Count Me In | Prioritizing God | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Chad Lang
Count Me In | Prioritizing God | Abundant Life Church | Pastor Chad Lang
Transcript
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Hey, everyone. Pastor Sean here, and I wanna thank you for subscribing to our podcast. I'm excited to get into today's message. And remember this, God is a good God. He loves you and he wants to bless you.
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Whether you're new or whether you've been here for forty nine years, I want to start out by asking you some questions.
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Now, I want to see how many of you grew up kind of the way I did, with some friends that no matter what, if they called or came to your house on their bikes, because that's what we did back in the day. They weren't motorized. There were no motorized scooters. We rode bikes to people's houses, and then we just showed up. And a matter of fact, they would show up, and they were like, hey, do you want to? And no matter what they said after that, the answer was, I'm in.
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Right? I'm in. I'm gonna do it. Count me in. It didn't matter what it was. Now, truth of the matter is, I was a little hard headed, my friends weren't always great. I probably should have listened to the back end of that, that sentence and that question before I said yes because it would have saved my behind. My parents did not spoil the rod or spare the rod in my house. And so, I probably should have maybe it would have protected me just a little bit. But no matter what, we would step up and we would get into whatever that they were going to do for that very day. We didn't want to miss out. We wanted to be a part of something amazing, something incredible. We didn't know what that day had in store.
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But we were excited.
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We just wanted to be a part of it. It was gonna be fun. We were with friends. We were doing something that mattered according to us in that time of our life. And I was preparing today's message, and the Lord brought that to my mind.
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And I believe the Lord is looking for some people in this day, in his church, in our church, not to just coast through this life without experiencing something amazing.
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Something fun. Something with anticipation.
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Something that God would want to do. Something special.
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Something driven by Him not only to impact our lives this side of heaven, but I believe the Lord is looking to do some things right now. And God is looking for some people in our church to say, I'm all in. I'm all in. Pastor, I don't know what you're about to say, but I'm all in.
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Pastor, I've been sitting in this church for a little bit, maybe you're brand new, you're just gonna say, Chad, count me in. I wanna be all in to what God is doing in our community, in our city, in our church, in my neighbors, in the workers that I work with, my employees, my business, my finances, my family, my worship.
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What I learned over the years is that when things get a bit dark, and can we all just agree a little bit? This world is wacky.
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It's weird, and it's getting a little bit darker, But how cool is it that when God God will use some people to bring the light in the middle of darkness.
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I believe that the Lord is looking for some people to be light in this hour. To help us see truth, experience his love, His grace, His forgiveness, His blessing, and His divine purpose.
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Matter of fact, the Hebrew word for purpose will say it like this. You gotta spit a little bit when you say it. It's called chazon.
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Chazon.
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He's looking for some people to get into some purpose, his purpose.
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But we might need to go back to our vacation bible school days.
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I think he wants us to go back a little bit. Now, I only went True story. I only went to bible school once. I was in kindergarten or vacation bible school. I went once. I was in kindergarten. It was three weeks. It was three blocks away from my house. My mother would drop me off. I would stay for the singing portion, and then I broke out of that place and I ran home for three days.
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And, on the third day, my mother reminded me that that wasn't a good idea to be a kindergarten running home.
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But I remember when I was in that little school, and they were teaching on those songs.
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They sang this song, And I can't sing, but I need your help.
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This little light of mine, come on. I'm gonna let it shine.
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This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.
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This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.
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Let it shine.
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Let it shine. Come on somebody. But here's the thing, we sang that song every single morning on those three days.
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Here's the deal, God didn't want that to be a little kid's cute song.
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He wanted that to be a lifestyle.
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He wanted that to be an anthem for our lives.
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Because we are meant to be light in the middle of darkness.
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And man, oh man, our light shine bright when we line some things up in our lives that let God let that light shine just a little bit brighter.
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Here's the deal, that song actually comes from Matthew's gospel in verse five fourteen through 16.
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It says, you are the light of the world. A city on a hill should not be hidden.
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Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but they place it on a stand and give light to all in the house. And in the same way, let your light shine. Someone say, my light. My light. My light shine before others so that they may see your God, your good works, and give glory to your father who is in heaven. Let me say it this way. Friends, we don't let our light shine to draw attention to ourselves, but we let our light shine to bring others to Jesus.
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We bring it to Jesus. We let our light shine so that others can see him. Others can experience that he is a good God.
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That he loves them and he wants to bless them.
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But before I dive a little bit deeper into this, I believe the Lord wants to challenge us with this today. And I wanna take a look at some people that let their light shine in moments of darkness and focus in on what I believe the Lord is going to use our lights even for in a brighter way in this hour as we finish out this quarter, and in 2027, and in 2028, and in 2029. But here's the deal.
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I don't wanna just preach a word that you hear.
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I want us to be doers of the word. I want us to pick up the word and walk out of this place and say, I'm all in. And so, I haven't given you the end of it yet.
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But can I get some people in here right now to just commit in your heart that no matter what these things are, you're gonna do it? You're gonna do it. I believe it's gonna cast vision for what we're we're going as a church, what we're doing, the impact that we're gonna make in this city, the impact that we're gonna make in the surrounding communities, the impact that we're gonna make in our local government, the impact that we're gonna make in South Florida and the world simply because we know that we had someone even last week watching our church from Australia.
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You're thinking Margate, I'm thinking the world.
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Jesus said, go into all the world and make disciples of nations. Come on somebody. I'm I need to get back to my notes.
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Again, know pastor Sean brought this passage up a few weeks ago, but I wanna go back there. Because if we don't get this area right first, man, our lights will be low, our impact will be fleeting, our families will be normal.
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Stop there.
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And normal isn't working anymore. Normal in the fifties made sense.
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Normal today comes with 47 piercings and all kinds of crazy stuff. Man, weird ways of thinking.
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And I'm not trying to be weird, but we need to bring light to the broken.
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And that's you and me. That's not just this house. That's not just this platform.
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I don't wanna be normal anymore. I don't want you and your family to be normal anymore. I don't want you to stay in lack anymore like pastor Sean said. I don't wanna just show up to church and leave and not deposit something great.
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And if you have your Bibles, can turn with me to Daniel three and we're gonna just place your hand there. We're not gonna read it just yet. I'm gonna bring you up to speed. But prior to getting into the text, I want to just kind of bring us there. There were three Hebrew boys. Matter of fact, scholars believe they were in their late teens or early early twenties, kind of young adults. And we know them as Shadrach, Meshag, and Abednego. If you're new to church, I do not expect you to remember those names or spell them, because I still can't, okay? And so, matter of fact, Daniel three one through seven, we see that the king, King Nebuchadnezzar building a golden statue that we now know is 90 feet tall and nine feet wide, super small statue, maybe compensating for something. I don't know. But anyway, he commands everyone to bow down and worship the statue when they hear the horn, the harp, the pipes, the drums, the keys.
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And if they didn't, they were going to immediately be thrown into a fiery furnace.
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And it goes on to say in verse eight through 18 that some astrologers pause.
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We do not believe in looking at the stars for our guidance, in looking at horoscopes for our guidance. We believe in Jesus. We believe in His word. We believe in prophetic words. We believe we don't need to go to a hand reader to get our word. We need to come to church and bring that back. With the enemy meant for evil, God brings it for good in his house.
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Anyway, astrologers went to the king and told him that these three boys were not adhering to the king's decree. And see, these boys were actually over a province of Babylon at that point that the king actually set them over. And as you can imagine, that didn't go great when the king heard that. He went into a rage, called for the boys, and asked them if what he heard was true.
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Asked them if they refused to worship his gods and bowed down to the statue.
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And he said that he was gonna give them one final chance to bow down or that they were going to be well done. Not well done good and faithful servants. I'm talking well done.
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The three replied to the king that they weren't going to defend themselves.
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That's a word for somebody.
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You've been up against a battle and you're trying to defend yourself. Jesus wants you to know right now, stop.
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You don't need to defend yourself.
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You also don't need to defend God. He's God. He created you.
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That means that he can take care of anything that you're that's in front of you or anything that's coming at him. Come on somebody. I'm not gonna they're I'm not gonna defend ourselves. And told him that the God whom they serve will rescue them from his power in that furnace.
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And then said, even if he doesn't, and I love the way that the NIV says this in verse 18, but even if he doesn't, your majesty, you can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue that you have set up. Come on somebody, that's just good news. But can I tell you, when I read this, and he told them that the God whom they serve will rescue them from this power? And I'm telling you right now, you've been up against a battle in your business, you've been up against a battle in your marriage, you've been up against a battle maybe in with your kids, wherever it is.
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You've been battling addiction for years that nobody knows about.
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And I'm telling you right now, all you need to do is prioritize God. Yeah.
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And say, Jesus, I trust your word. I trust in the Holy Spirit and I believe that God will absolutely intervene on your behalf just like we're about to find out He did in this passage. But even if He doesn't, I'm not bound. I'm not bowing. I'm not gonna bow to a business deal that looks great on paper, but will absolutely crush my integrity. I
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am not gonna date that one person who looks good in his photos,
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but has no character.
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Does this make sense? Love it. As you can imagine, that didn't sit well with the king either.
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Matter of fact, it just didn't. It was it was not good. And I love that they were so bold, but it didn't go great. And the king had the furnace turned up seven times hotter. Many of you know this passage. So much so that the soldiers were turning it up. The soldiers that were turning up the heat wind up dying and being killed just simply because they were so close to it. And in verse 21, it says that some of their strongest men were instructed to tie them up and toss them into the furnace. And here's where it gets good.
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In verse 24, you're gonna see it up on the screens. Then King Nebuchadnezzar leapt to his feet in amazement and asked his advisors, weren't there three men that were tied up and thrown into the fire?
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They replied, certainly your majesty. He said, look, I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound.
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Man, I'm telling you what.
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When you trust Jesus, and you prioritize God, and you do not bow to the ways of this world, and you say Jesus, I'm gonna be a part of what you're doing, the thing that binds you will fall off.
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The thing that binds you, holds you back from your blessing and walking in everything that God has for you. You've been fighting in your marriage for ten years. Today, that thing can be done.
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Unbound and unharmed and the fourth looks like a son of gods.
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No kidding.
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King Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the most high God.
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All of a sudden, this dude that had all these other gods in this big old statue is now honoring God.
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Their God.
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Not his.
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Come out.
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Come here.
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So, Shadrach, Meshag, and Abednego came out of the fire. Following that moment, the king and everyone else who saw the boys that were unharmed, not one hair singe, no burn marks, no char. They weren't even medium well.
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No harm at all. At that point, the king started to praise their God.
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Denounced his and instructed everyone to never speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or they would be seriously jacked up.
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Why?
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Because they prioritized God.
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Because they said, I'm not going to be a part of what this is. I'm going to impact it for him.
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I'm gonna stay true to my convictions, and I'm gonna stand for God. And why am I sharing this? Because if we're gonna make a kingdom impact as we lead into this fourth quarter of the year, and in 2027, if we as a church are going to reach people no one's reaching by doing things that nobody is doing, we're going to make sure that we are people that will not bow to everything on this earth. And we will make a decision that we will be people that says, count me in, I'm going to prioritize God.
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I'm gonna prioritize God. It's not popular, but I'm gonna prioritize God.
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And I'm talking about being a church that no matter what this world offers, what comes into your path, no matter what struggle may come, no matter what good looking semi safe gentleman or or woman comes in to that to that app that you have on your phone. Man, no matter who is in the office, no matter what we feel,
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I feel like eating a full pizza every night. It is not good for me.
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Is it good? No.
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You're right. It's not. But it tastes good.
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But it's not a good thing.
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We're gonna be a church that says count me in because we're going to prioritize God. And you might ask, Chad, how are we gonna do that? How do we practically prioritize God in our life? And so, I'm gonna kindly ask for permission to step on toes.
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It's no good if I just stand up here and give you something that you like. Right?
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But I believe that this is gonna be a message that's gonna propel us into this next year.
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That's gonna set the stage for what God wants to do. I believe one day, you and I are gonna walk in this place, and if you don't get here thirty minutes early, this place is gonna be packed and you're gonna be standing in the back. That's what I'm talking about. So, the first thing that we're gonna do if we're gonna prioritize God is we're gonna attend church weekly and on time. Yeah. Whoo.
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I got quiet. I felt some wind.
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I saw someone last week come in at 11:15.
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Y'all know we don't have an 11:15 service yet.
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I don't think we've ever had.
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When I was in the business world, for the last four years I oversaw a valet company that had about 400 employees, and then we had a that wind up going to about 1,500 employees in seven states.
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And then had the privilege of leading an executive protection firm that protected government officials, fortune 500 executives, celebrities.
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I mean, I was way out of my league, but thank God for his grace. And we had about 250 staff in that field and in that industry. And I used to do all of our onboarding. And in that onboarding, I would tell our staff that you live in South Florida.
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You can expect a couple of things.
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We expect you to be on time every time without exception or excuse. And so that means, we we know that we live in South Florida. No doubt there's gonna be some weather and there's gonna be some accidents on the road.
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But that means that you have to alter your schedule to make sure that you're there on time. Not the other way around.
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We start at 10:00 whether you're here or not. But there's something that happens, that was by the way for work.
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We're worshiping the king of kings. We're serving the Lord of Lords. We're helping people find heaven and experience Jesus for the first time in their lives.
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We're coming together with a corporate anointing like pastor Sean was talking about. We're being filled up with the Holy Spirit to get out and go out and impact this world for Him.
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And we just stroll in forty five minutes late.
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I want to encourage you and I say this with a true obviously I'm joking slightly, but I I wanna be serious.
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If you wanna prioritize God, prioritize Him.
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Because I guarantee if you hadn't if you had Miami Heat tickets, you're there on time. I guarantee if you had tickets to to this one of these FIFA games that if I gave you the the the Spain and Argentina tickets, you'd find your flight.
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You'd have be there on time, you'd have your shirt on, you'd be good, you'd be bringing somebody with you.
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Because why? You wouldn't wanna miss it. Yeah. That's good. Why is church any different? You know this? 30% of bible believing Christians in The US attend church, only only attend church weekly.
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30%.
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And here's the deal. Statistics are fun, but I wanna break them.
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I wanna break them. I believe with everything in me that abundant life is gonna be a church that sees a 100 attending on a weekly basis on time. Soccer games are gonna have to wait. Football games are gonna have to wait. Briskets gonna have to wait. Anything that's going on is gonna have to wait, because we're choosing Jesus, and we want to be in the house of God so that we can make a significant impact for the kingdom of God. Come You're not shouting me down right now.
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We need to be a little bit more excited.
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Second thing, if we're going to prioritize God, man, we're going to worship him.
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We're gonna worship Jesus in spirit and in truth. And over the years I've I've I've been on staff at a lot of different churches, and I have had the privilege of being on some that are really, really well. And I mean, I just love them.
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And I I, you know, I would hear things like, well, I I don't really like those worship songs.
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They're not for you.
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We're worshiping a God who is alive and well and came out of the grave after being placed on a cross so that you could live.
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Pastor Ken and the worship team prepare, and man, they got you got people showing up, and I'm just telling you right now. And I got you know, you hear some people that are like, well, man, if it was maybe in a different key or something, maybe I'd be there on time. No. Stop that junk.
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Come in and be a part of what God is doing. Let that fill you up so that you can prepare your heart for the message that's gonna go forth with power and fill you with life.
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We serve and sing to a good God who loves us and wants to bless you. How's God gonna bless you when you're only here once a month?
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We worship because he's worthy of praise as it says in one Psalms one forty five. And as a church, we're going to be a people that will prioritize God and worship him. Another way to prioritize God, is we're gonna dive in to our word.
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How are you gonna prioritize God if the only time you open this thing up is when someone here tells you to do it?
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So, we're gonna dive in daily.
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We're gonna open this thing up because you know what's in here?
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Life.
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We Right down here. I'm gonna run off real quick. It says we're gonna reach our world with life. This is the living word of God. It is the breathed, inherent Word of Jesus.
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This is what transforms.
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This is what breaks yokes. This is what restores.
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This is what renews. This is what gets you out of your junk.
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We'll read a book that our counselor tells us and forget that that word has everything that will change our life and get rid of all of our anxiety, and all of our depression, and all of our worry.
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I'm gonna sweat through this shirt.
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I don't know if anyone's able to give me some water. That would be helpful if you can. Romans ten seventeen says this, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the what? Word. The word of God.
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Faith comes by hearing and hearing by His Word. Amen.
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When you get this word in you, it transforms your life. Out of the heart, the mouth speaks.
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What's in your heart?
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Church, what's in your heart?
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Chad, you're beating a little hard. I know, I know. I understand that I'm only talking about two or three people.
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We're talking to about two or three people.
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But man, I I really want this. I believe this.
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This this thing transformed my life. Jesus took a broken, suicidal, crazed young man who was a drug addict, and now I get the privilege of being your executive pastor. I hope you get some confidence in you, because what God did for me, God's gonna do for you.
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I have seen more people come to Jesus over my time of being in ministry. Man, I'm telling you right now, from those moments on the side of a street to the platform.
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Some of you are concerned about my tattoos instead of worrying about the word that's being preached.
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The last thing of this, the prioritizing God moment, we're gonna be in prayer. Pastor Sean did a fantastic job over those ten weeks, and I'm not gonna touch on it too much.
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But I wanna make sure in everything that we do that we take it to the Lord first Before we take it to everyone else and social media.
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Remember, we are praying for people, not about people. We're not going and being like,
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would you pray for so and so? I mean, they're really struggling in their marriage. I think there was a I think there was some infidelity, whatever. No, you're not doing that. You're not going to someone else and bringing their junk to the table. You're just gonna seek the Lord in prayer in your prayer closet, in your private time, in your car, and you're gonna seek heaven for that.
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Prayer is a powerful Prayer is powerful and is the greatest tool that we have to hear from heaven and see what the Lord wants to do in us.
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Man, Jesus wants to talk to us. That's the whole part of He loves us. He likes us.
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I'm hard to love. Ask my wife. I'm not easy. I will have baskets of clothes in my room sitting there like a staple, like a Christmas tree for a month.
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And and she has not stabbed me yet. And it's awesome, and I love her for it, and I thank you for it.
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If we're gonna prioritize God, we're gonna attend church weekly and on time.
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If we're going to prioritize God, we're going to give faithfully.
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Matter of fact, Malachi three ten, Malachi, for those of you that have been around for a minute. It says, bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the flood gates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops and the vines in your fields, and the They will not take business from your your business. They will not take anything out of you. You're not gonna default on your loans. You're not gonna default and be homeless. God's going to prioritize you.
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And then the nations will call you blessed.
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For your for yours will be delight delightful land says the Lord Almighty.
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Man.
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Here we go. Another pastor talking about that prosperity gospel.
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What else is there?
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Give me the alternative. Being broke?
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Being caught up and not answering your calls because there's so many debt collectors messing with you?
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Come on. What's Jesus wants to bless you.
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He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He doesn't need your money, He wants your heart.
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He doesn't want you to be an ungrateful giver. He wants you to be a cheerful giver. He wants you to want to see the kingdom of God expand on this earth and in South Florida, and in Margate, Coral Springs, and Deerfield, and Boca, and everywhere else in between.
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Deciding out of the right heart to give is part of who you are, not just something you do occasionally.
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This passage is a key verse to what God wants to do in and through us. God doesn't want us to just bless us for the sake of blessing. He wants to bless us so that we in turn can be a blessing.
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He wants to bless us so much.
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And then we're gonna have the chance to tell people about it. How are you able to do this?
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God.
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Jesus.
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Faithfulness.
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Obedience.
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Is it hard?
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Well, it is.
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It's hard to be obedient. You ever had kids? It's hard to be obedient. Is it wrong? No.
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It's the right thing to do. Right? Because God loves us. Giving is not a have to thing. Giving is a get to thing. Because He gave so much, and we wanna trust the Lord in every area of our finances.
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God so loved the world that He gave.
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His what?
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His only son.
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He's asking for 10% and he gave up his flesh and blood. On a cross, came to this earth, lived a sinless life.
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Saw you in the mirror and said, I'm all in.
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Lifted out his arms, hung on a cross, died, and three days later rose from the grave, taking all power from hell and giving you the freedom to choose to be a part of all that he does simply because he loves you.
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If you struggle in finance, it it sounds crazy, but I want to encourage you to simply say, Lord, for the remainder of this year, I will commit to tithing regularly right here at this house, and I'm going to need your help.
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You don't think God knows your struggle?
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He knows if it's a struggle.
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And by the way, I'm not asking if you don't have all that. Look, I'm just saying be faithful and commit to being obedient and watch what he does.
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As a matter of fact, I'll share a quick story about a friend of mine named Scott. Scott was a part of a church that I was at for a long time. And Scott didn't give, for a while. And I'm just, I'm not gonna harp on this too long, but Scott just didn't And I remember he started to give, Pastor Sean. And he and I over lunch, we were eating a hot dog in a place, and he sat down and he said, Chad, I can't out give God right now. Every time I give, He gives back to me in ways that I can't even imagine. My business goes up. My staff gets blessed. My finances get blessed. Now this dude, by the way, became one of the largest givers of the church that I was at, giving over eventually a million dollars a year at that time.
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You're saying, well Chad, that's not what What's what God can do?
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Can God not give you an idea that would allow you to be able to be that kind of blessing?
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He said, Chad, I can't, I just can't stop giving. By the way, you wouldn't know him. He didn't drive the Bentley, he didn't drive the Escalade, he didn't have the three piece suit. He had a t shirt and jeans, and was giving over a million dollars a year, and no one ever knew.
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No one ever knew. Matter of fact, we were at a funeral for a dear friend of ours no long ago. And I remember sitting with my family, and I pointed this guy out that was sitting in front of us at a funeral with a t shirt and jeans on.
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No one has a clue.
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You don't need to be on this platform and getting praise and be obedient.
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Alright. Matthew six, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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God loves a cheerful giver, not a negative donator.
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Man, if we're gonna prioritize God, we're gonna attend church. We're gonna give faithfully.
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Watch, by the way, if you do all these things and you say count me in, this is gonna bless your life. I promise you. The next thing, we're gonna invite people to church like crazy.
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We're gonna invite people here and we're gonna be a part of it. God's not calling us to just go to church, but he's calling us to be his church.
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When the king saw that God did for Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, he made another decree.
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He let the people know that their God was the only true God.
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Man, friends, a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.
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You don't ever need to argue Jesus with anybody.
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What you need to do is care for them.
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See them in their sins. See them for who they are. Your neighbors, your family members, your cousins, your employees.
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And you just love them enough to say, this church has transformed my life.
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This place has restored my marriage, rebuilt my mind. The things that I used to struggle with, the depression that I was once in, no longer sits because of what this place has done. And would you do me a favor? I would love for you to join me this weekend. I have a seat saved right next to you, right next to me, and I would love for you this weekend to be a part of it. And then you text them on Saturday night and say, hey, by the way, that address is 7955 Royal Palm Boulevard right here in Margate. I hope to see you. Remember, be here about 09:50. I'll meet you right out front and you're gonna sit right next to me.
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You think God wants to bring some more people into this house?
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This church has amazing people in it. You're them.
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I want people to experience you.
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Because before they ever meet Jesus, they see you.
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You're at the doors.
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You're in kids ministry.
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You're out in the parking lot. At least some of you are, we'll get to that next.
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The church see people.
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Man, this church sees people get free from addiction. This church has incredible biblical teaching. This church helps people get free of bondage and addiction.
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This people allows people to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God that will help them move in power in every area and season of their life.
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Matter of fact, I believe that God in this church heals bodies. And if Candice is in this room, Candice, I talked to you this week. I don't know where you are, but if you're in this room just wave at me. I'm believing for you, I'm believing for your son to be completely healed of cancer, in Jesus' mighty name.
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In Jesus' name, all cancer has to go. I believe that. This is what this church is about.
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And I'm not doubting anybody, any other church.
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God love them. If they're preaching Jesus, I'm supporting that church.
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But there's something powerful about believing that the things in this book still true today.
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No matter what we've seen with our natural eye doesn't escape who Jesus is. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And because of the power of this house, it's our obligation, our responsibility, and it's our privilege to invite people to join us here so that they can experience Jesus in a real and tangible way.
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Now, if you're gonna invite people and you're slightly creepy, and you go up to them and be and you just being like, Stop
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that junk.
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I would rather you speak one word. That's what the bible says. One word in the language that people understand than 10,000 in the language that they don't.
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Do that. I love that. We love our prayer languages. We love all that stuff. But just love people for where they are. And
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want them to bring them into this house.
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And stop on the side of the road when Jesus prompts it on your heart and say, man, I just wanted I felt like God stopped me for you.
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He sees you.
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I'm talking about your aunt and your accountant.
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I'm talking about your cousin and your contractor.
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I'm talking about your barista and your barber.
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I'm talking about everybody. We're gonna invite like crazy.
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Because I'm telling you man, there's gonna come a day, and I mean this and I said it and alluded to it earlier, there is gonna come a day where you're not going to be able to walk in this place.
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The seat that's yours is no longer gonna be a thing.
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Some of you been sitting in that seat so long, you just sit down, it's like memory foam. It just goes right around your tushy.
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It's gonna change. It's gonna reshape. It's gonna reform. Can you commit to inviting like crazy to the end of 2026 and again in 2027, and in 2028, and in 2029?
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Because until the 271,000 people in our surrounding community know Jesus, we will not stop But being a voice for this house.
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Well, isn't that marketing's job? Stop that.
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It's yours.
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You're a part of what God's doing here.
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He's given you influence in your sphere to impact people that we will never meet. And they need to be in every empty seat starting next week.
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Do you believe with me? Can you commit to that? Yeah, come on.
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As I get ready to close, I pray this message is firing us up a little bit. It's just a family message. It's a family deal casting some vision for where I believe God is taking us and what he's gonna do in our lives, in our city, in our church. But there's one more area that I believe that God wants to do in prioritizing him so that we stay fired up through the rest of this year, and that is to be a church that serves with passion.
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Serves with passion. Matter of fact, Mark ten forty five says, for the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. And He gave His life as a ransom for many.
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Jesus gave us an outline on how to be and how to serve others. Now, we have a wonderful serve team here at abundant life.
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But about 20% of the people do about a 100% of the work.
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And this is probably the area that I'm gonna just touch a little bit deeper on.
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Because I don't want you, I don't need you to serve, we don't need you to serve, but I'm telling you right now, I, God wants you to serve. You have a gift inside of you that God has given you that He's going to use to help others experience Him. Some of you have a passion just to hold babies and be in a first through third grade room and help those little kids and get down on your knees, and I really don't have to get down on my knees, I can just look at them right in their eye and just teach a lesson to them. Some of you are gonna be out in the parking lot in 95 degree heat with a 100% humidity, and you're gonna try to slow people down. Really quick side note, Slow down in the parking lot.
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Be nice to the parking team.
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Please? Would be great. I want you to be here on time. I just don't want you to get here on time like you're driving in the Daytona 500.
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I just want you to get in and be kind to the people outside that are serving. And there's some ladies in this room that you're gonna be called to the parking team because you know how to organize stuff like nobody's business. And you can be joyful and wave and all of that, and you're gonna be with Howard, and you're gonna be with Wilson, and you're gonna be with Coach. And man this is gonna be the best place because you are the very first impression that people see when they come into this place.
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And some of you have administrative gifts, and you're gonna serve throughout the week, and you're just gonna be a part of And if you're in the If you're previous military, law enforcement, first responder, or in nursing in any way shape or form, or EMS, you might wanna be on our VST team, is our volunteer safety team that keeps this place safe.
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Because we live in a dark time.
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And we're gonna say Jesus, I wanna be a part of it.
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Jesus, I wanna By the way, if your kids are not in kids ministry or not in students yet, or your young adults aren't in young adults, man, I wanna encourage you to bring those folks out. But man, there might be bring your kids in being a part of Wednesday night, you know, on Sunday mornings.
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Man, it's a blessing to see what God is doing in our students and in our kids ministry right here at this church.
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You may not be behind a keyboard like Ken or Esau, or be in the drum kit like Nate.
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But you may have a gift to sing.
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You may have a gift to take great photos and be a part of production.
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You may have a gift to clean a toilet.
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By the way, I did two weeks ago and it was nasty.
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It took us about an hour. There was a thing. It was a thing. But
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here's the reality of it. I want to encourage us to be a part and use our gifts for the kingdom of God. This place isn't as good as it could be yet because you're not involved. You've been sitting in this seat for years and not departing or depositing anything.
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And if I can be real honest and loving, you've been a spiritual consumer and not a spiritual contributor to this house. I don't care if you give and all that other stuff, I wanna encourage you to get involved.
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There was something special in my life when pastor Collin saw something in me, a broken kid from the North Side Of Pittsburgh. My house was just sold in Pittsburgh for $4,000.
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If that gives you any understanding of what I grew up in.
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So if you think I don't know, I know.
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When Colin says I see something in you.
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And I looked around to see who he was talking to.
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This is your tap on the shoulder today.
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I want you involved.
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I want you to be a part. I want people to experience the best of this church. And the best of this church is not just the preaching and not just the worship, it's you.
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So that people can experience a God who's good, who loves them, wants to bless them.
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If you're saying, Chad, I can I can I think I want to be a part of this?
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Here's what I want you to do.
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I want you to take out your phone right now.
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And I mean this. It's not If you're saying, Chad, count me in. This is what I want you to do right now. Take out your phone.
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Take out your phone and on the screen behind me, they're gonna throw up a QR code. That one right there. And if I'm in the way, I'm probably not in the way. But, it's gonna You're gonna click that link and you're gonna fill out some information.
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And you're gonna say, I want to be all in.
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You're gonna say, man, I'm a Towards the end of this year, I wanna do all the things that you've laid out for me because I wanna prioritize God and I want God's best in my life.
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I want what Jesus has for me. I want the blessings of God in my life. I wanna serve because God gave everything so that I could serve and I have a gift in my life.
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And some of the best gifts that I've seen over the years are the people that are never seen.
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Please don't just be a hearer of this word.
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Please don't just be a person who sits in this seats and misses what God wants to do fully.
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Jesus loves you.
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Jesus loves this house.
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And right now, we have an incredible team, great volunteers, just some of the best.
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But those teams are not what they should be. Matter of fact, when I went on the lobby just a minute ago before service was about I was about to come up, I I talked to Wilson outside and he said, Chad, we're we're short.
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It takes about eight to 12 people on a regular basis to make sure that parking goes well right here.
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Today, they had four.
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Would you just say yes?
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Dude, I'm in.
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God, I'm in.
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Count me in. I wanna be a part of what you're doing.
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And as you're clicking that link behind me, there are some of you in here and this message fired you up.
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But there's one missing piece, and that's Jesus.
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I sat in the third row, first seat, just where you are, with that great suit on. And I love that you and your wife match like all the time. I love that. But right in that seat at Northway Christian Community in Wexford, Pennsylvania, the person kept inviting me and inviting me and inviting me and inviting me.
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And to shut her up, I said yes.
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One time.
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Five months later, I sat in that seat and I gave my life to Jesus in March, Saint Patty's Day weekend of 2021.
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And I have no doubt that there are some of you in here.
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You've never experienced Jesus.
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But God wants to touch your life right now.
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Thanks again for listening to today's podcast. We trust that it has touched your heart and blessed your life. Listen to support the ministry. You can go to our website, abundantlife.tv.
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And remember, we are better together.