Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the World Changers Church Gold Coast Podcast. Join us as we listen to today's message.
[00:00:07] Amen.
Amen.
Well, before I get started with the message, I want to share something with you on a personal note.
I got this awesome bracelet on this morning.
Have you seen these?
Anybody seen these?
You haven't? Do you know where to get them? You gotta go out on Tuesday nights. Praise the Lord.
Now, I want to say something about this beautiful work that's going on on Tuesday nights. It is absolutely amazing. We're seeing. Tony. How many are you seeing a week? On average?
[00:00:42] About 120 souls.
[00:00:45] Wow. Praise the Lord. Now what's beautiful about that? Amen. Come on, you can do better than that. 120 souls got saved. Hallelujah.
[00:00:55] Come on. Come.
All of heaven rejoiced.
[00:01:03] You got President's church out there that's out there to help them get instituted into the church. You got world Changers out there that are doing that as well. And what we're gonna do while you guys are away is we're gonna see how we can get more involved. I wanna support this personally, and that's why I'm wearing this bracelet.
So I thank God for this call that he's put on their lives and how he's brought it into this house. And I just want to thank God again for the work they're doing on the street. Amen.
Amen.
[00:01:35] Now, I want to tell you a
[00:01:38] story about church because it sounds familiar. So I got a little tea to spill this morning. If you don't know nothing about that, I'm really talking outside of my Gen X age range, so I got some gossip for you. Okay? You ready? You ready? You ready? You ready? You ready?
[00:01:51] It's going to be juicy.
It's going to be juicy.
[00:01:54] You ready? Now, some of you that are over spiritual are gonna be turned off. And then you're gonna realize I'm actually talking about the Bible. It's okay.
There was a kid that kind of grew up in a movement, right?
He got to be a part of the first works. He was practically building the ministry with his parents and his friends. The pastor was always at his front door.
[00:02:15] He was going out.
[00:02:16] And of course, when the new campus launched, right, he was first pick to go on the team to get it going, right? You ever heard this story?
[00:02:25] And you know, he was young, gifted, connected.
[00:02:28] He had an advantage. He had the ministry history.
[00:02:31] He had the main man visiting his home every week. And so why not?
[00:02:36] But here's the thing.
[00:02:39] A few weeks in, when it Got hard, and it got scary. He quit,
[00:02:44] packed his bags, went home,
[00:02:46] got ghosted the team and caused such a mess that two leaders stopped working together.
I mean, it was a big mess.
[00:02:54] Y' all are really leaning in. Pastor is gossiping from the pulpit.
[00:02:58] No, no, no. Lean in, you know, and said, never again. They'll never work together with him, and they'll never work with each other. He doesn't deserve a second shot. And the kid, he just disappeared.
And you still see him in the back row, but nobody ever put him on the team again.
[00:03:17] Now, that's not a story from this year. That's Acts, chapter 13.
Sound familiar, though?
[00:03:29] See, we get in these formative years of the call, and what begins to happen is we think that what the devil's doing against us, tackling us, the gossip, the trials, the quitting, the want to quit, we think that's new.
Mark, one of the writers of the gospel, quit.
[00:03:53] It got really quiet.
Cause y' all have heard about Peter, right? You know, Peter denied Christ three times. That's so overly preached. It's awesome. I mean, Peter's in heaven saying, here
[00:04:02] they go again, preaching about me.
Mark was hiding in the corner, going, nobody's ever gonna talk about me. And then Jesus said, not until Kyle's born.
Amen.
So this kid, his name was Mark. Now, Mark wasn't his original name.
How can a kid from the Middle east be named Mark?
His original name was not even John. It was Hebrew. That translates to John.
And then he'd adopted the name in Rome for Marcus. So his name was John. Mark.
Most people can't follow his story in the Bible. Cause when we hear him mentioned later in the Bible, he's called John because
[00:04:44] it's his Hebrew name.
Did you know that?
Okay, well, you gonna learn today.
Amen.
[00:04:55] So here's the thing.
I want to set a scene about Mark's actual appearance and how he told on himself.
[00:05:04] Let's go to that first scripture, Timmy.
[00:05:08] Now, a certain young man follow him, having a linen cloth. Now, that's his night robe thrown around him.
[00:05:15] And basically, a tunic is all that you wear when you go to sleep. You take everything off. You put your tunic on.
[00:05:20] And the young men. And when Jesus was arrested, the guards grabbed ahold of Mark and his linen. And he got so scared, and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.
Now, no other gospel has this scripture.
[00:05:38] This is not a comedic show today.
[00:05:41] No other scripture has. No other gospel has this. So this is Mark writing in about himself. He got so scared that he Wiggled out of his clothes and ran off naked.
And then he gets to write one of the Gospels.
[00:05:58] I don't know if the Lord will ever use me.
[00:06:01] Honey,
[00:06:04] I'm going to tell you right
[00:06:05] now, God will use anybody.
I want to say something to you. Your worst night isn't your last chapter.
Can I say that again?
Your worst night is not your last chapter. The moment the call hits your plate, I can tell you the enemy is going to come against you. They're going to back talk you. They're going to tell you what you should do, shouldn't do, and how you could do it. They're going to come against you with doctrine. Doctrine, theology, philosophy, dress code, haircuts, tattoos. No tattoos. Dunk or don't dunk, sprinkle, speak in tongues. Don't speak in tongues. They're gonna come at you with everything the moment you step at it. But who are you following, man or Jesus?
Amen.
Amen.
When you start the call, you gotta know that it starts right when it's messy.
It was the messiest moment in ministry. They've been following this man for three and a half years and he's to talk about his death.
They then see Judas, kiss him on the cheek and say, rabbi, Rabbi. Twice. And he gets delivered up.
[00:07:13] Now, I want to stop for a second. If you ain't in it, it's okay.
I know the Holy Spirit's moving here.
Hallelujah.
[00:07:23] So think about.
[00:07:24] I want you to stop for a second about what you're thinking about.
[00:07:28] Because, see, I can see you.
[00:07:29] You're looking off.
You're kind of looking out in the distance. And you're beginning to imagine. Who am I talking about this morning?
I didn't come to preach about a people.
I came to preach to a people about God. So that we could walk out of here with a surety about who he is.
Amen.
[00:07:49] So here's the thing.
[00:07:51] Your worst night isn't your last chapter.
[00:07:54] So how did this kid who quit
[00:07:56] become the man who writes the gospel?
[00:07:58] Three moves.
[00:07:59] The flight, the forming, the fruit.
[00:08:02] The flight.
[00:08:03] The forming, the fruit.
Amen.
The flight.
[00:08:10] Where did he go?
[00:08:13] Mark?
[00:08:13] Ran off, like Peter. He went by a charcoal fire and, you know, he had a meeting with Jesus and became one of the greatest ministers. No, he went and hid at the prayer house.
Acts 12:12.
[00:08:28] I'm gonna tell you the story. It's okay.
[00:08:30] Have you ever heard this before?
[00:08:32] Okay.
[00:08:33] So when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark.
[00:08:41] When many were Gathered together, praying.
[00:08:44] Now, most people would read that as John, the one that was the beloved, the one at the bosom of Jesus.
[00:08:49] No, this is John that ran.
[00:08:53] So he went to his mother's house
[00:08:56] and hid for a while.
[00:08:59] He had walked with Jesus. He had seen the miracles, and he went and hid for a while. I'm not here to shame you. I'm not here to tell you about where you are or what you're running from. But I'm telling you there's been other men in history.
There's been other stories in history where people have ran from what they're called to. And I can tell you those are the formative years. Those are the refining years.
That's when Paul left for two years to go after he met Jesus on the road. And after having the scales dropped off his eyes, Paul ran and disappeared for two years. Everybody that has ever been called has disappeared for a season to figure out who they are and learn how to submit and actually say, lord, I don't know what I'm doing here. I don't even know why I'm doing it. I don't even know why I stepped in or stepped out. I don't even know why I'm praying anymore. The imagine. David.
David. David.
[00:09:57] Dave.
[00:09:57] Where you at?
[00:09:59] Can I pick on you?
All right.
[00:10:01] So here comes this prophet. He says, come on.
They brought all the other lads and
[00:10:07] they forgot the smallest one. I'm not picking on you.
[00:10:09] You didn't. Name's Dave. And then the prophet says, that's him. Anoints his head and says, you will be the next king of Israel. Says this in front of the whole
[00:10:19] family and walks away.
[00:10:23] What's David feeling at the moment?
[00:10:27] David said, I guess I'll just go
[00:10:29] back to tending sheep from 15 years, from the anointing oil hitting his head to that anointing oil turning into a crown. Was David formed into the character to be the man to be king?
The anointing established does not produce the character to walk in it.
Amen.
I've been through 25 years to arrive to this moment in my life. I've been through police raids, people admitting murder. I've been through so much. And then when something little happens anymore, I'm like, that ain't nothing to worry about.
No, I don't care. I don't say I don't care. I just say that ain't got nothing to worry about.
Because it's not that big anymore.
Because in those formative years, I imagine David went through, I'm going to be the next king. I imagine that he stepped out in front of Goliath, saying, well, if I lose this, I ain't going to be the next king. But the Lord has anointed me. So I come in the name of the Lord. That's what gave him the power to step into that moment.
But it's moment to moment, not there to hear.
Amen.
Is this any good?
So here's this man.
[00:11:47] Close to it isn't the same as being ready for it.
[00:11:51] Mark walked with Jesus daily.
I mean daily, side by side.
[00:12:00] And there was an anointing and a commissioning from Jesus on all the disciples. And they all turned the world upside down.
But I'm going to tell you something about Mark's story. It gets worse before it gets better.
Y' all all going to feel good about yourself before we leave here today.
Mark thought he had missed it and no one was going to mess with him. But Kyle David's self was born.
[00:12:23] You can be raised in church. You can be on the team. You can have the degrees. You can move your whole life around
[00:12:32] God and still not be the person that can carry the weight of it.
Your calling is not on your shoulders.
Your calling was commissioned by God. You are responsible for the skill in righteousness to be able to have the character to let it operate through you.
The call is never yours.
When you own it, you crush it.
[00:13:01] When you own it, you crush the
[00:13:03] people around you because you begin to act like somebody.
There's six movements in the call. Identity, submission, formation, confirmation, commitment, then clarity.
[00:13:19] Well, why am I not standing up in stadiums like God showed me?
[00:13:23] Well, did you submit?
[00:13:26] Do you know who you are, man, is this good?
[00:13:29] Okay. Praise the Lord. Y' all got awful quiet. Y' all went full Australian on me this morning.
Amen.
[00:13:36] Acts 13:13, we see it gets even worse.
[00:13:41] You already put it up, man. You trigger happy on this stuff. Where you at?
[00:13:46] So you take young Mark on the first big missionary trip.
Now here he is, Paul and Barabbas. This is the gospel in its greatest movement. The establishing of the seven churches, the missionary work of Paul and Barabbas.
And, you know, Barnabas.
[00:14:04] Yeah, sorry, wrong one. It's a B. Barnabas.
Simon, edit that out.
[00:14:11] Barnabas.
[00:14:11] I just got excited.
[00:14:13] Paul and Barnabas, right?
[00:14:15] Not the guy. That was Jesus.
[00:14:17] Barnabas and John left them and went back to Jerusalem because he didn't like Paul's leadership.
Acts 13:13.
[00:14:29] You got it?
[00:14:30] Now, when Paul and his party set sail from Pap. Yeah, that word.
They came to Perga in that Word. And John departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.
This is too much. I want to go back to Mama.
This is too hard, Paul. You're too hard on me. And every traditional teacher knows that Paul was a hard case. You read Paul's writing. Outside of prison, he's a hard case. Amen.
And so Mark's like, I've walked with Jesus. Who do you think you are?
I got a call on my life. You know what? This isn't gonna work. I'm gonna wait till you fail. I'm gonna go back to Mama's house and just be in the prayer room. When y' all get in trouble and need prayer, get out of jail like Peter did.
Amen.
This is true biblical.
And this happens still today in today's church. That still happens because people don't quite understand that formation of the call is key. Now, he didn't have to go through any of this to fulfill the call. Nor did Paul have to go through imprisonment to get to Rome. But Paul, Paul disobeyed God and went to Jerusalem instead of Rome.
God said, you're still going to Rome, Paul, but I sent seven prophetess and two priests to tell you you shouldn't go. And you still felt like you should go listen to your disciples, to go shave your head and pay somebody else's Nazarene vow.
And there you are in trouble. But we gonna get you to Rome anyway.
Amen.
You don't have to go through hard
[00:16:10] times for the call to form if you learn submission first.
That was last week's message.
Amen. Y' all getting quiet.
[00:16:21] Y' all good?
[00:16:23] You absorbing?
[00:16:24] First time hearing this?
[00:16:25] I don't know. I don't know.
[00:16:28] So God calls you before you're ready.
[00:16:31] I believe God calls you well before you're ready.
[00:16:33] Because, I mean, you gotta think about
[00:16:35] Gideon sitting there on the threshing floor. Gonna have to go fight an army
[00:16:39] curled up in a corner. And the angel of the Lord comes
[00:16:41] in there and says, hello, mighty warrior.
He called him that before he ever became that.
[00:16:49] He called him his son in who I'm well pleased.
[00:16:52] Before he ever did his first miracle,
[00:16:57] when he calls you, it may be in your worst moment, it may be
[00:17:01] when you're not ready.
[00:17:02] It may be in your transition, it may be in your next.
But when he calls you, you gotta learn who you are. Let submission take place and let the
[00:17:10] formative years start to happen.
[00:17:13] The pressure didn't create the gap between
[00:17:15] the calling and his character. It just exposed it.
[00:17:19] See, everything that Mark was going through, that pressure that he was going through. It didn't create the gap between calling and character. No, no, no. It wasn't even there to condemn.
[00:17:29] It was there to show there needed to be gross.
[00:17:33] So when you walk into a place
[00:17:34] and you feel rejected.
Prophets, where are you?
Yeah, you're gonna feel rejected. First. Teachers, you're next. Pastors were always rejected. Ministers. Ooh, let me talk.
[00:17:46] Missionaries. Ho.
[00:17:47] Let me talk to you for a minute. Christians go out and spread the name of Jesus. Amen.
Rejection only exposes the growth that's necessary.
Amen.
[00:17:58] So when you're coming into a space and you say, I'm always rejected because of this, maybe God's requiring growth in
[00:18:03] that space because people can no longer overlook it anymore.
[00:18:07] And maybe them no longer overlooking it is actually requiring accountability to cause your growth.
[00:18:14] Amen.
[00:18:15] See, the call feels good.
[00:18:20] I remember they told me something funny. They said, you gonna have the largest church.
They just didn't know me.
And you're gonna have an anointing. That's when I started listening.
[00:18:30] And there's gonna be all these people get saved. And I must have walked for the
[00:18:35] next 10 years saying, I'm the next called one.
Yep, yep. Tony, let me do this for a while. I got it. I'm the next called one.
No identity, no submission, no formation, no confirmation. Just the anointing from the prophet. And I went telling everybody I was the next king.
The pressure didn't cause it. God wasn't caught off guard by Mark's running.
Mark would fold before he ever put him on the team.
Mark folded before he was ever activated.
Same as he knew everything about you. He called you anyway.
If you folded, if you were dismissed, if you were overlooked, if you've quit for a while, God knew that.
But I'm not here to condemn you of your quitting. I'm here to talk to you about your forming.
Amen. Acts 15, 36 and 39. Here's the argument.
The making happens in the middle, where nobody's clapping, see? When nobody can see what you're going through, that's when the forming happens.
[00:19:50] When you're crying out to God in the middle of the night by the bedside saying, lord, what are we doing here? What's happening when you're sitting there saying, when's it gonna come? When's it gonna happen? Right there in the middle of those midnight moments is when God is shaping you. Because your dependency is finally on him.
That's the key factor. Your dependency is finally on him. Not your skill, not your capability, not your talent, not Your will, wisdom. Not your height or your breadth. No, just him.
Amen.
[00:20:24] Come on, somebody.
So here's the fight in the Bible. Nobody preaches round two comes around. He ran off, he went to the prayer room, he came out, left.
He bailed on us once. He'll probably do it again, says Paul. Let's look at Acts 15:36,39. Now Paul is talking to Barnabas about his cousin. Now, Barnabas is the cousin of Mark.
John called Mark, There it is for you. Now Barnabas was determined to take with them. John called Mark, come on, Paul, give him a second chance.
[00:21:02] But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had
[00:21:07] departed from them word and had not
[00:21:10] gone with them to the work.
[00:21:14] Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed off.
Amen. I know it's Cyprus. I just like being funny this morning.
Amen.
[00:21:29] So here's the thing.
The pastor, he set me down off the team.
[00:21:36] Well, maybe you hurt him and he's
[00:21:38] human, but God will always make a way if you stick around long enough because the pastor was hurt by you and he's reacting to what you've done and he's having a human reaction. Paul for the first time is having a human reaction. And say, he quit on us once, he'll quit again. But a good pastor will say, no matter how many times you've quit, I've been in it long enough to know that you'll get back up. Because a righteous man falls seven times and gets back, a man that is fully devoted to God will not judge you for your failure. I have failed enough for all of you that I will never sit you down because of your failure. But I will let you sit down because of your mind and your thinking.
Amen.
[00:22:28] I'm sorry.
When they write you off, God sends you a Barnabas.
I believe that I'm not a Paul. I believe I'm a Barnabas.
I believe that I'm called for the John Marks, the ones that have been left abandoned, orphaned. Now, the kids have having a praise party today. They're going to be a little loud. It's okay that they praise. Amen.
[00:22:57] All right, so this is the fight nobody talks about.
The name even means Abarnabus, means son of encouragement.
Paul, called as a prosecutor of Christians, is still shaking off a little bit
[00:23:15] of his critical spirit.
But he's partnered with Abarnabus, which is a son of encouragement, to buffer Paul's roughness.
Amen.
The leader who pulls the quitter aside after everyone else has moved on, pray you find yours and pray you become one.
But then something beautiful happens. In 1st Peter 5, 13, the forming.
After that, Mark just disappears. Years go by. No headlines, no comeback tour, no preaching
[00:23:54] and 3,000 being added.
Nothing mentioned.
[00:24:00] But look what happens.
And then he turns up again, this time under Peter. Who calls him so? Who is in Babylon elect together with you, greet you, and so does Mark. My son Mark.
So hear this. If you're in a season where nobody sees you, hidden is not forgotten.
You're still hidden because God's still forming you.
He's raising you.
[00:24:29] I tell people all the time, way
[00:24:31] back in the day when we had fight camps and we did something funny called Christian fight camps, I don't know how that actually works anymore.
And you know, and we would tell
[00:24:41] them, it's better to be knocked out in here than out there.
This here, no matter how much it hurts sometimes, no matter how you don't understand sometimes, they will kill you.
They will put you in prison.
They will forsake you more than anyone. I would rather get hurt in here a hundred times and be shaped by the persecution of my own people than
[00:25:06] to run out trusting the world again.
[00:25:09] Now, I'm not talking to anybody.
[00:25:10] This message was planned months ago.
Amen. I got proof on WhatsApp. We had a whole list of them.
Amen.
[00:25:19] So here's the thing.
[00:25:20] You may be hidden, but you're not forgotten. God is starting to bring you forward. He's starting to mention your name.
[00:25:27] He's putting your name in people's mouths.
[00:25:29] You're not having to put them there. You're not having to attend meetings. You're not having to go to every
[00:25:33] single one of them and prove how anointed you are.
You are somewhere where you're being heard about by the love you're giving. And people are going out and saying, yeah, this old boy prayed for me. This old gal, she prayed for me, man.
[00:25:45] It was so beautiful.
[00:25:46] What's her name?
[00:25:47] Oh, it was Tina, it was Sarah,
[00:25:49] it was Simon, it was Eli, it was Glenn. Your name's being mentioned because of love. You give right where you are. People are carrying that. So you're being vindicated through the actions of love in your greatest pain, because
[00:26:01] that's what's forming you is love.
Not pressure, not the trial.
[00:26:06] The love you're receiving from God in
[00:26:08] the middle of it is what's forming you.
[00:26:11] Hmm?
[00:26:12] Is this good?
The quiet years is not God being slow.
They're God being close.
Man, I miss those years.
[00:26:25] I'M close to him.
[00:26:26] Like, every morning I sit there with my cup of coffee, and I'm just there, man. I'm just there because I cherish those
[00:26:32] moments that not everything is coming at
[00:26:36] me because it's not a burden. Nobody's a burden. But I know that as a pastor, I got many things to put my hands to in a day. And I cherish the moments when nobody's asking me to preach.
You know those days when I was back there and I wanted to design the program for the pastor, and when I wanted to run the youth group and when I wanted to do young adults, when I wanted to be the one praying, when I wanted to be
[00:26:56] the one preaching, I could have used
[00:26:58] that time to just be close.
Hmm.
You're close here, but you're close for others, too.
Amen, man. They're having fun up there.
I want to go be a kid again.
Your part isn't to force your way out or to force your way through or to quit in the dark. Faith and patience are how God's people inherit the promise.
[00:27:30] The more you have to force yourself
[00:27:31] into the room, the more you have to force yourself to the pulpit. You'll spend the rest of your life forcing to hold onto it.
Because that is how you learned to do your call.
The more you force your way through, that is the rest of your calling, because that is how you learn to do it.
Learn to be selected.
Boy, that hit somebody.
Amen.
What's preaching to me?
I ain't convicted or condemned, but this is preaching to me. This is healing for me. Amen.
So we went from the forming.
We went from the flight to the forming to the fruit.
So what looked like the end was the seed.
See, I remember I had three book deals.
Well, I thought I had three book deals, but that was just somebody helping me put something on Amazon. But I was writing three books at one point in time. And at one point, we had our own chauffeurs and security, and I really thought I'd arrived. And when one little car wreck happened that cost someone their life, everything ended for me.
That wasn't my fault. I wasn't found at fault. But someone still passed, and everything ended for me.
For four or five years, everything ended for me. And I thought, well, Lord, I'll just open the door for you. I'll be the janitor.
I'm good with whatever.
And those were my forming years.
When I didn't want it anymore, was when he began to shape me.
When I wasn't trying to make it happen, is when he began to hug me and shake me when I wasn't
[00:29:17] really worried about my next step.
[00:29:18] I just wanted to make sure that
[00:29:20] my next step was him.
[00:29:22] And, honey, I've turned down $225,000 a year for it to be a pastor at another church. Money don't move me.
People don't move me. God moves me.
Because in those shaping years, God was all I had.
And when you know that God is all you need, your next step becomes easy.
So let's look at welcomed back at Colossians 4 and 10. Now, the same man that kicked him off the team.
Let's fast forward a few years. A prison letter from the same Paul who wouldn't travel with him and writes, let's look at that. Colossians 4:10.
My fellow prisoner greets you with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you receive instruction. If he comes to you welcome him.
Grace reopened the door.
Failure slammed Paul's writing from prison and he's correcting his mistakes.
He's saying, with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas will greet you.
Welcome back to the team, Mark.
Welcome back to the team, Mark.
You walked away.
People hurt you. They talked bad about you. You had a bad leader. Maybe you had a bad mentor.
Welcome back to the team, Mark.
The same person that would that dismisses you 90% of the time will be the same person that invites you back.
The door Mark slammed when he quit, the relationship he wrecked is opened again because Grace opened it.
What you closed on your worst day, Grace can open back up.
Man, is that good.
[00:31:25] I don't care what you did last summer. Paul said, come on, get back on the team.
Honey, I don't even care what you did last night, but let's get some discipleship on that, Grow you a little bit, get you back on the team.
[00:31:40] But look at what he says later in Philemon 1:24. You probably say it a different way than I do, as do Mark.
I have a stutter with R, so I'm not going to say that word.
Y' all want to say it for me, go ahead.
Aristarchus.
Demas. Luke. I like Demas. That's a great name.
Imagine walking in a room. I am Demas the disciple. Almost said the Destroyer.
[00:32:13] Luke, my fellow laborers, who was. Who was first on the list?
[00:32:21] I'm gonna point it out again as
[00:32:23] I made my joke to get you to pay attention. Who was first on the list? Was Mark last to be mentioned? Like, he was like, ah, I gotta put down Mark's name. No, Mark was first. I gotta Put Mark's name down because Mark came first and Mark's going next.
He wasn't an afterthought. He wasn't invited to the party by someone else.
[00:32:44] His name was first. He was the quitter.
[00:32:47] He's the one that ran off naked. He's the one that went running back to Mama. He's the one that wanted to hide in the prayer room and just pray for everybody else. Guess what happened?
[00:32:57] Invited back to the team, he quit
[00:33:01] in the middle of the biggest missionary movement that Paul and Barnabas had. The movement of the New Testament.
Could you imagine being a part of the largest ministry and on the frontline team?
I mean, NBA point guard, dribble, dribble, dribble. You know what?
[00:33:20] This is too hard.
Some of you probably think that's awesome.
I think maybe the pressure got to him back in the room he walked out of.
God is putting you back in rooms, but it's in your formative years. It's not so you can preach. It's not so you can get back in the podium. It's not so you can be the leader.
[00:33:44] It's so that he can shape you
[00:33:46] the way others should have shaped you, the way other leaders should have shaped you.
[00:33:51] You landed here because we're about engage, equip, empower.
If you are empowering yourself in this house without our equipping, you're operating out of order.
[00:34:03] I serve Jesus well.
[00:34:05] I do too.
[00:34:06] And he put me over this house.
Amen.
[00:34:10] Things are in order and you got to submit to be able to walk out the formation.
You ever seen somebody you just look at and be like, when's the pastor
[00:34:21] going to do something about that?
When you going to do something? No, I'm kidding.
[00:34:28] Love them, equip them.
[00:34:29] Realize that they may be in the room because they were dismissed from another one.
Mark was not on the outside looking in. He went from flight to forming to fruit.
It wasn't a probation period either.
When he came back, he came back. He was back in the inner circle and trusted again. Look at 2 Timothy 4:11.
Look what Paul says about this man.
[00:34:58] Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you,
[00:35:01] for he is useful to me in ministry.
[00:35:04] The same man that said, no, he's a quitter, is now saying, get him. He's useful.
[00:35:11] What is the difference that Paul is seeing in this man?
[00:35:17] I want to answer, what is it?
[00:35:20] Character.
Character has changed.
Mark's character has changed.
He was always running before, but now he's running into everything.
He's been showing Mark didn't get appointed. Now, get this. Mark didn't get appointed just because he was called by Paul.
Mark was appointed because he was in the room.
Even when he'd been dismissed, he kept showing up.
When he decided to come back, he didn't say nothing. He just served.
He didn't say nothing. He just supported. He didn't say nothing. He just said, I'm here.
And Paul saw the character shift from someone that was willing to sweep the bathroom. Who before said, this is beneath me.
I'm not called to the Usher team. Well, you're not called to ministry here.
That is not my calling.
[00:36:16] Well, honey, neither is it mine.
[00:36:18] That's part of being a community. We pick up after ourselves.
I'm gonna come to your house and make a bunch of dirty dishes and say, that's not a part of my call.
Sorry. Side note.
[00:36:31] Do you get what I'm saying this morning?
[00:36:32] Are we getting it this morning?
Are you mad at me?
[00:36:37] Do you feel good?
Are you learning that there's a way back?
So here it is.
The man he wouldn't take became the man he sent for.
[00:36:49] Picture that kid again. 20 years passed.
The one we talked about in the beginning.
He's been.
He's bailed on the campus team.
He's now the most dependable man in the building. Eli, where are you?
I couldn't be more proud of you.
You answered your call, son, and I couldn't be more proud of you. Give the Lord a hand, clap of praise.
[00:37:26] Grace finished.
[00:37:30] What man started the call was never canceled. And the kid who ran from the arrest of Jesus, God hands him a pen to write about the arrest of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark.
And to honor himself well, to not make himself be greater than to remember to remain small in his own eyes. He wrote a footnote in there.
Remember, I'm the one that ran naked from this situation so that he could
[00:38:02] never get puffed up, so that he would never make himself greater, so that he would never. When people said, mark, you are so
[00:38:09] anointed, he'd go, remember, I'm the one that ran off naked.
I say that so Southern. I know, but there's treasure in cracked pots.
2nd Corinthians 4. 7.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, if y' all want to come on up. That the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
We are not wielding God.
He is wielding us.
And he does it in a way that's not confusing.
He does it in a way that's leading.
Because God uses Cracked pots.
Not because they're broken so that he may be glorified.
And then he did something so amazing, Tony.
He healed those crackpots by the blood of Jesus.
[00:39:15] Do you know that your desert mentality
[00:39:17] and your wounded mentality and your abandonment issues are the only thing keeping you cracked?
He's applied the blood to you because we're not ashamed to talk about the blood here or the name of Jesus.
He's applied it to you and he's healed your vessel.
[00:39:37] He's made you whole. And as long as you're surrendered to him, you will walk in fullness and
[00:39:43] you will not fall. The Bible says so. We're not broken anymore.
He put treasure in us, and that treasure healed us.
He went looking for you in your ordinary everyday life so that he could do something glorious as he poured through you.
Romans 11:29 says that the call stands still. So where are you, Mark?
Where's Mark's story this morning?
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Maybe you're in the hidden years. Sure, you've been forgotten.
[00:40:22] Maybe you're the one on the run. Maybe you're the one that ran. Maybe you're hiding out in the prayer rooms. Maybe you're the one forcing your way into the room. Maybe you're the one that is saying, I just can't stand Paul.
[00:40:39] Let those moments shape you.
God doesn't take the callback. He doesn't change his mind about you. There's a gospel writer hiding inside of every man and woman in the room.
Every man and woman in the room who ran away.
And there's something God put in you, these in between seasons that he's still bringing to the surface.
Can I ask you to let him do it?
Can I ask you to be patient?
You cannot rush to this place.
I did.
I rushed into this calling.
I didn't listen to my mentors. I didn't listen to my pastor. I went through five churches. I went through friends.
And after 20 years, the last five years, I'm settled.
And then God's opening up doors that I thought were shut.
He's inviting me into spaces I thought they'd never let me in because I didn't know how to shut my mouth. Guess what he taught me how to do Shut my mouth.
[00:41:53] Let him teach you. Let him train you.
If it's not working, don't just run
[00:41:59] to the next place and say, they didn't accept me there.
[00:42:02] Maybe learn something.
Maybe let it shape you. Because you're not Jesus and I'm not following you.
And maybe the worship wasn't that great
[00:42:15] this morning, which it was.
[00:42:18] But if you didn't like it, can I tell you something? We're not worshiping you.
We're worshiping Him.
And if you weren't given space to do your ministry, realize that your ministry is not here this morning. The ministry of Jesus is here this morning.
[00:42:36] The champion is ministering this morning, as Tony says. Amen.
[00:42:40] Hallelujah.
[00:42:42] I wish I could do it like Tony.
[00:42:44] Jesus, you're the champion. He even does his fist.
[00:42:47] You're the champion. I love you, Tony.
I really do.
Formation isn't the highlight reel.
It's the shaping of the calling that allows the character, that allows it to be clean.
When God flows through you, more people get hurt by the lack of character in the calling than the calling itself.
More people get hurt by the character carrying the calling than the calling itself.
Honey, if this ain't good between me and my wife, I ain't talking to you.
I'm taking care of this.
And if that ain't good, and I
[00:43:34] don't know where they are, and I
[00:43:35] don't know what's happening, and pretty soon don't know what's happening with our grandbaby and their baby. Not ours, but their baby. It's your baby.
Amen. I don't want to get tackled.
[00:43:47] I'm going to go see them before I see you.
And if he ain't talking to me,
[00:43:52] I'm going to talk to him. Where's Josiah?
[00:43:55] And then y' all take care of
[00:43:58] your house first and then take care of others. That is the first principle of the call, calling.
[00:44:06] I can't do what I do if I'm not taking care of myself. So I'm good.
You come to me with a problem about me. I'm like, cool. I didn't know about it. Tell me what your problem is with me.
[00:44:15] Your problem is with me. Your problem is with me.
And then I'm going to love you through that.
Amen.
I've made a lot of jokes this morning. I haven't read some of the words to be funny. And yes, I really do have a stutter that when I'm tired, I struggle with.
But it just makes the day great to remember that. Remember. See, there it is. Remember, that was not on purpose to remember that I'm human and that I need him to do this. Mark had to realize he needed Jesus. He lost him. He was hurt by it. Paul was the replacement. He didn't like it.
Mark had to heal. This is Not a story of Mark's failure. This is Mark hurting.
You cannot birth anything out of hurt.
So even if you are not here to learn, you may be here to heal.
Because we have people that care about you. We're not trying to be the next big thing.
Stand to your feet. If you don't mind, I'm not going to call you this morning.
We're going to do it from right there.
But every head bowed and every eye closed.
Do something with me.
Let go of your work.
Let go everything you're thinking about doing. Your work, your job, your ministry. I want you for a second to just cast that care on Jesus. And I want you to let him love on you. And I want you to hear the next sentence. I want you to hear the next sentence free from weight. So take your time. Lord, I give everything to you. I give you my love. I give you my heart. I give you my thoughts. I'm not thinking of anything. I'm not rattling through vain janglings to sound holy. No, no, no. I'm being still. And I'm giving everything to you.
And now I want you to hear something.
You are still called.
You're called to be a witness of Jesus, first and foremost by the way you live.
And maybe the way you live is a bit clunky or messy, but. But he still calls you. And he's still walking with you even in that calling.
He's walking with your family. He's walking with your marriage. He's walking with your job.
Now you're still called.
You have a ministry that you've laid down.
You have a ministry.
[00:47:08] You know what you have now?
[00:47:09] You have the ministry of patriarch and matriarch.
[00:47:13] I am learning from you
[00:47:17] by watching you.
You may not have a pulpit, but you have a ministry. Because you are teaching me how to love. You are teaching me how to smile. And you're showing me what Jesus looks like. Not at the end, but what Jesus looks like to you.
You're still called.
And for those of you that have calling, you're meant to do something, change some verbiage. Stop saying your ministry.
Stay. I'm a part of his ministry, and I currently do the work at.
Because it is Jesus ministry, the moment we take ownership of it, we start leading it with our flesh. We start leading it with our fleshly ideas. We start leading it to be something it's never intended to be.
We are a body. We are an organism.
Now, we will be an organization and we will be an institute, but we are an organism. First, remember what you're A part of you are a part of the Body of Christ. That means we're not in competition with Elevation Church. We're not in competition with Presence. We're not in competition with Set Free. We're not in competition with Chapel.
[00:48:33] If anything, we're a part of their body.
[00:48:35] Even though we're an expression here this
[00:48:37] morning and they're a part of our body, even though they're an expression there this morning, we are all one body, one faith, one mind, and his name is Jesus.
[00:48:51] Maybe you go to work every day and you're wondering, how can I serve Jesus?
[00:48:56] Here be Jesus at work with your attitude.
[00:49:03] You are called everywhere to show the light and love of Jesus.
Every head bowed and every eye closed.
If you're here this morning and you've stepped away from the call, I'm going to bow my head when I answer this question because I don't even want to know.
I need someone to verify that I did. So Simon, watch me in just a moment. If you've stepped back from the call, I want you to raise your hand right now so that we can pray for you. Nobody looking around says, simon watching me.
And I want you to say, lord, give me an opportunity like you gave Mark to serve you.
I want to be in the rooms again, but I just want to serve first. Put your hand down.
Father, I thank you for each and every person in faith.
I believe that they raised their hands in faith. I believe they raised their hands in their heart. And for those that looked around and well, we pray for them too.
So Father, we thank you for each and every person here this morning that you are shaping and forming to take the world by storm for your namesake. For we overcome the world with the name of Jesus. We can do all things through Christ that strengthens us and he shall supply all our needs according to his riches and glory.
[00:50:32] So to that we say Amen and we give God a hand clap of praise. Amen.
[00:50:46] No, I'm not going to forget the lost. Bow your heads.
If you're here this morning and you do not know him and you want to receive him, we're not going to call you up, up. We're not going to make a spectacle of you. We're going to leave it to you to come to us to be discipled. But we want to give you this opportunity.
If you do not know Jesus, can you lift your hand right where you are and say, I want to receive Him?
I'm going to wait just a moment.
And I believe that God has given you an invitation that will stay open for you.
I believe that this is not I missed it. I believe that this invitation is sowed and at any moment, at any time, you can reach any Christian and receive Jesus Christ.
So Father, we thank you for your presence. We thank you for your Holy Spirit. And we bind and rebuke the enemy that may try and come against this word.
May this seed be planted in their hearts so that we may be the Church, the Body of Christ that represents heaven in Jesus name and we all say Amen. Come on, give the Lord a hand clap of praise.
[00:52:07] Thank you for tuning in to today's message. To connect or find out more, you can reach us online at worldchangers Life. Remember to subscribe for more uplifting messages from our pastoral team and may you continue to walk in faith and transformation until we meet again.
