FAMILY TALK: The Three E’s - Part 1
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by DaVinci Resolve 18
Excuses We Make
A lot of times, when it comes to our purpose in life and vision for life, it’s easy to come up with excuses why God can’t use us. You know? Many of us are like, “I’m too busy, I’m too that,” and from this website—I think it’s BethelChurch.com [editor’s note: It’s bcachurch.com/vision]—shared with us a vision, some of their nine excuses, and it says:
“I am too young.” But I want to just remind you today, now is the time. We always have excuses, and it’s easy when you’re young, it’s like, “Well I’m just a teenager. I’m just a kid. Nobody is gonna listen to me.” Just, by the way, great job this morning, Remedy Band! Can we give them a hand? [Applause] You are showing us this morning. Again, none of you are having the excuse to say, “Hey I’m too young.” You’re up here. I know that takes a lot of courage, so thank you for your hard work practicing and allowing God to use you. But there is so many stories in scripture where we see that God uses young people, and we have to be open, and we have to be a church even that creates that space for young people to live out their gifts and their talents, and to even pay attention—if our young people say, “Man, I’ve heard from God; God is speaking to my heart,” we don’t want to just blow that off, right? We want to be aware of how God is speaking and leading them, and so that we can come alongside of them and cultivate that gift and that purpose that is inside of them. And I love that about Salem. You have been so faithful over the years in the area of youth ministry and children’s ministry, and so, good job! I really appreciate that. But again, we see God uses Joseph and David, and that list can go on and on and on, right? And so if you have kids with you today, just look at them. I’ll look there at Hailey. A little less attitude there, Hailey. But look at your kids. I want you to look at your kids, all right? There is so much potential in them, and they’re such a gift, and let’s develop that, right?
All right, older crowd. Maybe say, “I am too old. I’m retired. Leave me alone, I want to just sit on the beach!” I’m not gonna leave you alone! All right? There is a time and a place to sit on the beach. That is good. Work that in. I’m excited for one day to retire and have a little time to sit on the beach, right? It is good. It is… what a blessing that we can work hard and that we can enjoy retirement and enjoy that rest and to maybe do some things and have the financial freedom to do things that we weren’t maybe able to do when we were younger because of other commitments. But in our retirement, we now have some time to work in the Kingdom of God and do some things that we probably didn’t have time beforehand. And again, I got to just give so many of you incredible—just the compliments to see our even our guys working on Tuesdays. The properties guys. These guys are working hard every Tuesday, giving up—they only work for 15 minutes, then they drink coffee and eat donuts, and then they go home, but they get a lot done in that 15 minutes and I’m grateful. But Abraham was 100, Sarah was 90 when Isaac was born and in God’s timeline there is no such thing as too old. God wants to use all of us, amen?
Okay, here’s a big one: “I’m too much of a failure.” Failure is not fatal, and our miscues are not final. We have to run through and to this finish line that God has for us. He is not after perfection; he is after obedience. He is not after perfection, because if he’s after perfection, I should not be on this stage. Our kids should not be on this stage. But he’s looking for obedience, and he’s looking for the right attitude, right? And to say, “God, here I am. I’m gonna bring all of my shortcomings, my mistakes, and if you can use me, here I am. I am saying yes to you.” But don’t let your failures and your past hinder you to do ministry and to miss out on what God’s got for you. Those are lies from the enemy. When he keeps telling you of your failures, if you are a born-again believer, when you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, man, God forgives our failures and our sin and our shortcomings. And guess what? Actually scripture reminds us that he turns that around for his good, and that becomes part of your testimony. And so that is really exciting. I want to share a book with you. If you get a chance, actually the link is in the Bible app as well. It’s by John C Maxwell, Failing Forward, really good book, really encouraging. So, if you enjoy reading.
Here’s another big one: “I am too new to God.” So were the disciples, and they impacted the whole world. God sees your newness as a strength. I love it when you have new believers because they are fired up. They are excited. They are risk takers. And sometimes as we mature in the faith, we maybe become a little less brave, right, and not always willing to take some of those risks to share the gospel. And that’s why it’s so even important to have new believers, because they’re always fired up to share the gospel. We should always be fired up to share the gospel. But it’s easy to say, “Oh, I don’t know enough.” Yes, we always have to be discipled. We always have to learn. We always have to grow. But never wait to say, “Oh, only if I am five years a believer, then God can use me.” God can use you now, because so much of it again, it’s his Spirit working in you, right? If we’re gonna wait for the perfect time and the perfect place, it is probably never gonna happen.
Another big one: “I am too hurt by others.” And sometimes, “I’m too hurt by others in the church.” Joseph gets it, and so does Jesus. Hurt is hard, but we must forgive. Don’t let resentment ruin you. And again, this is so true in the church. Guess what? There is no such thing as the perfect church. And even when you go and read Acts, when you start and read the birthplace of the early church, right, even in those moments in Acts, you see some flaws and mistakes and shortcomings of the church. And so, yes, people will experience hurt in church, unfortunately. We don’t want that, right? People will disappoint you, you will be discouraged in different things, but it can’t stop you in doing God’s work and the vision and the purpose that he has placed in your life. Somehow it’s just, shake it off, get healing, and go for it. Let God’s calling and his vision and purpose drive you forward towards that goal line. Here’s another great book, The Hand of God. I think Jim, you shared this one with me. Very good. It’s kind of on the story of Joseph. So again, the link is in the Bible app as well.
God Uses People
Now, let me show you—just, you say, “Well, I don’t know, Steven, I don’t know if I have really a plan and a purpose.” Right in the beginning, Genesis 1:28—we’re actually working through some of this in our SAGE group—look at this:
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
This hasn’t changed, right? It’s easy for us to say, “Oh, I like the fruitful and increase in number. That sounds fun. I can do that, right? All right, Lord, I’ll go with that commandment, but I’m gonna skip the other one.” In the context of marriage—I see there’s a couple of parents that are looking at their kids. But it’s the same. There’s a purpose for us. Right in Genesis, we see in God creating Adam and Eve, he’s giving them this task. Actually, when you go and read Psalm 8, you will see the same command again. And so, as we work, as we share our gifts, our talents, as we’re living out our calling, again, we reflect the image of God. Isn’t that beautiful, right? It is in your creativity, in your faithfulness, in the works that we resemble Christ.
Ephesians 2:10:
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
You don’t just have these incredible gifts and talents and a life full of purpose to look cute. It is really to impact God’s Kingdom. God always uses people to impact this world, right? Sure, there are spiritual things that’s going on. I know that there’s angels, and they’re doing ministry, and you know, most of us have no idea what some of the things that’s happening behind the scenes in the spiritual realm. But when we look at scripture, it is always people. And just think about Salem and how God used people before us that had a dream, that planted this church, and we are now experiencing the fruit of their faithfulness, of them dreaming big, of them investing financially, investing their time. And the same thing for us, we’re doing the same thing for the next generation.
Again, just throughout scripture, we see Solomon. He had the vision to build the temple in Jerusalem. What a vision, right? That wasn’t a small task. Esther displayed vision and courage in approaching the king to save her people from destruction. Joshua, after the death of Moses, he had the vision to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, conquering Jericho and fulfilling God’s promises. Again, big deal, leading a complaining nation into the Promised Land, facing giants, right? Not easy. Nehemiah, vision to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore the city after the Babylonian exile. And here is, in a sense, as we think about the vision for the church, the universal church, it’s Matthew 28, it’s the Great Commission:
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.”
This is it. This is what it means to be the church. This is the calling that the Lord has placed on us and on every church. And unfortunately, we get distracted, and then we get involved in things that really doesn’t matter. But ultimately, this is the call to the church.
Get Confirmation
Now, it is important as a church and individually as we pray, to say, “Okay, God, what do you have for us? Where are you leading me?” None of these things—when we look at Nehemiah or Esther, they took time to hear from the Lord. This is really important to just get that confirmation to say, “This is from the Lord.” And even for us as a church body, it is important to have that leadership, and we’ve prayed, and we said, “Yes, this is how God is leading us.” Proverbs 19:21:
Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
And we want to make sure that we’re chasing after God’s dream for our lives, right, and not just our own dreams and desires. We want to make sure that it lines up with God.
Invest in Your Calling
And then once we have that confirmation, 1 Corinthians:
Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
If we have clear direction and when we have that vision for our lives, then it’s really important that we go after that, that we’re intentional, that we’re not willing to maybe spend our time and energy on things that really doesn’t matter. And so then it becomes so important, even as you just think about your marriage, what God has called you to in your marriage, and to say, “Okay, if this is a top priority for me, then I got to be invested.” What does that look like? As you think about your kids, as you think about, again, your career, as you think about a church, and all of these areas, is your calendar and is your pocketbook, your checkbook, is all of that reflecting that you have an urgency towards the goals and the vision that God has placed in your heart? Because if it is not, then we’re probably just kidding ourselves, right? Then it’s just kind of a pie in the sky, and it’s not something that is burning inside of you.
If God has truly placed some dreams and callings and ministries in your heart, then really you have to pay the price. When you look at all of these beautiful stories on Netflix and documentaries and people that are successful and that’s impacting our world, all of them have paid a price. There’s always a price to pay. Giving up their time. I was watching a documentary on George Foreman—I don’t know if you’ve seen that on Netflix—and just kind of his faith journey, and some of the... Later on, they kind of ran out of money, his manager stole from him, and different things. Then as he was getting older, to go after his ministry, he had a youth center, ran out of money. Suddenly he’s called to box again because he wanted this vision of this youth center and impacting his community to keep going. And here’s somebody that could’ve said, “Oh, I’m just gonna sit on the beach,” right? At his age, which he was much older, suddenly taking up exercise again and learning again how to box, it took a lot of effort, but he was willing to put everything in it to go after this. It was so important for him. And so, even for us, your purpose and your dream and your calling, and even for us as a church, is that so burning in your life that you’re willing to pay that price?
Salem’s Vision
So here’s kind of the big vision that I’ll share with us. We’ll break this down for us as a church. It is “to be a community that partners with Jesus on his mission of restoration.” And our strategy is—we kind of break it down in three parts—it’s the Encountering God—a lot of times you’ll hear us talk about the three E’s—but it’s Encountering God, Equipping People, and Extending the Gospel, and I will go into detail next week on these three areas.
But I want to just talk a little bit today about Encountering God, because this is where it starts. Part of the reason why we gather and why we have these moments of worship is to encounter God, to have that interaction with the Holy Spirit, right, and for the Holy Spirit to transform our lives. Now, I don’t know about you, but I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, and I believe that the Holy Spirit can come and transform us and set people free and can take you off the streets if you’ve been addicted to drugs or addicted to whatever, and he can turn your life around and reveal his plan and purpose in your life and where you can actually live a meaningful, free life, amen? And that all happens when we encounter God. And so that’s why we don’t want to just be a place where it is a dead religion, right, because that’s not gonna help us. We’ve got to create an environment where you can really experience the presence of God as we worship and as we read his Word, and that’s why it’s so important for you to even just come ready on a Sunday morning.
So, a key thing, kind of this whole year, something that the Lord’s been working in my life the last several years, is this verse. If I’ve been doing premarital counseling with you lately or just counseling, you’ll know I talk about this all the time. Proverbs 4:23:
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
As a church, we want to create that space where you can come and receive tools and just have that moment where you check in with your heart. A lot of times, we run so fast that we don’t create moments to just check in to see, “Hey, how am I doing? Where are areas in my life that is not healthy,” okay? And how can Holy Spirit come and touch those areas, because we want a healthy heart so that our relationships can be healthy, that our ministries can be healthy. And part of that, when we have healthy hearts, and when we come together to achieve some of these goals, it will really mean that we need to paddle together.
Now, why I’m sharing with you just kind of this paddling together, because it’s connected with kind of the next one here, it is to slow down with God, as we think about encountering God. Because what is happening in our church body—just again, people are in different seasons, but if we want to be a church where we can grow and where we make sure that everyone stays healthy, it will be important that everyone plays a small part in the church family. Because what can happen—and this happens in most churches, but it’s not gonna happen in Salem—is this: that you have a handful of people that is doing a majority of the work. And there’s a small amount of people that is involved and plugged into so many areas because they’re passionate, but guess what, then at the end of the day, it makes us so busy, and then we struggle to slow down to connect with God and to check in with our hearts. And then it leaves a sour and a bitter taste in our mouth when it comes towards church.
But what if we can be a church where, like I said, everyone steps up into one small little area. And so I want to encourage you—even as I share next week and we break down some of this stuff—if you are breathing… Who’s got lungs? Who’s breathing? Wow, all of you are qualified to do something. And again, you reflect the image of God when you live out your calling, your gifts, and your talents, and it doesn’t have to be super. We’re not asking you next week to come up and do a poem or do a rap song. Some of you can, some of you are gifted enough, right? For some of you, it just means you will be that face that’s at the door and you’re greeting. For some of you, it might mean that you show up on a Wednesday and you just come and clean tables. For some of you, it’s just like, “I’m gonna show up and I’m gonna bring cookies.” Some of you are gonna come for that 15 minutes on a Tuesday to paint and eat a donut, right? It is a beautiful… Don’t be offended, Dean, okay? It is a beautiful thing when we all come together and we bring our gifts and our talents. And in that way then, we make sure that everyone stays healthy and that we can grow together as a church body. But slow down, make it a priority. And so last weekend, there were some of us that went on a silent retreat. And I’m going to ask Bruce to just come and share with us briefly, and then if there’s more time, you can do your dance as well. We’ll give you that opportunity. And just by the way, it’s Bruce’s birthday tomorrow, so make sure to give him a big hug as well afterwards. Bruce, come on up.
Bruce’s Testimony
Thank you. I’m a little nervous about turning 40. If anybody has any suggestions, you know how that would work, let me know. But yeah, when Steven talked about that silent men’s retreat, it intrigued me about, you know, silent and experiencing God. And I was intrigued to go and thinking about it. Then I texted him that my wife Cathy was a little worried about me coming back with a radiant glow like Moses had in the book of Exodus when he met with God. But Steven, I love you, you are a blessing in my life. He texted back. He said, “I think I got a dirty rag at home somewhere you can use as a veil.” So I was all set to come to the retreat. And I was apprehensive though, by Friday, to spend time alone. I don’t do that. I’ve struggled with that—hunting, fishing, I can’t sit still long enough. And I asked Steven for prayer.
And so when we went there, it was a little bit strange at first, but then it started easing into it, and just being still, and what the Holy Spirit brought on me I pray about. I did some journaling, read some scripture. But in the end, we had great conversation, and it was good. I was glad I went. But there was nothing earth-shattering, no scripture that jumped out that was earth-changing. And to my disappointment, there was no radiant glow.
But Wednesday, as I’m driving, you know, it occurred to me, I’m thinking, “Something’s different. Something’s changed. And it’s not on the outside. It’s happening in me. There’s peace.” And yet, like Monday, I’m driving to the mine and I got this 8,000 pound forklift that will not start, and the piece I’ve got that I think may get it running, if that doesn’t work, I don’t know where to go with this. And it’s gonna be digging. But Sunday night, there’s no apprehensive driving there. There’s no anxiety and stress. And when I get there and find out, nope, that’s not going to work, that piece is not the problem, there’s no anger, frustration, or scared, “How am I gonna get it running?” Tuesday, there’s just peace and joy. And Wednesday it finally dawned on me, you know, something’s different. And it’s that time spent with God. And like for us in the retreat, you don’t have to go to a retreat to experience it. You don’t have to build a little cabin in the woods with no toilet and an outhouse to go in when it’s, or like Steven says, a long drop. You can experience it in your home, in your favorite chair, or like me, in your car, driving in traffic. I don’t suggest closing your eyes, but you can talk to God. You can have that quiet moment. And so if this isn’t part of your prayer life, I really suggest you try it, because it makes a difference. It has made a difference in my life. And so that’s what I wanted to share. Thank you.
