Elevate - Fully Devoted Pt 3

The Christian life is active and not passive. It involves serving and being a conduit for Jesus' love. Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama is focused on building a community of authentic followers of Jesus Christ. This involves biblically authentic discipleship and embracing our authentic identity. Seeking God means forsaking our own ways and following His GPS for our lives. Jesus demonstrated seeking God in the Garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, "Not my will, but yours be done." Saved people seek God. This week, the focus is on saved people serving people. The Christian life is not passive. It is active. It is active in serving and in doing for others, active in being a conduit for Jesus' love in this world. If you are an inactive Christian, you are not walking in your authentic identity. In fact, it's almost an oxymoron to be an inactive Christian. Welcome to Elevate from Authentic Life Church in Mobile, Alabama, with Pastor John DeQuatro. We hope it builds your faith and helps you to live a life for God that you've always wanted to live. We hope it inspires you to be a fully devoted, authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Enjoy the message and welcome to Elevate. We are Authentic Life Church now, an authentic life, and it's more than just a name change, guys. We didn't do this just so that we could have something new that's a brand. We didn't do this because I really liked the color green a whole lot, but this is an identity shift for our church, and it's an intentional focus for how we do this, how we do discipleship, how we help people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. It really, and as we're going through these messages, through this vision, it really helps us understand what does it mean to live an authentic life for Jesus Christ. We've said this, the word authentic means real, genuine, not counterfeit. In other words, authentic means that you're the real deal. You're the real deal. And there's two areas that we've been talking about with regards to authenticity. The first one is biblically authentic discipleship. And the second aspect is this idea of authentic identity. And I really hope that you get that terminology in your head that am I a biblically authentic disciple? And am I living out an authentic identity? So when we say a biblically authentic disciple, we find that when we follow Jesus, the way that he said that we're supposed to follow him, not the Americanized version, not what the guy down the street said, or what somebody that has a better idea than God himself in his word says, right? Just follow Jesus the way that he said. And we find that in Matthew 16, verses 24 and 25. And Jesus said to his disciples, whoever wants to be my disciple must. And anything that follows is Jesus's definition of what it truly means to be his disciple. Right? And so what follows here is they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. Right? To deny themselves, take up their cross means be ready to die, die to themselves, die to their plans, their dreams, their goals. Right? We've said this before. A dead man has no dreams and plans for the future. If you were on your way to the electric chair, you wouldn't be thinking about the Christmas list that you want to go buy for somebody. Right? You're not making plans for the future. And so when we say that we deny ourselves and take up our cross, we're saying everything that I am, my wants, my desires, my goals, my plans, those things are dead. And I am now taking on the life of Christ within me. And I'm living out his desires, his dreams, his goals, and his plans. And I promise you something that he loves you. And he's going to bless you in that. It's not like you're giving up your opportunity to enjoy your life. You're just giving up the opportunity to live life on your terms. And you're following Jesus the way that he wants you to follow him. That's biblically authentic discipleship, doing it the way Jesus said to do it. Amen. The second aspect is, is authentic identity. Everybody say that authentic identity. It's an important concept because there is, there is you, the you that, that, that has been formulated through all of the things that you've been through, all the decisions that you've made, the career that you've chosen for yourself, the plans that you've made, the choices that you've made, right? There's you, but then there's the real you. And the real you is the you that God has intended for you before the foundations of the earth. Look what Paul says in Philippians chapter three, verse 12, because not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. What he's talking about is authentic identity. I am striving to be that very thing. The very reason that Jesus Christ saved me, I am striving to be that very thing. That's my authentic identity. That's the real me. See, Paul had a life long before he gave his life to Jesus, right? He was a smart guy. He was, he had an opportunity to be famous and wealthy. He was a murderer of Christians. And he was, and that it was sanctioned by his, by his leaders for him to do that. But then when he came into relationship with Jesus Christ, he began to, to, to apprehend his authentic identity. And I believe that for each one of us, there's an authentic identity out there. And so we've said this, and this is our vision statement. I'm going to keep saying this until I'm green in the face. Did you catch that? Did you get it? All right. Remember Robbie out of the blue and into the green, right? All right. Authentic life church exists to build a community of fully devoted, authentic followers of Jesus Christ. And we've said that the way that we're doing this is by embracing these three aspects of being a follower of Christ that saved people seek God, that saved people serve people. And that saved people, save people that we are all about discipleship and transformation and following Jesus. We're all about giving what we've been given and using it to serve others and get outside of ourselves and just freely give everything that we've been given. And then we are focused on, on evangelism that we want to see the house of God full. And we want to see heaven full. And just like that song, we say, hell lost another one. I am free. Well, that's our job to go in and depopulate hell so that we can populate heaven. Amen. And so we use this term, we say saved people. And the reason that we say that is because that's exactly what we are. We are saved. We're saved from the eternal consequences of sin. We are saved from the wrath of God. We are saved from a life that has lived captive to sin and captive to our addictions. And we are set free. We are saved. We have been rescued by the blood of Jesus. And that demands a response. It demands a response. It demands a response from our life. And so last week, that was just the introduction for you. I'm still in the introduction. Actually last week, we talked about saves people seek God. And if you didn't get a chance to listen to this message, I encourage you to go on your church, connect app and, and watch that or go onto our website and re watch this message. What we talked about saves people, seek God, seeking God is not about bringing our agenda to him and asking him to bless it. That's not what seeking God is. Seeking God is more than just worshiping really hard and praying really hard. Sometimes we think that's what it means to seek God. I just have to make this face in order to seek God, but no seeking God is forsaking your own way and following God's GPS for your life. Where do you want me to go? God, what is it that you're asking me to do? As I walk through the Walmart right now, what is it that you are asking me to do in this moment? Seeking God continually at the heart of seeking God. We will, we see Jesus demonstrating what it truly means to seek God as he's in the garden of Gethsemane. And within a few moments of him in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, he's about to be arrested and led away to his death. And he knows that his crucifixion, his death is necessary in order for people to be rescued from the bondage of sin and to be saved eternally. He knows this, but he still doesn't want to go through it. His flesh says, God, if there's any other way that we can accomplish this, can you please show me? But then he says this, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. He said, I don't want to die. I don't want to be tortured and beaten. I don't want my beard pulled out and people punching me in the face. It's not what I want, but I'd rather do it another way. But at the heart of what it means to seek God is this prayer, thy will be done. Save people, seek God. Amen. So this week we're going to move into saves people, serve people. And before I move into that, I'm going to ask Shannon Cutler, where are you at? I know you're, you're in the room somewhere where she is. Shannon, I would love for you to come on up here. And she has a testimony that she wants to share something that she shared with me. And I said, you can't just share this with me. You got to share this with everybody. So come on up here, Shannon, all the way up there. You can even use the pulpit if you want. Good morning. Good morning, Authentic Life Church. Oh, that was a good, good morning. I did share with Pastor John last week that I was serving with Manna House last month, Saturday morning, the second and last Saturday mornings each month. And I got up, I was excited. I love coming to serve with my church family. And I was on the way out the door and I stopped and I read something online or maybe I opened a piece of mail or looked at my bank account balance and that heaviness came over me. I still headed out the door to the car and I live three miles, three miles from the church and the entire time I was bawling. My eyes were filled with tears, screaming down the face. A lot of you all see me in glasses. That day I was wearing glasses. I couldn't even see out of my glasses. Out of my glasses, they were so foggy. I was just so heavy with this spirit. I should have stopped driving because it was dangerous. But again, I pulled onto the church campus and it was almost like an immediate lift of that spirit. I parked the car and I jumped out again. I see the faces of my church family that I served with. Again, Robert Sanderson out with a smile and a welcome. Ms. Vivian, Ms. Rose. They don't know this, Pastor John, but there's several that I call my church aunties. Ms. Serenetta, Ms. Battle. I saw the flowers. Papa Al and Papa John. Mom Ari who just filled me so much. I'm thinking I'm going to serve others because I passed the line of the row of cars that line up for food distribution on those mornings. Again, you think you're going to help somebody else. So then we move forward and we welcome the people onto the campus and we're out waving and say, welcome to Authentic Life. Great to see you. That spirit was by that time immediate. It was gone. I was outside of my own mind and my own problems and so filled with a peace, a joy. Just a short period of time being on the campus. Again, you think you're going to help somebody else, but I was the one that was blessed that morning and every morning that I'm here and give up my time. I thank you all for that. I thank my church family for that and thank our guests that visit with us on those mornings. I can't even remember. I can't even remember now what the problem was, what energy or why I was so upset because for the rest of that day and the rest of that weekend I was, it was lifted and again it was such a blessing to me to do that. It's more blessed to give than to receive. What a beautiful testimony of just, even though we're going to give of ourselves, the Lord is lifting burdens and allowing us to experience his goodness and his grace and his love through those moments. And so we're talking today about serving people, save people, serve people. And I want to turn you to Ephesians chapter two, verse 10. It says this, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. That's authentic identity, right? Isn't that what we just talked about, right? He prepared stuff for us in advance and he wants us to walk in those things, walking in the good works that God prepared for us. But what this indicates to us is that being in Christ is something that's active, right? Being in Christ, there's an activity and you're not ever meant to just be a receiver in God's kingdom, where you simply take all of God's goodness and all of his knowledge and all of his peace and his love and his joy, and just keep filling yourself and then just leave it there. Because all that God gives us is given to us with purpose. God is not, doesn't accidentally stumble upon things. Oh boy, I feel real lucky that I made him like that. That's not how God, God created each one of us very intentionally with a specific purpose. And, and that purpose is meant to, it's meant to transform you into a conduit of God's grace, of his love, of his goodness, of his knowledge, of his power, of his peace, of his joy, a conduit, right? That is one through whom all of God's goodness will flow. And that's what he's called us to be that we're the conduit. He brings us into relationship with him. He white, he takes the bill, he pays the check, right? And says, all of your sins are forgiven, washed away. Now you're my people. We're in relationship. And now through you, I'm going to, I'm going to allow you to be a conduit of my love and my mercy and my grace. And we can't stop up the works or the whole thing breaks down and God's entire intention for, for your life and for saving you break down. We have to be in relationship. The Bible talks about co-laboring with Jesus. And so with all of that said, I want us to see, I want us to see what Jesus said about his purpose while on the earth. Mark 10 verse 45, he says, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve. And to give his life as a ransom for many. It's a very succinct, very concise statement that Jesus makes about why he is here, what he is demonstrating, what he is, um, the example that he is setting for those that will follow him. But this Greek word that is translated to be served. It's Diakoneo. It, it, it kind of, it gives us connotation of somebody that is waiting on tables, like a, like a house slave that is, that is waiting on the guests that have arrived at the house. That's the, that's the connotation here. And so this is a posture of humility, right? This is somebody who's not like a waiter. That's working for wages and tips. When we, if we were, if I were to talk to you about waiting tables, you'd be like, yeah, I used to wait tables over at the olive garden. I used to love working between the hours of five and nine, because I'd walk home with a hundred for the dollars in my pocket. Right. That is not the intention. This is not a person who is trading their time for money, looking for something to gain. This is a house slave, somebody that is working in the house and that is waiting on the guests. And, and so that connotation of one who is enslaved to, to, to be of service. Of course, it's not necessarily in the negative sense that these people were in bondage and that these people were unhappy. That's not what Jesus is trying to portray here or convey, but it's in the sense that they don't stand to gain anything except to please their master. You see, none of the guests are going to pay that hired or that enslaved house servants. They're not going to give them gifts. They're not going to give them compliments or pats on the back. They're not working for wages. They are working simply to please their master. You see where I'm going with this. And because they're doing it also because they just have no other choice, but to please their master. And that ought to be our mentality. The Bible talks often about us now coming out of being slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to Christ. And to be a slave to Christ is the, is the sense that obligation that says that now I have no other choice. I have no other choice than to please you with my life. Then to give of myself and to please my master. This is not an American ideal. This is not something that our culture grasps very easily. We're conditioned that we are to receive compensation for everything that we do. Even if that compensation is simply a pat on the back or an opportunity for recognition or promotion or receiving money or any other form of pay. But when we do for others, we usually do for the ones that we like, or we do for the ones that we know can pay us back in kind at some future time where we feel we can call that favor in. But that's not Jesus's motivation for serving. He simply did it to please the master. Now that root word that we said, that's translated as to be served. There's a root word to that. And it quite literally means this kicking up dust, kicking up dust, powerful imagery, kicking up dust. Now when I think of kicking up dust, I think of something that's on the move. If you're kicking up dust, right? You're spinning your tires and you're tearing out, right? And there's dust flying behind you or, or a horse that's galloping so fast on a dirt road and all that dust is raised up. And if somebody said, Hey, you're kicking up dust. It means you're active. You're moving. You're doing something. You're you're going, going, going, kicking up dust. It raises this notion of being very active in the way that we serve others. And it goes back to what we just read that God has prepared good works for us. Works work work. There's work involved. There's activity involved. And we ought to be walking in those good works. And so if you get nothing from today's message today, get this. The Christian life is not passive. It is active. It is active in serving and in doing for others active in being a conduit for Jesus's love in this world, active kicking up dust. If you are not, if you are an inactive Christian, you are not walking in your authentic identity. In fact, it's almost an oxymoron to be an inactive Christian. So I'll say this, get busy, get busy. All right. So Jesus also says this, I came not to be served, but to serve. And then he says, and to give his life as a ransom for many ransom. It literally means the price paid to free a slave. He gave his life as a ransom for many. We were all, every one of us in this room were slaves to sin. If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ, you still are a slave to sin, but he has freed us by paying the ransom for us. And so how would a freed slave respond to his freedom? Would he be grateful and use his freedom to ease the burden for others? Or would he become selfish and use his freedom to benefit only himself? We have a choice. We have been freed from slavery to sin. We've been freed. A ransom has been paid for our life. And now we have a choice. We are either going to be grateful for that and use that freedom to now give that same freedom to others, or we can keep it for ourselves. It's your choice, but you are one of the many that he came to give his life as a ransom for. You are one of the many, you are a saved person. And so first Peter chapter four, verse 10, Peter tells us this. Each of you should use whatever gifts you have received to serve others again, activity, right? Use what you have to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. He says, whatever, use whatever gift you have received. You know what that implies? That you have received the gifts that you have something to give that can be used to serve others. You have that. There is nobody here that is ungifted. Despite what you may feel, despite what you may think, there is nobody here that is ungifted. God has given you something. God has given you a gift to be used and it is your job to discover it, use it and master it for the glory of God and to serve others. I love when he says you received a gift. This word gift is in the Greek is charisma. And it means a gift of grace, an operation of grace. We can see this here, use it to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in various forms. That's what a gift is. That's what the charisma is. It's, it's, it's a gift of God's grace. And many of these gifts we find, we read in the Bible, they're supernatural in nature. We talk about tongues and prophecy and healing and miracles. And we also receive and operate in those gifts freely as the Lord graces us with them. But most of the gifts that you find in scripture are actually very practical in nature. Romans 12 talks about exhortation, giving leadership, mercy, service, teaching. First Corinthians 12 talks about administration, apostleship, discernment, faith, help, knowledge, teaching. And there's other gifts scattered throughout the New Testament, different gifts of celibacy or hospitality or martyrdom or missions, or even voluntary poverty. These are different gifts that God is great. Each one of us with, and that's not an exhaustive list. Those are never meant to be an exhaustive list, but there are something that God has given you and he is requiring you to use it to serve others, whatever gifts you have, and you have at least one. This passage tells us, use it to serve others. He says, being faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. It may look one way for you, and it may look another way for you, but it's the same grace in various forms. And for one, it might be the, it might be the grace of giving generously to another. It might be the grace of encouraging people, or it might be the grace of, of, of a leadership or administration or something that can be used to serve others. Do you realize that you have the responsibility to be a steward of God's grace? So it's a steward. A steward is simply this, a manager of a household and get this. There's a theme running through here. In those days, a person reading this in the generation to which it was written in those days, they would have understood that a steward of a household was almost always a freed slave. The manager of your household was somebody that used to be enslaved. And now somebody that you are trusting to steward your household. God has entrusted us his freed slaves, his saved people. He's entrusted us. And he said, you know what? I'll need you to be a steward of the grace that I've given you to be faithful, right? Consistent, trustworthy, a faithful steward of God's grace, faithful, consistent, trustworthy, to be a faithful steward, right? A manager of the grace that he has given us specifically here, the different varying gifts that he's given us. I don't know what every gift is, but you may think you have nothing. You're like, I can't do anything. So I'm just going to sit at home and I'm going to bake cookies. Well, you know what? You can bake cookies to the glory of God, right? And you can use that to serve others and to give and to be a blessing. So here's the challenge for today. I've covered a couple of different things here that God has prepared good works for you and has told us to walk in them. The serving is not a transaction between you and somebody, but you simply do it to please the Master. That's the motivation. The word serve in Greek means to pick up dust, to be moving, right? It's a gospel of action that when we come into a relationship with Him, He expects us to be picking up dust and serving people. And God's grace has been given to you. And therefore, it's your responsibility to be a steward of that grace and use it for the reason that He has given it to you. Thank you for listening to Elevate. We hope this message encouraged, inspired, and challenged you. Authentic Life Church is located at 3750 Michael Boulevard in Mobile, Alabama. Visit our website authenticlife.tv for more information about Authentic Life Church. To find out what we have going on or to make a donation, you can also find us on Facebook. We'd love for you to join us on Sundays at 10 a.m. for our weekend service. We have excellent children's, nursery, and youth programs, so bring the family. For Pastor John DiQuatro, I'm Scott Chestnut. Thanks again for listening, and God bless you.