Get In The Game | Mark 10:45 | Pastor Levi Lusko + Paul Rayne

We want to start with a question, but if you have a copy of the scriptures, Romans chap 12 is where we're going to be. The question is, if there was something that you could do that was guaranteed to change almost everything about your life, would you want to know it? >> I mean, you're like, "Say less, pastor."

Right? What are you talking about? This is this is constantly what's happened to me on TikTok. I see a thing. I want a thing. I think it's going to change my life. It it doesn't. And yet, scripture promises there is something so simple that we can do that if put into place in our lives, God has promised.

And my life and the lives of countless believers for the last 2,000 years bears witness that it will change almost everything about your experience following Jesus. It's Romans 12. It's verse 11. It says that as we follow him, we are not. Someone say not >> to lag in diligence, but to be fervent in spirit.

And here's the part, these three words we're going to focus on today as we serve the Lord. And those three words specifically are things that we can do that if put into play will change everything about our experience following God. So Lord, we pray now as we consider your word, having read it, that you would speak to us, that you would open up our eyes to see glorious truths in your word.

And you would help us to put into play these these these things that you have told us can change everything for us. That we would choose not to just follow you, but we would choose to serve you. That we would serve the Lord. We pray this in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, >> come on, give God a good Super Bowl Sunday. Amen. Serving the Lord. In my Bible, this is in a passage of a scripture, a paragraph that's given the heading, behave like a Christian. That's pretty good, right? Behave like behave. Hey, come on. Like, like, you know, you might say, "Hey, be a man."

Or you might you might say, "Come on." You know, you do do it like you're you're part of this team. You're you're a mighty warrior, right? He says he says, "Behave like a what does it mean to behave a like a Christian?" Now, of course, I love that this isn't what we do to become a Christian.

Of course, God saves us not by anything we've done, but by his own purposes and grace. It's because of what he has done, right? Righteousness isn't based on us. It gets placed on us. But once we know him and he calls us son, he calls us daughter, we should want to live out what he's put in, the eternal life he's put in.

And so Paul's helping us understand what that looks like in different capacities relationally and and in in in society and at work. But here we think about what does it mean to to to be a part of the church. And he says we're not just to come and be consumers, but we're to be contributors that we are to serve the Lord.

You see, God has given every single Christian at least one spiritual gift, some multiple different gifts. And God wants us to use those gifts. Of course, at work and of course in the world and and certainly at home, but heaven forbid that we use them everywhere, but not in the one place that Jesus is actually building and and working and and seeking to grow his bride, his body, his church.

What does it mean to serve the Lord? And what will happen in our lives if we take seriously this admonition? One translation talks about don't be lazy, right? Serve the Lord. And not only is God going to do great things through us if we are willing to take that.

We we like to say uh here here at Fresh Life that you are destined for impact and that you have you have a part to play in what God is doing. Now some of course go oh well the church is doing so much. Look at all the aren't you isn't the church already being used to reach millions?

Yeah, of course. But you know what? You're looking at it wrong. There are 8 billion people on this earth. We are barely scratching the surface of what God intends of what his eye has seen of what his his ear has heard. We want to keep fighting until every last son and daughter is is in the house.

Every or we die trying. The whole world stranded in sin finding life and liberty in Christ. And then we can hang it all up. But until that is the case and last time I checked, that great commission has not been fulfilled yet. So come on, touch three people.

Tell them we got work to do. We got work to do. We got work to do. So what does that mean? Title of the message today, getting in the game. Come on. We need to get in the game. That's the call. Come on. How's that for a Super Bowl Sunday sermon?

Get in the game. We are to serve the Lord. God has for all of us a part to play. And listen to me. It's about time we start doing that thing he's called us to do. So from the very jump, from the very beginning, from the outside, where we going here?

We're talking about why you if you're not should be serving on an impact team in Fresh Life Church. Whether you're at one of our locations or you can do so church online or joining the teams who go from different locations and serve inside the penitentiaries that it takes to put on church to serve at movement conference to be a part.

Then you can not ever say to me if you bumped into me in public, I love your church. But you can say I love our church. This is us. I love what we are doing. What could it look like for your walk with God? Like I said at the beginning, it will change everything in your life to serve the Lord.

And as God was giving this to me, something really interesting happened. Uh we were in a an offering moment and someone who was a part of our impact team got up and and shared an encouragement, shared a testimony of what this ministry and and and being in the church and planted in the church and serving in the church has meant to him and his life and his marriage and his family.

And I was so struck listening to it and just kept thinking about it. And then as I began to work on this message and was working on the title and begin to work on the points and the outlines and some of the the the things that we were going to cover in this particular weekend, I just kept thinking about that testimony.

You know, the Bible says that we overcome the devil by the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our life to the end. There's a power. Don't you ever let anybody think there's not power in your testimony. And I kept thinking about this testimony.

And so I just I had to get my assistant, get his number. I need to see him. I need to talk to him. And so when I sat him down, I said, 'I got a proposition for you. I'm writing a sermon about what it means in a life if you serve the Lord in the church, and I want you to preach it.

I want us to work together. And he he went white and but then gathered his composure and was so sweet to say, I'm willing to serve. Wanted wanted whatever you whatever what the answer is yes. What's what's the question? Was basically what he got to. And and and so we went back and forth and and and we're going back and forth on fleshing out this talk together.

It was a very beautiful and fun experience for over the last uh you know five weeks or so. And I'm really excited to introduce to you a part of our fresh life impact team. Come on. Would you help me welcome Paul Rain to the stage everybody? Come on.

Thank you. Thank you. You can take a seat. Um, yeah, I think that uh visit to the coffee shop will be indelibly imprinted on my brain for the rest of my life. Um, I was born and raised in the UK. I know my accent's a little different to Pastor Levi.

And I was a sporty kind of kid. Um, you know, soccer, uh, cricket. We played a game in the UK uh in public school that was rounders. Anybody ever played rounders? No. It's it's a different kind. It's kind of like your baseball, but it's a British version. Uh when it came to the academics, I was I was checked out, you know, math, English, you know, seriously, I had to study Shakespeare in school and to go to plays and write essays.

That wasn't my scene. I was a Coventry City fan because I lived in Coventry and I played soccer and we uh would go and watch the pro games in the big stadium every Saturday afternoon and I played for the school and I played for a Sunday league team and our coach on the Sunday league team, he signed us up for this seven aside tournament, not the full 11, seven aside.

And if we got to the final, the final would be played at the big COV City Stadium in front of thousands, tens of thousands of people. We were a good team. We often made the final. So, we were pumped. I mean, we gave it everything. We made it to the final.

Um, we get to the point where now I'm not in the stands watching the game. Now I'm in the game and we were as scared as 12 year old boys can be. I mean going out we normally played in some inner city field with you know a handful of parents.

Now there was tens of thousands of people. Uh I don't remember much about it. Um I remember we were 3-1 up. We were under we were being attacked. We were trying to keep them back. And then something switched. We're now on a breakaway attack. We're scarpering up the field.

The ball comes to me. I take a shot at goal. It goes in. We are 4-1 up with like 5 minutes left. And we are celebrating like 12year-old boys impersonating the pros rolling around on the ground and kissing each other and doing all kinds of crazy stuff. But friends, this is where the story comes back to us.

It's better to be in the game than watching the game. Yeah. >> And it's the same for church. I know it's tempting to come and just take our seat and to worship and to listen. But as Pastor Levi said in the intro, the whole point of this message is to encourage you to give you an invitation, an opportunity, a push to join a fresh life impact team.

Jesus said in uh Mark 10:45 um well actually this isn't Jesus saying this but it's for even the son of man came not to be served but to serve others. He didn't come to be a spectator. He came to be in the game and give his life a ransom for many.

There's something about skin in the game. There's something about effort and sacrifice that makes it all the more worthwhile. I think it's about time. It's a good message, isn't it? A good a good series that we're in. It's about time we give up the comforts of spectating and we get in the game.

But you're probably sitting there, what what can I do? I don't have any great talents. You know, I couldn't do that. Um, here's a story that impacted Carolyn and I when we first started coming to Fresh Life a couple of years ago. Caroline had just had hip surgery, so she couldn't wait there.

And um, we pulled up outside of this very church and for the first time we thought we'll try parking in that spot they have for the handicap. And never done that before in our lives, but she can hardly walk with her walker. Anyway, I pull up there. I jump out of the vehicle and I see three guys coming out of the atrium there coming across the sidewalk towards where we had parked and they were coming with such speed I thought yikes I think we're probably not supposed to park here.

I mean we don't have a sticker but anyway that that wasn't the case. They got the door open. They got the walker assembled and Carolyn and them are off heading into the church. I'm like locking the car and trying to keep up. And when they they took us down the side here and down the elevator cuz Caroline couldn't deal with the steps.

And we were in here in this room. Nobody else. Just us. And it's like we sat there thinking one minute we were in the vehicle out there. And like 2 minutes later we're in here just us. It was it was like the red carpet VIP treatment. And as I look back on that day, I can't remember what Pastor Levi was teaching that day.

I can't remember any of the songs. I can't remember if we spoke to anybody. What I remember is the impact those three guys had on us. We felt so cared for, so loved, so seen. It's like, "Wow, this is a great church." And nobody had said anything yet.

I mean, we're just sat there in an empty room. So, I know we can't all do everything, but we can all do something. There is a spot for you. So, as we go through this message, I don't want you to tune out and just say, "No, I don't want to do that.

I I want you to stay engaged with me." Okay? I'm trying to I'm trying to convince you to join a Fresh Life team. Um, we're going to go through four points. Uh, community becomes camaraderie when you get on a team. Studies have shown for years that we need community.

And when we join a church, we we get that community, don't we? We get friends and we get people to do life with. Maybe we join a a small group midweek and we, you know, go over the messages. It says in Psalms that God sets the solitary in families.

But friends, it's a whole different thing working in a team, a volunteer team in church. I don't know what it is. I try to figure out what is it that changes. And I think what it is is somehow when we are social with each other, there's a certain reservedness, but when you're on a team that goes, it's like, "Hey, somebody spilled the coffee.

Go and get the mop. Go and get some paper towels. Keep those kids back there." You know, all of a sudden all of the the usual, "Hello, how are you?" That all just disappears and we're just in it together. And then afterwards, we're laughing and we're, you know, we're having a good time.

Um, I've worked on production uh here at Fresh Life and we have a blast in production. We really do. The thing that makes production good is we all have headsets on and so we can all hear what everybody is saying on the production team. And we were setting up for an event one time and Rockford is the video director.

He's in the back room and he sees what all the cameras see. and he says to Keith, Keith is on camera one back there today. Hi Keith. Um and uh Rockford says to Keith, "Hey Keith, I need you to jump down and do something to his camera." I can't remember what it was.

And Keith fires back and he says, "Yeah, sure. I can do that, but just so you know, I'm not 69 anymore." And he said it with a bit of kind of sass and a bit of um and that's just how it is when we get when you work on a team. you get you get to know people, the social graces, they they disappear.

Um anyway, he jumps down, he he does his thing, and Rockford's happy. The funny thing was for the whole rest of the next couple of days, pretty much every time somebody was asked to do something, hey, can you run and get Pastor Jenny's mic? Sure, I'll go. But just so you know, I'm not 69 anymore. you know, which is really very funny coming from an 18year-old who doesn't have a clue about the aches and pains of being in your 60s.

Um, anyway, just the fun of working together, the inside jokes, the camaraderie, the connection that you gain, community becomes camaraderie when you get on a team. And it's there for you. It's waiting for you. If you don't have that, it's just a step of faith away. You just got to sign up and you're in.

It's it's not a case of being qualified. And you might say, well, you know, I'm too young or I'm too old. It doesn't matter. You don't have to be 69 anymore. Point number two, when you join a fresh life team, community becomes No, we just did that one.

Moments become momentos. You know, actors when they've finished the the the set, they often get to keep an item of clothing or uh you remember shepherd boy David in the Old Testament, he took out a lion and a bear. I mean, we can really relate to that, can't we?

In Montana, it's like, yeah, the the bear came and he took him and did whatever he did to him. And um those moments of protecting the sheep became mmentotos as he went up against Goliath. You know, you got this big however many feet tall uncircumcised Philistine saying all kinds of horrible things about the God of heaven.

He's he goes out there and he takes him out because he had moments that had become momentos and God wants to give us that. Um, turn with me in your scriptures, uh, if you would to Mark chapter 6. I'll give you a moment to get there. Mark chapter 6.

Um, Jesus had been teaching all day and it was getting late and the disciples come to him. I don't know how this happened. I love the chosen. I love how it makes Bible things so kind of tangible and real. And I can just imagine, you know, Jesus is teaching and and Peter and the others come over and it's like, "Hey, hey, stop, stop, stop a minute.

We need to talk to you. It's getting late, don't you know? The people need probably need to go. I mean, we don't want to have all these people here overnight. That's going to be a mess." Um, and Jesus, as only Jesus can do, says, "Well, you feed them."

And they're like, "With what?" This is all in Mark chapter 6. So they they Jesus says go and go and get some stuff. And they they come up with five loaves and two fishes. Not much really amongst 12 disciples and maybe even a few others. See the point is here that Jesus took the little that they had and multiplied it and fed the masses.

Are you getting what I'm saying? Jesus will take the little that you have and he will multiply it and it will feed the masses. It's not these things weren't just written for 2,000 years ago and they don't apply anymore. It's for us. So, let's jump in. Mark 6:42.

Follow along if you bought a copy of the scriptures. As we read this, I want you to follow the food. Okay? Follow the food. Mark 6:42. They all ate as much as they wanted. Okay. Well, that's 90% of the food gone. All righty. Don't follow it there. Uh, and afterwards, the disciples picked up 12 baskets of leftover bread and fish, and a total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.

Follow the food. Immediately, straightway after this, Jesus insisted that disciples get back in the boat, head across the lake to Bethesda, whilst he sent the people home. I don't know why Jesus did this, but I can imagine the the atmosphere was pretty excited. It's like he just fed a whole army and he can heal people.

I mean, we could take out these Romans now because if somebody gets injured, he just heals them and when we get hungry, he just manufactures food. And I can imagine the disciples getting super excited and Jesus saying, "No, no, no, no, no. Get in the boat and go.

I don't want any of that stuff here." But the disciples had picked up 12 baskets of leftovers. Yeah. And how many disciples were there? 12. Now, I know I said I didn't like math, but 12 disciples. 12 baskets. I reckon they had one each. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't say that in the scripture, but I'm just going with some holy imagination here.

Unless Unless James and John were fighting over having three and somebody had none. I don't know. But let's say they had one each. They get in the boat. Where do you suppos what do you suppose these disciples who had no food a little while ago? You know, two loaves and five No, five loaves and two fishes.

What do you suppose they're doing with the leftovers? Oh, look at all this food. Yeah, let's just throw it away. Yeah. No, they're taking it with them, I'm pretty sure. So, they get in the boat, they put that basket between their legs, and they start rowing off. And if you read the story, they row off right into a storm.

And that's the night that Jesus comes walking on the water and they freak out thinking it's a ghost. If they had just looked down, they had a momentto of a moment that happened just a couple of hours ago and they didn't need to freak out. You know, when we get in God's work, in God's service, volunteering in some group, he will give us moments and they will become momentos to actually help us in our life.

It's not just all give. it comes back. Moments become momentos. Caroline and I had a huge moment in this building um um couple of years ago just soon after we started coming to Fresh Life. So Caroline had this hip surgery and there was a complication near the end.

She ended up having to have a chest X-ray and in the chest X-ray they saw something. So they rushed her in for an MRI and a biopsy and they said, "Caroline, you have triple negative stage 3B breast cancer. It is already out of the breast into the lymph system.

And unless you hit this with everything, you've got six to 12 months. The triple negative part of breast cancer means that it's it's there's three normal modalities of treatment that don't work in this situation. That's why it was a very aggressive and difficult one. So my thought was, oh yikes, as we shared with our family and we shared with our kids, it was a it was an emotional week.

I mean just going from life to that. Um and I thought we need to go and see Pastor Kyle. We we need some prayer. So, um, it says in James, if any's sick among you, you know, get the elders and pray and anoint with oil. So, I call Pastor Kyle.

We set up an appointment. We're coming in here. And on the way in, I say to Carolyn, "Sweetheart, I'm really nervous about chemo. I mean, I've I've seen the movies and your hair's going to fall out and you're going to feel horrible. I mean, isn't there something else we can do?"

I mean, I just hate the thought. It was my husband protector heart kicking in and she looked at me like, "Well, the alternatives aren't very good either, you know. Um, she'd already thought it all through." Anyway, we we didn't finish our conversation. We get here to church and um Pastor Kyle is praying over Carol and just asking for healing beyond what, you know, they can do at the hospital.

And um and then he takes a little bit of oil and he just rubs it on her forehead. Um and then Pastor Kyle says to me, "Paul, do you mind if I anoint you?" And I was like, "Whoa, I I didn't sign up for that." It's like, "But you know what am I going to say?"

No, go away, you freak. You know, no, of course not. So I said, "Sure." And now he's praying, you know, help Paul to be a comfort to Carolyn and to stand by her side. And he puts some oil on my forehead. And it's really not as spooky as it sounds.

It's just a little bit of olive oil spread on the forehead in Pastor Kyle does it in the shape of a cross. And as he is praying, I can feel the fear of chemo just draining out of my body. I'm like, whoa. I I I lost track of what he was saying and I just tuned in to what was going I'm a guy.

I don't really feel many things. But at this time I was so excited. I was feeling and I was feeling the fear just and it was going down. I don't know what the deal was. It just felt like it was going down. And partway through I thought it's going to go all the way.

And sure enough it did. Anyway, we're now driving home. Caroline looks at me. No. Heralding glares at me and she's like, "What's your deal with chemo?" And I said, "Sweetheart, I don't have any deal with chemo. We're fine. Let's do chemo." Anyway, she did do the chemo and she did go through it's just I know it's what you got to do sometimes, but it's just a horrible situation.

Her hair fell out. Uh she was nauseous. She she had to have a bunch of surgeries as well as all the drugs. Um, but I am super stoked to tell you today she is very much alive and kicking and cancer free. Whoa. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you, Lord.

I don't know why God heals in some situations and not in others, but I praise God either way. I praise God either way. That moment of that anointing and feeling that fear of chemo disappear became a huge momento for Carolyn and I as we went through that cancer journey.

Point number three, bones become armies when we get in a fresh life group. What does that mean? Of course, that symbolic language from Ezekiel, that valley of dry bones were moved on by the spirit of God and they became a great army. Um, the point is clear. We're the bones, in case you didn't get that in the story.

We're the bones and the spirit is the spirit. And when he moves upon us and we come together, we become the army to take this gospel to the world. Jesus said it this way. Um, or uh sorry, 1 Corinthians 12:12, the human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body.

And so it is with the church of Christ. You know, bones weren't meant to stay on their own. Yeah. A bone over there and a bone over there. I mean, a bone on its own is only good enough for the dog. Yeah. But when bones come together and the spirit of God moves upon them, we become part of a team.

We were designed, we were designated to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. So if you come to church and you worship and you are blessed, I say praise the Lord. But if you want to go to the next stage of joy and the next stage of happiness and the next stage of church, get on a team.

It's there's so much happens on a team. We're going to need more help getting people to their seats as this ministry grows. We're going to need more help raising influencers and world changers in Fresh Life Kids. We're going to need more smiles. the worship team, the production team, the safety team, the cleanup team, the prayer team, and who knows how many other teams.

We need you. As Pastor Levi said in the intro there from Romans, if we don't lag in diligence, we can serve the Lord in it's an amazing opportunity that we have. It really is. Lastly, let's go into mystery becomes history when we join a fresh life team. What do I mean by this?

We're in this series. It's about time. And sometimes I think it's easy for us to forget the times in which we live. the the gospel that goes out from here week after week. The gospel that we love and worship in or is the essence of our worship. It was a mystery for thousands of those Old Testament years talking about it.

You don't have to go here, but write it down if you're taking notes. Romans 16 25 and 26. I'm just going to pick a bit here and there. It was talking about the gospel and it says it was a mystery kept secret since the world began and we have it.

We understand it today. And verse 26, but is now made manifest and by prophetic scriptures made known to all nations. Do you catch what this is? Something that was hidden since the world began is now evident to us and we have it and we can be a part of a church sharing that that it's about time we join a fresh live team.

Are you are you getting the message? Jesus put it this way in Luke 10:24. I tell you that many prophets and kings. Remember in the Old Testament they had the judges and then the judges came up and they they had a king and the prophets. So you get the time setting here.

For I tell you many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see and have not seen it and to hear what you hear and have not heard it. And we have and we have it. But there are people out there that have not. There are people out there who have not.

And I was one of those people. For many, many years, too many years, almost 40 years, I thought that good works led you eventually, if you did enough of them, to salvation. I didn't understand the gospel that says salvation comes first. And when you realize what God has done and you fall in love with him, you are motivated and filled with the spirit to do all kinds of good works.

All the good works I was trying to do to get salvation start with salvation. And I didn't know that. And when you get it the wrong way round, you do it without the spirit. And it gets very messy. And I'm I'm an all or nothing kind of guy.

And if if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it. So, I go out to be the perfect dad, to be the perfect husband, and to have the perfect family. Well, you probably don't need me to tell you how that's going to work out. Um, I became overzealous, overbearing, and my son could take it.

You know, I give my son a hard time, and he'd just say, "Whatever. Want to go play soccer?" You know, and we just, you know, that was it. it it didn't it kind of bounced off of him a bit. But not my daughter. My daughter's much more of a sensitive soul, much more of a thinker.

I mean, she got her masters in biblical counseling later on in life. And she just understands all this crazy stuff about the human mind that I don't even know anything about. In fact, we were at breakfast one time and she says, "Dad, let me read this to you."

And she read this out of a book, one of her study books, and it was like somebody piercing my soul. It's like you're describing me. It's like people know that stuff about other people that shouldn't be allowed. Anyway, and my relationship with my daughter got so bad. She was trying to fix me.

I was trying to fix her. She got to the point when she was 16, 17, she says, "You know, when I get married, I don't want dad to walk me down the aisle. I want mom to walk me down the aisle." Oh, man. I mean, for for a lot of us dads, the the the culmination of all your love and parenting is to walk her down the aisle.

And she's like, she did she did capitulate a little bit and say mom and dad, but I think that was because she knew she wasn't going to get away with just mom. Um, so she said mom and dad, but yeah, it was strained. And I knew I was responsible.

I I knew I had issues, but I just didn't know how to get out of it. Um, see, it's not about performance or perfection or striving for acceptance. It's only by the blood. But that was a mystery to me at this point. I lived in Callispel, Montana. It was a mystery.

Anyway, Hannah left home. She moves out. She starts going to a gospel church of all places. Somebody invited her. That was last week's message. She goes, she falls in love with Christ. She starts sharing with mom and dad. And we catch it a little bit, but I'm super weary and leerary of this grace and love and you know, it's like, I think you're drifting from the truth, sweetheart.

You know, and she's like, "Dad, just ease up a bit, will you?" It's like anyway, we got to a point in our relationship where I knew that at least in my head, I knew that she had forgiven me for some of that stuff. She was completely changed. We were starting to change.

And when Carolyn got the cancer diagnosis, Hannah, our daughter, and her husband Ian actually moved to Callispel, Montana, and were here to support us through that, that's how much our relationship was mended. But we were here, all four of us sat in a row over there. Father's Day a couple of years ago.

Pastor Levi was speaking and he said something. I can't remember what it was, but it just exploded in my heart. It was like, oh, see, God really forgives me. He really forgives me for all that crazy stuff I did in our family. I mean, I did some good stuff as well, but a lot of crazy stuff.

And it just went from my head. I knew I was forgiven, but it landed in my heart. And this is super embarrassing, but it happened right over there. I just burst into tears in the middle of the message like this. And so I put my head down like this, just trying to not be a scene.

But it was so deep. My body just was like, "Oh, this is so embarrassing." And I'm just grappling with this. Oh no. You mean you see all my faults, God, and you forgive me? And then another thought comes rolling into my mind. And Paul, you need to know Hannah has fully forgiven you, too.

That just broke this dad's heart. I was just a basket case. Just I All I could say right there and then was, "Lord, I feel so broken." I mean, tears streaming down my face. And a little voice whispered back to me, "Paul, you're not broken. You're home. You're home."

And I was like, "Oh, God." I just couldn't. And I just carried on boarding. I don't know what the rest of the message was about. I don't know. It's just um what I do know is afterwards I went and gave Hannah a big hug and we were stood outside the restrooms here and somebody took a picture.

Now I have that picture of Hannah and I as a memory of that day and it's pinned in the corner of a canvas I have in my office of me walking Hannah down the aisle. What was a mystery for me became history in this building as a result of fresh life.

Of course, I join a team, production team. And my last story is um is a story of serving on production. It was movement conference last summer out at Scout and Gather. It was Saturday night. The elevation rhythm were leading the worship and the lights were flashing, the music was loud, the kids were going crazy.

I mean, they don't stay in their seats at movement conference. It's like as soon as the music starts, they just abandon their seats and they're all at the front and they're all crammed in just rows and rows and rows of them, the Holy Spirit was doing what only the Holy Spirit can do.

The the CO2 cannons were blasting plumes of white smoke into the night sky that it was just the perfect night. I'm running the Roman camera, which is my favorite thing to do. I'd much rather be running the Roman camera than what I'm doing right now, but that's another story.

And so I'm running the roaming camera and I've got my headset on and I'll just give you a little glimpse into behind the-scenes production. In my headset, I hear the worship. I hear the vocals. I hear all the instruments. I also hear Rockford, the video director. Uh, camera one is live.

Camera two get ready. Camera three is live. Camera coming back to you. Camera two, camera two is live. And that is going constantly, especially in a energetic part of the song. And then in amongst all of that, I hear Rockford say, "Paul, get in there." And what's happened at this point is the vocalists are now dancing on the grave they once lived in.

And Pastor Jenny has come out and somebody else and now they're all singing. They're all going round and round in this spot. And Rockford says, "Paul, get in there." I take a step forward and I'm conscious not to be in the other camera angles. And then Rockford says, "Paul, get in there."

And it's not he's not asking anymore. He's he's telling. So I'm thinking, "Okay, well, he said it. So in I go." So, I'm in there and I'm filming and I'm not much of a dancer, but I'm dancing around here and right in the middle of the most energetic part of the song with the lights and the kids and and Rockford D.

It's like the stage disappears, Rockford disappears, the lights disappear, and it's just me and the Lord. And I hear this, Paul, you are dancing right now on the grave you once lived in. And I knew what that meant. I knew that I was I was dancing on that worksbased earn my salvation version of Christianity.

I was now free. And I tell you, it was one of the most amazing moments of my life. And you know, when we serve on a team, any team, whether that's cleaning up the coffee or surfing the coffee or or pressing a button or playing the keyboard or whatever it is, that was not the devil's intention or for us.

The devil had us doing some real crazy stuff. And when we serve on a team, we are all dancing on the grave we once lived in. So, I don't know if you are going to cheer for the Hawks or the Pats this afternoon. I don't know which halftime show you're going to watch because you have a choice there now.

Um, but friends, I think it is about time. It's about time we sign up for a team that wins every Sunday. Let's pray. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you that what was a mystery became history for me and and for so many of us here. Father, thank you that there was a team that put that on and put that together.

Father, I pray that each of us would consider this morning joining a team and receive all the blessings that you have for us. Thank you, Father. Thank you for the invitation in Jesus name. Amen. Come on, let's thank God for Paul Rain. What a great word. Wow. Beautiful.

So, to recap, what happens when we get in the game? What happens when we're not lagging in diligence, but fervent in spirit? We serve the Lord. We get to see community transform in front of our eyes into camaraderie. It's the band of brothers. I mean, there's nothing wrong with having life be like cheers where some people know your name.

That's great. We all need friends. That's fantastic. But when you have people who you're in the trenches with and you get to look at each other and make jokes and laugh and with excitement and fatigue sometimes, uh there's nothing like that. We get to see these moments in in time that God moves in power transformed into mmentotos in our lives.

You get to take down Goliath encouraged by the bear and lion by how? By taking down a bear and a lion in Jesus name. And every single thing you're a part of a team that you watch God do in his house. Let me tell you, you get to leverage that moment.

Thank you very much. when you're going up against anything in this life. And then yeah, you get to be an individual bone linked up to a beautiful army with streaming banners gloriously going against all that God has us doing. And then but right before your eyes, the mystery that's in God's heart becomes history.

You get to live it out. As I was thinking and praying about this message, I was reading some bedtime stories to my kids and we came across that little line in the very first Harry Potter book. Now, there might be some different thoughts about Harry Potter in God's house.

Please send your email to paulfreshlife.urch if you dislike the Harry Potter books, but but in the first Harry Potter book, I don't know if you know Hermione and and and and Ron, they end up getting married. They end up thick as thieves, but they couldn't stand each other at the very beginning.

He was annoyed by her, she was annoyed by him until they go into a battle together. And the the the the book says that after and it's you know the story they fight this 12ft tall mountain troll in the bathroom, right? And and and the it says from that day forward they saw Hermione as their friend.

From that day forward, Ron and Harry and Hermione were friends. Why? because there are some things in this life you can't do without ending up liking each other. And then the the book says, "And taking down a 12ft tall mountain troll just happens to be one of those things."

And I think one of the greatest surprises that you're going to find as you start serving the Lord in his house is you're going to look to your left, you're going to look to your right, and you're not trying to just force a friendship because there's so many things that we're going to not like about each other.

There's things we don't like about ourselves. We have rough edges, but we're going to end up liking each other. Why? Cuz there are some things you just can't do without ending up liking each other. I'm telling you, taking on some 12 foot tall mountain trolls in Jesus' name.

Come on, open it up. Not one but two churches and prisons in Jesus' name. Come on. Going up against the the the the spirits that are coming against the youth of our generation in Jesus' name. to build a church in the Northwest to to fight for. You see what I'm There are just some things you can't do without ending up looking to your left, looking to your right, and feeling like you got people that you're on a team doing something with.

And I want that for every single one of you. And so, Father, as we just consider this admonition and testimony and your word to us, God, you're our Lord. You're our Savior. You told us serve me with diligence, not being lazy. This is how you behave like a Christian.

Not what you do to become a Christian, but what you do when you are. And if all across the church, church online, some would say, you know, I hearing this, I want to get in the game. I want to serve the Lord. I want to be a bone in an army.

I want to I want to see camaraderie break out. I want to I want to have some momentos to leverage in my own personal life. If that's you and you just say, "This message touched me and I want to get in the game. I want to begin serving the Lord.

I want to join an impact team here at the church." Could you just raise up a hand? Just raise up a hand. If this touched you and you would say, "Man, I don't want to just consume. I want to get in the game." Father, thank you. Thank you for what's happening, what's breaking out in hearts.

And I pray for not just the emotional response here in the moment, but also also the resolve to be fueled by your spirit and to serve tirelessly week in and week out to see you do the impossible. You can put your hands down. I want to now talk to those who have come today or listening today and you've never given your life to Jesus.

And so the the message for you isn't hey, start serving the Lord. That's what happens when you are a Christian. The the message is let Jesus serve you. Though he being God in heaven, he chose to not hang on to his glory, but laid it aside. Laid aside the use of his privileges.

He came down and took on the form of a servant. When we say serve the Lord, we're saying be like Jesus. Jesus wants to serve you. He died on the cross for you. He rose from the dead, conquering the grave. And if you'll allow him, he'll come into your heart even now, forgive you of your sins, and give you the hope and the promise of eternal life.

You say, "What do I got to do?" You can't do anything. Jesus did everything, but you must allow him to come in. The Bible says he stands at the door of your heart and he knocks. Maybe you hear him knocking today. If I came to your Super Bowl party and knocked, you didn't have to let me into your house.

You You would have to choose. You could leave me standing there out in the cold and we can do that to Jesus. He will not force his way into your life. He will not force you to go to heaven. He will not force you to be forgiven. You must let him in.

And I believe that for some of you, you've come to this moment for such a time as this. You're watching this online, but God's Holy Spirit is moving through this this webcast, moving through this stream. He's coming into your into your life right now to give you the option of salvation.

And if you would like to say yes to Jesus, to open up your heart to God, and then you can begin the journey of following him, I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. I'm going to ask the church family to say this prayer with us.

No one praying alone. All of us praying together. Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner. I can't fix myself, do enough good things to save myself because death is the wage of sin. And I thank you, Jesus, that you died in my place, that you rose from the dead.

And I ask you now to come into my heart. Make it your home. Help me to follow you. Fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you for new life. I give you mine in Jesus name.