the big bucket okay big bucket means we have baptisms today all right yeah I'm glad y'all clap more than more for that than the potluck okay if we have baptism I know some of y'all were like all right next time next time we going to do it I'm going to do a baptism next time I got it y'all a know today was going to be the next time though okay but we have already planned for you we have clothes in the back if you want to get baptized today just let somebody know that has a badge on and we can get you hooked up we got clothes already for you you can just change your clothes get baptized put your other clothes back in go to poilu Sunday eat some real real good food and then go about your day all right so like I said some of y'all was like next time I'mma do it today could be that day all right amen amen last announcement there are three ways of giving here at Oasis you can give online with the QR code you can give in the in person in the Box in the lobby or you can give online those are or you can give through the mail for our people that are online y'all got me um but before we get to worship let's pray father we just thank you for today God we thank you for the people that you are pricking at their hearts for baptism Lord the ones that you have already called forth God I thank you for courage I thank you for peace I Thank You For Love Lord I Thank you that you are here in this place you are welcome to do you you are welcome here Holy Spirit to have your way father I lift EJ to you father that he be a vessel for you that father he speaks only what you tell him to speak father we thank you that our that our hearts are open that our ears are open and that we are willing to hear from you today Lord we need you we do not want to just play church we don't want to just do Church Without You God but you have your way in this place we thank you for every person here Lord and every person that is on their way in Jesus name amen [Music] gave your life for M now to the Cross you CR all [Music] my reason for [Music] toy all praise to [Music] the praise to the one sa my life praise to Jesus Christ King of King for [Music] of my heart the wasart you hold gra cuz you away all praise to the Lord most high all praise to the one who sing my all praise to Jesus Christ the King of heaving forever all praise to the Lord most high all praise to the one who save my life All prise to Jesus Christ the King of Heaven the king forever [Music] my my my life my life lay it down hands up lay my life my whole life for you my LIF my hands I lay my whole life my whole life is for you I lift my hands and lay my whole life down my whole life down before you I LIF my hands I lay my whole life down my whole life now is for you all praise to the Lord all praise to the one God all praise to Jesus Christ the King of heav my king forever all praise to the Lord High all praise to the one who save my All prise to Jesus [Music] Christ my my before you I LIF my hands up my I my hold I down is for you my hands my all I come my all I come before [Music] you my whole life my whole life it's for you it's all for you [Music] [Music] praise praise to Jesus Christ of Heaven king forever praise to [Music] the praise to the say all praise to Jesus Christ Our King [Music] lift my hands up my life my [Music] life my up my life my life [Music] [Music] your and I just one sit here at your CGH up in this holy never oh I'm not here for [Music] bless Jesus you don't know [Music] me [Music] I [Music] I'm through the motions I'm I just sing another song and take me start [Music] I I'm I've with my I'm sorry I forgot you're enough take me start I up my heart are up up in the Pres of Jesus this [Music] morning your Fe [Music] in this holy never to never to I'm not here [Music] bless Jesus you don't anything more than anything I just you Jesus come on chur let that be our prayer [Music] tonight I just want you [Music] else I just want [Music] you else I just want you nothing else [Music] nothing else nothing else will do [Music] I El nothing else will do I just want you nothing else Jesus nothing else [Music] else I just nothing else nothing else nothing else will do I just want you nothing else nothing else nothing else will do just you nothing else nothing else nothing else will do I just want you [Music] [Applause] nothing nothing else nothing else [Applause] will nothing nothing else with I just want you [Music] nothing nothing for [Music] I just want you just you just you I just you I just want you just you just you I just this [Music] is I just you no one else but you I just want you I just [Music] you I just want you [Music] I [Music] you else CAU up in your presence I just to [Music] here up [Music] Jesus more than anything that you do I just want you I just want you you are worthy God you are worthy God you are worthy God you are worthy God it's all for you it's all for you cuz you are worthy God you are worthy God [Music] you are wory God you are worthy God it's all for you cuz you are worthy God you are worthy God for you [Music] cuz you are worthy God you are worthy God it's all for you it's all for you cuz you are worthy God you are worthy God it's all you it's all you you are worthy God you are [Music] worthy you are worthy God you are worthy [Music] God it's all for you Jesus you are worthy God you are worthy you wor you are worthy God you are worthy [Music] God you are worthy God you are worthy God [Music] oh night [Music] Day Day and Night night [Music] and and night day and night night and day day and night night and let sense day and night night and day let and night night and day let day and night night and day day and night night and day [Music] right day and night night and day [Music] let worthy of for from you are all things and to you are all you deserve the glory you're worthy you worthy Jesus you're worthy you worthy of it all oh from you are all things and to you are all things God you deserve the [Music] glory you [Music] worthy you you all you deserve the glory just of voices just of bir you worthy of it [Music] amen hallelujah hallelujah thank you Father father we just give you all the glory we give you all the honor we thank you for every single person that is here today Lord we thank you that it's not by might or power but it's by your spirit that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us we can't do the things that we want to do selfishly we can do the things that you've ordained us to do we know that your word says the steps of the righteous are ordered by you and that you perfect all which concerns us those who love you and are called according to your purposes father I just believe that every single person that is under the sound of my voice whether you be in person or online that you have a purpose for their life and that's why you sent your son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that in him we could experience life and life more abundantly and so father right now whoever is here today and maybe they've had a hard week and for the first time they're like yo I'm going to try church I pray right now father that this would be um they would see you they wouldn't see me they wouldn't see the worship team they wouldn't see the people through the doors but I do thank you that you've called us conduits and reflectors of you and so may we love people well not only in this building but in this city and in this country and in this world may you be the king of our hearts and May we die to self so that you can live your fullness in us we need you Jesus we can't do this without you may we decrease and you increase your presence in our life Yeshua you are so kind God may you be enough always and forever in Jesus name everyone said amen amen amen amen clap it up clap it up Yes Man shout out to the worship team y'all killed it man for real clap it up for them um yeah Valia thank you for coming and leading um yes as Rachel said this is one of our our homies in from Texas and just honored to have her here with us and so could you guys just give her a warm welcome again um and before you sit down I want you to talk to your neighbor and I just want you to uh ask what is your favorite soda if you don't drink soda what's your favorite juice and if you don't drink juice what's your favorite sparkling water all right [Music] BR all right kids kids you are now dismissed to your Bible study groups so kids you can go ahead and head out your leader uh Miss Nicola is waiting for you so kids you can go ahead and head to your Bible study groups what's up family what's up family well if this is your first time my name is EJ honored to serve as a lead Pastor here at Oasis Church and uh we're just glad that you're joining us us um we're glad that we have an opportunity to spend this Sunday with you um a key here at Oasis is that we want this place to feel like a family um often times you know we go to church and just kind of business as usual uh coming from the south you know it's kind of just like Sunday dinner you go to church and you just keep it pushing um but we don't want that we want to be a heartbeat for the city um not a bubble and so just honor that you would spend this Sunday with us I have a couple quick announcements yesterday we had our first Men's breakfast clap it up fellas yeah you uh the elders and I we were cooking I promise you I was cooking uh I just wasn't in the pictures um and it was a good time it was a good time of fellowship and uh I think we had over 30 men there so it's just a it's great to see what God is doing and uh if you weren't there this time don't worry uh we won't have it next this coming Saturday but we'll have it the Saturday after it' be just great time of fellowship and uh we talked about seeking the Lord and what it looks like as a man to seek God first in everything that we do um did you guys enjoy it fellas that were there uh the next thing I want to announce is uh typically I don't like doing stuff like this but um I felt like it was a pretty big accomplishment but I had the honor to disciple and Mentor uh a young man that has done very successful in the music industry specifically Christian music uh was signed to Toby Max record label at 16 and now he just signed a make major record label um deal with RCA and uh we've I've been mentoring discipling him for almost 10 years now and as he was playing me his album he just released we just were in the car we were in Nashville and um we just kind of felt like the Lord was moving and so we just his his message and his um songs and everything and so we were like hey we need to get together and create a devotional and so this last Friday we released a devotional on youu version the Bible app called sorry I changed and um and so if you would love to kind of hear some of his songs but also hear perspective on how to trust God through hardships in life and uh we have a five-day devotional uh that we released on Friday so you can go on uver Bible app and you can download that and I believe it'll be a blessing to you amen all right now to business uh as most of you you know we are in the series in the book of Acts and uh the first week I shared a message titled it is all about the kingdom and if you recall I Shar that the kingdom of God can be defined as God's Reign on the earth manifested through his sons and daughters the second week I spoke about prayer being essential to the kingdom of God and then we entered acts two which will close today and we journey through the falling the indwelling of the Holy Spirit falling upon the Believers that were of one Accord and one mind and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to pray in tongues while I believe the gift of tongues is from God this specific context was known languages for all the tribes that entered the building at that time there was over 900,000 people that were Jews that would come to Jerusalem at that time of Pentecost and Passover and they would they would uh worship together last week we were honored to have Pastor Ben everyone clap it up for him yeah yeah yeah yeah and he shared a message called repentance is a must and if you remember that repentance is acknowledging your sin changing the way that you think but then aligning yourself with everything that God has for you today we're going to close up Acts two with the message titled generosity is a must generosity is a must now I'm going to be honest I know what some of you guys are thinking here we are in another church and they asking about money right some of you but I want you to know that generosity goes beyond your money it's a posture of the heart it's a posture of the Mind notice my title is not giving money is a must it's generosity is a must and so as we dive into this message my ask is that we would not just hear generosity as money but that we would hear generosity is a posture of surrendering all that we have to the one that died on the cross for us because the father was generous in John 3:16 he so loved the world that he gave and anytime that I'm out and I'm I remember in 2020 when everyone was kind of hoarding groceries and toilet paper I don't understand but uh paper towels and water and bread I remember being in a line checking out and mind you at this time my wife Rachel had gotten laid off from her job I was only making $20,000 as a part-time young adult Pastor while going full-time to school my family and I survived covid on $20,000 y'all know that's crazy literally the first day that we were locked down our refrigerator goes out and the repair was $500 and guess what literally after we get the quote I see a text message Apple pay and one of my close friends sent me $500 generosity is a must I remember being in line at Walmart and I'm checking out and I hear the Holy Spirit I believe Say Hey I want you to pay for that person's groceries this is right at the time where everyone's trying to hoard and in that moment I said hey bro I want to take care of your groceries and if you guys were in the stores in those times it was crazy it was a mad house the cashier looked at me like something was wrong with me why would you do this and when I give people money specifically when I have an audience like this I said hey I want you to know that I didn't give because I wanted to give I gave because God so loved the world that he gave his greatest possession and whether we acknowledge it or not money is our greatest possession that's why the Bible says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil all kinds of evil we'll kill for it we'll sacrifice our relationships for it we won't get married for it we'll we'll live in sin for it because we don't want to compromise our money right all kinds of evil and I'm here to let you know today that generosity from God is sustainable but it's also impactful to those even Beyond yourself but when you give and you give with a joyful heart it does something in here amen and God said if he can trust you with a little he'll make you a ruler over much God please financially bless my family I just asked you to give a dollar to the guy that's on the road but you kept looking the other way and like I said this isn't all about money it's it's about a heart posture of generosity amen let me pray father thank you for today thank you that this is the day that you have made and because of that we will rejoice and be glad in it thank you Lord that you have called us to be generous a generous people a generous church because you were the most generous by giving your greatest possession your son Jesus and because you gave him we now have the opportunity to experience life and life more abundantly there are people out here that need the Jesus that we say we know so may we be a generous church with everything that you've given us that you've placed in our hands and may this city be impacted For Your Glory in Jesus name everyone said amen amen so we're going to pick up in Acts 2:42 and um you can go ahead and cut that off Dana um we were in acts one we see that in uh acts 18 that uh Jesus is saying you will be empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit right and uh you will be my witnesses to all Judea Samaria and all the ends of the Earth we see then that they're looking to Jesus he's ascending to heaven and the angels appear and say what are you doing go and wait for the coming Holy Spirit we see that they're on one one Accord one mind praying and seeking God for the gift of the holy spirit in Acts 2 that is fulfilled and when I T about that I talked about how God restored the Tower of Babel He restored the languages that now we can speak one language the language of Heaven that supersedes the Earthly languages so that we can be on one Accord and show the world around us what it means to walk in unity and then we see that Peter preached the message the same Peter that was cutting ears off the same Peter that denied Jesus three times was boldly speaking and people were baptized and saved and added to the kingdom and so right after that text in Acts 242 it says all the Believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to sharing in meals including the Lord's supper and to prayer now when we see this text what are four things we see the disciples doing in this moment talk talk to me teaching fellowship breaking bread Lord's Supper what else and prayer now I want to walk through each one of these things and and let you know why they are important you see teaching was very important in this aspect because these it says the Bible says 3,000 people came to the kingdom right we see in Acts 2 38-41 it says Peter replied each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the Forgiveness of your sins then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit This Promise is to you to your children and to those far away all who have been called by the Lord Our God then Peter continued preaching for a long time strongly urging all his listeners save yourselves from this crooked generation those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the the church that day about 3,000 in all why is this important family because when someone gives their life to Jesus they are now spiritual babes they are spiritual babes and in Ephesians 4:14 and 15 it says then we will no longer be immature like children we won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching we will not be influence when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth instead we will speak the truth in love growing in every way more and more like Christ who is the head of his body the church see the reason why teaching is so important is because there are so many different belief systems so many different ideologies so many different religions that tells you you can get to God any type of way but the truth is Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and no one can get to the father except through him see these Jewish believers they needed to know this so they realized that the Messiah they had been praying for for years and years and years that their Torah talked about had actually come and they've witnessed him and so now because they've witnessed him they're called to live like him you see it's not enough to just come and get in these Waters that's a starting that's a starting block but you still have to run the race my wife ran track in college and imagine if she got in the blocks and they they shot the gun and she just sat there well I showed up she's going to lose her scholarship girl why you ain't running but that's what a lot of us look like we get baptized we get saved and we stay in the blocks it's like yo I'm good I I did what I needed to do and then we don't want any life change or growth but as you are running it gets harder but we're supposed to train our bodies our spiritual bodies like a track athlete with endurance but you actually have to run the race to get in shape imagine that I'm in the blocks and I'm eating cheeseburgers that's what a lot of people are doing coming to church and then you wondering by the time you finally decide to get up and run the race you wonder why you out of shape that's right because you have not been getting the word and you have not been growing your endurance so you're finishing last every time but God does not call us to do that right he calls us to get in the race and run it and knowing that there going to be hurdles but there are people that run hurdles amen and he is our strength and so it's important that we get sound teaching it's important that we're not just coming to church on Sunday and that that's enough but it's that we're having people come alongside us disciple us invest in US teach us what the word of God says and while we are still growing as a church and things are changing this will be a church that makes disciples that make an impact and we're seeing it now amen I was on the plane to Memphis last week and I'm listening to podcast and this guy in the podcast he he shared how he he was watching a documentary on lions with his son and he said what was interesting to him is that when lions are lions are about to eat they Circle the attack that they're about to attack but it's not that they're looking for the weakest one they're looking for the one that is out of position and so my question to you is are you in position to receive what God has for you today the next thing we see is fellowship they were of one mind in community that's why we do the potluck that's why we have women's groups that's why we do these things and we have uh Men's breakfast is so that we can be of one mind on one Accord this is needed we have to commune we'll do fellowship with those who don't believe in Jesus but we need Christian Godly Community to create guardrails for us so we don't fall off the cliff of life amen Rachel if someone runs out of their Lane what happens they are disqualified if they drop the Baton what happens they're disqualified family we don't want to be disqualified in this race so we need our community amen the next thing that we see is they're sharing meals and taking the Lord's supper and so I wanted to stop down in this moment and take communion as we honor God for what he has done and so if you have communion go ahead and grab that thank you if you don't have communion raise your hand see communion wasn't was was a practice of of Passover we talked about it and what was God's plan and we talked about how Jesus was the Passover over lamb and so as they were as Believers new Believers taking communion it was to remember what Jesus had done for them and so Luke 22 if everyone could please stand let's honor God it says after taking the cup he gave thanks everyone say thank you Lord thank you Lord and he said take this and divide it among you for I tell you you will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes and he took the bread and he gave thanks everyone say thank you God thank you God everyone say thank you Jesus thank you Jesus and he broke it and he gave it to them saying this is my body given for you this would have been way more impactful for them than us because this is their culture and he was the Spotless lamb to remove their sins and he said do this in remembrance of me partake everyone say thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for our sins for it says in the same way after the supper he took the cup saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood which is poured out for you everyone say thank you Jesus thank you Jesus for shedding blooded BL for wiping away our sins for the washing of our sins you can partake father we thank you for what you have done for us and we thank you that in you we have life Jesus may we honor you every day may we realize the magnitude of what you've done for us every day not just at a communion time but may we continually partake in the Lord's Supper in reflection of what you've done in Jesus name amen everyone may be seated the next thing that we see they did was what I just did was prayer and if you remember in my message prayer is essential to the kingdom of God I said prayer on a macro level is communicating and listening to God but prayer on a micro level is bringing God your concerns worries Praises thoughts and yes even even your anger he can take it so that he in turn can restore realign remind and release his presence through you to his creation amen and so we see in Acts 242 they committed to teaching to Fellowship to sharing meals the Lord's supper and prayer and I don't know about you it's it's kind of dope how we get to partake in that too In This Moment doing the same same thing that they did right in this moment we have an opportunity to do that not just on Sunday but every day amen let's keep reading acts 2: 43-47 it says a deep sense of a came over them all and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders and all the Believers met together in one place and shared everything they had they sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need they worshiped together at the temple each day met in homes for the Lord's supper and shared their meals with great joy and generosity everyone say generosity generosity all the while praising God and enjoying the Good Will of all the people and each day the Lord added to their Fellowship those who were being saved saved while we don't see this specific um posture of church in the rest of the New Testament this is the starting block some churches will say hey we need to model it go back to the early church and be just like it but this was a specific time it was for a specific purpose I'm not saying go home today and sell your home sell your cars sell everything and serve God what I am saying is that we would have a heart posture that if God told us to do it we would willingly do it you see we live out generosity in two ways with our time and our resources so how can we be generous with our time well you have one here today our kids ministry by the grace of God is growing and we need more leaders to be honest my first uh Ministry job was with fourth and fifth graders at this church in Memphis and I remember when someone approached me about that I was like no I'm not going to babysit fourth and fifth graders I'm not I'm here to preach you know what I'm saying but what God did he said EJ if you can break down the gospel to fourth and fifth graders you can teach it to anybody and for the next three years I pastored those 150 fourth and fifth graders and we made a change in Memphis and so my challenge is to you we talk about the news and we talk about Society we talk about how much the the the the world is is forcing on our children do something about it don't talk about it be about it hey I just we can't watch this Disney and we can't do these things yeah that's cool but what are you doing about it you have an opportunity each week to disciple those children in those rooms we need children to be led by other people community that want to lead them to the things of God I'm aware that my daughter yells and it can be distracting I get it but you know why she's in here because we don't have enough volunteers I'm okay it doesn't affect my preaching I preached the fourth and fifth graders okay for three years but I know that there are some of you in in this room that are distracted when babies cry they're doing what they do to be honest we need to cry out as much as them to God but we need you guys to serve it's more than just in the kids it's in the coffee shop the hospitality uh opening the doors and welcome people the the booth to work slides and sound these are ways is that we can use our resources our gifts for the glory of God because there are people watching this service online there are people that are first entering these doors and they want to see what type of church is this can I bring my children do I feel welcome we all can be a part of that solution amen and maybe it's just not even in the church are you volunteering at your local food bank a local school I know one thing for me when I was in that fourth and fifth fifth grade Ministry there was a um a flag football team like a flag football league and I went and coached and I stayed with that team for the three years I was there and guess what those kids started coming to my Ministry I didn't come in say you need to come to my Ministry I just coached them in a way that they knew I cared and they desired then to come and be a part of the ministry that God was birthing so where can we be the hands and feet of Jesus and we don't have to come in with Bible scriptures the Bible is in us and the word is living through us so when people do ask why do you not respond with anger the way that others do why aren't you cussing out and gossiping about our boss it's because Jesus paid a price for me and he tells me to walk in longsuffering with self-control we're called to be Witnesses amen when we think of service opportunities we we can be generous with our time with our resources those things but ultimately it's about people that's why we serve because Jesus saw each one of us and so we're called to see people I want to challenge all of us to stop complaining about the problems start praying about them and take action to solve the problems amen here's the thing family this city needs us whether we realize whether they realize it or not this city needs our church amen you know why because we are a Bible believing church that is led by the Holy Spirit and we love people well that's the heart you've heard me say it our mission is to bridge the kingdom to the culture with the gospel through the power of the holy spirit that is the Great Commission and we will do that as a church amen just this last week I was watching um a I was just on YouTube and I saw this uh video that was highlighting a church in Texas in San Antonio some of you may have seen it uh the pastor was up preaching and all of a sudden this guy's in in the um audience and he just starts cussing he's cussing at the pastor okay well in that moment that Pastor he had he had two options he could kick him out or he could welcome him and he did he said hey man what's your name he was like Anthony he's like Anthony how'd you get here and he said the guy Michael next to me in that moment he brought uh the pastor brought Michael up to him and he asked Michael hey um how did you meet Anthony and he said well after service I went to the 88 a.m. service and they were talking about uh being the hands and feet of Jesus that's what he was preaching about and after the 8: a.m. service he went to waterburger and if you don't know it's overrated but um sorry my Texas people I love you um sorry Valia um but he went to waterburger and he saw a homeless lady and he was he went into the drive-thru was going to get food for her but when he came back she wasn't there well he walks around the side of the building this guy Anthony is laying on the side of the building he says hey do you want any food he gives the guy Anthony some food and then he tells him what he's been doing and he was saying that he was in church the guy says Hey I want to go to church so he brings him to church the guy comes into the church and he's cussing and he's cussing he's saying all these crazy things and in that moment the pastor brings him up and he just hugs him and they're both just weeping and the pastor says says to him it's been a long time since someone's hugged you hasn't it and if you would have seen the tears that were rolling out of this dude's eye he felt so loved he felt so seen and that Pastor while the message is already written he took time to divert the service and listen to what the Holy Spirit was doing in the moment and loved that man see this is the church that God has placed inside of me I don't care how far you've been from God I don't care where you come from you are welcomed here because God welcomes you you are welcomed here because God welcomes you and we will be a church that welcomes those who don't look like us we will be a church that those who come in and they're drunken high and we're going to love them the same that's right we will be a church that loves people regardless of what you may identify as because God loves people amen the last the last and second point is the question how can we be generous with our resources I want to stop down and first honor you as a church over the past four months our giving has continued to go up but also our attendance because you guys are telling people and while I'm not of the belief that you build it and they'll come I am of the belief that you build people and they will come God's hand is on this church and it's only a matter of time before the city knows it yeah come on you see in Acts 2: 45-46 it says they sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need they worshiped together at the temple each day met in homes for the Lord's supper and shared their meals with great joy and generosity see God is Not binding you to a law when it comes to giving he's saying give with a cheerful heart because what's happening here I'm telling you this may feel like a startup but this startup is about to take over the city this is good soil and I want to encourage you that now is not the time to walk with god with a closed hand can I receive anything if my hands are closed I can't I have to open my hands it's that I can receive but I can also give and that's what we're called to do as a church but I want you to know that we're not just a church that's talking and and saying please come give to what God's doing we're actually a church that's doing it that's right about a month ago as I was in prayer I felt like the Lord wanted me to sew $5,000 into the church plant in Memphis of my friend Isaac Curry because they're just launching their Church they're a teared down set up they're meeting in a local high school and so as you know I went last week to Memphis to go be with this church and before I got there I called Isaac and I said hey man I want you to know that me and the elders have been praying and we feel like the Lord has told us to bless you guys with $5,000 all of a sudden I hear sniffling I can tell that tears are running down his eyes and he says to me EJ you know you can trust me right and I said 'y yeah he said this morning before you called I got in my truck and I was stressed out and I said God I need someone to sow $5,000 into our [Applause] ministry I heard this a month before I talked to him see God calls us to be generous family and we want to model to you as leadership what it means to be generous it's not for our Glory it's not to just build this massive church that's not why we're doing this this is to build the kingdom and now there are people in Memphis Tennessee that are praying for us because we're partnering with them in the mission that God has called them to do amen here are a couple things I want you to ask and take away from today I want you to ask God what am I still holding with a closed fist is it my family is it my finances is it my relationship see being generous with your resources also includes the things in the the places that God has positioned you maybe some of you guys own companies how can you be generous with the service that your company provides how can you provide opportunity for people that are up and coming in the church that's why we take care of our community and are restored as a body so that we can be a blessing to our Brothers and Sisters in Christ amen the next question is in what ways can I serve the church we're not asking for an every week week Commitment if you could just serve one time a month and don't look at it as like man I have to chase these little kids around don't look at us like man I have to hold the door for somebody look at the opportunity to see people the same way that Jesus seen you that's right and then the third question is where can I grow in generosity family there are philanthropists that aren't Christian that that are very generous while some of it may be for a tax write off the church should be the most generous givers that's right and I'm not just saying giv to the church I'm saying give to our city to our local schools to things that are going to transform our city for God's glory but remember generosity is more than your money it's a heart posture and a willingness to surrender every part of your being to Jesus amen amen amen amen worship team you can come back up if everyone could please stand to their feet as you know um today we have we have baptisms and so if you feel like the Lord is doing something in your heart just like Rachel said maybe last time you're like hey the next time they do it I'll do baptisms please exit stage right left whatever and go out there and you can get changed and you can be baptized today and remember this is the starting block to running the race if you're here today and maybe you've been just struggling this week with depression anxiety something's going on in your life we want to create a space to pray for you so if I could have Elders that are available Elders wives deacons Sharon if you could come down um and just be available to receive anyone that needs prayer today we are a Praying church and we want you guys to be set free but ultimately today my hope is is that our hearts will be postured with surrender to Jesus and so father I just thank you for everyone that's here I thank you Lord for what you're doing in this place I thank you for this church I thank you for the people in this church I thank you that you see people and because of that we will see people may this not be business as usual may we not just go through the motions of life but may you be everything that uh we need you to be when we need it because we know that your grace is sufficient and your strength is perfected in our weakness so have your way today father if there's anyone in here that that feels this tug on their heart to get baptized or receive prayer receive you as Lord may they overcome the fear of people looking at them or worried about clothes and all that stuff and may they just come forth and be obedient we love you we give you all the glory and all the honor in Jesus name amen [Music] gave the cross you all my wased [Music] byy you are the treasure my re [Music] for all praise to the Lord High all praise to one who save my life all praise to Jesus Christ my king of Heaven my king [Music] forever my heart the [Music] all praise to the Lord High all praise to the one who All to Jesus Christ King [Applause] forever PR Lord all praise to the one who sa My All to Jesus Christ King of King for [Music] my you I LIF my hands up my my life my life I live my hands lay my whole life my whole [Music] life I LIF my hands up and lay my whole life down my whole life down before you I lift my hands up L my my whole life my whole life now for [Music] you all praise to the Lord most high all praise to the one who sing my life All prise to Jesus Christ my king of heaving forever all praise to the Lord M High all praise to the one who save my life all praise to Jesus Christ my king of heav my king oh I my I my I before you I LIF my hands my my whole I my whole I for you my my my [Applause] [Music] whole my life my whole life for you [Music] [Music] praise to the one who sa my life all praise to Jesus [Music] Christ amen all right this is Sher say hi say hi um I just want to give you opportunity do you want to say anything or okay don't drop the mic the mic doesn't need to get baptized okay hi um so I came on Easter because um the sign said he rose up so you should pull up um I thought that it was really funny so I came inside and um I was telling my big brother yesterday after he picked me up from the airport that this is out of the five churches this is the fifth one so out of the five churches I visited did while I've been in Washington um even though I've only been twice I've never had to like question or I haven't questioned anything about this church um and coming from a lot of mega churches and how history have just been it surprised me that I haven't questioned anything about here yet so I think that that's a good sign um yeah I have a lot of anxiety about this I have a lot of red flags that are popping up in my head telling me not to do it but I think that that's a sign that I should so that's all I have to say yeah yeah you can go ahead and sit down um I think what's so amazing about what she just said and some of you may be feeling it uh she said I have a lot of red flags in my head that are telling me don't do this um we know that um regardless if you're a Believer or not it's you can realize that there has to be something working against good and so this is a good thing and of course the devil is not happy about this because this is another person that is a warrior a warrior for God's kingdom amen another reason why this is so amazing to me for those who know me you you know that I have a heart for Kenya I've been to Kenya a couple times and um I one of my prayers before we came up here was God I ask that you send Kenyans to the church because my heart is for Kenya and um Shyer is Kenyan and um and so it's just amazing to see what God does when we're available for him and so I'm just going to ask you a couple quick questions do you believe that Jesus is the son of God do you believe he died died on the cross for your sins and rose again on the third day so that you could experience life and life more abundantly in him all right are you ready to make him not just savior but actually the Lord of your life cool with that confession I'm now going to baptize you in the name of the father Son and the Holy Spirit [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah yeah [Music] yeah what did the text that we just read say it says they sat under the teaching they fellowshipped they to partook in the Lord's Supper they prayed and he added daily those to the church come on SO father we just bless this congregation these people to walk in everything that you've called them to walk in give us this day our daily bread and we thank you for your forgiveness we thank you for your love in Jesus name everyone said amen well don't rush out the doors we got potluck so go get some good food love you guys see you next week at 10: [Music] [Music] [Music]