Alright.  Hey, everybody, welcome to Valley Creek.  Come on, wherever you are, let’s just welcome each other together today.  We are so glad that you are here with us.  And we are way deep into a series called the Ancient Future: Practicing the Way of Jesus.  And we’ve taken a few weeks and we’ve added a few more weeks to those weeks to talk about what does it really mean to be a follower of Jesus.

What does it really look like to be a disciple?  What does it look like to practice the way of Jesus?  And we’ve been looking at those who have gone before us and how they lived their lives.  And we said there’s this ancient wisdom, this ancient word, this ancient way that is our path through this modern world.  And the reason this series is so important and so big is because over this last season, so much has changed in the world around us, that so much has gotten shaken up and turned upside down, limits have been removed and boundaries and borders and obstacles, all kinds of things have changed and been removed and it’s released, new opportunities and new invitations and new freedoms.  And as we’re all trying to figure out how to now live our lives going forward, it is so important that we make sure that our heart is pointed towards Jesus in the midst of those removed limits and obstacles and barriers and that the freedoms and invitations and opportunities are moving us down the ancient path, not the way of this world.

In fact, I love what Jesus says.  I’ve been sharing with you this verse.  We’ve been looking at it out of Matthew.  This is how he says it in Luke, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door because many I tell you will try to enter and will not be able to.  Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’  But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’”  Jesus says there’s two paths.  He says there’s a wide road that leads to destruction, a way of comfort and convenience and personal happiness, the path of least resistance, but in the end it leads to death.  He says, then there’s an ancient path, a narrow way with a small gate, a good way and you will find rest for your souls.

And I love that he says, make every effort to enter through it.  In other words, there’s an urgency, there’s a weightiness, there’s a gravity to what Jesus is inviting you to, this crossroads moment of our life of which path we’re going to take.  Like today is the day of salvation.  Seek the lord while He may be found.  And we’ve got to catch the gravity and the weightiness of this season and what Jesus is inviting us to.  And when we choose to go through the narrow door and walk the ancient paths, our lives become radically different from the world around us.  It is such a radical path, it is so counter-cultural, it is so different in every way that the way you talk and think and act and live and believe is so different from the world around you.  In fact, I love that it says, live such good lives, like your life should be so different from the world among the pagans that though they accuse you of doing wrong they may see your good deeds and glorify God.

In other words, if you’re actually following Jesus, practicing his way on the ancient path, taking the narrow road, your life will be so different from the world around you they will see Jesus through you and they will want to come be a part of the path of life as well.  And one of the ways of Jesus on this ancient path is a lifestyle of passionate mission.  I told you as we’ve gotten deeper into this series, it’s bringing you to these crossroads moments that are forcing you to make a choice and this is another one of those.  You see, the way of Jesus is the way of passionate mission.  If you look at God, you look at His kingdom, you look at those who have gone before us, you can’t help but come to the conclusion that the entire kingdom is on a mission with passion.  In fact, think of Jesus like his stated mission statement, like here’s why I’m here.  He says, “For the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

He says, I’m here on a passionate mission.  I came to seek, to passionately pursue so that I could save, heal, make whole, set free, deliver that which was lost–you.  He’s here for mission.  Or how about this that says how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and how he went around doing good and healing all who are under the power of the devil because God was with him.  Jesus lived a life of mission.  And whenever the Bible talks about Jesus of Nazareth, it’s talking about his humanity.  Remember, Jesus is fully God and he’s fully man, but when he came to this earth he left his divine power behind and he did everything as a man anointed by the Spirit of the living God.  The reason this is important is because if Jesus did everything because he was God and then he tells you to practice his ways, he’s setting you up for failure.

But he did everything as a man empowered by the same Holy Spirit that’s available to you today so you can actually do the exact same things that he did which was what?  To live a life of mission, going around, destroying the works of the devil and releasing the kingdom of God.  Or how about at the end of his life when he’s standing before Pilate, about to be sentenced to the cross, he says, “For this cause I was born.  For this cause I have come into the world.”  In other words, there’s no confusion why I’m here.  I’m on mission and I’m passionate about this mission that I’m on.  I mean if you read the gospels, all you see is Jesus on mission, mission to the lepers, mission to the blind, mission to the sick, the lost, the lonely, the tax collectors, the sinners, the prostitutes and he always did it with passion.  You never sense this thing of duty or obligation or religion or I have to.

It’s like no, he believed in the redemptive potential of humanity.  He knew what God could do in a life and he knew what the kingdom looked like.  That’s the ancient path.  In fact, it’s always been the ancient path.  If you go all the way back to Genesis, I’m going to give you some verses here because I really want you to see this.  You go all the way back to Genesis.  In Genesis chapter 1, it answers the two fundamental questions of life.  Where did I come from and why am I here?  Genesis chapter 1, “You were made in the image and likeness of God.”  That’s where you came from.  And why are you here?  To be on mission with him.  Look at what it says, “And God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.  Fill the earth and subdue it using all its vast resources in the service of God and man.’”  First thing God says to Adam and Eve is, here’s your purpose.  You’re on mission with me.

You’ve been commissioned to have my authority to rule and reign on this earth.  And I want you to start in the Garden of Eden and I want you to go on mission to bring my kingdom to all the corners of this world.  And when it says “He blessed them”, this is super important because you’re blessed when you know what your purpose is.  Happy, joyful, there’s a prosperity in your life when you know what your purpose is and you’re living it out.  And what is it to be fruitful?  Live a life of productive beauty, bringing things to their fullness of potential, multiply, reproduce the life of God in you into the world around you, fill the earth or your area of influence, like your home, your school, your work with the knowledge of the glory of the goodness of God, subdue it, bring order to the chaos around you and then use your resources to accomplish God’s purposes in the lives of men.  This was our created statement.  This was our initial purpose.  This was our mission.

But Adam and Eve lost sight of it.  And they decided their mission was themselves.  And so when they became selfish and they sinned, everything got changed and years later, God had to cleanse the earth with the flood.  And when Noah and his family get off the boat, here it is again, “Then God blessed,” there it is again, you’re blessed when you know your purpose and you live it out.  Noah and his sons saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.”  In other words, Noah, let me remind you why you’re here.  It’s not to live a life that you want to live, it’s to be on mission with me.  But they forgot it, they lost sight of it, so then God chooses a man by the name of Abraham and says, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you.  I will make your name great and you will be a blessing and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.  In other words, Abraham, I’ve sent you on mission to demonstrate and declare my kingdom, to show the world my grace and my goodness and my glory.  But they forgot it.  And so when they go into the Promised Land years later, God has to remind them again little by little.

I will drive out before you until -- “I will drive them out before you until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.”  In other words, Israelites, you’re on mission to go destroy the works of darkness, bring my kingdom and increase in number until eventually you bring my kingdom to the ends of this earth.  But they forgot it.  And so Jesus had to come and Jesus comes, he demonstrates it and then the resurrected Jesus says to the disciples, to us, “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.”  You’re like, that’s a lot of verses.  Yes, it is.  What I’m trying to show you is that at every crossroads of humanity God re-declares the mission and purpose over our lives and he says, do not forget, this is not about you, this is about my mission.

You see, the church doesn’t have a mission, the mission has a church.  God didn’t create a church and then say what should I do with them.  I know, let’s make him busy with a mission.  He had a mission and so he birthed the church to walk out that mission.  You want to talk about privilege.  You want to talk about responsibility.  You want to talk about authority, the fact that God believes in you so much that He would entrust you with the mission of bringing His kingdom to this earth.  I mean, this is why Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.”  What was he doing?  Living a life of passionate mission.  So can I just ask you a really honest question?  Are you engaged in the mission of God in any way?

In any way.  Do you give, serve, invite, bless, encourage, build up, strengthen?  I mean in any way, are you a part of the ancient path created purpose for your life?  See, we all have to learn how to get off of the path of the world and get onto the ways of God.  Even the disciples, when Jesus first calls them, remember what -- “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  It does not say, follow me so you can have eternal life.  It doesn’t say, follow me and you’ll get to heaven someday.  It doesn’t say, follow me and I will make everything easy and convenient and comfortable.  He says, follow me and I’ll make you a fisher of men.

In other words, he says you’re on the mission of me, myself and I and I’m going to help you get on the mission of God because I came to restore your identity, your relationship and your purpose.  And the disciples didn’t have a clue how to do this.  So they had to walk with Jesus.  And what happened as they walked with Jesus, they were a mess.  They always wanted to send the crowd away.  They’d get angry at the children.  They wanted to call fire down from heaven on people who disagreed with them.  I would just submit to you that is not the mission of God, right?  They didn’t know how to walk in the Holy Spirit.  They were incredibly selfish, but Jesus was making them, he was shaping them, he was forming them, he was changing their mind and their perspective over time to get off the mission of me, myself and I and to get on the mission of God so that they could once again live out their purpose and once again have rest for their souls.  Are you with me on this?  Now, this gets really strong right here, okay?  So you ready?  Take a breath.

Say you’re like, this whole series has been strong.  Yeah, I know.  Okay.  Look at what Jesus says, “He who is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me scatters.”  There it is again.  There’s no third road.  He says you’re with or you’re against, you’re gathering or you’re scattering.  He says, you’re either on the mission of me, myself and I or you’re on the mission of the kingdom.  There’s no third road.  This is Jesus.  And what I need you to understand is what Jesus is trying to tell us here is he’s saying if you’re not engaged in the mission of God as a follower of Jesus -- okay, you’re a believer.  I’m assuming you’re a believer in this this statement here.  If you’re a believer, you’re a follower of Jesus and you’re not engaged in the mission of God, you become a distraction from the mission of God.

If you’re a believer and you’re not engaged in the mission of God, you actually become an obstacle to the mission of God.  You say how?  Let me give you some really simple and kind of silly examples like if you always come late, if you always come late to the gathering, to your circle, to your team, to anything that we’re doing, then those of us who are engaged in the mission of God, we have to take our missional energy that should be going to the lost, lonely and the broken and turn it to you to try to figure out how to just get you on time.  So you become a distraction and an obstacle.  If you ghost the people of our church who are trying to reach out to you or communicate to you about something or invite you to something or ask you to respond to something, you register to something and you don’t show up, you literally just became a distraction from the mission because those of us that are engaged on the mission, we have to take the energy that should be going to the lost, lonely and the broken and turn it to just figure out where are you and why can’t we get you to communicate to us.

If you’re always complaining, critical, divisive, gossiping, if you’re always upset about masks and vaccines and politics and methodologies and strategies, then those of us who are engaged in the mission of God, we have to take the missional energy that belongs to the brokenness of the city and turn it to engaging with you so you actually become a barrier and a distraction from the very purpose you’re supposed to be a part of.  There has been more lost missional energy of the church of Jesus in this last season because we’ve had to take all the missional energy and turn it to things that we should not even be arguing about in the first place.  Why?  Because we’re on mission, so we’re willing to get over our preferences and our opinions and our feelings and our comforts and our conveniences.

Come on.  Come on, we’re supposed to be an army, marshaled up, all together, in line, moving forward on the kingdom agenda.  A lot of times, we act like a bunch of kindergartners on a field trip at Disney.  Does anyone want to be a kindergarten teacher taking a field trip of kindergarteners to Disney?  No.  Because why?  All the energy is going to just come back, oh, just come back in -- oh, oh, we’re going to lose one here, the, the, the, Dumbo ride, oh.  I don’t even know if that’s a ride.  Does it make sense?  So if you’re not with you’re against, if you’re not gathering you’re actually scattering.  That’s Jesus.  And I get it, some of you are sitting here and you’re like, yeah, but bro you have no idea what the season has been like.  I’m grieving, I’m heavy, I’m worn out, I’m tired, I’m sad, I’ve been beat down.

It’s been a lot.  I know.  It’s been a lot for everybody.  But hear me, you don’t get to take a pause on your purpose.  You don’t get to take a break from why you’re even on this earth in the first place.  And a lot of us are just like, but I’m just so weary and -- I know.  But if you’re thirsty, the greatest thing you can do is give a drink to someone else.  If you’re hungry, the greatest thing you do is feed someone else.  You’re hopeless?  The greatest thing you do is give hope to someone else.  Think about this, remember the story of the feeding of the five thousand?  Five thousand people here, Jesus is teaching them and the disciples are wore out.  It’s been a long season.  They’re tired, they’re hungry, they just want the crowd to go away.  And so they say to Jesus, “Jesus, like send the crowd --“  They try to do it nice, they’re like, “Jesus we’re on mission.  The crowd’s hungry.  Send them to go get something to eat.  Please just make them go away.”  And Jesus says, “You give them something to eat.”  “What?  Jesus, are you saying we --“

 “We only have five loaves and two fish.”  Jesus says, “That’s enough.”  Because Jesus never asks you what you don’t have, he only asks you what you do have and what are you willing to do with it.  “So we don’t have much Jesus. “  “It’s perfect, give it to me.”  He prays for it, breaks it, gives it to them, they go, feed five thousand people on mission.  And when they’re done, there’s twelve basketfuls left over.  Five loaves and two fish isn’t even enough for them to have lunch.  Twelve basketfuls, they all become refreshed they all become satisfied.  They all become encouraged.  They all have their spirit and their soul and their life recharged.  This is why the Bible says, “He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”  When you get involved in the mission of God, I don’t even know how to explain it other than it’s supernatural, it recharges your life.  When you start giving things away, it starts coming back to you in a way that opens up your mind, your spirit and your soul.  Why?  Because you’re living your created purpose.  And when you live your created purpose, you can’t help but like a solar panel start absorbing all the goodness of God into your own life.

This is why our attempt to refresh ourselves by focusing on ourselves will always leave us more weary than we already were.  Because the mission of me, myself and I leads in death and destruction.  The mission of God is how I find rest for my soul.  You with me on this?  This is why in the season, you see it.  Look at the world.  Apathy, languishing, lethargy, we’re making up words we didn’t even have to describe how beat down everyone is, right?  The great resignation.  Everyone’s quitting from their jobs.  And in our minds, here’s what we’re doing, we’re quitting from our jobs in our attempt to find refreshment for myself because I’m on the mission of me, myself and I.  And I’m wore out so I can’t do nobody or nothing but me.  Not realizing that that’s a demonic voice in your life that’s going to walk you into the valley of death.

Why?  Because if all of a sudden everything is about me, I’m serving me, I’m going to become exhausted because Jesus doesn’t promise that focusing on me, myself and I is where I’ll find life.  He promises that when I’m on the mission of God, that’s where I’m blessed, happy, joyful, peaceful, prosperity.  This is why every ancient person who walked the ancient path that we see from Abraham to Joseph to David to Paul to the disciples, no matter how bad their life got they never took a break on purpose.  That’s why they made it through because they never lost sight of the mission of God.  You with me on that?  And I get it, the mission of God, you’re like what does that mean?  Does that mean I have to serve a church?  Or does that mean I have to do -- it can mean so many different things but there’s principles that are the same.  Practicing the way of Jesus is about serving, building and inviting.  The world wants to teach you the opposite.

The world says, be selfish, tear down and create dividing lines between you and anyone or anything that doesn’t look like you, think like you, act like you, talk like you or make you comfortable or convenient.  But this is the way of Jesus and this is a life of passionate mission.  Still with me on this?  You’re like, I don’t like those words.  They’re good though.  Look at it.  Serve, “For even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.”  The disciples are arguing who’s going to sit on the right and the left hand side of Jesus in his glory, which of them is going to be the greatest.  And he says, hey, hey, hey, let me clarify this for you.  Even I didn’t come to be served., I came to serve and to give my entire life away.  So if you’re actually going to follow me and practice my way the ancient path is about being a servant.  Come on, let’s be real honest, that this last season in the shaking and the changing in the world around us, it has made people really selfish.

Probably the most selfish that I’ve ever seen.  Like the just the totality of human -- I mean it’s become about the mission of me, myself and I.  My comfort, my convenience, my hobby, my side hustle, my work, my activity, my feelings, my emotions, my preference, my opinions.  Shall I continue?  I mean I’m watching young adults that don’t have any children with no real responsibility say they’re too busy to be a part of the mission of God because they need time at night to just watch Netflix.  Okay.  I’m watching people who have made commitments to serve or lead and people are counting on them just not show up or calling last minute because it’s been a really long week.  I’m watching people just do everything based on what’s comfortable and convenient and good for them.  But listen, that’s this road.  Just call it then what it is.

Say, right now, I want to live like the world.  And like listen, don’t be surprised that the world lives like this.  The world is on the mission of me, myself and I.  But we’re not the world.  We’re on the ancient path.  So can I just ask you this question?  Does any decision in your life include how am I going to be a part of serving others in the mission of God?  When you’re trying to wrestle through, how do I do my calendar, my time, my money, my energy, my focus, my life, is anywhere in that conversation how am I going to serve as a part of the mission of God?  Not your family.  You don’t get to say, well, I serve my husband.  No, that doesn’t count.  That’s your family.  You should be serving at home too.  But that -- it’s more than that.  Come on, in the kingdom you are never the center of your purpose.  Jesus, his kingdom and his people are.

And in the kingdom, you will never find freedom by being selfish, you find freedom by serving others.  Come on, are you with me on this?  It’s getting real quiet.  Some of you are like, talk about money again.  That was easier.  I know.  Because the truth is for a lot of us time is actually a bigger God than money.  When Jesus says or when God says in Genesis 1 28, use all the resources of this earth to accomplish God purposes in the lives of men, you know one of the main resources of earth that is not in heaven is time.  God exists outside of time so when He says, use all the resources of this earth to accomplish my purposes in the lives of men, one of the number one things is time.  And if you’re not willing to give up any of your time because you’re too busy, then again, you have to acknowledge like we tried to talk about last week then just say I’m just in a season where my mission is me, myself and I.  It’s just better to straight up acknowledge it than it is to deceive yourself that you’re living to in in two worlds.

There is no there is no third road.  And for those of you that have been serving, can I just go ahead and say?  It is a hard season to serve because people are really selfish, so they’re not receiving the serving that those of us that are on mission are trying to give and it can get weary and wore out and beat down.  But listen, for this cause you were born, for this cause you have come into this world.  Think of Jesus.  “For the joy before him endured the cross.”  In other words, when he could have given up, when it got hard, when it got inconvenient, he could have checked out.  No, no, no.  He was like, this is why I’m here.  So when they insulted and persecuted him, this is why I’m here.  When they started to lash his body with lash after lash that literally tore the flesh off his body, this is why I’m here.  When they beat him with rods and broke down his body, this is why I’m here.  When they drove nails through his hands and nails through his feet on that cross, this is why I’m here.

 “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  This is the ancient path and I will walk it and find rest for my soul.  Serve.  Second thing is just build.  Build, we’re called to be builders.  It was he, Jesus, who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers -- ready?  To prepare God’s people for the works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up.  This is really important if you can catch this.  It was Jesus who gave the church church leadership to prepare or equip.  In the original language, that word means to mend or repair.  Mend or repair as if thinking a term of an old fishing net.  When Peter would fish, he would have a big net he would throw it out and when he’d pull it back in the net would close and it would catch all the fish.

But if there were holes in that net, when he would throw it out and he would catch the fish and pull the in, the fish would swim out the hole leaving him ineffective.  So what this word is telling us is that God has given church leadership to us to mend or repair the tears in our soul, the tears in our life, the tears in our thinking, the tears in who we are so that we can once again be tossed back out into the world and be fishers of men and catch fish a mission and purpose with God so that you can ultimately serve and build up the body of Christ.  And what you need to see in this is that it is so important to value the voice of the church leaders that God has given to you.  I think in this last season we’ve become so globally connected and there’s so much coming at us, there’s so much good stuff out there, podcasts and sermons and messages and books and courses and curriculums and Bible studies and reading plans.

All that’s amazing.  Please use it, invest in yourself, follow Jesus, build and strengthen your own soul, but don’t do it in replacement of the voice of the church leaders that God has given to you.  You say, well, but I love all these other things.  Those things are great, but hear me those people don’t love you like we do.  Those people aren’t praying for you like we do.  Those people aren’t trying to lead you somewhere like we are.  And those people won’t have to give an account to God for your life the way that we will.  If this is your church family, then God has placed you here and he has given church leaders in your life to mend or repair the tears in your soul.

And we will give an account for that but you will give an account for did you do the works of service and build up the body.  And what happens is when we don’t value the voices that God has placed in our lives, what happens is we lose our missional synergy.  We lose our missional exponential power.  We lose this this sense of the missional responsibility that we have for this season and this region and this city for this time.  But when we come together and we do it God’s way, all of a sudden we start realizing this is why we’re here and this is why we’re called this Valley Creek family on mission.  And this is why we need to unite together so we can do what God has entrusted us to do in this time in this place.  Are you with me on that?  So the question then is are you building up in any way?  Like when you’re around -- like do you contribute?  Do you build?

Do you strengthen?  Do you encourage?  Do you prophesy?  Do you celebrate?  Do you inspire?  Or do you just come to consume?  Like here’s an example to connect the dots for you.  One of the things that I asked our entire church to do earlier this fall was every time you’re here, have one meaningful conversation before you leave.  Every time.  Why?  Because that’s how we build up the body of Christ and reconnect relationships after a season of storms.  So have you been doing that?  Because that would be valuing the voice that God has placed in your life, to mend or repair the tears in your soul so that you can do the works of service so that the body can be built up.  It’s the ancient path.  Does that make sense?  And then we have to invite, follow me as I follow Christ.  Jesus was always inviting.

This is Paul, he’s saying I’m following Jesus so come on, follow me on this ancient path.  As followers of the way, we should be inviting, inviting people to want everything, inviting people to church, inviting people to our circle, inviting people to our serve team, inviting people into our lives, into our home, inviting people to share their story, inviting people to hear our story.  Come on, when was the last time you invited anybody to anything that had to do with Jesus?  Like I invited a bunch of people to the Halloween Party.  I know.  But when was the last time you invited anybody to anything that has to do with Jesus?  This matters.  You say, why?  Because when you’re inviting and you’re sharing your story and you’re engaging in the mission of God, it keeps the gospel alive in your heart.  It reminds you that I was lost and I’m found, I was dead, I’m alive.  I was on the mission of me, myself and I but God gave me back my purpose.  That’s why I’m here.  And if I stop doing this, I forget what Jesus did for me.

Come on, you remember the story of the woman at the well?  Here is this sinful Samaritan woman.  She’s on the wide road that leads to destruction.  She’s been married five times, living with a sixth man, she’s got so much shame in her life that she’s drawing water at the well in the middle of the heat of the day.  And here comes Jesus, a Jewish rabbi man and he comes and he has a conversation with her.  And she throws every excuse at him about why she can’t walk the ancient path.  Everything from politics to racism, to church wounds, to socioeconomic statuses, to theology.  Read it, all in there.  And Jesus cuts through all of them.  And he says, “But if you would just ask of me, I will give you springs of living water so you will never thirst again.”  And that woman receives what Jesus offers and it tells us she goes back to her village and she tells everyone, “Come meet a man.  This must be the Messiah.”

Now, can you imagine if she went back to her village and she just went back to her normal life?  Didn’t tell anybody anything.  Like can you imagine if she went back to her village and told me, hey, there’s the guy Jesus at the well, just changed my life.  You should go check it out too.  What?  No.  There’s this sense of passion, this sense of mission, this sense that like my eyes have been opened.  I was lost, I’m now found.  Like come on, listen to me, would you be okay if I got up here every week without any level of passion?  This is -- think about this for a second.  Would you be okay if I came up late?  Like we’ve had a great worship set, and I walk up here three four five minutes late and I just say to you, you know, it’s just been a long week.  Like a lot going on.  Would you be okay with that?

Or how about this?  Like what if I got up here and I just like was totally unprepared and I was like, ah, what should we -- what do you guys want to talk about today?  No.  Or what if I got up here and had zero passion?  Today, we’re going to talk about the Ancient Path: Practicing the Way of Jesus.  No.  And some of you are like, yeah, but this is your job bro.  This is not my job, this is my life.  My life is engaged passionately on the mission of God.  And it’s the ancient path, it’s the narrow road, it’s how you find rest for your souls.  And it’s full of our church.  In the last two weeks, I’ve watched grown men stand in the pouring rain to do parking so students can come in and have circles.  I’ve watched busy moms give up their me time so that they could lead a circle and help other people find Jesus.  I’ve watched some of our retired women walk through the worship center, pray over your chairs and put the little things in the seat back and pray over the water bottles that our team is drinking.

I’ve watched students give up their time to be in the student section to lead the way.  I’ve watched a man use everything that we’re talking about here and as a hope carrier putting it into his marketplace leadership with his teams.  Come on, it’s all over.  The question is, is it there for you?  Come on, the Bible tells us, “Whatever you, do work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”  We are living in an era of apathy, lethargy, languishing, the great resignation, so we must be the opposite with all our heart means with passion, with life.  Come on, if you’re on a serve team, if you’re leading, if you’re doing -- are you doing it with all your heart?  Or are you trying to walk the third road?  Yeah, yeah, I can check it off the list, I participate.

Hear me, you don’t get to check it off the list if it’s not with all your heart because that’s the mission of me, myself and I because Jesus doesn’t have a list.  Jesus wants your heart.  So list is for you, not for him.  He wants your heart.  Come on, you can go into pretty much any restaurant or business anywhere you want right now and you’re going to see a little sign that basically says, please be nice to us, we don’t have enough workers.  Why?  Because ain’t nobody want to work anymore or have any level of engagement or passion or purpose.  Why?  Because we all have bought into this deception, not all, many have bought into the deception, not you.  Got going there, just don’t want to -- you know, don’t want to ruin the whole thing over one extreme word there at the end.  That I’ll find life on the path of me, myself and I, but what we’ve been trying to catch this whole series is this is a deception that leads to destruction.

There is so much opportunity ahead of you and us.  So we should never -- as the people of God, there should never be -- we need people.  We have all these openings that can’t be filled.  We have all these apathetic people participating in the middle.  We should be doing it with all heart because it’s for the Lord.  Are you with me on this?  Last thing to pull it all together.  The initial statement that Jesus gives us to follow him, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  Come follow me and I will change your life so you become part of the mission of God.  So ready?  This is A plus B equals C.  So work it backwards with me, if there’s no mission in your life either he’s not making or you’re not following.

It’s the only two conclusions that can be drawn.  If there’s no mission of God in your life, then either the maker of heaven and earth is not very good at making or maybe I’m not really actually following because if I’m following him, he is making, shaping, molding, changing me from the mission of me, myself and I to the mission of the kingdom of God, to seek and save that which was lost, to bring God’s rule and reign, to destroy the works of the devil and release his life all over the world.  Sometimes you have to point your feet in the direction you want your heart to go.

Because maybe your heart’s over there.  That’s fine.  Point your feet over here, the ancient path, the narrow road, the good way so you can find rest for your soul because it’s only in your purpose that you will find life.  So close your eyes with me.  Come on, what’s the Holy Spirit saying to you today?  What’s God whispering in your heart?  What’s He trying to toss in the air?  What’s He trying to draw your attention towards?  Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate.

Make every effort to walk the ancient path.  Make every effort to allow His grace to draw you down the narrow road.  See, a life of passion and mission, it’s not a duty, a religion, an obligation, it’s not something you have to do for God, it’s who He created you to be.  And He wants you to experience the freedom and the life and the rest for your soul that comes by living outside of yourself.  So Holy Spirit, would you reignite the spark of passion and mission in our hearts?  Would you show me -- would you show us where our mission is me, myself and I?  Holy Spirit, would you give us a really simple next step to just start pointing our feet down this path again of purpose, in hope and refreshment?

Lord, may the decisions we make be filtered through, is this going to help me walk out my created purpose or not?  So Lord, keep shaking, keep moving, keep changing and may we have a humility of repentance and the desire to just turn our hearts towards you.  May we become a church that is known for passion and mission no matter what is happening in the world around us because that’s who you are Jesus, that’s who you are to us in your name we pray, amen.