Join us this week in our new series "Go For Launch" For any other information you can visit our website coastlinensb.com or email us at hello@coastlinensb.com
Coastline Church NSB Podcast
Go For Launch Week 3
Welcome to the coastline podcast. We exist as a church to help connect you to God and the people around you to help you grow in your faith and to challenge you to go into your community sharing the love of Christ. Three things, connect, grow, go. If you'd like information on what is going on at coastline, follow us on Instagram and Facebook or email us at hello@coastlinensb.com This week, we're in part three of the series that we started just a few weeks ago called Go for Launch. And over the past couple of weeks, we've talked about a couple of things that we can look into our own lives and as we prepare for this next season that we're launching into, as a church, as family members, as individuals, this next season that the Lord has for us. We stop and we go through the main areas of our lives, the foundational elements. And we assess and we ask, are we ready? Or are we go? I love where God has placed this close on the space coast and how we get to experience these beautiful rockets that go up regularly. Even the other day, I'm sitting in my kitchen and hear the house shaking. I'm like, God, what's happening? It's a rocket going off. And in that moment, I thought to myself in that little control room of the 15, 20 people that represent the 15 or 2,000 people that were responsible for putting it all together as they sat and they said, we're go, we're go, we're go. So far in this past couple of weeks, we talked about the importance of connection specifically in community. Connect, that's one of our core values at Coastline Church. Connecting, so last week we launched all of our connect groups. We heard stories of families that were meeting together and ladies that were meeting together and guys are meeting together all throughout the week. Connection is important for what God has for us since that's next season. We got to connect in community, we say go. Today specifically, I want to talk about the importance of growing through serving. So I'm going to pray for us and then we're going to look at this area of our life. We're going to ask ourselves, are we ready, are we, are we go for this area when it comes to this new season that God is trying to launch us into? So let's pray, Heavenly Father, God as we look into your Word, as we take time to spend some time studying, I pray that your Holy Spirit would communicate to us, that you would minister to us, that you would show us the areas of our lives. And specifically when it comes to serving, when it comes to growing spiritually, the things that we need to do to adjust and prepare, things that we need to do to mix up and get ready for what you're launching us into. We give the service over to you. God, I pray you give me the right words to say, we thank you for the time that we get to spend together. Jesus, name me pray. Amen, amen. I'm going to read the foundation of what our text is here today. Right before we dismiss the middle schoolers, it's going to be Luke, chapter 22, verse 25 to 27 that says this, says, "Jesus told them, in this world, "the kings and great men lord it over their people, "yet they are called friends of the people. "But among you will be different. "Those who are greatest among you should take "the lowest rank and the leaders should be like a servant. "Who is more important the one who sits at the table "or the one who serves? "The one that sits at the table of course, "but not here, for I am among you as one who serves." This is from Jesus. And so with that, I want to take a moment to dismiss all the middle schoolers that are hanging out with us today. Hope you guys have a fantastic time going through your class and connecting with one another. I also want to take time to welcome all the people that are joining us for part three of the series, "Go for launch" that are watching online. I know we had some things going on in this past week in the area, so there's some people are watching from home, some people maybe you're just taking the easy this week, I want to thank you. We had some people write in and send us a note, said they were watching us from up north, and they're excited to come back here this next winter season. So thank you guys so much for watching and tuning in online. And lastly, I want to let you know this is going to opportunity, the opportunity we're going to give for moms. If you got small kids and stuff, if you want to, man, we got a fantastic kids ministry. I'm thankful for all the volunteers and the leaders and the staff that make that place safe and fun and a great place for kids to learn about the love of Jesus. Also, just starting this week, we're really excited that we're starting, we've got actually a simulcast room that we're live streaming the service to in the lobby. And so if at any point your kid gets a little fussy, you guys can hang out back there. But today, I'm excited to get into this third part as we talk about the importance of growing specifically through serving. And so with that, you guys had a pretty good week so far? Everybody doing okay? Some people are doing okay. Some people are like, man, this last week was a struggle. Some of you are all ready to get into the next week, amen? The Nichols family, we had a fun end of the week. The middle of the week was a little bit tough. We had just stress of life and work and everything go on. But we celebrated the end of the week by doing something that the Nichols family really loves to do. It's something that all of our family connect with and all, when it comes to living in Ben, there's not much these days that they're like okay with doing together, right? They got like one wants to play Xbox, the other one wants to go throw the softball or something like that, or they're constantly pulling each other. It's like always like WWE around my house. But there's one thing that we all connect with and we all love to do together. And that is going to the races. Now, you guys might not look like it from just face value. But the Nichols family, we're a bunch of rednecks. And if anyone looks at Erica and says like, oh, there's no way, that leaves so clear. I'm telling you, she's like the reddest-neckist of all of us. Those aren't even words. We get ready to go to the race this weekend. Erica's got us all like, man, we're in NASCAR. We got the whole thing. We got the Crocs. We got the Cooler. We're like the people that you see like those are rednecks. So we went to the race. I think we got some pictures. Yeah, there's us at Daytona. There it is. I think we got another picture of maybe us on the track or something like that. There it is. Yeah, look at all those kids. Look, Erica and Crocs. She wears them too. Don't even let her, don't even let her fool you. But we only had a good time watching these guys go left. There's something about, there's something about just going to the track and the smell of the gas exhaust and the burning rubber and the fiery crashes and everything else that's in between that really like blows my hair back. I'm really excited about it. Like I get up there. I'm yelling, shake and bake, baby. You know, let's go. But the part that this week that really, really got me going that really made me think different, especially going to do the sermon this week, is what all it takes for these guys to come together to make it happen. There's one part of the race specifically that really ties it all together. And this is, this is the pit stops. See, it takes one guy to go out and drive around the track, right? And he'll do it at something like 180 miles an hour. He'll just go left, go left, go left the whole time. But at certain points in the, in the race, they've got to stop and they've got to come into the pits and they've got to refuel and they've got to get tires. And the thing that I love is I'm watching the races. We're sitting across from, from the pit road. I know when that's about ready to happen because all the guys go out there and they start testing the air, the air guns, you know, the ones that go, right? Every man does this. If you pick up a drill, whatever is there, like every, all you wives, you know, you've seen your husband do it, right? You got to do it. That's how you know they're coming into the pits, though, is because all these guys start going, ready, ready to make it happen. In the blink of an eye, these cars come down the pit road. They pull into their pit road stall. It's six guys hop over the wall. Each of them have, have their very specific job that they're going to do. There's the jack man, the fuel man. There's the tire catchers, the tire rollers. There's a guy that's going to run the observed thing. That's a job I want to have. In a blink of an eye, somewhere between 12 and 16 seconds, these guys have filled the car full of fuel, changed all the tires, cleaned the window, and at the very last second, as you listen to, listen on the scanners to the crew chief. He says the three words that every race car driver wants to hear. Go, go, go. They drop the car, and he launches back onto the racetrack. As I was watching this this past weekend, as we went to the Xfendi race on Saturday and the Cup race on Sunday, as I'm watching this, I'm looking and I realize, man, if it wasn't for every one of those people doing the part that they had to do, the best that they can do it, there's no way any of these guys could compete. The beauty of them all molding it together, coming together as one, all serving on the same team is absolutely beautiful. And it made me think of specifically the story in the Bible and what Jesus is gathering people around him. And as he's teaching them, as he's healing the sick, there's something pretty cool that happens. And we're going to pick this up in the book of Luke, chapter five, verse 17. It says one day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all of Galilean Judea as well as from Jerusalem. And the Lord's healing power was strongly with Jesus. This verse is setting the tone. It's Jesus is teaching. There's some Pharisees that are there to critique and criticize. But the Bible says that Jesus has a strong healing power that is upon it. And verse 18 of chapter five, it says, some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. It doesn't say how many, but I would have to think that there's got to be somewhere between four and six guys that bring their buddy who's paralyzed on a sleeping mat. And as they're walking towards Jesus, they come to a roadblock. There's something they said, they tried to take him inside to Jesus. But they couldn't reach him because of the crowd around them. These guys come together and they're like, man, we know what we got to do. We know our purpose. We got to get our friend to Jesus. But they're blocked by the obstacle of the crowd. It says, so they went up to the roof. They took off some tiles and then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd right in front of Jesus. New living translations said they removed some tiles. Other translations says that they dug a hole. Like at some point, maybe it wasn't tiles, it was some other material. And literally these guys get up as a team and start digging through whoever's roof this is. That'd be like, I don't like, imagine this, like we're at your house. We're doing a little Bible study and all of a sudden these guys with jackhammers show up and they're just cutting through your roof to get down to whoever's teaching, right? That would be pretty, pretty intense. But these guys all come together and said, no, we got to get, we got to get our friend to Jesus and they don't let anything stop them. They peel back part of the roof and they lower him down to Jesus and in verse 20 it says, it says, "Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the young man, your sins are forgiven." In verse 25 it says, immediately as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat and went home praising God. Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe and they praised God exclaiming, we have seen amazing things happen today. I couldn't help but think that as I'm watching the pit crews do their thing. At some point, no one would want to be preached on that, that these guys, this group of men were kind of like, they were kind of like the first pit crew back in the day. You know, they're just like, they're busting out whatever, getting this guy down to see Jesus. I realize a couple of things. First thing is this is when it comes to the church, when it comes to the mission that we all have, as we all come together, you play a part that's bigger than just one man. I think about these guys, these four to six guys and, and it says that it took all of them to bring the man before Jesus. This wasn't a one man job. I feel like with the purpose that God has given us, with the purpose that God has given us as the church, it's, it's not all about one man. It's not a one man job. It takes many people all coming together, doing the, the specific parts that they're meant to do. Otherwise, you'd see here that it says that this man pulled his bro, pulled his friend to Jesus, that took all of them working together. What leads me to the second thing is, is I believe when it comes to faith, faith is a team sport. Faith isn't something that you just have to have for your own self. Faith is something that your community around you, that those that you connect with, your team, your crew will help you with in your time of struggle. It says that Jesus didn't look at the man and see his need. He didn't, he didn't look at what he was going through. It says, I'm going to help you. It says that he was amazed as he looked at their faith, as, as the group, as the crew came together. He healed him because of, because of their faith. For some of you right now, I feel like one of the things that you need to, that you need to hear is what you're going through, you're not going through alone. That, that you got a crew around you. And if at any point the enemy is trying to, trying to get you not to think this, you need to remember the promises of God that, that, that God is for you not against you. That, that no matter what you're going through now, as we continue to have faith and trust in him, the best is still yet to come. Sometimes the faith of the crew is greater than the faith of the one. The last thing I, I felt like I heard in the story was, the difference between a miss and a miracle might be you just not showing up. The difference between the miss and the miracle might just be you being there. I can't help but think when it comes to that crew of that four or six guys that were bringing this man before Jesus, if, if one of them hadn't shown up. What, what about if it had just been three guys? Were those guys still have been bold enough to say like, you know what? We're still going to go on this roof and we're going to try to lower this guy down. It's like, I don't know, it's a whole lot harder. When it comes to, to, to, to doing something that someone doesn't want you to do or whatever, digging a hole in someone's roof, it's a lot easier when you're a group, right? If I got three other big guys, if I got a happy Cameron's with me, I'll dig through anybody's roof. But if it's just me, I don't know, I'm hold up. The difference between that man receiving a miracle and that, that man may have been missing out on a miracle could have been just one man not showing up. When it challenged you that when it comes, when it comes to being the church, when it comes to, to, to serving, when it comes to growing spiritually through servant, the difference could be just you. In John chapter 13 verse 1, Jesus does a fantastic job of illustrating what we should be like when it comes to serving those around us. It says in John chapter 13 verse 1, it says before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour, his hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth and now he loved them to the very end. So we got up from the table, he took off his robe, he wrapped a towel around his waist, he poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples' feet, drawing them with a towel he had around him. As the author is writing this, he paints this beautiful description of what humility looks like. Because seeing the culture of this day, this was not something that the rabbi, the leader, the one that had been doing the healing, the one that had been coaching and discipling all along the way, this is not the position that he would have done. This would have been a job for the lowest of the low. This would have been a job not for Jesus, not for the twelve, not for the seven. This would have been a job for someone just getting on the crown floor. The servant maybe that nobody really liked or the servant that had messed up a lot. But Jesus humbles himself, brings himself down. He doesn't elevate himself. He doesn't say, "Look at me." He doesn't say, "Come and serve me." He uses this as a teaching tool to adjust their understanding and the culture that they had amongst them. So he took off his robe, he wrapped a towel around him, poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples' feet, drawing them with a towel around him. John 13, verse 6 of 7, it says, "Would Jesus came to Simon Peter? Peter said, 'Lord, are you going to wash my feet?' Jesus replied, 'You don't understand now what I'm doing, but someday you will.'" And verse 8, "No Peter protested." He said, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus replied, "Unless I wash your feet, you won't belong to me." Jesus, in the midst of teaching a lesson, in the midst of trying to show them Peter stands up as the guy that maybe doesn't have a lot of coothe, that call stuff how he sees it. He says, "No Jesus, I'm not letting you wash my feet." He says, "No, because he understands this is a really weird thing. This is something that's way outside, way outside of what culture would say is comfortable or correct. Jesus says, "No, this is something that you need to see me do." One of our crew here at coastline, his name is Tyler. Tyler has been connected to Eric and I for many years now. I was actually his youth pastor when he was like 11 years old. He's been around me for, what is he, 27 or something like that? So 16 years. This is a long time. In the other day he was talking to me about one message I preached while he was in youth ministry in which I talked on this message and I invited him up and he didn't know what was going to happen. And I washed his feet in front of everyone that was all of his friends. He said, "Bro, that was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen you do." We've been, I've been fishing with that guy. I've helped him with projects. We've done life together for 16 plus years. But he came up there and let me wash his feet. And that kid, I don't even think that kid ever wore shoes, dude. He was like, this was before Crocs were around. He was like barefoot everywhere. Stepping on oysters. He's very much a Peter. The reason that, the reason why Tyler and I are so connected now is, has nothing to do with any message that I've ever preached on. That's probably the only message that he could remember because it was weird. But what he does remember is that I'm for him because of how many times I showed up in his life. Because how many times I showed up when he needed me. How many times he was going through a tough time and he needed some help. I'm not saying this to, I'm not saying this at any point to draw attention to myself. I'm saying this because that's what matters. Showing up, serving someone that is in need is what matters. It's allowed me to grow as a leader. It'll allow you to grow. It'll allow us to grow. It's outside the box. It's different than what the world does. Where the world says, it's all about me. I want to be highlighted. I want to be the one that everyone sees. I want to be the one that gets the credit. As the world says that, Jesus says no. He says grow through serving one another. In John 13 verse 12, he says, after washing his feet, he put on his rope. He sat down and asked, do you understand what I was doing? He says, you call me teacher and Lord and you're right because that's what I am. And since I, your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I've given you an example to follow do as I've done to you. Jesus is communicating this to the disciples and to us. He's trying to adjust our mindset. He's trying to renew our mind. To not conform to what the culture of the world says, but to grow through serving one another. Last night, as Eric and I are being bad parents and keeping our kids up way past where they should go to bed. We got home at like one o'clock. Give me the judgment. It's all right. We're cheering for our favorite driver. He's going around the track as he's leading the class couple laps. We're hoping that he's going to put, he had one all season long. I don't know what's up with Eric at picking losers all the time, but as we're cheering him on the last lap, he's coming to the finish line. The number 21 car pulls just enough ahead of him and blocks him all the way to the finish line. The man that won the race yesterday, his name's Harrison Burton. I think I've got a picture of him. There he is. He's a good looking kid. He was so sweet the way he received the trophy and how he talked about it. Like a kid in a candy store, he's like, "I can't believe that I fended it off one of the number one race car drivers." Then he did something at the very end that I think speaks true to this whole idea. He said, "I've got to thank some people. I've got to think my pit crew. I've got to think my crew chief. I've got to think the people that provided the car. I've got to think the people that helped sponsor me and get me here. I've got to think the fuel man and the tire carrier and every person that was on the team." The reason why he did it is because he knows today that his name is going to be in the newspaper, but there's no way that would happen if it wasn't for every single member of the crew. Today, we're going to do something different at church. We've got crew sign-ups in the breezeway at the end of service. My hope is not that you sign up so that coastline will grow. My hope is not that you sign up so that Brian Nichols looks good. In this illustration, I'm not even the driver. I'm just a member of the crew. The reason why we serve, the reason why we have this fantastic group of crew already, the reason why they serve is because they understand that Jesus is the one that's the driver, that Jesus is the one that we want to put his name in the newspaper of the community that we live in, and that we're just all members of the crew to help to get them there. That we're just part of the story of if we'll all pull together, if we'll jump over the wall and do the one thing that we can do. We don't have to do it all. We just got to do what we can do. Something amazing can happen. As one church, we can launch into this new season in a way that we never have before. It's not about me. It's not about you. It's about him. Because he's the one that if we can bring the sick and the poor to, that they can see a miracle happen. And so I want to invite you today to be a part of the crew with us. That we might all pull and push together to our individual parts that we're supposed to do in that Jesus might get the credit. And that for the sake of those around him, for the sake of those around us can see who he is. Today I ask you to be part of the crew from a position of humility. A couple of years ago I had this podium built. And to people that don't understand what it is, it was probably oddly shaped. It looks a little bit weird. But it's supposed to replicate and mimic what a polling platform would be like on a boat. On a flat spot specifically. On my little boat I've got a polling platform that I stand up on. The polling platform's not in the front of the boat. It's not where all the business happens, where the fun stuff happens. It's in the very back of the boat. It's the place where the work happens. It's the place where I stand and I'm behind the person that's in the lead. And I try to push them into a position in which they can connect. And fishing is to connect with a fish. But I built this and I preached from it because in the same way I want to remind myself every Sunday. It's not about me. It's not about if I can connect. If I can push you into a position where you can connect with him, where you can grow. And so today I don't ask you to join the crew because I want coastline churches to look good. Or I want to be a good leader. I just want to see you be able to connect with him and I want to see him do some miracles in your life. And I want to see him change the community that he's planted a sin. I want to see our church grow not for the sake of growing but that it will have a positive impact on our community. That one day, not that Brian Nichols gets into the newspaper of New Smyrna Beach. I don't even think we have a newspaper. But that the community will see, man Jesus is doing some great things in our world. How can I connect with him? I want to ask you to help me, to help us, the crew grow our church by taking your next step in faith. And serving those around you. And the breezeway at the end of service, man, we're going to have a bunch of tables set up. There's hospitality table and our elite hospitality person will be standing behind it. We've got set up and teardown crew and the set up and teardown guy is going to be standing behind it. We've got the tech crew. We've got kids ministry volunteer. We've got kids ministry set up. We've got sign set up. We've got a safety crew. You don't got to sign up and do it every week. You don't got to sign up and do everything. But if you'll commit to just one Sunday a month doing one thing, it can be the difference between a miss and a miracle. I want to challenge you to take your next step and grow in your relationship with Jesus and connect and serve those around you because of how he served us. I want to ask today. With that, I want to pray for us. If you're here today and you don't have a relationship with Jesus and you want to start one, if you have been disconnected from him and want to reconnect, I want to challenge you to pray a prayer that would go something like this. Jesus, you know all that I am. You know everything I've ever done. Every sin I've ever committed. Today I confess it all to you. Ask you to forgive me and wash me pure as snow. Take away anything that would separate me from you and your plan for my life. I commit my life to you. I declare you as my own Lord and Savior. Show me what's next and let me draw closer to you. Amen. Church let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for the opportunity you've given us. God has the church in New Smyrne Beach and church in Edgewater and Oak Hill and Sam Sewell and Poor Orange. God, not as coastline church but as your church. I pray that you continue to challenge us and charge us to show you to the community that's around us. I thank you for how you've brought us all together. I ask that as you launch us into this next season, that when it comes to this area of serving that we would find the peace, find the strength, find the desire to say go. Yes Lord, we serve you. I thank you so much for what's to come. In Jesus' name we pray, as I said. As always, coastline, know that you are loved and that the best is yet to come.