Life On Mission
It is important to remember mission work begins right where you are.
Chris Phillips
Feb 16, 2020 38m
In this sermon Guest Pastor Chris Phillips reminds us that we are all called to do mission work, and it begins right where we are. He challenges us to kill our contentment and pride, and to answer the call to share the gospel with all the world. Video recorded at Columbia, South Carolina.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Chris Phillips: 00:00 I'll introduce my family real quick, I think we have a picture. Just so I want you to know I'm okay with noise, and you can talk back and do that because my life is filled with four kids chaos, right? I have four kids, 11 and younger. We have Paxton, we have Trip, we have Rhett, and then we have the little lady that runs my wife Libby and I's house, her name is Henley and she's never done anything wrong in her entire life. And so that's our family, I want you to know that they love and appreciate you, and I just wanted to show that picture this morning. Actually, my wife and I were engaged on this day many, many, many years ago, I won't date myself, but many years ago. And so, we appreciate Shandon Baptist Church.
Chris Phillips: 00:39 I'll also say this, I don't know that there's a greater appreciation that I have for any church than for Shandon, and don't get me wrong, this is not coming up here and just this is the canned thing to say. We have had countless teams, many of you, that have come out to Denver and help us make an impact in the city of Denver. I get texts all the time from people that are here, letting me know that they are praying for my family and I, for our church Journey Point. You guys mean the utmost to us, David, Taylor, and George Wright, and the entire Shandon crew and Billy Judge and the college ministry here. In fact, we were talking about mission trips. We have 21 college kids coming in a couple of weeks, they're coming out to Denver. Yeah, come on, give yourself a hand for that. We also have some of your very own are going to be doing Gen Send with us this summer. And so, when I say that I have a respect for Shandon Baptist church, I just want you to know that it really is genuinely from the bottom of my heart.
Chris Phillips: 01:34 This morning I want to also say hello to you from some brothers and sisters in Christ in Denver, Colorado. And now, that seems really weird, right, because people move to Denver to start churches, because there's nobody there that knows Jesus is all that they know. And you're right, there's not a whole lot of people there that have a relationship with Jesus. But I'm telling you, God is moving in and throughout Denver, and I want you to know that there are also people behind us that wants you to know that they say, hey, as well. So here's the deal, when I talked to most people, and we start talking about Colorado, most of them talk about their ski trips out there. There's tons of mountains, Steamboat, Breckenridge, Keystone, Winter Park, all these places that some of you may have been. And then they start talking about the hiking, and all of that that goes on. There's Amazon fulfillment centers. There's recreational legal activities that you can take part in, yeah, so you've heard, okay, I'm not alone in this. You're right, one of the first States to legalize marijuana. In fact, little known fact about Denver, all of the great things that Denver is known for, skiing, hiking, all the Amazon fulfillment centers. Google has a headquarters there, it's second only in technological aspects to Silicon Valley, so there's a ton of technology there. It's one of the fifth fastest growing large cities in the U.S., there's more than a thousand people a month that are moving to Denver, it is a great place to live.
Chris Phillips: 03:00 And in the midst of that, there is 1 church for every 32,000 people. Now I'm from Tennessee originally, from Memphis, and where I'm from...Okay, we've got some love over there, somebody likes barbecue, there we go. And so, just kidding, and so 1 church in Memphis for every about 500 people. In the city I call home now, there's 1 church for every 32,000 people. Do the math, nope not 32,000 seats in here, we'd have to have a lot of services right? Now on the flip side of that, there's 1 marijuana dispensary for every 11,813. Actually in the city of Denver there's more dispensaries than Starbucks and McDonald's combined, and so that's the city that I get to call home. There's three times the amount of dispensaries than there are churches, there are more breweries than there are churches, and it's home. And I'm telling you what, I love Denver, and God is moving in Denver. Thanks to people like you all here, I want you to know that, I genuinely mean that.
Chris Phillips: 04:04 If you don't know, there's about 4.2 million people in Denver, and over 3.2 million of those are spiritually disconnected from Christ. So 87 to 92% of the people I come in contact with, have no relationship with Jesus, many of which have never even been at church, right? But God is moving. Now I will say this too, Denver is in the Western part of the United States. So Denver is one of the Western parts of the United States, where 40% of the U.S.'s unchurched population lives, in the Western part of the United States. In fact, if you just removed the Western part of the United States, it would be the fourth most lost country in the world behind China, India and Indonesia. Just a quick flight from here, just in your backyard, right? Sometimes we don't think about those things when we're starting to go about our everyday lives. In fact, many of you, if you've ever been to Denver, if you flew before the year 2000, your wheels on your plane may have clipped the where I live now in my home. We live in the community of Stapleton, where the Stapleton International Airport used to be, before Denver moved it to where it currently is now. Our community is about 12 years old, roughly. There are about 50,000 people that call home in Stapleton, 43% of the people in Stapleton have a master's or doctorate level degree, the average age is 33, it's the wealthiest zip code in the state of Colorado. And yes, if you put young, affluent, educated, and unchurched all together in Colorado, it's exactly what you're thinking it is right now, but it's home to us. As a matter of fact right now, as our church is getting ready to happen in about an hour. In Stapleton, of the 50,000 people, total collective of all the places that there are to worship in Stapleton, there'll be collectively about 500 people worshiping. So on a day to day basis, about 99% of the people that I come in contact with have no relationship with Jesus, and I love it. And I want you to know that I love it, because God is moving, and I'm promising you God is absolutely moving.
Chris Phillips: 06:12 And it's thankful in large part because of churches like Shandon, who take Acts 1:8 seriously, right? If you know Acts 1:8, you've heard it probably a million times from George and others. Acts 1:8 says this, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses (where) in Jerusalem, (right here) and all Judea and Samaria, (the U.S.) to the end of the earth." When you take that seriously like you do Shandon, to live sent, God's moving in places like Denver in places like Pittsburgh. God is moving in those areas. And I want you to know this, you are making a difference in Denver. And by the way, if you walked in and today's your first day at Shandon, I'm not George. He's much better looking, and better than I am in every area. Right? And I want you to know this though, you walked into a church that takes that Bible very seriously, and takes missions and living sent very seriously, and you walked into a great church. So can you give it up just for Shandon right now? Yeah, exactly.
Chris Phillips: 07:20 And do you know why you guys are such a great church? Because I think when great partner churches do something, you guys are partnering with us, you're going to be partnering with Billy and those others. When you partner, and you partner well, you do three things consistently.
Chris Phillips: 07:30 One is praying, I don't know if you know this or not, but God will do some things whether or not we pray, but the Bible also shows us that God does move when we pray also. Right? And so you guys are praying for God to move. I've had countless people come up to me and say, hey, you don't know my name, but I pray for you every single day. You guys are a praying church. Did you know that if you study any move of God in the Book of Acts, it first started with prayer. It didn't start with some church planter moving to a city, it started with prayer. And so you guys are a praying church, I'm grateful for that.
Chris Phillips: 08:02 The second thing you are, is a giving church. You're having your live sent offering, you give to people all over the world that are going and living their lives on mission. Denver is a very affluent area. Dirt in our community, just dirt for retail or commercial or anything like that, is $1 million an acre. Okay? Homes are $294 a square foot, and so if you have a home and you're kind of mad about your cost of living right now, I promise you, I'll love to have a conversation with you. $294 a square foot. Did you know that to start a church in the city of Denver, it takes about a million and a half dollars over three to five years? And so without your faithfulness and your generosity going to church plants all over the world, they don't happen, but you're faithful there.
Chris Phillips: 08:49 And then the last thing is, going, man, you guys have sent a lot of teams, and we've loved it. Kristin has sang for us for worship when we didn't have a worship leader, right? She did a great job, just like she did this morning. We've had again 21 people that are coming in just a couple of weeks. I'm telling you what, in a year of existence, we've seen about 42 people come to faith, and I'm guaranteeing you right now that many of those have interacted in some way, whether it be a door hanger, a block party, or something in one way or another, from someone that's been a part of Shandon, I guarantee you their home has been covered in prayer by teams that have walked, or whatever it may be, and I love the fact that you guys are a praying, giving, and going church. You are making a difference. I just want you to know that, and how appreciated it is.
Chris Phillips: 09:35 But I also want you to know this, there are greater days ahead, not only in Columbia, but in Denver, in Pittsburgh, and all over the world. There are greater days ahead, we serve a big, big God. But I want you to know this, in order for us to see the greater days, we have to live on mission and live sent greater than we've ever lived, right? We've got to be louder than the other voices that are competing in the communities that we compete in, right? We've got to live on mission greater than we ever have, and be louder about our faith in Jesus, louder than we ever have in order to see these greater days. And if you walk out of here with anything, I want you to know this. Living on mission is going to require you, it's going to mandate you, it's going to command you, to kill your comfort. If you're going to live on mission, you will have to kill your comfort.
Chris Phillips: 10:31 And I think we see one of the greatest pictures of that in the Book of Acts, in chapter 11 and starting in verse 19, and we'll read in just a second. But here's what happens in Acts, we see in the Book of Acts, the message of Jesus taken from local, to national, to international, and today we're beneficiaries of that, right? Because they began this movement of sharing the message of Jesus. Acts 11 actually shows the church in Antioch, right? And it shows how it begins to take shape, and to form, and how God moved in mighty ways there after these people left their Jerusalem. You see, Antioch was about 300 miles away from Jerusalem, which our 6 hour drive today, would take about 15 days back then. So I don't know what kind of vehicle you have right now, but be thankful it wouldn't take you 15 days to get 300 miles. Right? And so it took them 15 days to go, and they're leaving Jerusalem because of persecution. In fact, you can read about the beginning of the persecution beginning in Acts 7 and 8 with Steven, and the persecution that forces followers of Jesus to leave the Jerusalem, and to begin the work that God had called them to do. Because do you know what, in the midst of despair, which I have more conversations about doom and gloom world that we live in. But I don't serve a doom and gloom God, and I don't live in his doom and gloom world. I serve a God that's got greater, greater, greater days ahead, and has greater plans for us when we proactively live on mission and live sent for him.
Chris Phillips: 12:12 So would you mind doing something with me? Just stand with me real quick. Let's read Acts chapter 11, we're going to be in verse 19 through 26 okay. And by the way, like you can talk back, right? If everybody's just quiet, I don't think I'm very good, and so it's okay to make noise in church for God. Okay, here we go, Acts 11 verse 19, it says, "Now those who were scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except the Jews. But there were some of them, (Could you say some of them? Come on do better, some of them.) men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. News about them reached Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch. When he arrived, he saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. (And then check this out.) Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch for a whole year. They met with a church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch."
Chris Phillips: 13:49 Let me pray. Lord, thank you, thank you that 2000 years later we get to dive into a message of people that were living sent. Lord, they left and killed their comfort, so that they could live on mission, so that we could hear your gospel message today here in Columbia, South Carolina at Shandon Baptist church. God, I pray that you would speak to us through your word, that you would do the work that only you can do. We love you and we praise you and it's in your name. Amen. You can sit.
Chris Phillips: 14:19 So here we have the writer of Acts, Luke, is in here, he's writing this down. And I think we see from his writing two truths to remember if we're going to live on mission by killing our comfort.
Chris Phillips: 14:31 And the first one is this, I'm going to get personal. Okay? I leave tonight, so it's not a big deal. Send the email to David or someone else, but I'm going to get personal. Here's the first thing we're going to have to do to live on mission by killing our comfort, you're first going to have to kill your contentment. If you're going to live sent, and if you're going to live on mission, you're going to have to kill your contentment. I think we would all agree if we polled the room, we love the areas that we're comfortable and content in. I am one of the most boring people on the face of the earth. I was telling Dani and Craig last night who hosted my son and I, I was telling them I'm really boring. I really am. Every single day from about 4:45 to 8:00 AM, I do almost the same thing every single day. I wake up at 4:45, I walk downstairs to begin making coffee, because if I don't make coffee before I pray, it's not going well. So I make coffee, begin with my Cemex, I'm bougie and I'm real. I'm real bougie. So I've got a Cemex and it takes a while to boil the water, but I love the process. And then I start praying. And then because I'm turning 40 this year and I feel older than I've ever felt, I have to start stretching. And if you don't believe me, young people, you too will have to stretch one day and you'll appreciate it afterwards. But I'm promising you, you'll stretch. People in the room that have to stretch, say amen. Yeah, see I told you. And so I begin stretching, and I pray, and then I go downstairs to read and continue to pray. And then after a little bit, I began to go upstairs. My wife takes our two middle kids, our two boys, to school because she teaches at the school that we actually worship out of. And then I have my older son and her young daughter, I usually make a smoothie or eat a bar. I'm like frozen strawberries, almond milk, a banana and a little protein almost every single day, and as I take the two kids to drop them off, I'm drinking that. I mean rinse, spin, repeat, rinse, spin, repeat almost every single day. And do you know why? I know what I can get out of it. I know what it's going to bring. I'm very content in all of the outcomes from what it is I do on a daily, regular, rigid basis. And aren't we kind of the same way? We like what we're content in, we like hanging around those people that look like us, we like hanging around those people that think like us, we like hanging around those people that root for the same ball team. Right, I can say this today because we lost, but I'm a University of Tennessee grad, so you can just feel sorry for me. It's okay. I went to the football game this year too, sorry, I had to. I'm an alumni too, my wife is as well, but I'm looking at the game last night, right? I was outnumbered, but it's easier to talk about the Gamecocks if you're a Gamecock, and it's easier to talk about the Vols if you’re a Vol. How about the people that are in our same socioeconomic background. Or dare I even say it, What about those that vote like us? Way easier to have conversations with them, because we're content in what we know that we're going to get.
Chris Phillips: 17:34 Now, let me ask you this, if we pick up the Book of Acts in the Book of Acts just stopped at verse 19 of chapter 11 what would we get? You see, here's kind of a paraphrase of verse 19 in chapter 11 it basically says, some spoke people to those that were more like them than the others, right? They spoke to only the Jews. Now what happens if we stop right there in their contentment to talk to people that are just like them? Man, we don't see God move the way he moves and the rest of the Book of Acts, and even here at Antioch, right? And Shandon, here's my fear, my fear is that we have far too many people that are sitting in their contentment and those that are willing to take a step out of it. We have far too many Christians, far too many followers of Jesus, that are sitting in their contentment that are not afraid of stepping out of it. So for us to live on mission, we have to kill our contentment. And that's where my life and I were back in 2016 before we left Memphis and began the process of planting a church. I was a part of a church that's just like this one. Loved it, loved every bit of it. We had family that were there, we had friends that were there, I was content and comfortable in nearly every area of our life. And God radically changed that and sent us to a place where people don't look like us, talk like us, vote like us, think like us, different socioeconomic backgrounds, you name it. It's different. But you know what we found in common with every single one of them, they too are made in the image of God, no different than you. They too were made in the image of God, and so God broke our hearts for people that we had not normally been engaging with even in Memphis before we left there. You see and we now, as a church, do things to engage people that are not like us. And in order to do that, Paul's with me just a minute. One of the things that we do four times a year is not have church service on Sunday, and we actually go and be the church. We do something called love Denver, where we take all of our people and we go out and serve the city. And do you know that we have more people on those Sundays than we do some Sundays where we have church service, and most of them are people that are disconnected from a relationship with Jesus. You know why? They'll go and serve, and they look at us and say, you're giving up your most important day to go and serve people that aren't like you. Believe me, I'm really content having a worship service on Sunday morning, and it's really uncomfortable not.
Chris Phillips: 20:12 One fun aspect is back in September, we had a fifth Sunday and we had a love Denver project, and this guy was a part of it. We packed meals for kids in Denver, 67% of kids struggle with hunger in Denver. And so we decided to pack some meals to give to schools and families. And so we do this, and this guy comes because he hears about it, and he walks up to me afterwards. Now we had a fun time doing it, kids are serving, packing. We had a DJ at the place, you know, and all this kind of stuff where we're packing these meals, having fun, getting ready to go out. And the guy comes up to me afterwards, he says, Hey man, you're the guy in charge? I don't know, depends on what you're asking, right? By the way, people don't say, are you the pastor? Because nobody knows even what that really means in Denver, and so he says, you in charge? Yes I am. He goes, I don't do the church thing, never really have, don't care for it, but I like the vibe you guys are putting off. It's like, all right, I can take that. He gets connected immediately that day, actually to one of your own here, Rebecca Hue, they get connected with our young adults. They go to lunch with the other group. He goes to the connect group that Monday night, misses church the next weekend, comes the following week, he gives his life to Jesus. I got to, last week at our year anniversary, I got to baptize him where he let everybody know that he said yes to Jesus. And that has nothing to do with me or Journey Pointe, that has everything to do with us saying, you know what? I need to kill some contentment here so that can live on mission the best way that I can. We have countless stories of that. In order for us to live on mission, we have to kill our contentment, and that's exactly what we see in Antioch. Praise God.
Chris Phillips: 21:49 See, instead of staying in their comfort zone and speaking only to the Jews who were more like minded with them than others, look at what happened in the next verse. Verse 20 it says this, it says, but there were some of them again, say some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. They began speaking to people that weren't like them. How dare them? But here's what's amazing, these followers of Jesus in this area where they don't know people, when people are a lot different than them, they decided to kill their contentment and talk to those not like them, so that those people can come to know Jesus. And check this out, look at the list of names that are there. I mean, these are stalwarts in the...nope, it just says, some of them, we don't have a list of names. Shandon, let me tell you this right now, if you're sitting here today and you think, I'm just a nobody that can't do anything in the kingdom of God, read that again. If you're sitting here today and saying, how can God use me? Nobody knows who I am, I can't do any of this. I'm just telling you right now, there are a bunch of no name Christians, that are listed in the Book of Acts, that did a mighty work for the kingdom of God. And so if you're sitting here at all questioning who it is you are, and what you can do, I'm telling you right now, this tells me you can make a deep impact in the kingdom of God by living on mission.
Chris Phillips: 23:14 Which brings me to the second point, in order for us really to live on mission by killing our comfort, it's not just killing the contentment, but we've also got to kill our pride. I told you I was getting personal. These aren't the names of people we're accustomed to in the Book of Acts, right? We don't see before this verse, Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Luke, Peter, Steven, or others doing this great work. We have some of them, men from Cypress,, men from Cyrene. These are common, ordinary, regular people willing to kill their contentment and swallow their pride to make much of who Jesus is. Shandon, don't you know that some of them in today's world would have like a killer Instagram feed, right? I mean, it would just be @ some of them, right? I mean, their blog would be outrageous. Tic Tok would be hilarious. I mean, you name it, some of them would be known, right? Don't look at me like that, you would do it too. Some of them would have their own private Facebook group, public Facebook group, you name it. they would be known for what they're doing for the Lord. And look, I'm guilty. Everybody wants credit, right, we want credit where credit is due. Do I do this? And how much credit do I get for doing this? You know, using God's gift that only he's given me strategically to use for his mission, give me credit. That's the world that we live in. But seriously, follow me on Instagram, no, I'm just kidding.
Chris Phillips: 24:51 And look what these some of them just did. In verse 21 it says this, it says, "The Lord's hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord." It says, "News about them reached Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch to see what was going on." Like these guys were so legit, Barnabas had to be like, oh, I ain't happening. Let me go check this out. Right? Because they didn't have Instagram back to then, they had to actually go do it in person, which I know is weird for certain generations. And so he had to go and see this, and listen, I feel the same way when your teams come out to Denver. I just feel like, man, I don't know what's happening ,in spite of me, God's doing a great work. We have had services for just about a year, in what is considered the second hardest place in all of Colorado to plant a church, it's known as a graveyard for church planting. There have been nearly 90% of church plants that have come in this community have failed, there's only one other one that is still standing, and it just moved downtown. And so most of the churches come to this area fail, but by God's grace in a year we've seen about 42 people come to faith, we've baptized about half of them. We have 10 intentional disciple-making groups. We have 80 to a hundred people involved in what we call our connect group environments. We have eight people that are on a multiplication pipeline, that they want to learn more about what it takes to live their life on mission and a little bit more in church planting. We have three interns, including one of your own, that are raising their own money and doing their own thing just to live sent so that God's name can be made known in Stapleton. And that is where he gets all the credit and honor and glory, God is moving. And you know what? The most painful thing about any of that, is right now in about 30 minutes, the church is still going to happen without me, right? Like they can still have church on Sunday morning without you, you want to talk about swallowing and killing your pride, like it's still going to happen this morning. As a matter of fact, the guy I told you a story about earlier, they came to faith through our love Denver. I wasn't there when he came to faith, it was another pastor. Give me some cred, no, that's the most joyful thing I can tell you right now is that the church is still happening without me there. You know why? There are a bunch of some of them's that decided to live their life on mission by killing their contentment and swallowing their pride, so that Jesus's name can be made known in Stapleton, Denver.
Chris Phillips: 27:26 Church planters get all the pub, and pictures, and all that kind of stuff, and I hate it. I know it needs to happen, but you know how many some of them's are in our church that we wouldn't exist if it wasn't without them. You know what I mean? Some of them's are here at Shandon, that this church wouldn't be what it is today without the some of them's. But we've got to live on mission by killing the comfort in that area. And look what Barnabas saw when he arrived, I love this. Verse 23 says this, it says, "When he arrived, (here is what happened) and saw the grace of God. He was glad, and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and large numbers of people were added to the Lord." Barnabas tangibly saw the grace of God, man! Then he encourages them, he says, hey, continue to kill your contentment and kill your pride, live on mission. Do this, you've got it. "And large numbers were added."
Chris Phillips: 28:30 But here's why I love too, look at verse 25 it says, "Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for a whole year they met with the church and taught in large numbers. They were first called Christians at Antioch. Here's what I love, saw whose name is later to be changed and known as Paul, right is on the backend of what happens in Antioch." Like greatest church planter ever known, plants 14 churches in 13 years, covers 7,000 miles to do so. It's like, oh, I missed the first big deal. And don't you know that like Paul, like he had to swallow some pride, right? I mean, Paul's one of those guys who could walk up and be like, hey man, let's get to Antioch. Don't forget, I saw Jesus, talked to him. Great things ahead, he told me, can't wait. Got a blog, got an Instagram, tons of followers. Let's do this thing, and it gets to Antioch and he's like, man, the thing's already been done, without me. So do you know what he does? He packs up, and he moves on to the next place. Wrong. Paul kills his pride, ends up staying there for a whole year, discipling people that he had no part in them coming to know who Jesus was. He killed his contentment, he killed his pride so that he can live on mission and make Jesus's name known in any way that he possibly could.
Chris Phillips: 30:03 Shandon, if you are here today and you want to live on mission, you want to live sent, I wholeheartedly believe that you're going to have to do two things. You are going to kill the comfort and contentment in your life, and you are going to have to kill the pride that is going to arise. And listen, both of those things aren't going away, they're going to come up every time. You're going to be more inclined to fall in to those people that are like you, you're going to be more inclined to want to get credit for whatever it is that God is doing, over and over and over again. This is a daily take up your cross and follow me type of deal to kill our contentment and kill our pride, so that we can live sent to make Jesus's name known. But do you know what I love about this? Man, I'm all for Denver, I'm all for Pittsburgh, I'm all for send North American missionary cities, I'm all for Gen Send, and I'm all for doing those things. But do you know what's not going to happen? None of that is going to happen in your life, if you don't first do it here in Columbia, South Carolina. I don't care what mission trip you go on, I don't care where God's calling you to, none of it is going to be as impactful as it can be unless you start living on mission here in Columbia, South Carolina.
Chris Phillips: 31:21 And do you know what's awesome, you don't have to go to the world to be talking to the world. I went to the game last night and I looked around, and I looked at the Jumbotron Tron, the world is in Colombia. You don't have to go to the world to tell the world about who Jesus is, you could tell the world about who Jesus is, right here in Columbia. For those of you that have neighbors, it begins nowhere else than with your neighbor. Do you know that Acts 17:26 and 27 says this, it says that, "For God has designed the place where we live." Or you can use that in your workspace. He's designed those areas, not for you, but so that the people around you can come to know who he is. So if we are not first doing it here in our neighborhoods, and in our dorm rooms, and in our communities, we're never going to do it across the world. Let me give you a picture of my street real quick. My street is a row of homes. On the far end is a couple with a one year old kid, loved them to death, wife is Muslim, husband's never been to church. Next to them or some of our really best friends, it's a Mormon family from Utah. Next to them is a recovering Mormon, into no religion, married to someone that is not practicing in any religion. Then you have us. Then right next to us is two young sisters that live together, that have never been to church today in their life. Living next door to a nominal Jew, that's married to an atheist. Do you think I've got to go to the city of Denver to share the gospel with people?
Chris Phillips: 32:55 Here's your first step, don't assume anything about your neighbors or those people around you. Begin having a faith based conversation with them, and you can kill your contentment and kill your pride right away. And living on mission by killing contentment and killing pride, this is great and Acts 11, but I don't think there's any better picture of it than the man Jesus Christ. I don't know about you, sitting at the right hand of God would probably be pretty comfortable. I mean like if you've got a message today, like, Hey Chris, would you like to be content and sit at the right hand of God today? Sign me up, right? I'm with Jesus, I'm with God. But do you know what Jesus did? Left it. Do you know what else he did? Son of God, God man, swallowed his pride to live and feel and breathe and walk like you and I. He killed contentment and killed pride. Do you know why? So that all of us that live outside of the way that God designed us to live, could have a right relationship back with God. He goes, he has some disciples that he invests his life in and says, make disciples who make disciples, who make disciples, kill contentment, kill pride, and invest in them, invest in them. He's murdered, he's buried, he's risen. So that today, in 2020 on February 16th, that if any of you and I said, do you know what? I needed you to take my place. I needed you to swallow your contentment and pride, so that I could have a right relationship with God. He did that for every single one of us in here, and he would have done it just for one of us.
Chris Phillips: 34:51 And so today there's two things, Shandon, that we have to really, really dive into. One, maybe you just needed a reminder that God is who he says he is, and he wants us to live on mission. Not by doing anything more than our own backyard, right? I know David and George are helping host a conference in a couple of weeks that deals with African and Middle Eastern missionaries along with the IMB, it teaches them how to invest in them in your own communities, right? Be engaged and involved with that. Or maybe you just need to talk to your neighbor in a different way than you ever have, because God's designed that neighbor live right next to you, so that they can come to know him. And then today, maybe you walked in and you had no idea what you signed up for. Maybe a friend invited you and you're like, this is the message? Dude is all of my personal space right now, man. Today, it takes a lot of confidence and boldness to allow God to really work in our hearts the way God wants to. And maybe today for the very first time you say, you know what? I do believe that Jesus died and was buried and was raised again so that I could have a right relationship with God, so that I could have the ultimate hope and peace and joy that I've been searching for, so that I could have the contentment in having the relationship with him instead of worrying about the world and people around me.
Chris Phillips: 36:10 And so if you don't mind, I want to just close by praying before we sing a song, and have another missionary update. I just want to close by praying, so if you just bow your heads with me. Father, thank you. Thank you, that you call us to something greater than we can ever think we've been called to. Thank you, that no named some of them's, swallowed and killed their contentment and pride to live on mission in a great way, so that here today we could do the same. God, I pray that Shandon Baptist Church would be on fire for living scent. I pray that they would have more missionaries come to this church than anybody's ever seen. I pray that they would have more local involvement in missionaries at this church than anybody has ever seen. God, I pray that they would be the name in and throughout this region, in this area, and even this state, God, for doing a work that is greater than they thought they could do. Lord, I pray that the latter days are greater than the former days at Shandon. Lord, I pray that you would move in a mighty way, that revival would be here in a way that they've never experienced, and it would start today with people living sent. God, I thank you for a church that loves church planters, and places that they're not in, I thank you for a church that supports church planters all across the country. God, I pray that you would raise up more church planters sitting here today, to take it from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth. God, I pray today, that anybody that had a confidence and boldness to say yes to you today. God, that you would work in their hearts, that they would say yes to needing you, they would say yes to your death, your burial and your resurrection. God, and that they would say yes to placing you as Lord of their life. Father, the do the work that only you could do, and don't do it for Shandon, don't do it for Journey Pointe, Denver, or Columbia, do it for the name of Jesus. For it's in his name that we ask all of this. Amen.
Recorded in Columbia, South Carolina.
Chris Phillips: 00:39 I'll also say this, I don't know that there's a greater appreciation that I have for any church than for Shandon, and don't get me wrong, this is not coming up here and just this is the canned thing to say. We have had countless teams, many of you, that have come out to Denver and help us make an impact in the city of Denver. I get texts all the time from people that are here, letting me know that they are praying for my family and I, for our church Journey Point. You guys mean the utmost to us, David, Taylor, and George Wright, and the entire Shandon crew and Billy Judge and the college ministry here. In fact, we were talking about mission trips. We have 21 college kids coming in a couple of weeks, they're coming out to Denver. Yeah, come on, give yourself a hand for that. We also have some of your very own are going to be doing Gen Send with us this summer. And so, when I say that I have a respect for Shandon Baptist church, I just want you to know that it really is genuinely from the bottom of my heart.
Chris Phillips: 01:34 This morning I want to also say hello to you from some brothers and sisters in Christ in Denver, Colorado. And now, that seems really weird, right, because people move to Denver to start churches, because there's nobody there that knows Jesus is all that they know. And you're right, there's not a whole lot of people there that have a relationship with Jesus. But I'm telling you, God is moving in and throughout Denver, and I want you to know that there are also people behind us that wants you to know that they say, hey, as well. So here's the deal, when I talked to most people, and we start talking about Colorado, most of them talk about their ski trips out there. There's tons of mountains, Steamboat, Breckenridge, Keystone, Winter Park, all these places that some of you may have been. And then they start talking about the hiking, and all of that that goes on. There's Amazon fulfillment centers. There's recreational legal activities that you can take part in, yeah, so you've heard, okay, I'm not alone in this. You're right, one of the first States to legalize marijuana. In fact, little known fact about Denver, all of the great things that Denver is known for, skiing, hiking, all the Amazon fulfillment centers. Google has a headquarters there, it's second only in technological aspects to Silicon Valley, so there's a ton of technology there. It's one of the fifth fastest growing large cities in the U.S., there's more than a thousand people a month that are moving to Denver, it is a great place to live.
Chris Phillips: 03:00 And in the midst of that, there is 1 church for every 32,000 people. Now I'm from Tennessee originally, from Memphis, and where I'm from...Okay, we've got some love over there, somebody likes barbecue, there we go. And so, just kidding, and so 1 church in Memphis for every about 500 people. In the city I call home now, there's 1 church for every 32,000 people. Do the math, nope not 32,000 seats in here, we'd have to have a lot of services right? Now on the flip side of that, there's 1 marijuana dispensary for every 11,813. Actually in the city of Denver there's more dispensaries than Starbucks and McDonald's combined, and so that's the city that I get to call home. There's three times the amount of dispensaries than there are churches, there are more breweries than there are churches, and it's home. And I'm telling you what, I love Denver, and God is moving in Denver. Thanks to people like you all here, I want you to know that, I genuinely mean that.
Chris Phillips: 04:04 If you don't know, there's about 4.2 million people in Denver, and over 3.2 million of those are spiritually disconnected from Christ. So 87 to 92% of the people I come in contact with, have no relationship with Jesus, many of which have never even been at church, right? But God is moving. Now I will say this too, Denver is in the Western part of the United States. So Denver is one of the Western parts of the United States, where 40% of the U.S.'s unchurched population lives, in the Western part of the United States. In fact, if you just removed the Western part of the United States, it would be the fourth most lost country in the world behind China, India and Indonesia. Just a quick flight from here, just in your backyard, right? Sometimes we don't think about those things when we're starting to go about our everyday lives. In fact, many of you, if you've ever been to Denver, if you flew before the year 2000, your wheels on your plane may have clipped the where I live now in my home. We live in the community of Stapleton, where the Stapleton International Airport used to be, before Denver moved it to where it currently is now. Our community is about 12 years old, roughly. There are about 50,000 people that call home in Stapleton, 43% of the people in Stapleton have a master's or doctorate level degree, the average age is 33, it's the wealthiest zip code in the state of Colorado. And yes, if you put young, affluent, educated, and unchurched all together in Colorado, it's exactly what you're thinking it is right now, but it's home to us. As a matter of fact right now, as our church is getting ready to happen in about an hour. In Stapleton, of the 50,000 people, total collective of all the places that there are to worship in Stapleton, there'll be collectively about 500 people worshiping. So on a day to day basis, about 99% of the people that I come in contact with have no relationship with Jesus, and I love it. And I want you to know that I love it, because God is moving, and I'm promising you God is absolutely moving.
Chris Phillips: 06:12 And it's thankful in large part because of churches like Shandon, who take Acts 1:8 seriously, right? If you know Acts 1:8, you've heard it probably a million times from George and others. Acts 1:8 says this, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses (where) in Jerusalem, (right here) and all Judea and Samaria, (the U.S.) to the end of the earth." When you take that seriously like you do Shandon, to live sent, God's moving in places like Denver in places like Pittsburgh. God is moving in those areas. And I want you to know this, you are making a difference in Denver. And by the way, if you walked in and today's your first day at Shandon, I'm not George. He's much better looking, and better than I am in every area. Right? And I want you to know this though, you walked into a church that takes that Bible very seriously, and takes missions and living sent very seriously, and you walked into a great church. So can you give it up just for Shandon right now? Yeah, exactly.
Chris Phillips: 07:20 And do you know why you guys are such a great church? Because I think when great partner churches do something, you guys are partnering with us, you're going to be partnering with Billy and those others. When you partner, and you partner well, you do three things consistently.
Chris Phillips: 07:30 One is praying, I don't know if you know this or not, but God will do some things whether or not we pray, but the Bible also shows us that God does move when we pray also. Right? And so you guys are praying for God to move. I've had countless people come up to me and say, hey, you don't know my name, but I pray for you every single day. You guys are a praying church. Did you know that if you study any move of God in the Book of Acts, it first started with prayer. It didn't start with some church planter moving to a city, it started with prayer. And so you guys are a praying church, I'm grateful for that.
Chris Phillips: 08:02 The second thing you are, is a giving church. You're having your live sent offering, you give to people all over the world that are going and living their lives on mission. Denver is a very affluent area. Dirt in our community, just dirt for retail or commercial or anything like that, is $1 million an acre. Okay? Homes are $294 a square foot, and so if you have a home and you're kind of mad about your cost of living right now, I promise you, I'll love to have a conversation with you. $294 a square foot. Did you know that to start a church in the city of Denver, it takes about a million and a half dollars over three to five years? And so without your faithfulness and your generosity going to church plants all over the world, they don't happen, but you're faithful there.
Chris Phillips: 08:49 And then the last thing is, going, man, you guys have sent a lot of teams, and we've loved it. Kristin has sang for us for worship when we didn't have a worship leader, right? She did a great job, just like she did this morning. We've had again 21 people that are coming in just a couple of weeks. I'm telling you what, in a year of existence, we've seen about 42 people come to faith, and I'm guaranteeing you right now that many of those have interacted in some way, whether it be a door hanger, a block party, or something in one way or another, from someone that's been a part of Shandon, I guarantee you their home has been covered in prayer by teams that have walked, or whatever it may be, and I love the fact that you guys are a praying, giving, and going church. You are making a difference. I just want you to know that, and how appreciated it is.
Chris Phillips: 09:35 But I also want you to know this, there are greater days ahead, not only in Columbia, but in Denver, in Pittsburgh, and all over the world. There are greater days ahead, we serve a big, big God. But I want you to know this, in order for us to see the greater days, we have to live on mission and live sent greater than we've ever lived, right? We've got to be louder than the other voices that are competing in the communities that we compete in, right? We've got to live on mission greater than we ever have, and be louder about our faith in Jesus, louder than we ever have in order to see these greater days. And if you walk out of here with anything, I want you to know this. Living on mission is going to require you, it's going to mandate you, it's going to command you, to kill your comfort. If you're going to live on mission, you will have to kill your comfort.
Chris Phillips: 10:31 And I think we see one of the greatest pictures of that in the Book of Acts, in chapter 11 and starting in verse 19, and we'll read in just a second. But here's what happens in Acts, we see in the Book of Acts, the message of Jesus taken from local, to national, to international, and today we're beneficiaries of that, right? Because they began this movement of sharing the message of Jesus. Acts 11 actually shows the church in Antioch, right? And it shows how it begins to take shape, and to form, and how God moved in mighty ways there after these people left their Jerusalem. You see, Antioch was about 300 miles away from Jerusalem, which our 6 hour drive today, would take about 15 days back then. So I don't know what kind of vehicle you have right now, but be thankful it wouldn't take you 15 days to get 300 miles. Right? And so it took them 15 days to go, and they're leaving Jerusalem because of persecution. In fact, you can read about the beginning of the persecution beginning in Acts 7 and 8 with Steven, and the persecution that forces followers of Jesus to leave the Jerusalem, and to begin the work that God had called them to do. Because do you know what, in the midst of despair, which I have more conversations about doom and gloom world that we live in. But I don't serve a doom and gloom God, and I don't live in his doom and gloom world. I serve a God that's got greater, greater, greater days ahead, and has greater plans for us when we proactively live on mission and live sent for him.
Chris Phillips: 12:12 So would you mind doing something with me? Just stand with me real quick. Let's read Acts chapter 11, we're going to be in verse 19 through 26 okay. And by the way, like you can talk back, right? If everybody's just quiet, I don't think I'm very good, and so it's okay to make noise in church for God. Okay, here we go, Acts 11 verse 19, it says, "Now those who were scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except the Jews. But there were some of them, (Could you say some of them? Come on do better, some of them.) men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. News about them reached Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch. When he arrived, he saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. (And then check this out.) Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch for a whole year. They met with a church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch."
Chris Phillips: 13:49 Let me pray. Lord, thank you, thank you that 2000 years later we get to dive into a message of people that were living sent. Lord, they left and killed their comfort, so that they could live on mission, so that we could hear your gospel message today here in Columbia, South Carolina at Shandon Baptist church. God, I pray that you would speak to us through your word, that you would do the work that only you can do. We love you and we praise you and it's in your name. Amen. You can sit.
Chris Phillips: 14:19 So here we have the writer of Acts, Luke, is in here, he's writing this down. And I think we see from his writing two truths to remember if we're going to live on mission by killing our comfort.
Chris Phillips: 14:31 And the first one is this, I'm going to get personal. Okay? I leave tonight, so it's not a big deal. Send the email to David or someone else, but I'm going to get personal. Here's the first thing we're going to have to do to live on mission by killing our comfort, you're first going to have to kill your contentment. If you're going to live sent, and if you're going to live on mission, you're going to have to kill your contentment. I think we would all agree if we polled the room, we love the areas that we're comfortable and content in. I am one of the most boring people on the face of the earth. I was telling Dani and Craig last night who hosted my son and I, I was telling them I'm really boring. I really am. Every single day from about 4:45 to 8:00 AM, I do almost the same thing every single day. I wake up at 4:45, I walk downstairs to begin making coffee, because if I don't make coffee before I pray, it's not going well. So I make coffee, begin with my Cemex, I'm bougie and I'm real. I'm real bougie. So I've got a Cemex and it takes a while to boil the water, but I love the process. And then I start praying. And then because I'm turning 40 this year and I feel older than I've ever felt, I have to start stretching. And if you don't believe me, young people, you too will have to stretch one day and you'll appreciate it afterwards. But I'm promising you, you'll stretch. People in the room that have to stretch, say amen. Yeah, see I told you. And so I begin stretching, and I pray, and then I go downstairs to read and continue to pray. And then after a little bit, I began to go upstairs. My wife takes our two middle kids, our two boys, to school because she teaches at the school that we actually worship out of. And then I have my older son and her young daughter, I usually make a smoothie or eat a bar. I'm like frozen strawberries, almond milk, a banana and a little protein almost every single day, and as I take the two kids to drop them off, I'm drinking that. I mean rinse, spin, repeat, rinse, spin, repeat almost every single day. And do you know why? I know what I can get out of it. I know what it's going to bring. I'm very content in all of the outcomes from what it is I do on a daily, regular, rigid basis. And aren't we kind of the same way? We like what we're content in, we like hanging around those people that look like us, we like hanging around those people that think like us, we like hanging around those people that root for the same ball team. Right, I can say this today because we lost, but I'm a University of Tennessee grad, so you can just feel sorry for me. It's okay. I went to the football game this year too, sorry, I had to. I'm an alumni too, my wife is as well, but I'm looking at the game last night, right? I was outnumbered, but it's easier to talk about the Gamecocks if you're a Gamecock, and it's easier to talk about the Vols if you’re a Vol. How about the people that are in our same socioeconomic background. Or dare I even say it, What about those that vote like us? Way easier to have conversations with them, because we're content in what we know that we're going to get.
Chris Phillips: 17:34 Now, let me ask you this, if we pick up the Book of Acts in the Book of Acts just stopped at verse 19 of chapter 11 what would we get? You see, here's kind of a paraphrase of verse 19 in chapter 11 it basically says, some spoke people to those that were more like them than the others, right? They spoke to only the Jews. Now what happens if we stop right there in their contentment to talk to people that are just like them? Man, we don't see God move the way he moves and the rest of the Book of Acts, and even here at Antioch, right? And Shandon, here's my fear, my fear is that we have far too many people that are sitting in their contentment and those that are willing to take a step out of it. We have far too many Christians, far too many followers of Jesus, that are sitting in their contentment that are not afraid of stepping out of it. So for us to live on mission, we have to kill our contentment. And that's where my life and I were back in 2016 before we left Memphis and began the process of planting a church. I was a part of a church that's just like this one. Loved it, loved every bit of it. We had family that were there, we had friends that were there, I was content and comfortable in nearly every area of our life. And God radically changed that and sent us to a place where people don't look like us, talk like us, vote like us, think like us, different socioeconomic backgrounds, you name it. It's different. But you know what we found in common with every single one of them, they too are made in the image of God, no different than you. They too were made in the image of God, and so God broke our hearts for people that we had not normally been engaging with even in Memphis before we left there. You see and we now, as a church, do things to engage people that are not like us. And in order to do that, Paul's with me just a minute. One of the things that we do four times a year is not have church service on Sunday, and we actually go and be the church. We do something called love Denver, where we take all of our people and we go out and serve the city. And do you know that we have more people on those Sundays than we do some Sundays where we have church service, and most of them are people that are disconnected from a relationship with Jesus. You know why? They'll go and serve, and they look at us and say, you're giving up your most important day to go and serve people that aren't like you. Believe me, I'm really content having a worship service on Sunday morning, and it's really uncomfortable not.
Chris Phillips: 20:12 One fun aspect is back in September, we had a fifth Sunday and we had a love Denver project, and this guy was a part of it. We packed meals for kids in Denver, 67% of kids struggle with hunger in Denver. And so we decided to pack some meals to give to schools and families. And so we do this, and this guy comes because he hears about it, and he walks up to me afterwards. Now we had a fun time doing it, kids are serving, packing. We had a DJ at the place, you know, and all this kind of stuff where we're packing these meals, having fun, getting ready to go out. And the guy comes up to me afterwards, he says, Hey man, you're the guy in charge? I don't know, depends on what you're asking, right? By the way, people don't say, are you the pastor? Because nobody knows even what that really means in Denver, and so he says, you in charge? Yes I am. He goes, I don't do the church thing, never really have, don't care for it, but I like the vibe you guys are putting off. It's like, all right, I can take that. He gets connected immediately that day, actually to one of your own here, Rebecca Hue, they get connected with our young adults. They go to lunch with the other group. He goes to the connect group that Monday night, misses church the next weekend, comes the following week, he gives his life to Jesus. I got to, last week at our year anniversary, I got to baptize him where he let everybody know that he said yes to Jesus. And that has nothing to do with me or Journey Pointe, that has everything to do with us saying, you know what? I need to kill some contentment here so that can live on mission the best way that I can. We have countless stories of that. In order for us to live on mission, we have to kill our contentment, and that's exactly what we see in Antioch. Praise God.
Chris Phillips: 21:49 See, instead of staying in their comfort zone and speaking only to the Jews who were more like minded with them than others, look at what happened in the next verse. Verse 20 it says this, it says, but there were some of them again, say some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. They began speaking to people that weren't like them. How dare them? But here's what's amazing, these followers of Jesus in this area where they don't know people, when people are a lot different than them, they decided to kill their contentment and talk to those not like them, so that those people can come to know Jesus. And check this out, look at the list of names that are there. I mean, these are stalwarts in the...nope, it just says, some of them, we don't have a list of names. Shandon, let me tell you this right now, if you're sitting here today and you think, I'm just a nobody that can't do anything in the kingdom of God, read that again. If you're sitting here today and saying, how can God use me? Nobody knows who I am, I can't do any of this. I'm just telling you right now, there are a bunch of no name Christians, that are listed in the Book of Acts, that did a mighty work for the kingdom of God. And so if you're sitting here at all questioning who it is you are, and what you can do, I'm telling you right now, this tells me you can make a deep impact in the kingdom of God by living on mission.
Chris Phillips: 23:14 Which brings me to the second point, in order for us really to live on mission by killing our comfort, it's not just killing the contentment, but we've also got to kill our pride. I told you I was getting personal. These aren't the names of people we're accustomed to in the Book of Acts, right? We don't see before this verse, Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Luke, Peter, Steven, or others doing this great work. We have some of them, men from Cypress,, men from Cyrene. These are common, ordinary, regular people willing to kill their contentment and swallow their pride to make much of who Jesus is. Shandon, don't you know that some of them in today's world would have like a killer Instagram feed, right? I mean, it would just be @ some of them, right? I mean, their blog would be outrageous. Tic Tok would be hilarious. I mean, you name it, some of them would be known, right? Don't look at me like that, you would do it too. Some of them would have their own private Facebook group, public Facebook group, you name it. they would be known for what they're doing for the Lord. And look, I'm guilty. Everybody wants credit, right, we want credit where credit is due. Do I do this? And how much credit do I get for doing this? You know, using God's gift that only he's given me strategically to use for his mission, give me credit. That's the world that we live in. But seriously, follow me on Instagram, no, I'm just kidding.
Chris Phillips: 24:51 And look what these some of them just did. In verse 21 it says this, it says, "The Lord's hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord." It says, "News about them reached Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch to see what was going on." Like these guys were so legit, Barnabas had to be like, oh, I ain't happening. Let me go check this out. Right? Because they didn't have Instagram back to then, they had to actually go do it in person, which I know is weird for certain generations. And so he had to go and see this, and listen, I feel the same way when your teams come out to Denver. I just feel like, man, I don't know what's happening ,in spite of me, God's doing a great work. We have had services for just about a year, in what is considered the second hardest place in all of Colorado to plant a church, it's known as a graveyard for church planting. There have been nearly 90% of church plants that have come in this community have failed, there's only one other one that is still standing, and it just moved downtown. And so most of the churches come to this area fail, but by God's grace in a year we've seen about 42 people come to faith, we've baptized about half of them. We have 10 intentional disciple-making groups. We have 80 to a hundred people involved in what we call our connect group environments. We have eight people that are on a multiplication pipeline, that they want to learn more about what it takes to live their life on mission and a little bit more in church planting. We have three interns, including one of your own, that are raising their own money and doing their own thing just to live sent so that God's name can be made known in Stapleton. And that is where he gets all the credit and honor and glory, God is moving. And you know what? The most painful thing about any of that, is right now in about 30 minutes, the church is still going to happen without me, right? Like they can still have church on Sunday morning without you, you want to talk about swallowing and killing your pride, like it's still going to happen this morning. As a matter of fact, the guy I told you a story about earlier, they came to faith through our love Denver. I wasn't there when he came to faith, it was another pastor. Give me some cred, no, that's the most joyful thing I can tell you right now is that the church is still happening without me there. You know why? There are a bunch of some of them's that decided to live their life on mission by killing their contentment and swallowing their pride, so that Jesus's name can be made known in Stapleton, Denver.
Chris Phillips: 27:26 Church planters get all the pub, and pictures, and all that kind of stuff, and I hate it. I know it needs to happen, but you know how many some of them's are in our church that we wouldn't exist if it wasn't without them. You know what I mean? Some of them's are here at Shandon, that this church wouldn't be what it is today without the some of them's. But we've got to live on mission by killing the comfort in that area. And look what Barnabas saw when he arrived, I love this. Verse 23 says this, it says, "When he arrived, (here is what happened) and saw the grace of God. He was glad, and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and large numbers of people were added to the Lord." Barnabas tangibly saw the grace of God, man! Then he encourages them, he says, hey, continue to kill your contentment and kill your pride, live on mission. Do this, you've got it. "And large numbers were added."
Chris Phillips: 28:30 But here's why I love too, look at verse 25 it says, "Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for a whole year they met with the church and taught in large numbers. They were first called Christians at Antioch. Here's what I love, saw whose name is later to be changed and known as Paul, right is on the backend of what happens in Antioch." Like greatest church planter ever known, plants 14 churches in 13 years, covers 7,000 miles to do so. It's like, oh, I missed the first big deal. And don't you know that like Paul, like he had to swallow some pride, right? I mean, Paul's one of those guys who could walk up and be like, hey man, let's get to Antioch. Don't forget, I saw Jesus, talked to him. Great things ahead, he told me, can't wait. Got a blog, got an Instagram, tons of followers. Let's do this thing, and it gets to Antioch and he's like, man, the thing's already been done, without me. So do you know what he does? He packs up, and he moves on to the next place. Wrong. Paul kills his pride, ends up staying there for a whole year, discipling people that he had no part in them coming to know who Jesus was. He killed his contentment, he killed his pride so that he can live on mission and make Jesus's name known in any way that he possibly could.
Chris Phillips: 30:03 Shandon, if you are here today and you want to live on mission, you want to live sent, I wholeheartedly believe that you're going to have to do two things. You are going to kill the comfort and contentment in your life, and you are going to have to kill the pride that is going to arise. And listen, both of those things aren't going away, they're going to come up every time. You're going to be more inclined to fall in to those people that are like you, you're going to be more inclined to want to get credit for whatever it is that God is doing, over and over and over again. This is a daily take up your cross and follow me type of deal to kill our contentment and kill our pride, so that we can live sent to make Jesus's name known. But do you know what I love about this? Man, I'm all for Denver, I'm all for Pittsburgh, I'm all for send North American missionary cities, I'm all for Gen Send, and I'm all for doing those things. But do you know what's not going to happen? None of that is going to happen in your life, if you don't first do it here in Columbia, South Carolina. I don't care what mission trip you go on, I don't care where God's calling you to, none of it is going to be as impactful as it can be unless you start living on mission here in Columbia, South Carolina.
Chris Phillips: 31:21 And do you know what's awesome, you don't have to go to the world to be talking to the world. I went to the game last night and I looked around, and I looked at the Jumbotron Tron, the world is in Colombia. You don't have to go to the world to tell the world about who Jesus is, you could tell the world about who Jesus is, right here in Columbia. For those of you that have neighbors, it begins nowhere else than with your neighbor. Do you know that Acts 17:26 and 27 says this, it says that, "For God has designed the place where we live." Or you can use that in your workspace. He's designed those areas, not for you, but so that the people around you can come to know who he is. So if we are not first doing it here in our neighborhoods, and in our dorm rooms, and in our communities, we're never going to do it across the world. Let me give you a picture of my street real quick. My street is a row of homes. On the far end is a couple with a one year old kid, loved them to death, wife is Muslim, husband's never been to church. Next to them or some of our really best friends, it's a Mormon family from Utah. Next to them is a recovering Mormon, into no religion, married to someone that is not practicing in any religion. Then you have us. Then right next to us is two young sisters that live together, that have never been to church today in their life. Living next door to a nominal Jew, that's married to an atheist. Do you think I've got to go to the city of Denver to share the gospel with people?
Chris Phillips: 32:55 Here's your first step, don't assume anything about your neighbors or those people around you. Begin having a faith based conversation with them, and you can kill your contentment and kill your pride right away. And living on mission by killing contentment and killing pride, this is great and Acts 11, but I don't think there's any better picture of it than the man Jesus Christ. I don't know about you, sitting at the right hand of God would probably be pretty comfortable. I mean like if you've got a message today, like, Hey Chris, would you like to be content and sit at the right hand of God today? Sign me up, right? I'm with Jesus, I'm with God. But do you know what Jesus did? Left it. Do you know what else he did? Son of God, God man, swallowed his pride to live and feel and breathe and walk like you and I. He killed contentment and killed pride. Do you know why? So that all of us that live outside of the way that God designed us to live, could have a right relationship back with God. He goes, he has some disciples that he invests his life in and says, make disciples who make disciples, who make disciples, kill contentment, kill pride, and invest in them, invest in them. He's murdered, he's buried, he's risen. So that today, in 2020 on February 16th, that if any of you and I said, do you know what? I needed you to take my place. I needed you to swallow your contentment and pride, so that I could have a right relationship with God. He did that for every single one of us in here, and he would have done it just for one of us.
Chris Phillips: 34:51 And so today there's two things, Shandon, that we have to really, really dive into. One, maybe you just needed a reminder that God is who he says he is, and he wants us to live on mission. Not by doing anything more than our own backyard, right? I know David and George are helping host a conference in a couple of weeks that deals with African and Middle Eastern missionaries along with the IMB, it teaches them how to invest in them in your own communities, right? Be engaged and involved with that. Or maybe you just need to talk to your neighbor in a different way than you ever have, because God's designed that neighbor live right next to you, so that they can come to know him. And then today, maybe you walked in and you had no idea what you signed up for. Maybe a friend invited you and you're like, this is the message? Dude is all of my personal space right now, man. Today, it takes a lot of confidence and boldness to allow God to really work in our hearts the way God wants to. And maybe today for the very first time you say, you know what? I do believe that Jesus died and was buried and was raised again so that I could have a right relationship with God, so that I could have the ultimate hope and peace and joy that I've been searching for, so that I could have the contentment in having the relationship with him instead of worrying about the world and people around me.
Chris Phillips: 36:10 And so if you don't mind, I want to just close by praying before we sing a song, and have another missionary update. I just want to close by praying, so if you just bow your heads with me. Father, thank you. Thank you, that you call us to something greater than we can ever think we've been called to. Thank you, that no named some of them's, swallowed and killed their contentment and pride to live on mission in a great way, so that here today we could do the same. God, I pray that Shandon Baptist Church would be on fire for living scent. I pray that they would have more missionaries come to this church than anybody's ever seen. I pray that they would have more local involvement in missionaries at this church than anybody has ever seen. God, I pray that they would be the name in and throughout this region, in this area, and even this state, God, for doing a work that is greater than they thought they could do. Lord, I pray that the latter days are greater than the former days at Shandon. Lord, I pray that you would move in a mighty way, that revival would be here in a way that they've never experienced, and it would start today with people living sent. God, I thank you for a church that loves church planters, and places that they're not in, I thank you for a church that supports church planters all across the country. God, I pray that you would raise up more church planters sitting here today, to take it from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth. God, I pray today, that anybody that had a confidence and boldness to say yes to you today. God, that you would work in their hearts, that they would say yes to needing you, they would say yes to your death, your burial and your resurrection. God, and that they would say yes to placing you as Lord of their life. Father, the do the work that only you could do, and don't do it for Shandon, don't do it for Journey Pointe, Denver, or Columbia, do it for the name of Jesus. For it's in his name that we ask all of this. Amen.
Recorded in Columbia, South Carolina.
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