well good morning Dallas Bible Church it's so good to be in the house of the Lord together uh if you're joining on online we welcome you I'm glad you're here uh if you're in this room welcome glad you're here let's go ahead and stand and let's worship [Music] together oh do all throughout my [Music] history faithful walk beside me wi storms made W for spr in every Seas from where I'm stand I see the [Music] of I see your promises they fulfill oh my my me when I'm we [Music] Fe you Le my heart to [Music] Victory You Are My Strength and you always will I see the evidence of you all [Music] [Applause] oh I see [Music] [Applause] promises see the cross gra all my sin Because of You Jesus see the cross is all my sin away of you oh Jesus I see the evidence of your goodness all over my life all over my I see your [Music] promises pour over my pour over my I see the evidence of my I see your promises [Music] in so why I [Music] why should I fear [Music] the [Music] is I'm going to pray over us as we keep going through worship Jesus we come to you to be restored in you to be renewed in you to be refreshed in you God I honor you as my sovereign Lord and invite you here in this building as we bring in our stories and our experiences this week God I pray just for an an opportunity for you to meet us in those if you're comfortable throughout worship God I just uh move in this place and say I give everyone and everything to you give everyone and everything to you Jesus we love you Lord in your name that we pray all these things amen oh you've come to bring peace to be to be nearer to us so youve come to bring life to be to shine [Music] brighter [Music] you our deliver you are savior in your presence we find our strength over everything Redemption god with you are God us oh you've come to be home to this world for your honor and name you come to take to Bear shame [Music] coner gra you well God is our deliver you are savior in your presence we find our strength you are everything our Redemption with us you are God With [Music] Us you are here You Are Holy we are standing In Your Glory you are here you are Are Holy we are standing In Your Glory you are here You Are Holy we are standing In Your Glory you are here You Are Holy we are stand in your glory Lord our deliverer you are saor in your presence we find our strength over everything our Redemption our deliverer you are savior in your presence we find our strength over everything our Redemption with us you are God With Us you are God With Us you are God with [Music] who tells the son rise every morning colors the with shades of his glory wakes us mercy and [Music] Jesus who holds the Comforts the wi cries for ince FS every sorrow car pain of his children [Music] Jesus sing praise to the father Us Praise to the spirit was living in us when I was a he saved me who I was that's what Jes [Music] [Music] for all [Music] our sings a song Sweet for the keys to power to say [Music] Jesus praise to the father Us Praise to the SP living us when I was s save me from who I [Applause] was that's [Music] Jesus's always he's always been faithful my when I need it in my soul so we sing praise to the father gave us praise to the spirit's living in us when I was a saved me from who I was we see to son to living in us when I was a sner save me from who I [Music] was Jesus [Music] [Music] amen we praise God the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit uh we worship you three in one God um we love you we worship you be here this morning amen amen I think you guys can have a seat slightly cold good morning my name is Kristen Miller and this is Noah Miller um he is one of four boys he's number three of the group and he has been wanting to get baptized for a very long time and he's been very patient and has been waiting um for that so we are excited for today okay Noah do you confess Jesus Christ as Lord and do you believe he was crucified buried and rose from the grave yes have you trusted in Jesus alone for your salvation yes okay then I get to baptize you in the name of the father Son and the Holy Spirit buried with him and his death and raise the RO all right all right is't that awesome I love that we celebrate baptisms uh and I love that we have all the kids come in and celebrate as well when families are celebrating uh baptism and and baptism is an ordinance here in the church that we recognize and honor uh it is a an act of obedience when someone trusts Jesus Christ as their lord and savior so what that means is they believe in their heart that Jesus is the son of God who came to this earth in the form uh of a baby in grew in stature and wisdom and knowledge and then he he had a Ministry for a few years and then and then he suffered for us and then he died on a cross um and he was buried in a tomb but he didn't stay in that tomb he rose from the dead amen and when we believe that to be true the Bible says that we are saved when one believes in their heart and confesses with their mouth that Jesus is the son of God then we are saved and so that's why we celebrate baptism baptism is an outward expression of that inward change that is happening in one's life and I love it when kids come to that faith and understanding at an early age and then we get to help be part of their discipleship journey and process so if if you've never been baptized and you want to talk to us about that we would love to visit with you uh about that that's why we do baptism um and so we it's a great honor to get to celebrate with Kristen and her family uh today with that okay a couple of uh Ministry announcements first of all uh if you're a young person youth like sixth through 12th grade man night life is about to crank back up on Wednesday nights and I know that you can't wait uh for that maybe moms and dads are really excited about that as well maybe a little bit more but uh nightlife is an incredible time on Wednesday nights where young people come together they Fellowship they form uh relationships and friendships they worship together they're encouraged through incredible teaching of God's word that's very relevant to where they are in their life and it's a high energy time and so uh looking forward to that cranking back up here um uh this this coming week okay uh women uh it's not too late to sign up for a women's fall Bible study uh that launches in a couple of weeks they meet on Tuesday Mornings at 10:00 a.m. and then Wednesday evenings at 6:30 p.m. you can still sign up uh for that as they Journey Through The Book of 2 Samuel and take a deep look into the life of King David and some of the other characters in that story um trust me it'll be life transforming and lifegiving uh for you so you don't want to miss being part of our Women's Bible study and same goes for you men not the Women's Bible study but for our men's bible study that starts back up um in a couple of weeks on Wednesday nights we meet at 6:30 p.m. and on Friday mornings we meet at 6:30 uh a.m. we're going to be walking through the book of Galatians uh this semester and we're going to really gain a a stronger understanding on how the gospel changes everything uh the gospel can transform your life the good news of Jesus Christ changes everything it should we should wake up every morning and share the gospel with ourselves and that should change the trajectory of our day Our Hope and prayer is that that's what's happening and so that's what we're going to be walking through this semester in our men's bible stud it's not too late to sign up uh for that uh either so go to Dallas bible.org events and you can learn a lot more about that okay our desires to connect with you and meet with you if this is your first Sunday here at Dallas Bible Church welcome I'm Brian rabau um excuse that little uh pitch change there in my voice uh I have the honor of serving as associate pastor here and we would love to meet you and connect with you stop by our welcome desk before you leave uh one of our staff or volunteers would love to just meet you and uh just help you learn maybe what your next step looks like here uh at Dallas Bible Church and learn a little bit more about the ministry rhythms uh that go on here on a weekly basis okay um again welcome online uh you can also uh send us a message uh letting us know that you are new with us and we would love to follow up uh with you as well okay okay but our desire is to connect uh with you and and for you to connect with us one way we do that on Sundays is by standing and meeting those sitting around us and greeting one another so I want to invite you to stand now and kiddos this is your time to dismiss out those back doors to head to your ministry space okay let's meet and greet one another for a few minutes e [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] okay well one invite you to have a seat as we continue just our time of worship Pastor Jeff will be coming in a few minutes to share a word of encouragement uh with us but before that um a couple of weeks ago uh we made the announcement a Bittersweet announcement that Warren trusdale uh our youth Minister uh was going to be uh leaving uh Dallas Bible Church um that's still true um okay and his desire has always uh been to pursue Academia and he is wrapping up his PhD uh work at Dallas Theological Seminary and his longtime desire is to uh be serving as a a professor in a higher education institution um and so he is beginning that process uh by being the Bible teacher at Prestonwood Christian Academy the north campus in Prosper um and we are super uh excited for Warren uh and Shelby but we're also a little sad um Warren I'm going to invite youall to come up and whoever you want to bring up with you bro uh come on up and uh and I've had the the blessing of uh being a friend of Warren's for nine years uh now and I remember when Warren and Shelby uh showed up here on a a Sunday morning and uh I looked at Warren I thought man he he looks like an athlete I bet you I could take him um and so that began a good friendship uh for several years Warren I love you man you know that um and I'm super super happy uh for you uh a couple of words come to mind when I think of of of Warren uh one word that comes to mind is faithful uh he he has served Faithfully he and shall be both have served Faithfully here at Dallas Bible Church uh they've invested in hundreds and hundreds of young people's lives and I can attest that uh two of my adult grown children now who were part of his leadership and Ministry um blossomed under his leadership uh in their faith Journey uh and so faithful comes to mind um an encourager Warren has always been an encourager he he is an encourager he he encourages students uh to think hard about biblical truth and to to not just settle for uh a face value kind of approach at it he encourages us to to dig deep into the word to understand at a deep level and to apply it and to seek life transformation so he's an encourager you've always been an encourager to me uh Warren and I love that about you um and there's there's another word that comes to mind humility uh Warren is a humble a humble guy uh and that that just drips from you and I would just encourage you not to ever uh step away from pursuing humility uh in your in your endeavors in the future you know many of you may know this you don't know this Warren was a college athlete quarterback and in college and just a good athlete um I've had the privilege of competing against him in some different fields of of sports and um where humility really comes out is the times I've been on the basketball court and I was giving it to Warren pretty good and he couldn't defend me well um he had a spirit of humility about him and and humbleness and uh even on the golf course when my drives were out driving him by about a a 100 yards or so um is it something like that yeah there was yeah see it's still Spirit of humility right right here accurate okay so far from the truth all right none of that is accurate all right but my point is he's a faithful servant of God he's an encourager um and he leads with humility and those uh those are attributes that uh are so important in the life of a Godly Man and of a Christian man I'm G to invite Kristen p uh to come up now and Aaron Pastor Aaron if you'll come up uh want to go ahead and um also invite our elders to come up we're going to pray Warren over you in a second but uh first we we have a gift uh we want to give you some flowers okay just uh representing your humility um and now we got got some gifts there for you and I'm gonna hand it over to Pastor Aaron he's gonna say a word or two and Marty's representing um our elders here today so yeah Warren we just uh we're not looking forward to this day but we knew it was going to eventually come and church I just want you to hear nine years of faithfulness as a youth pastor here uh is not the norm I think that uh in most youth ministry circles you get somebody who's going to serve as a youth pastor for two to three years um that's above the normal and uh he's been serving here Faithfully for nine years uh getting a masters of theology from Dallas Seminary getting a PhD from DTS I've always joked um we we we love the Next Generation if you've not caught on to that you're here and we uh we take investing in the Next Generation very seriously and uh I've always joked I'm like yeah we put our smartest and most Godly person in the church in our youth in their youth ministry and um that's Warren uh in the middle of the week he's the guy that is always studying and knows the word of God backwards and forwards he passes it on to students he always believes the best of the students and believes that uh they can always absorb more and more and more and I've love that and we've seen incredible fruitfulness in the in the youth ministry over the years and man just wanted to say thank you thank you thank you and not only to you Warren Shelby uh to you too y'all's investment has been absolutely fantastic we love your family church I hope that you guys here today that um and you guys too that uh you're always part of our family wherever you may be you may be in Prosper you may uh whatever you're doing you're always part of the family church want to encourage you uh to encourage their family uh in between Services they're going to be back up here he's going to be doing some baptisms in the second hour so in between services and afterwards come and love on them but uh anyway I want to I want to go ahead and pray for you and uh church if you're with me sometimes we just we just extend a hand of agreement right there and I just want to encourage you to do that as we pray over the truth uh family right now but father we just want to tell you Lord Jesus praise you and thank you uh for Warren and Shelby and their constant faithfulness over the years the way that they have poured themselves into our students uh preaching the word of God uh caring for students in need meeting them exactly where they are uh being goofy being serious and walking um with our kids we love them so much and uh Lord I pray your hand of blessing over their family as they walk into this next season of life God I pray that that same favor and blessing be over uh the next generation of students that they get to reach out to that they're investing in right now God that they would know you and love you at a young age father I pray over his children uh L Lord little Hadley born and Carter and Callum and Aubrey I pray holy spirit that you would grab a hold of their affections at a young age that they would know the joy of walking with you forever and so God again we praise you Lord God we just say thank you thank you thank you for the trusdale family uh we love you and it's in Jesus name that we pray amen church one more time for the Tres all right uh Jeff just come on up bro um and got it can I say a word over you real quick before we head out okay Lord thank you for Jeff being here and being available to share your word with us today I pray your spirit would speak mightily in him and through him this morning and massage our hearts change our hearts from the proclamation of your truth this morning in your name I pray amen amen specific ways for Warren I know that he would want prayer as now as one he's now entered into the the family of four kids and I know a lot of what that's like um so pray pray for him and for kids he also wants prayer for his Chicago Bears and the season in front of them you don't have to pray for that one but but they they do need some prayer with this rookie quarterback that's not a Warren trusdale so those are some specific ways you can pray for them I also want you to be praying for pastor Aaron you saw him up here just a minute ago and um just sickness this week has just physically exhausted him you could hear it in his voice just a few minutes ago and so be praying for our pastor be praying for just a restoration of of his health and of his ability just to get back into God's word this week and it's an honor to step into the pulpit today to be able to share with you a little bit of what God's been working on me and then my own life and hopefully challenge you a little bit this morning we're going to be in the book of Acts chapter 20 and verses 7-2 and Acts chapter 20 verses 7-2 and this is just a a small story in the entire book of Acts of what God is doing as the church is expanding as the church is moving forward and Paul has opportunities to teach to encourage to pass on the faith to those around him and we begin to see some unique things starting within this just one part of Acts chapter 20 and then it's just weird the guy dies he falls out of a window right like why is Luke talking to us about this why was it so important for Dr Luke to put in the middle of Acts a story about a guy falling out of a window right it's odd let's read it together if you have a copy of God's word I encourage you to read it with me Acts chapter 20 verse 7 on the first day of the week we came together to break bread Paul spoke to the people and because he intended to leave the next day he kept on talking until midnight there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting and seated in the window was a young man named uus who was Sinking Deep Sleep as Paul talked on and on and on now Luke only gives us two ons right there he doesn't he doesn't go forward but when he was sound asleep he fell to the ground from the third story and he was picked up dead Paul went down he threw himself on the young man he put his arms around him he says 'do not be alarmed he said he is alive and then he went upstairs again and they broke bread and they ate and after talking until daylight he left the people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted unique passage in the book of Acts and one of the first things I need to make sure that we understand with this passage is we have to break a myth first okay Luke does not give us this passage to encourage shorter sermons that's not the main point of the passage and I know if you grew up my grandfather when I first let him know that I was going to be pursuing a Ministry career he says don't forget the mind can only understand what the behind can withstand but that's not why Luke gave this to us that's not what Luke gave us to us actually the main point that I want you to see I want you to see as we read through this just the impact of community I want you to see the impact of community and specifically I have three things that I'm going to be drawing to your attention as we look to see what community is doing is one that I want you to understand that hey it's easy to fall asleep it is really easy to fall asleep and we've got to learn to get away from the edges we got to begin to seek out the mud puddles of humanity it's easy to fall asleep we got to get away from the edges we have to seek out the mud puddles of humanity so Paul was in Ephesus and riots began to come up and and he begins to leave and he seeks out Greece and he's in Greece for 3 months and then he heads towards Macedonia to this little city moving into tras and Luke joins him there and the church is growing the church is maturing and it's Unique how we can compare what happens in Acts 2 in the beginning of the church to Acts 20 and what we read about here some some development has taken place the Christians begin their own identity they're breaking away from some of the Jewish practices and begin to actually establish some of their own practices first of all we notice that they're actually beginning to Worship On the first day of the week this is the first recording we have it of scripture where Sundays become important to us celebrating the resurrection celebrating what Jesus did and uniquely we also have a resurrection story In this passage we also see that the church has been growing and and in their growth they have continue to prioritize a few things they gather together they're gathering together in homes they're fellowshipping and they have teaching preaching of God's word and yes it went on and on but even till today those are some of the things that we still prioritize we gather together on the first day of the week to celebrate the resurrection of God through worship and Proclamation we Fellowship together we break bread we observe the Lord's supper and baptism and the ordinances and we sit to open up God's word and allow it to change our lives to impact us to move us forward in what we do it was a priority for the early church I want to set a background for you of what may have happened for uus that day and begin to step into this scene as they begin to get there and I need you to understand that it is easy to fall asleep some of my best naps growing up were on Sunday mornings sitting next to my mom or my grandmother in a church that silky blouse just nice and cool you just lay your head down and you just drift right you just begin to drift away but it's easy to fall asleep so let's recreate this scene everyone has heard of Paul and udcus knew that he was coming into the city of traz and he wanted to be able to sit and to be encouraged in his faith he's a new believer possibly he's a young man we know that and he's wanting to grow and he heard that Paul is going to be at this place now traz if you're looking for it on a map you're going to see it in the modern day Turkey it's a coastal town off the Mediterranean Sea and it's springtime and we know it's springtime because we read earlier that they just observed Passover so you have Springtime air coastal city and the climate during the Spring and even today the climate begins to get kind of chilly at night it can dip down into the 40s and they're in the third floor of a house this is a fairly large house and they've all gathered together and Paul is going to begin to teach they fellowshipped they had food and they beginning to teach and we read that they also began to bring out lampstands and light like they were prepared for this right not only just the lamps but they had to put oil in the lamps at that time they they knew this was going to be an important lesson and the lamps are there not just to help them see they didn't know how long Paul would go but the lamps were also there to bring warant because it's 40 degrees and the windows are open because there's so many bodies in there and so some of the people are coming in and they're Gathering near the lamps just to stay warm you you do it in Te we do it in Texas all the time we go to some of these patios and it's still like two weeks from now we had 100 degrees two weeks ago and in two weeks you'll be sitting in a patio asking the waiter to turn on the little fire pit above your head that that's what they're doing they're gathering for warmth to hear prepared expectant of what Paul is going to teach them and here's uus a chilly night I'm sure that Paul preached with excitement and illustrations and he was moving into the maybe the meat of his message and uus begins to just kind of doze off he begins to sit up in the window seal and then he falls all the way to the ground and often we' give uus a really bad WAP here guys you can hear messages and you can read through and you're like how dare he fall asleep in a church service how dare he dishonor Paul that way but interesting his name is fortunate when you translate it his name is fortunate is fortunate for him that something unique was going to happen that he was going to be memorialized for us today to read about the power of the Resurrection The Power of Jesus in his life udcus wanted to learn udus wanted to grow and and he I'm not sure maybe he worked that whole morning right maybe he is tired maybe he had to travel a long way to get into the City and maybe he is already exhausted before he gets there but you know what he did he showed up showed up he gathered no matter what he was feeling he showed up and he gathers and he sits to learn and and Paul is saying and I think it's important sometimes in our life that we are going to get tired we are going to get weary we are going to get exhausted but it's important that even though it's easy to fall asleep we have to fight to just show up right we have to fight to be present we have to fight to be available for other people and and sometimes that means you're fighting just to get to work tomorrow morning and sometimes means you're fighting to manage your calendar so you can show up for your kids or your grandkids or maybe you're having to fight just to show up in your marriage because it's easy to get tired in this world we are going against all the culture all the trials all the fears and our days are long and we want to sit at the feet and learn from God and we too get tired and maybe we get spiritually tired maybe right now is the first time you've opened up a copy of God's word this week it's just been busy and exhausting or maybe it was the first time you sang songs of worship or sat in reflection this week just have felt like it you feel distance from God you're tired you're spiritually weary it's easy to fall asleep it's hard to fight to stay awake I'm not even sure that udcus knew he fell asleep you've driven late at night before in a car and the lights are just going and the trees are just just going right and sometimes your head kind of dips right or maybe you've been sitting in a service sitting in a lecture on a zoom call and your head just kind of dips have you had the moment where your head dips and you catch yourself and you're like how long was I asleep for did I just drive three miles that's pretty awesome did everyone else on the zoom call say me did the guy in the row in front of me notice it I'm not even sure he knew he fell asleep because no one intends to fall asleep but he's not alone the disciples fell asleep they were up on a mountain the mountain of transfiguration and here's what's crazy in Luke 9:29 Jesus is praying and his face begins to get changed and and his clothes begin to be bright at a flash of lightning okay two men Moses and Elijah appear in their glorious spender and they're there with Jesus and they're speaking about the departure which was about to bring to the Fulfillment and Peter and his companions were very sleepy very sleepy you're on a mountain with a glowing Jesus and two dead men who come to life that's the opposite of sleepy that's like frightening type of a thing possibly right so the discip IES here at the Mount of transfiguration they got sleepy guess what else they got sleepy when they're at Gethsemane Jesus comes to them multiple times he comes to them in Matthew 26 he returns to his disciples and he found them sleeping Peter John James fell asleep all the disciples R says couldn't you watch for me for just one hour like at least udcus had from like midday till midnight before he fell asleep right one hour the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak we have to fight to stay awake we have to fight to show up we have to make sure that we are there because we don't want to miss the miracle that God's about to do you have to be present in your homes in your workplace in your community you have to be present in your church because you don't want to miss the miracle that God's about to do and it's going to take effort for you to stay awake as you go through this see the issue though wasn't just with him sleeping I take issue with where he chose to fall asleep right I take issue with where he chose to fall asleep we read that uus as he begins to doze off he he finds himself on a window ledge of the home and and I think a lot of times in our own life there's a danger there's this Edge that we try to play with we just drift over to it sometimes sometimes we get so tired we're so exhausted we've been dealing with a lot or sometimes we get so lazy in our spiritual disciplines we get lazy in our participation in community we get lazy in being accountable to others in confession and prayer and supplication we get lazy in all of that that we find ourselves drifting over over to a window seal we're playing a little bit of a game it's just a little lie I'm only cheating on my diet I'm only going to look at this app for a few moments only going to take a little bit of a sip I'm only going to isolate I just need some time by myself I'm so tired so tired just got to get away and and self- indulge and we find ourselves sitting in a very dangerous position in life we're on the edge of something we're about to fall and we drifted there we didn't just walk there we have to get off the edge we have to get off the edge it's a horrible place to fight when you're tired it's dangerous scripture tells us this first Thessalonians tells us that we are children of the light and we are children of the day we do not belong to the night and to the darkness so let us not be like others who are asleep but be awake and be sober step in to the light get closer to where the lamps are ticus Don't Drift to the edge step closer to where it's safe why would you go to the edge be sober be awake Romans tells us in Chapter 13 it says in this present time and ours already coming for you to wake up from your Slumber salvation is near the night is nearly over and the day is almost here so put aside the Deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light what is that in your life that you keep turning to that that you just play with you dabble in it is so destructive to your behaviors it puts you in such a dangerous place step away from that put aside those actions and step into light into the warmth of what's going on 1 Peter 5'8 says be alert be sober minded why because the enemy the adversary is prowling around like a roaring lion looking to devour And yet when we're tired and exhausted and we can't fight sleep anymore we find ourselves staying on the edge and being on the edge I have another concern not just with udcus finding himself on the edge of the window I have a concern with the people who are in the room I have a concern for him were they so distracted that they didn't even see him beginning to fall asleep were they so enamored with Paul's teaching and their own learning that they didn't observe what was happening in the room around them did they not see that a young man stepped over to the window seal and I said I've been there and maybe someone someone could just have said something to this young man hey udus I see that you're tired You' worked long day and so did I and and I've been there man hey come sit with me let's be tired together hey udus I see that you keep falling asleep I see that you're not able to stay awake that you hey udus that's a bad place to sit the actions of your life are dangerous ticus step away from the edge come sit with me let's be safe let's hear what Paul has to say let's make sure that they're at least checking the room and this is why we need Community this is why Community is so important because there's people in your life who have drifted asleep there are people in your life who are tired and who are exhausted and who are putting themselves in a dangerous place there are people in your life that you need to speak up for and say hey God has something in store for you don't fall asleep don't give up step over here with me sit with me I will be here with you let's hear from God together what he wants to do in you instead of moving towards the actions of Danger picus get away from the edge no one did I don't know why I'm not in that room you probably have experiences in your own life as you look back or you just regret not saying something or maybe you even regret and you grieve that somebody didn't say something to you and the actions of your life brought about destruction the actions of your life brought about failure and maybe even death death of a marriage death of a job death of a dream and no one spoke up he falls out the window he's on the third floor and again in this coastal town the streets of mud damp and he lands in this muddy mud pile you think the people in the room even knew he fell out listening to Paul the warmth of the light do you think they knew he was on the ground in the mud dead are you aware of those who aren't in this room today or maybe you haven't seen them sit on your you for the past couple weeks because we're all sit in the same spots but do we check the room we're trying to see what God is doing in someone's life we know there are people who are tired who fought to get here to stay awake to hear from God to deal with the edges of Destruction in their life and if they're gone do we know that they're gone because most often this is what happens someone fails and we all go to the window and we look down oh I wouldn't have done that I saw that coming you could see it all over their Facebook feed you knew that was happening I wouldn't have sat there why would he have sat there it's crazy to me how so many times when people fall they're broken and they're sitting in a mud puddle that we cast judgment and we distance ourselves and just like to watch it all explode into chaos Matthew 9:36 Jesus saw crowds he had compassion for them because they were harassed and they were helpless like sheep without a Shepherd he turns to his disciples and he says to them the Harvest is plentiful and the workers are few ask the lord of the Harvest to send out workers into the Harvest Feld field you know Fields aren't clean right you ever worked a farm you ever plowed dirt and irrigated it you ever took your hands and pulled beans or tomatoes or potatoes or corns out of your family farm it's dirty work it's not clean work it's messy it's mud puddles of work right and you see and if we're going to truly check the room I hope that some of us would do like Paul did I hope Paul the best passage in here is Paul went down he went down to him and covered him he got in the Muddy Street he covered himself over uic's body and he tells us don't be afraid he's still alive so often we seek the spot lights we seek a stage we need our job platforms our community standing platforms we have to look a certain way and we're fearful of actually getting messy in the mud puddle of humanity and laying our lives on top of someone who's fallen and broken it scares us it scares me it it scares me to deal with people who are fighting addictions some of them are in my own family and it scares me to step into a world of Brokenness and messiness that is there tired they were exhausted and they find themselves there but that's what Jesus calls us to to the mighty area of a field and thankful that Jesus himself didn't stand on the edge of heaven and say you figure out your own Redemption you've br broken people you fallen people you do it that's not my job instead Jesus himself came down from heaven took on flesh went to a cross for our forgiveness for our Brokenness for our sins he embraced us and covered us with his own blood so that when he rose from the grave we too can be restored like udus he came down and covered him so we're called to the fields we're called as a community to step into the Brokenness to warn people about the edges and the dangers that they find themselves into and to fight alongside one another to stay awake stay awake stay awake I know it's exhausting but God wants to do something in your life he wants to show up it's the impact of community in our lives this is an illustration you may have heard it once before but have you ever thought or read about how Billy Graham became a Christian do you know where the origins of of his faith story began because it started with one man who yes he was a Sunday School teacher but it wasn't in his Sunday school class that this chain of actions began his name is Edward Kimble he was a Sunday school teacher you probably didn't hear of him but he always chose to teach the young boys in Sunday school hyper young men right hurting cats running everywhere and he tried every week to explain to them the gospel that was going on and one young man just was really struggling with it so in instead of just dealing with it in his Sunday school class Kimble decides to go over to his shoe store and begins talking to him in his shoe store while he's stocking the shelves and he confronts him with the gospel and asks him to respond to the gospel and that man was DL Moody and DL Moody's Ministry spanned two different continents right and he touched multiple Believers in raising people up and seeing the ministry unfold and under Moody a young man named Wilbur Chapman and get saved and Wilbur Chapman becomes an evangelist who ends up preaching to thousands thousands of people and one day sitting in one of the Revival services that Chapman is speaking as a Young Man a baseball player his priorities were fixed on Sports and moving his life and he gets called out and Billy Sunday is converted to the gospel Sunday quits baseball and he becomes a part of Champions Evangelistic team and they go around and when Chapman actually accepts a role at a church Billy Sunday continues the Evangelistic efforts right and Billy Sunday is going around and one day in one of his Services a man named morai ham becomes a converted believer he is scholarly dignified Warren left but this is like who I'm scholarly dignified PhD young man right he was so brazing that he would rent hes and drive them around the city talking about the Evangelistic and telling people you're going to die if you don't have Jesus scholarly Brazen do anything you can to get the lost people that's how I think of Warren right we'll give him morai ham morai ham shows up to Charlotte North Carolina little mountain town and a Sandy hair lanky young man who vowed along with all his friends says we're not going to go hear him preach Mor High ham in the message he actually calls them out out and says you'd rather skip school and go over to the club right and he starts telling the community what the high schoolers are doing he calls out the danger The Edge that they were in and so all the high school boys are pretty mad about it so guess what they do they show up to morai Ham's Evangelistic event to cause a problem and Billy Graham is convicted by the Holy Spirit and he gives his life to Christ and then shares the gospel with more people than even Paul has done was 1968 my mom got to hear Billy Graham preach and my mom gave her life to Christ so part of my story is because a Sunday school teacher stepped out of the platform of his class went into the daily work of a young man and shared with him the importance of the Gospel it's fascinating what you can do if you're willing to step in and to speak up and my life began to change my life began to be surrounded by some Faithful Men some Faithful Men Who sought me out encouraged me to stay awake and told me that God had bigger plans for me that God had opportunities for me and that my life was going to be used for the kingdom and some of these men that you see on this list they called out sin in my life they told me Jeff you're in a dangerous place and these are coaches and youth pastors and professors these are my employer who worked for me Jeff you're in a dangerous place don't keep going after that step away from the edge Jeff God wants to do something in your life I know you need to continue to follow after him he has something special from you and some of these men are the ones who joined me and locked arms with me into the mud puddles of humanity reaching the lost the broken the disheartened the those who had fallen deep in their sins and trying to restore them this is my community this is my community these are who keeps me awake keeps me pursuing after God and I think you have a community and a list of names much like mine it's the power of community to keep us awake to warn us of the dangers of the edges and to labor alongside you in the fields my encouragement my final thing is the band is coming up today maybe while I was speaking there's someone came to your mind and to your heart that you know is fighting to stay awake they're just tired they're exhausted it's my encouragement that you text them you email them you call them you check in on your community you check in on those who are fighting and laboring or those who you have missed maybe you haven't seen them here in church check in on them be a part of their Community maybe there are those those in your world or maybe it is you yourself who've gotten too close to the edge you've drifted you've drifted and you're in a dangerous place just step away let your friend know tell them the behaviors are not healthy be the friend in the community that comes in and just passes them back over to the warmth and focus their attention on what God wants to do and the Miracle he's about to do and maybe you're just looking for a few mud puddles to serve in maybe you want to be like Edward Kimble and you just need to go teach Sunday school because I need you back there you saw all the kids this morning I just need you to be available to say I can serve two times a month I'm happy I'm happy to be that that person in a young man's life and a young woman's life to teach him about Jesus I'm happy to tell them to stay away from the edges I'm happy to join with them in passing the faith to the Next Generation and and we we need you I couldn't have made it here if it wasn't for the list of names average people pouring into me we need you to do the same thing join in to the work that God is doing here and that's the easiest one because in front of you there's QR codes just scan it scan it it says here to serve and just say yes I am here to serve I will be a part of passing the faith on to the next generation and family Mysteries or I will be a part of serving the mud puddles of human Humanity just let us know we need everyone we need Community father we thank you for the power of your word the truth of scripture the lessons that we can learn from uus that Luke puts in there to remind us of how church is supposed to operate the distinct differences that go from the Jewish faith to the Christian faith that we worship we eat we Fellowship ship we celebrate the teaching of God's word and we do life well we do life well father for those who are tired refresh them today Father for those who are at the edge convict them to step away and father for those as we look on the landscape of life in humanity may we run and cover those in the mud puddles restore people today Father restore your faith and the joy of Salvation in their lives it's in your name we pray amen you stand [Music] articul thousand t one C from north to south and east to west we hear Christ be magied [Music] the whole earth eching his his name would bur from [Music] SE from Riv to the mops we hear Christ be magied [Music] oh Christ be mag let his praise arise Christ be magnified in oh Christ be magnified through the altar of my life Christ be magied in me [Music] every finds in most Melody every human [Music] hearts there of praise be ining Christ be [Music] Christ be magnified let his arise Christ be magnify in me oh Christ be magnify the altar of my life Christ [Applause] [Music] I won't bow to I'll Stand Strong and worship you if it puts me in the fire I Rejoice cuz you're there too I won't be formed by feelings I fast what is true the cross bring transformation now be crucified with youz death is just the into Resurrection join you in your suffering I'll join you in youer glory call the angels and Saints my heart will still be SE my song We sa Christ be Magi is PR Christ [Applause] [Music] be oh Christ be magnified [Music] my life Christ be [Music] Magi oh Christ be magied his Christ [Applause] [Music] Bei Christ be the altar of my life Christ [Music] would that be our prayer this morning as a church and in your homes and your communities Jesus go before us this week in your name we pray amen amen [Music] it's fr now he know yeah it I e [Music] a e EX we e for