Oh, The Places You'll Go III

Greetings, everyone. It's great to be back on the platform with you. I missed one week when Pastor Scott brought the message on the place of hope, which I discovered was near Munhall, which I just didn't understand. And then last week, Pastor Ken, I was here for his message on a place called compassion. And I just want to say again how blessed we are to have a team of men that are sold out to bring the Word each and every week to you. And today's message, I have to say, is for what I'm going to call the sort of 80 percent of us. Let me describe what I mean. There's about 10 percent of you, at least, that are participating here that are maybe just at the phase of your life of faith that you're checking out, what does it mean to really be a sincere Christ follower? I'm not sure I understand. Maybe you've heard it. Maybe this is your first time at church at North Way. And you're saying, I wonder, I've heard about this place, I want to go check it out. And we're glad you're here, and this isn't a bad service to be part of. You'll pick up some things today that will be relevant to you. Then the other 10 percent are those of you that just are, I mean, you're all the way in. I mean, you've been in, this is your home, you're part of this thing. You serve, you give, you worship, you share, you pray. You wouldn't be anywhere else. You know this is where God wants you. Now, notice I said 10 percent, so that the rest of you, the 80 percent of you, may find something in this message either disturbing or delightful, depending on how you interpret it. But I trust it'll be encouraging in either way, because I've prayed a lot about it, and I believe it's something that all of us maybe need to be reminded of wherever we are in our journey. I was with a group of pastors just this week. I've been meeting with pastors from the North Hills for 14 years. I invite them to come here, and we sometimes go to other churches, but normally it's here because we're most central. And you know, the pastor said something to me. They said, you know, we've been reading and following some of the statistics, and we know about your new campuses and so on. And then one pastor said, well, how does it feel to be probably the biggest church around? And I thought for a moment, I said, well, you know, it doesn't, I don't feel anything about that. I never set out to make that my goal. And I don't know who's counting, and I don't know what the parameters are, so it doesn't really matter. I'll tell you what I really do care about is I want to be the best church we can be. That's what I want. And I'm not sure how to measure that either, but I have a bit of an idea based on what we're going to talk about today. I want to be the church that's got the greatest influence, not compared to other churches, but the greatest influence that we possibly can have, influence that makes God look down and say, hey, those are my people. They're doing good things in my name. We want to go to the place called influence today. And if you're taking notes, I invite you to just pull your outline out of your notes and jot this down. I'm not even sure it's on there. I'm really not good at getting everything on these outlines in timely fashion, but somewhere it's in here. And the definition of influence that I looked up in Webster's and then checked it out is this. It should be up on the screens for you. The influence is this, it's the capacity or power of a person or group to produce effects on others by indirect means. And let's leave that up for just a second, please. Note each word, the capacity or power of a person or group to produce effects, in other words, change on others by indirect means. If I come up and deliver a body blow, I might produce an effect on you, but that's not influence. That's bullying or whatever it is. Scott would probably say that's a joke because I gave him my best shot, I didn't even move him. That's what he would say. But that's the point is it's indirect. What's influence? We see influence is when you don't even recognize necessarily that the person that is influencing you has set out to do so. How many of you had a coach? How many of you had a teacher? How many of you had a mentor? Someone that you, they didn't even necessarily know how much they were influencing you. Not directly by what they were telling you to do, but by the kind of role model that they were, the kind of example to your life that they became. And you watch them and you learn from them and they were there for you at times that you didn't even expect. They influenced your life. And this happens, and I want you to notice it says it happens personally and corporately. And my prayer is that the church, our church, would understand the power of this thing called influence. Look back in your life and you'll recognize, friends, that there have been people like that. And I just want to be very clear and tell you that those people are generally very committed to that. It starts with commitment. You know, anybody following the hockey playoffs, let me see your hands. Other than Jim with his, yeah, okay, he's got jerseys on, some of you, I don't know. Some of you will know the outcome of the game as I'm speaking, right? I mean, that's, some of us don't know the outcome of the game. But how many of you recognize, if you're a hockey fan, you know that Sidney Crosby came into the pros, I think as a 17 or 18 year old prospect, highly touted, and ended up living in the home of Mario Lemieux down in Sewickley. And I read just probably 15 articles this week in preparation of people who commented on what an incredibly wise move that was on both the part of Mario Lemieux to protect his franchise prospect and on Sidney Crosby as a young man who submitted himself to someone who had, watch, influence. And that's why I would perhaps submit to you that Sidney Crosby is living up to an extremely high expectation, influence. It comes at a price, living with somebody, hanging out with them, watching how they live life. Loved ones, I want to share something with you that's painful for me to say, and that is this, that the church of Jesus, the church that you and I are a part of, this church amongst them, that the church throughout our country, by and large, is waning in its influence on our culture. In many of the dialogues that I used to be invited into 30 years ago, I don't even get an invitation anymore. Our government, the people that run our different municipalities and so on, don't even care what the church thinks about such things as what's going on in the schools, or what's going on with the elderly, or what's going on with people in need. They don't even ask for us to come to the table. Social change is brought about by one body and one body only, and what is that? The government. And with a few exceptions, some non-profits that the government deems to be worthy. The church of Jesus has lost influence. Now contrast that with just a hundred years ago, when hospitals and orphanages and care institutions of all kinds were established only by the church, long before there was Medicare and Medicaid, there was the church. The church used to be the primary delivering system of the very things now that everyone looks to the government to provide. We've lost our influence. We've given it away. Not overnight, but just over time. And I stand before you today and wonder, 10 or 20 years from now, will churches all across America just be empty halls like they are in Europe today? Now there are two things that I believe that can prevent that from happening, and I have committed my life to them, and we have built this church now 29 years on these two principles. So they're on your notes, so if you just want to jot these down, whether you're part of the 10% or part of the 80%, these are relevant to you. Here they go. Number one, these are two non-negotiables for a church that wants to have influence in the culture. Number one, you've got to understand who the church is about. It's not about the pastor. Please never call this Jay's church or Pastor Jay's church. I don't like that. Don't ever call it Scott's church. Worse than I thought, if it's already happened and some kind of different thing is going on that I don't even know about. Just kidding, but you understand. It's not a man's church. Let's read who the church belongs to on your outline, and it'll be on the screen if you don't have a Bible. If you have a Bible, that's the best place because you can mark that all up and have it for future reference. This is in Matthew 16. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, that's in the sort of the northeast quarter of the Holy Land, if you're referencing that. He asked his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is? In other words, who am I influencing and what are they saying? They replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah. They're referring to old figures that they knew because they didn't have a reference point for him. And still others say Jeremiah, one of the prophets. But what about you, Jesus replied, who do you say I am? And Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ. That's the word Messiah, the Son of the living God. And friends, I believe there was a pregnant pause there, just this momentary pause. And Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon, Son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man. In other words, somebody didn't teach you this, but this came by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you're Peter, that's a little word, Petra. And on this rock, that's the word Petra. That's the big word. Petros is the name, Petra. On this rock of revelation that I am the Messiah, I will build my church and the gates of Hades, the gates of death, the gates of hell will not prevail against it or overcome it. And I give you the keys, oh, who does he give the keys to? Turn to someone and say, me. Turn to someone and say, he gives the keys to me. Oh, no, that didn't work. Turn to someone and say, he gives the keys to you. Try that. He gives the keys to you. You have the keys to the kingdom of authority. Look at this. The kingdom of heaven, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. That is so powerful. You know, to this day, people will come to me and they'll say, you know, I came to your church. They say your, meaning mine, but I always say, no, it's not mine, it belongs to the Lord. But they say, I came to North Way and I really liked it. They say, I thought the kids' ministry thing I discovered, you know, was fantastic. My kids want to come back, and I really liked the music, and I liked the way, the people were very friendly. And those facilities are awesome, and they go on and on. They say, but there's one thing that made me just a bit uncomfortable. They say, you talk about Jesus. Everything's Jesus. Jesus, this, and Jesus, that. They said, I'm not used to that. The church I used to go didn't talk about Jesus all the time. Could you just dial down the Jesus thing, and then I could really enjoy, I'd really like the church then. But loved ones, my direct answer to them is always this, sir, ma'am, everything that you see here is because Jesus' presence has been amongst us. Not one thing has happened. Not one achievement has occurred because of my ingenuity or creativity or the greatness of anybody around here. It's all because of Jesus. And you'll never hear us say anything else. So if you don't want to hear the name of Jesus, may I direct you down the road, because there's a lot of churches where you won't hear the name at all. And you'll be about, you know, the fifth person in the building. I'm so delighted, I'm so thrilled that Jesus is honored in this place. Thirty years ago, a man who I greatly respect, you've heard us talking just in the announcement phase about this Conversations with the Fathers of the Faith that's coming this Thursday down at the Renaissance Hotel. I just want to issue a wide open invitation to any person, man or woman, who could come Thursday, this week, to the Renaissance Hotel for a one-day conference with Henry Blackbeard and John Perkins. Another man who was going to try to come but because of travel issues couldn't make it was Jack Hayford. Jack Hayford was a man that I was greatly influenced by when I went to seminary. He's out in Venice, California at the Church on the Way. He's on television if you watch TV. He's now in his mid to late 70s, a brilliant man, songwriter, 400 songs he wrote including Majesty and songs like that, that some of you know, and Bible teacher, Bible school president, author of like 25, I mean this amazing man. Here's what he said. He said, Jesus will never build his church on an emphasis. Now you might want to write that down because here's what that means. That means the church says, well, we're all about family ministry, so we're the family ministry church. That's wonderful but that's not what he's going to build his church on. Or the church about Sunday school. Well, we've got the best Sunday school of any church in Pittsburgh. We've got 14 offerings. You know, if you come at 9 o'clock, you can go to one of 14 classes and then go to worship. That's not what he's going to build his church on. Or prophecy, nor healing, nor deliverance, nor any of those gifts of the Spirit. The only thing that Jesus will build his church on is Jesus. Can someone say amen? That's so weird. You say, well, I knew that. Well, maybe you knew that, but I wonder how much we really understand the centrality of that to what we're all about. He said on this rock, the rock of revelation that I am the Messiah, I will build my church. And I want you to take a little pleasure right now. Jesus is building us together. Now how many of you look around and say he has some weird ideas of who should be in his church? Someone's looking at you and saying that, so why don't you just look at them and say, how did you get in here? I'll tell you how I got in here because Jesus brought me in. He's building his church and he invites each and every one of us that are here and hearing his voice to be part of what he is building. Something so powerful and dynamic that the very gates which stand for the authorities of hell cannot stop the church when it's functioning the way it should. Loved ones, we should be heartbroken that we've given up our influence when we should have not just a place at the table, but we should be determining the agenda of the table. Why? Because Jesus said, you'll never lose the authority I've given you. That's what he's called us to be. I just want you to know, no matter what people tell me on the national day of prayer, I'm going to be out front praying to Jesus. I'm going to be standing out in the, I'm going to be out on the lawn. I'm going to invite this staff. I want you to come and if I can possibly do it out by the sign so that you can't miss us, that's where I'm going to be. And anyone who wants to from the government on down can say, well, we're not sure that that's, I don't care what they think. I'm going to pray to Jesus and I'm not going to pray to any of the other gods and just be inclusive and have a community day of prayer to some other God. Doesn't work for me, friends. Call me close minded. Now that I don't love those people, I'll love them, but I won't love their God and I won't pray to him. Now that's number one. Number two, we have a mission as a church. Some call it the great commission. And for 29 years, we've been trying to figure this out. And sometimes I just feel like we get a real handle on it. Other times I feel, Lord, please forgive me. I just don't know what I'm doing here. Let me read it for you. It's much shorter passage. Here it is. It's on your outline. Again, it'll be on the screen or in your Bible. Matthew 28, 18 through 20. This is the conversation with the risen Christ. The previous passage, Jesus was still alive, so it didn't really count. So you can just say, give Jay a little bit of a pass on that one. This one, here he is risen. He brings the disciples together. And just before he ascends to heaven, here's what he says. He came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And I want to stop right there. How many of you would love that your team captain, your CEO, the head of your whole organization, to be your best friend and have all authority in heaven and on earth? I'm doing this. This is not by like, I didn't stand there and say, what would be a cool way? This is just my natural way. The word exosia in Greek means power. Jesus says, I have all power to do what? To teach, the Bible says, with authority. Not like the scribes and Pharisees who just sort of made up stuff and people all went along with it. Power to set people free from demonic oppression. How many of you listen to the Let's Talk radio program with Stacey and Hutch, and you hear the people call in with these addictions and they represent, and some of you might be struggling with an addiction here today. That's very common in our culture. Jesus has authority over addictions. Jesus has authority over illnesses and sicknesses that bind us and hold us under their influence. Jesus has power through us to extend forgiveness of sins to people who have come to the cross and repent and turn and give their lives to Christ. Jesus has given us authority to bind things in heaven and loose them in heaven, and they'll be bound on earth and loosed on earth. And here's what I just want you to see the connection. If you have your Bible, flip over, but maybe just to speed things up, look on the screen in Ephesians 1.22. Here's the connection. Paul writes and says, why did I give you that authority? Well, God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything. Now say those three words with me. For the, okay, now everybody, for the church, which is his body. You see, when Jesus was lifted up, when he was taken from the earth, he said, I've got to have someone representing me, and friends, that's you and me. And I just hope that you understand what an amazing privilege that is. We are the hands, it says there, we are the hands and the feet, the fullness of him. I don't feel worthy of that. I'm not telling you that I live my life without stain or purpose. I don't, I fail. But you know what? I'm so much better because I partner with different ones of you, and together we represent who Jesus is to a world that doesn't know where to look. That's our privilege. And I'm so convinced that the great commission, winning people, making disciples, would just take off if we got a hold of that authority and believed it. If we stop believing the media and start believing the word, things would change drastically. But no, we read the media or we read the reports and we say, well, you know, the real estate market's down, so nothing's going to sell. All authority has been given to me, but not real estate. God does not have authority over real estate. The economy's down, but God doesn't, Jesus doesn't have, he has no authority. Remember, he's the one that got coins out of a fish mouth. I figure he has ways to get money into your pocket if you really believe him for it. Now, let's move on. Therefore, because I have all this authority, he says go. A little bit of an issue here. It'd be very easy, and you know what most of the church has done? They have not gone, they've gone, they've just gone sort of laid back, passive. The church, by and large, has not moved out. The church in America, as you know from reports, is somewhat on the decline. Why? Because we are not going out. There are a lot of empty seats because the church isn't going out. We're afraid that we might offend. We're afraid that, you know, someone might not, so we don't go out. But we're called to go and make disciples of all nations. That's a people group. All peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And surely I am with you all to the very end of the age. Let me just touch on those three things, okay? Three things that every church is to do that's going to have influence. Number one, make disciples. Listen, all that means is inviting people to follow. That's what a disciple is. A disciple is someone who follows Jesus. Our mission statement as a church is we are freeing people to follow Jesus, right? That's what we're called to do. And so all we say to people, we're not asking them to, like, get religion, no. We're just saying follow Jesus, follow his life, read about him. In fact, if you really have any courage, you could say, follow me and I'll show you how to follow Jesus. How many of you are willing to say that? Don't be embarrassed. I mean, you should. Good. Not perfectly because when you mess up, you should say, you know, what I just did there, don't do that. That's not something Jesus would do. I'm sorry about that one. That'll happen. But you should have the courage to say to someone, if you don't know how to follow Jesus, follow me. Paul told Timothy that. I think you can tell people that. They know you're not perfect. But loved ones, there's no substitute. I wish I could walk back there with some of you. I sat in the back in the free services last week and looked at some of you so disconnected in your brain. I don't know what you were dreaming about. But if somebody would come alongside of you and say, look, just walk with me for six months and I'll teach you how you can connect with the real Jesus and not play games. Would that be worth your time? Would you be willing to do that? How about three months? This is not a game show, but I mean, three, 90 days of sincerely walking with someone who knows Jesus and your life will be changed. Would you say that's correct, Pastor Scott? 90 days baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Water baptism has become something around here that we celebrate. I love the way we celebrate our baptisms. Now here's the only issue. Some of you on the fat 10 side of the equation, you think you're fine, but you've never been water baptized. We're coming after you. Come and get baptized. Those of you in the big fat 80% and you've never been baptized, I think there's a baptism here in Wexford next week or coming up next week or two, check in your notes or go online and get baptized. And if you have to stand up and say, I'm sorry, I've been a Christian for 16 years, but never been baptized. It's okay. We'll still celebrate you. And if you just received the Lord last week or two weeks ago at Easter, come and get baptized. It's part of what you do. I know Oakland's about to have baptism. Get baptized. Why? Because it's an outward sign of an inward reality. You are dead with Christ and risen with him. And then finally, teaching them to obey everything I commanded. How long can I talk about that? Well, what's the everything? Love one another, serve one another, care for one another, meet together as we're meeting here, forgive one another. Forgive one another? I have to forgive that guy that bumped into my car in the parking lot? I stumbled on that one, but I did it. Don't worry about anything. Matthew 6, 33. Anyone here worry this week about anything? It's not a trick question. How many people worried about something this week? Me too. And I was convicted about that. This morning I was preparing the final touches of this message. And I said, Lord, I've been worrying about stuff. You said, seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. And all these things, all the things that we need will be given to us. Don't worry, he said. Don't worry about what you wear, what you eat, where you sleep. I'll take care of all that stuff. Be the church, Matthew 18. Give generously. And freely, Matthew 10, verse 8. How many of you have ever learned the beauty of listening to God and hearing him say, now it's time to give? Give freely and generously, and I'll return to you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Well, that's a big one. See, teaching comes from the classroom. It comes from pulpits. It comes from CDs and TV. But the best teaching, loved ones, listen, watch. The best teaching, watch, comes from being involved. I learn more from being involved with people than I do from what I read or what I watch. I learn more about the nature of God when I see it incarnated in you, when I hear your wisdom, when I hear your perception. So many of you are so deep in your understanding of the word that when I'm with you in a group or in a ministry, I learn. And that's why we are so adamant about being connected here. You learn, you're taught by being with people. And the Lord says, when you're like that, then I will be with you till the end of the age. You know, there's some of you thinking, you know, I've about given up on church. And the reason I've about given up on it is when I used to go to church, I just went and would sit there and would count the bricks behind me, you know, and where the choir was because I was so bored. And here's the reason you were bored. Because the Lord says, when there's two or more gathered in my name and they're doing what I said here, they're making disciples, they're baptizing and they're teaching everything I've commanded, I'll be there. But if they're not, I'll pull that promise off the table and it's dead. You might as well just go spend your time watching Fox News or CNN or, you know, whatever else you might want to watch. There's no benefit in just sitting around with a bunch of people listening to something that doesn't matter if God's presence isn't there. And so you're here, I believe, because you're looking for that. Otherwise, you wouldn't put up with someone like me. You're here because you want to know if this is real. I want it for my life. I want my life to be changed. I don't want to just go through the motions. How many of you find life's too short? See, everyone over 50 put their hand up and even 40. People under 30 think, hey, I got a long way to go. I don't know what your problem is. Well, let me tell you, the meter speeds up faster than you can imagine. And the sooner you engage and realize this isn't a game, this is your one and only life and you get all in, the sooner you discover that God has a plan and a purpose and a destiny for you and you don't want to miss it. So let me just end by just talking about this in closing for you. I just want to give you two defining words, two defining words that have guided us as a church. Now, I think every church has a unique personality. Here are the two things that God said to us that I, among others, but these are two of the most clear and significant things. Flip your outline over. Here's one. He said this to us in 1981. How many of you were not born then? If you're not sure, ask your mom. Was I born in 1981? Okay. 29 years ago, for those of you who are a little challenged in math, we were meeting for prayer and the Lord said this through one of the people at the prayer meeting and he said, I have this very strong impression from the Lord that He is saying to us, I will send you all that you will care for. That's the first blank on the back of the page. Let's put it up on the screen. I will send you all that you will care for. What does that mean? That means this. It means that we don't have to run out and give away prizes for people to come to church. We don't have to have gimmicks. We don't have to do kind of bait and switch sort of things to get people to give us a try. The Lord just simply said to us, you care for people, care for their soul. Give them an opportunity to meet me. Let them understand what it means to be a disciple. Minister to their felt needs and I will keep sending people. When you stop caring, then the flow will slow down and it'll eventually stop. And over the years, that's what's happened. When we've cared for people, God has sent more. When we've broken down, whether in groups or in ministries, the flow has kind of stopped. Now here's the key thing about this. We are at a place right now where we need more people to care for people. I don't know if it got passed around clearly, but we had the highest attendance on Easter we ever had this Easter. But here's what I've noted. That as it usually does is drop down again. Here's why. Because a lot of people are in that 80% and you've not yet stepped in to help us care for others. Now some of you need care and that's fine. Come and get that care you need. Come to care night. Come to a ministry. Get into a small group. You know, find a way. I was talking to Pastor John Saiz and he said, we've never had so many people come to care ministry and we don't have enough people to care for them. And boy, this, this, this word just popped into my mind. We stopped caring. The Lord will stop sending. So let's understand every one of you can do something to care, whether it's children or helping out in any of a couple of scores of ministries or just loving people, you can do it. It's real important. And then the second thing is this one church, many locations, all generations. What's that? That's the word that he gave to us just a couple of years ago, that we were not to be just one big church in one location, but we were to multiply into different campuses. Now, you all know that we're in Oakland now, and that church is just healthy and growing. We also have a venue here in Wexford and the worship cafe that's, that's reaching lives. And we are about to launch in Sewickley in the early fall, but friends, that's just the beginning. The Lord said one church, how many locations, many, everyone say many. Is four many? No. I think many, I think of more than I got fingers, okay? If I ask someone for some M&Ms and they gave me five or six, I say, I want a lot. I want many. I want a handful. But we need folks to step into this. This will not happen if just some of us grab it. This is a gift that God will not look. I understand some of us are ready to go and some of us are, Carol and I are very different that way. When we go to the beach, Carol's the kind of person, how many of you relate to this? And she'll go to the water and she'll go like to this far, if that's the water, well, you know, that's what, and she'll go and she'll let it just maybe hit her, her feet. And then five minutes later, it goes to her ankles. And then if it's like tolerable, then she, you know, then it goes up halfway up her shins, you know, by this time the sun's halfway up the sky, then it's her knees. And I'm thinking, what are you doing? And I, I'll go and you know, if it's like, as long as it's not frozen, I'll just go like this, do some of this and then. How many of you relate to Carol? You're just like easy way. Yeah. And how many of you like more? Hey, look, you're like me. Like, let's just go do this thing. Okay. It's not a male or female thing. It was the equal number of hands. But understand there, there was almost just about the same. So not all of you are going to jump right on board. I understand that, but it's time that we all say, this is going to be our church. This is the way we're going to do it. Some of you are thinking, well, what if I failed in life? Well, I want you to hear a story of someone that that's always been involved. And by the way, here's a summation of the sermon. If you wanted to say, what was the sermon about? Here's what it is. Can we put up this please on the screen? Involvement equals influence. Here it is. Put it up on the screen. Write that on your, it's not even on your outline. But just shot it underneath in that blank space. Involvement equals influence. If you get involved, you will have influence. You will make a difference. I want you to meet a couple and some of you know them, but most of you probably don't, but their story is typical of many people. So I want you to, and their story is going to move you. So give a warm welcome to Mike and Kelly Inman as they come to share with us right now. Hey guys. Thanks for coming. Step up here, please. Welcome. Welcome. Thank you. Michael. Let's see. We were chatting. You said that it was around 1996 when you first landed here in North Way, right? That's right. In the summer of 96 into the summer of 97 in August. All right. And what was your kind of, had you finished school at that point? Sure. I'd actually been, I'd finished college and then was in graduate school actually right downtown and then also full-time work. And through that, just stepped rig