FREE.CHURCH - FREE CHURCH OAK PARK
FREE.CHURCH - FREE CHURCH OAK PARK
I Will Always Be...A Bringer // Pastor Chuck Colegrove // October 20th, 2024
Like this message? Hit "Subscribe" to get notified when our Sunday Sermons are uploaded!
Wanting to get connected to church life? Text "Hi" to 773-295-0781.
Free Church. Welcome back. What a great day to be here. Wow, you look great, you sound great. I mean that worship time was so incredible, and thank you for paying attention to Renee and finding a different way to get to church this morning. If you got here in the middle of the Frank Lloyd Wright races, well done, way to go. And every once in a while, oak Park will pull something on a Sunday that will limit our parking, as if we don't already have trouble parking, and they'll do something crazy like block this whole street off, and so hopefully you got to park there if you came late. Otherwise, hey, you can park there next week. So, listen, I'm ready to preach God's word. You ready to receive it today?
Speaker 1:The year was 1999, and I actually picked this story because it's Child Dedication Sunday, and we were new parents. Ethan was born in May of 1999, and we were living in a house that was about as big as this stage, maybe a little smaller actually, and it was two bedrooms with one bath, a little kitchen and Ethan. Well, let me just say it this way Urshana. She liked to create space and then make a little like a fan noise, like there's always a fan noisemaker in the room and now parents have all technology to kind of use, but back then you had to use an actual fan to make a noise, but she would put Ethan to bed and then she would say, okay, you gotta be quiet. And our house was an old house and the floors would creak and so you had to be real quiet when you're walking through the house.
Speaker 1:And this particular year of 1999, the Dallas Stars, which is a hockey team in the city of Dallas, where we were living, they were actually making a run to win the Stanley Cup and on a Saturday night they were one win away from winning the Stanley Cup. And so the game went into several overtimes and well past my own bedtime. But Ethan was definitely sleeping and Urshana was sleeping and I was on the couch in the living room. Mind you, the size of this stage is the entire house. I'm watching the game and I have it on mute and I have the subtitles going so I can read what's happening and I can watch what's happening, but I can't hear what's happening. And way late into the overtime period Brett Hull gets the puck into the net and the Stars win and I'm on the couch by myself and the whole town is celebrating and I imagine they're having a big time. I'm literally on the couch. I get up out of my seat and I'm like Like cheering as loud as I can on the couch. I get up out of my seat and I'm like like cheering as loud as I can on the inside without making a peep on the outside.
Speaker 1:And you know, like, as fun as that was, it's the year that I learned like it's a lot more to celebrate with people than by yourself. Why don't you turn to your neighbor and say I want to be with people? You said that with some conviction I like it and the one you've been ignoring all service long and just say, man, I love this place. We often say there is no place like this place near this place, so this must be the place. So if you're a guest today, you found the place and we are in the middle of a series entitled I Will Always Be and it was birthed out of a service we have in the fall every year that's called Student Takeover, and our high school and students, our young adults, our junior high students, our children, all kind of drive the service and plan it and participate in it and preach it, and it fired me up for this fall season.
Speaker 1:And I kept thinking, as they were jumping all over the stage, like some of them were this morning, and some of them were in the front row as they were living their fullest life for the Lord with so much excitement and passion, I was like I wanna always be that. I don't wanna be the person that's old and boring. I wanna always be alive. I wanna always be passionate. I always wanna be a student. I always wanna be awestruck and we've shared, pastor Ben shared I always want to be strange. It's about living this life as a follower of Jesus, knowing that it goes against the culture of the day, but I always want to be what God's called us to be.
Speaker 1:And as I was thinking about this, you know today after service it's a full day at Free Church it. It's one of those. This is church life and we're going to throw it all into one day, and I was thinking about today. It's today is uh, freeway 301. It's the third step on the journey of what we call the path to membership. 101 begins with heart and vision. It's the process of becoming a member, and 201 is where we talk about the habits of a believer and following Jesus and the path, the steps of discipleship. And then 301 is all about discovering your purpose and being a part of a team and helping make a difference. And if you've not been to 101 yet, I encourage you. We'll start another round in November. But if you're a part of 301, it's going to be a great day as you meet team leaders and really become a part of church life and making a difference.
Speaker 1:And there's a section in Freeway that I talk about the kind of members that I see that are free church members, and this is not a membership class today. And if you're not a member, this will be helpful to you because you can go back to the church you attend and be their best member ever. Or you could come back here. I'm just gonna say Like I'm not even gonna lie, you can come straight back. So listen. So these are the things we say. We're like you know what it's really not about being a perfect member, because that doesn't exist, correct? No perfect, no perfect pastor. And if you're perfect, don't join any church because you'll ruin it right away, just saying so. But this would be the ideal.
Speaker 1:The ideal member of the church would be somebody who attends weekly, somebody who supports faithfully, somebody who joins a small group, somebody who serves on a team and then somebody who invites and the way we say this to be a bringer. Bring people with you on this journey, and so that's what I want to talk about Today. I want to give you this sermon. I'm going to give it to you in two weeks. So now you've got to come back because you're going to want to see the end of this, but in two weeks I'm going to preach this to you. For the next two weeks, I will always be a bringer. I will always be a bringer, since that's the heart. It's like the bookends of church life is Sunday and then making a difference. This of church life is Sunday and then making a difference. This is where I wanna lean in for a minute and I wanna direct your attention to the book of Luke, chapter 14. And I'm gonna begin with just two verses. It's really the first verse and the 23rd verse, and then I'm gonna paraphrase and preach the middle of the section of verses, and I'm not gonna do it all today, so you can just relax, you're still gonna make it to brunch and I'm going to share with you this portion of scripture and then we'll dive in a little bit and then next week I'll cap it off and we'll close out. I will always be a bringer. Are you ready? Luke, chapter 14, verse one here we go.
Speaker 1:One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in a house of a prominent Pharisee everybody underline or circle prominent there. It's important that you know that he was being carefully watched. All right, let me just give you a little update about dinner parties back in the Bible days. It was an influence of Greek culture. It was an influence of the culture and norms of the day. Dinner parties were not just you invite a few guests and everybody sits around the table. Dinner parties were there were guests around the table and then there were other guests that get to watch from a distance, in the courtroom area, in the court side and just enough away to not be at the table but get to hear all of this discussion that's taking place.
Speaker 1:It reminds me of like not many of you, the young adults won't know this, but some of you, some of you seasoned, would know this when there were TV audiences and they would film. This show has been filmed in front of a live TV audience. This show has been filmed in front of a live TV audience. Anybody like I mean, okay, seinfeld was filmed in front of a TV audience, so they would set the scene, set all of that and there would be an audience watching.
Speaker 1:That's kind of like what's happening in the scripture day, like here's the meal, here's the discussion, and on this day Jesus is at the house of a prominent Pharisee and um and and he's, he's interacting and there's discussion, and all this is taking place. And I would tell you it's important to understand that this, the Pharisee, was a part of, uh, the Sanhedrin, which was about 71 individuals. It included the high priest, his assistant and then 69 others and they were responsible, really, for the law and order of the day. They judged all the cases, they enforced all of the law and they established the practice of religion in those communities and they were like the political and religious power all tied in one. So this is where Jesus is at. He's being carefully watched. Then I'm gonna skip to verse 23. And 23 says this Verse 23. Then the master told his servant go out to the roads and the country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. Everybody say so that my house will be full. I just opened the beginning to let you know Jesus was eaten with a prominent Pharisee, but at the end of the story he's making a declaration for us to be a bringer so that his house will be full, because the Lord wants his house to be full.
Speaker 1:So on a day like today, when I look out around the audience and I see empty seats, some of us would see empty seats as a comfort level. It's a little elbow room, it's a leg room. I don't have to sit next to somebody I don't know. An empty seat is like, it's just a spot of like. Like I don't want to be stuck in the middle seat on Southwest Airlines. I always dread when I forget to check in on time and it shows a C and I'm like oh man, that means center seat. So many of us we look at an empty seat as a comfort level or as a little breath of fresh air, because I don't have to talk to anybody, I don't have to listen to them and if they need a minute, I don't have to say you need a minute.
Speaker 1:But the reality is when I see a seat, and what I hope we will all see when we see an empty seat, is that empty seat represents a lost soul. That empty seat represents a young adult who's confused about their life and just trying to discover their purpose and find their place in this world. Or that empty seat that would represent a single mom who's working as hard as she can to provide and she's trying to do it all on her own and all she needs is a little hope and a little help and a little encouragement from a church family. Or that empty seat represents a teenager who the world is screaming at them that there is no God and that they can do whatever they want to do and they can build their life upon their own truth. But that teenager knows there has to be something more than this. Or that businessman who keeps thinking if I just attain enough, if I accomplish them enough, if I earn enough, then then I'll overcome that father loss. Or that void in my life from an absent father. Or the words, demeaning words, of a father who pushed me in the wrong ways, and all to find out.
Speaker 1:All of these things that we search for in life only lead us typically to more sin and to more depression. But we have the answer. Andre Crouch was a. He was like the first worship leader back in the day. If you know Andre Crouch, if you don't know him, just give him a Google and listen to this song. Jesus is the answer for the world today. Above him, there is no other. Jesus is the way. Church, family, we have the answer, but it worries me when we have such the answer but we live like we're too afraid to talk about it. That's why we must always be a bringer, Thank you. Thank you, ms Ruby. I got one amen, one amen. I got my work cut out for me.
Speaker 1:So here we are in this space and if we go back to Luke, chapter 14, jesus is in this assembly and this dinner and he's got all of these people around and remember I read that first verse he's being watched, carefully watched, because the Sanhedrin I told you they were the political and religious power of the day and they made all of these decisions. But at the end of the day, because of the Roman oppression and the Roman rule, they had to actually go to Pilate and actually get permission for anything they wanted to carry out. For instance, they had to go get Pilate to crucify Jesus, even though they wanted to. And they, for instance, they had to go get Pilate to crucify Jesus. Even though they wanted to and they thought they had the authority of it, they still had to ask permission to crucify Jesus from the Roman Empire. And so they're watching Jesus and in this time there's this tension of he's doing miracles, he's changing lives.
Speaker 1:People are gathering, everybody wants to be in the setting, everybody wants to be in the area and there's all manner of sickness and diseases that he's healing. And all of this is happening and this group of people is like but he's gonna just turn our kingdom upside down and then the Romans are gonna destroy all of us and it will take out the entire nation. I just read it in my daily reading today in the New Testament, in the book of Luke. I'm in right now and they were like the high priest, caiaphas. He was like listen, one man's going to have to die, so the whole nation doesn't have to. He didn't even know what he prophesied. The high priest was like we're going to kill one man, so the nation will be saved. And God's like oh, I got him right where I want them, but he's being carefully watched.
Speaker 1:And because he's being carefully watched, you might just think it's a coincidence, but there was a man who had an issue. He had a sickness, he had a disease, he had a tumor that was evident and they brought him into the room. And how many know, sometimes when you come into a room and you have an ailment, it might be that it's a setup for God to show his glory in your life. When you have a sickness, when you have a struggle, when you have a test, when you have a trial, it might not be to take you out like you think it is. It's that God would show his glory in your life. So they bring this man in and and Jesus sees him and he's moved with compassion. Oh, and remember, it's on the Sabbath day and on the Sabbath it's a day of rest, and the Jewish culture was no one works, you don't lift a finger, you do nothing. You prepare all your mood on, all your food on Saturday, because we don't do anything on Sunday. I'm just using the days as a reference point, but for the Sabbath. And so Jesus sees the man, he knows it's the Sabbath, he's being carefully watched and he heals the man. And they go crazy. We got him. We got him write it down.
Speaker 1:There's another fault. He has worked, he has healed on the Sabbath day and Jesus is like, listen, if you had an ox that fell into the ditch, wouldn't you call your friend to get that ox out of the ditch? If you had a flat tire on your car, wouldn't you ask for somebody to help you change the flat tire? If your wife was driving the car and it broke down, wouldn't you go help her, get the car and help her. Like he's, like he's calling them out, like wouldn't you do? You would do what you have to do. Like this guy was in a condition that needed help and my help, and now he's whole. So well done. So they, they don't receive it. So then he dives in, don't you know?
Speaker 1:Like sometimes, sometimes we have this, this idea of Jesus on a back. In my Sunday school days it was called a flannel graph. It was just this little flannel cut out of Jesus and it stuck to anything and the teacher would be teaching about something and she would just stick that flannel Jesus on there and he would stick to the board and she'd say Jesus is everywhere. And sometimes we get the idea that Jesus is just here to make things nice and peaceful and good and just like oh, make it easy, jesus, can you make my life easy. Can you take the wheel and let me just sit back and do nothing? And Jesus is like I'll do what I can do, but you're still gonna have to do what you can do. So you know what he does to them. He's like listen, guys, now that I think about it, it's okay for me to heal on Sabbath, but let me just tell you something, like for those of you that are in these good seats, let me just tell you like you shouldn't come get in the best seat by yourself, because what if somebody more important comes in and wants that seat and the host or the host of the gathering wants somebody more important to sit in that seat?
Speaker 1:And the reality was here's what would happen. Like there wasn't Instagram, there wasn't like e-vites. You just got a message from Renee that has a digital invite to Big Ask Sunday, which is coming up. I said a K. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's our annual Bring a Friend to Church Sunday. And so you just got a message from Renee with a digital invite. But they didn't have all that in the Bible days.
Speaker 1:And so the host of the dinner he would prepare everything, he would prepare it all. And then he would go out into the streets and say, yeah, you're invited, you're invited, come to dinner, you're invited. And then there'd be this whole other group of people that would hear about the dinner and just show up and be in that crowd of people. And if the host got there and there were empty seats, he might see one of his friends that he forgot to invite be like oh, yeah, yeah, this seat's for you, come on in. Oh, there's somebody. This seat's for you, come on in. Oh, there's somebody. This seat's for you.
Speaker 1:And Jesus was saying don't be so prideful in your life that you think the best seat is all about you. The best seat in the house is always about somebody else. And so then he keeps going and Jesus just starts digging now, and now he's like he's pushing and Jesus does this. Then he says, oh, by the way, and he looks at the host and he says it's easy to invite all your best friends and your family and the people you love, but really, who you should be inviting is the people who are overlooked, the people who can't come, the people who you would never be around. They're the people that need the seat at the table. He's like this this table should be for everyone and it doesn't just have to be for those who think they've earned it. Everybody should get a seat at this table.
Speaker 1:And there was a guy there and I think it's in verse 15 or 14. And this guy says but oh, jesus, won't it be? And I'm going to read it to you because I think it's so hilarious that he does this. He's like where am I? Do I have it there? 14 or 15, verse 14. He's like watch this.
Speaker 1:When one of those at the table heard him say this, he said to Jesus blessed is the one who will eat at the feast of the kingdom of God. He's like it was so tense in the room. He's like, oh, blessed are the ones that get to go to the table. And he's actually referring to the last supper, when Jesus comes back for his church. He's making a prophecy out of the book of Revelation and Jesus is like, yeah, blessed is everyone, but it's probably not gonna be you. I mean, the room was so tense. Can you imagine being the host of this party? Like you've done this huge dinner and you've got all your best friends there and Jesus is the guest of honor and he's just railing on your behavior and your attitude and the people in your life. This kind of sounds like church. And so Jesus is like well, let me tell you a story. Let me tell you a story. Let me tell you and in the Bible they call it a parable A parable is a story told alongside of a truth. And watch what he says. Verse 16,.
Speaker 1:Jesus replied a certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. So now he's gonna ease the tension of the room and show this bigger picture of what he's talking about. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited come, for everything is now ready. That's where I told you no evites, we just when everything's ready we go bring the people in.
Speaker 1:But they all alike began to make excuses. Everybody say excuses. The first said I've just bought a field and I must go see it, so please excuse me. The second said I've just bought five yoke of oxen, that's five pairs. So he bought 10 oxen and I'm on my way to try them out. It's a new motorcycle and I'm going to go check it out, everybody, they're so tight, tight. Still another said I just got married and so I can't, I can't, I can't be at the table I got. I have to pay attention. I got to go. I got a date with my wife and the servant came, came back and reported this to the master and then the owner of the house became angry and or the town and bring in the people, the crippled. I've done what you ordered, what I've done. I've done what you ordered and there's still room. And then the master told his servant go back out to the roads, to the country lanes, and compel them to come in so that my house may be full. You know, it's interesting to me. I'm gonna preach the end of this next week, so I'm gonna wrap it up here. If musicians wanna come back.
Speaker 1:I wanna just caution you that there are always, there is always the opportunity of excuses in our life to prevent us from what matters most, and I just wanna just close with this today, this thought that excuses can get in the way of eternity, that excuses can get in the way of your purpose and that excuses can get in the way of really the things God wants to do in your life, through you and for his glory. The first excuse is this possessions, possessions, things that keep me from coming to this, that God's invited me to come into Possessions. They just bought a field and I gotta go check it out. I just bought this. I just bought possessions, possessions. And it's not that scripture is against possessions. You can have possessions, but do the possessions have you? And how do you know the possessions have you when they become the excuse for you missing out on what God has designed for your life? And so don't allow the possession to stop you from the promise and the purpose in your life.
Speaker 1:The second area is passions the possessions, and then the passions of life and the pursuits that that passion drives in you. And you know this was not a part of my upbringing. I was talking to my boys about it. They've played travel baseball and for two months out of the year that travel baseball will will be along on a Sunday, and, and I would tell you I think we've done a pretty good job raising them. They're always watching what time the Sunday game would be. There might be a potential for them to miss a few of those Sundays and I'll never forget like I was okay, I was like they'll have a life outside of being a pastor's kid, but they're the ones that were like man we hate to miss.
Speaker 1:What did you preach about? Always engage? I'm just going to tell you it's okay to have these pursuits and these passions in life, but don't put them out in front of what God wants to do for your family. I'll just pastor you for a minute. Like don't chase this dream of your child being a professional athlete, because about half of 1% will actually make it, but don't chase a dream at the cost of a promise over their life. A dream at the cost of a promise over their life. And then the last one people, people. People can be an excuse for us, and I always think of in terms of like it's this idea that if you show me your friends, I'll show you your future as a family.
Speaker 1:Sit down, what are the things in our life Possessions, passions, people what are the things in our life that keep us from being in God's house, from filling the seats when they're open to be filled? What are the things like when my dad pastored all those years ago? My dad pastored for eight years in Bay City, michigan. Then he pastored for 35 years in Grand Rapids, michigan, and you know what I think back then in that day.
Speaker 1:It's not that it was easy. It was difficult in that day, but I think people had a more like. It was like you don't miss for anything. It was four. If there are four Sundays in a month, you were there four Sundays and now sometimes we get in this space where it's like we're here once every six weeks.
Speaker 1:I just want to challenge you as your pastor, like be in God's house when the doors are open. Don't make the excuse when the table is set. Don't make the excuse when the opportunity is there. Don't make the excuse. Be just engaged enough to know you never know what you'll miss out on. So I just want to just end this with with this, with this thought right here that really your attitude on Sunday determines what you'll do Monday through Saturday.
Speaker 1:I've always said success begins on Sunday and my question to you is is what God is doing in your life first? Is it worth missing, missing out on? And second, is it worth withholding from somebody else? What is God doing in your life? Is it worth holding onto what God is doing in your life so much that no one else knows about it? And when we allow things to get in the way, we actually diminish the opportunity of a testimony and when we allow things to move us out of the way of faithfulness to God's house, out of the way of getting people around us into God's house, it actually diminishes our space to be salt and light. And that sounds like a really mean pastor today, but I wouldn't be your pastor if I didn't tell you I think we have a mandate. It wasn't a great idea in Matthew, chapter 19. It wasn't a great idea when Jesus said go into all the world. It was a great commission, a mission Go. Can you receive that word today?