Inland Empire: Riverside
Radical - Audio
It's great to be here this morning with you worshiping God. I hope that you're feeling full of the spirit and full of faith. I know a lot of great things going on. Again, it's great to have Donna Jennifer. I also want to welcome Alicia and Alex Split in our teen ministry. So, where's Alicia and Alex? Stand up, Alicia and Alex. Welcome. I know you're not only Donna Jennifer, but you guys are here too. We're really grateful to have you guys in really, really great. You know, today I want to talk about the concept of being radical. I've been reading a book, a number of us have read the book, I know the campus read it, a number of the edge ministry read it, it's a book called Radical by David Platt. And a lot of the material I share today, some of those ideas originate from what I read there. But it made me think a lot about the most radical thing that ever happened in my life. And, you know, you define radical as Webster says, it's now, of course, the original definition of radical meant the origin of something. But we don't really use that term, really radical means something very different from the usual or traditional, something extreme. Or favoring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions. And I was thinking about the most radical thing that happened in my life. And I remember a number of different things occurred, but I would say some event experience I had was I remember when we planted a church as a church of Christ movement around the world, we planted a church in South Africa in the early 90s. And this was right after apartheid had ended and Nelson Mandela had taken over the presidency in South Africa. And there was much turmoil and unrest in that country. If you know anything about the history of it, there was all kinds of difficulty because the country was predominantly black, but the whites had controlled the country for years and years and years. And Nelson Mandela had been really a political prisoner for many, many years, standing up for what was right and equality. And when he finally was liberated and he took over the presidency, the country was just upside down, tons of crime rate. The crime rate was atrocious. What was at that time that the leaders of our church decided to go ahead and have a conference in South Africa right in the middle of that time frame. And I remember getting the opportunity to go to that and arrive and get off the bus. And they had a shooting at the court right across the street from the hotel where Stane. A man had been set free, even though he had shot, he was a white police officer, shot some black men in the city and they had gotten out of there, the case, they were let free. And the family of those that had been shot were mad until they were shooting. And this is all occurring right as we're getting out of the bus, entering into the holiday inn in downtown Johannesburg. There were men with a double barrel shotgun walking around in combat boots and guys of pistols. And I was from safe Southern California and I was like, you know, I was in the safe part of Southern California. So I'd be more familiar with the gun thing, but it wasn't me. And so I was like, "Carry, get in the hotel," and I was like, "I'll get the bags," and we'd walk in. And the first thing we read is the welcome to all the conference attendees was, you know, much unrest and turmoil do not leave the hotel without an armed escort. We're like, "Where have we gone?" And it was an exciting time to realize that we had planted the first interracial church in that city. And we're hosting a conference of all the leaders of churches and leaders around the world to really get a taste of the radical spirit of doing what was right, staying up for equality, preaching the gospel, even in dangerous areas. Amen. It was something very radical. And you know, Jesus was the ultimate radical. He broke the traditions and views of his time and his teachings, they flew in the face of religion in that day, but they fly in the face of really Christianity today. You know, even his own family in Mark 3 said, "Oh, you're out of your mind," because he had so many people at his house for Bible talk, so many people coming and going that him and his followers didn't even have a chance to eat. And yet we find in the reference to the Scripture in 2 Corinthians 5 that Brian referenced in the communion in verse 13 of 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says, "If we are out of our mind, it is for your sake." It is for the sake of God, rather. "If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died." And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again. You see, when people come in contact with Jesus, he changes their outlook on life. When people come in contact with Jesus, he re-orients their plans in life. When people come in contact with Jesus, he transforms them. And though that was the biggest travel, adventure, and radical thing I had seen at that point, really it wasn't as radical an event as my actual conversion. The most radical thing we do is really saying Jesus is Lord and meaning it with our lifestyle, real repentance. That was a transformation of my whole mindset, my whole view, my whole purpose, my setting aside of the American dream. Today, I want to study a passage that I find is very challenging and yet inspirational. I want us to turn to Mark chapter 10 and I preach this chapter to the campus on Tuesday, but I want to dig in a little deeper today. I want to pull out some more things and I want us to really evaluate our own lives in view of the American dream. I want us to turn to Mark chapter 10. I want us to read there the story of the rich young man. He is, you know, he's a dream for somebody who's trying to build a ministry and a guy runs up to you that's knowledgeable of the Bible, wealthy, well-to-do, and eager to do what is right. And he runs up to Jesus, we're going to read the story and we'll find a radical conclusion to it. He says as Jesus started on his way, verse 17 of Mark 10, "A man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him, good teacher he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered, "No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not give false testimony. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. Teacher who declared, "All these I've kept since I was a boy." Jesus looked at him and loved him. One thing you lack, he said. "Go sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, then come follow me." At this, the man's face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were amazed at his words, but Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God." It is easier for the camel to go to the Ivan needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples were even more amazed and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man, this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God." Peter said to him, "We've left everything to follow you." "I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age, homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields and with them, persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first. Number one, radical beliefs. You sit in church this morning and you are here because of a man who had a radical teaching and he calls on us to have a radical belief beyond the norm of our culture. You know, the American dream was coined by a guy named James Truslow Adams and he wrote a book entitled, "The Epic of America." And in 1931 he wrote, "The American dream is a dream in which each man and woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable and be recognized by others for what they are." The American dream says that, "I am capable and it is about my hard work and using the talents that I have and the perseverance and that we live in a country with the capitalistic freedom to attain our goals." And you know what? I had the American dream, I had the young 20-something and I had a dream to be a millionaire, I had a plan to be a millionaire. I worked as a stockbroker so I had this plan and I knew how to accomplish it. It was clear to me how to accomplish it. I had a boss who had become a millionaire and I knew if I followed his footsteps I would get there. And I think about the American dream and in American churches we are all too easily succumbed, maybe not to the American dream of financial success, but oftentimes the American dream of churchy entity, the comfort, the size, the glamour of our church and ours is very modest but there are super churches around the world. And there is an aching part in some of us that goes, "Ah, I've only had that. Sometimes I see the flyers that come in my mail from other super chairs." I'm like, "Man, this is so good, ours has got to be that good." And I think all in all the details and all the graphic design expertise and man, we can do it better. We're going to be more corporate excellence. You know the American dream has at its foundation the focus on the individual. And what he can accomplish through the talent that he has. And you know, each individual aspect of it is not biblically incorrect. God wants us to work hard and he wants us to use our talent but you know the gospel says fundamentally that we're actually not able to accomplish anything of eternal significance on our own. In fact, the message of Jesus is that we're incapable of accomplishing the greatest things in life which are eternal things apart from me he says you can do nothing. And in Romans chapter 3 we find the Apostle Paul, turn it to Romans chapter 3 verse 10. And the Apostle Paul sums it up as he's writing to this church in Rome, you know the America of that day. And as he's talking to the church filled with you know worldwide educated individuals. The capitalistic center of the world. And he goes through and he makes it very clear, summarizing in chapter 3 verse 10 he says as it is written there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, not one who seeks God, all have turned away, they have together become worthless, there is no one who does good, not even one. You see the gospel is a radical teaching and it causes to a radical belief that it's not about us. You know when we read the scriptures one of the most common things we hear about and you see it on billboards, God loves you. I put before you that God loves you is unbiblical Christianity if you leave it at that. God loves you Christianity, focus is simply on you, see it's incomplete if you just know well Jesus loves me, I mean that's a good song we teach our kids right, Jesus loves me this I know the Bible tells me so, but it's unbiblical if you leave it simply at that. It's not about me, the focus of Christianity is not about you, it's not about your sitting there receiving only what you need to get, you need to think right now about your beliefs about even why you come to church. What are you hoping for when you come to church? Is it about being at the right location for you? Is it about having the right music for you? Is it about having your needs met, this is right for my schedule, this fits what I need to do. I like this preacher, he meets my needs, what can I get out of this? I'm not coming, I don't think I'll get anything out of it, sometimes we think that way. We hear a different preacher, we hear a concept or a topic, or we think I'm not getting anything out of that, I'm not going. Because your Christianity is based in you, and if that is the kind of Christianity that you hold to, it's not a Jesus Christianity. See, Jesus' message is God loves you so that you might make him known among the nations. I'm convinced is what Paul says, we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all so that they would no longer live for themselves, but for him. Why are you here today? Is it for you? You know, why does God save us? Why did God do that, we saw the passion account, we show that a lot, it's a great thing to remember, we take the bread and the fruit of the vine to remember what Jesus did, that's a good thing to do. Why did God ultimately do it, did he do it just for you? You know, he did it also for himself. He did it to glorify his name. He did it to say, I am the way, the truth and the life, everything in this world revolves around him, not us. You know, there's a story of a woman in our fellowship named Karina in 1987, she got baptized. She lived in India, and India, you face great persecution if you broke from the tradition of the family, which is what she did in getting baptized in our fellowship that we had planted just a couple months before. At the time she was having heart trouble, that humbler made her open her eyes and want to find God, and she had to go in for open heart surgery just a month after she got baptized. After she got out of the hospital and was recovering, she explained more fully to her family how serious she was about her faith that she wanted to go out that week to a devotional for the singles ministry that was going on right there in India. Her older brother cursed at her and he beat her and said, no, what are you doing? Even though she was recovering from heart surgery, her own father went and married another woman in a different country and maintained two families simultaneously and neglected his family, Karina's family, for years. At times, the father would make the children sleep outside just to discipline them. He'd make them sleep outside the hut even on rainy days, in his anger and in his delusions. But Karina stayed faithful to God through everything. She had two more heart surgeries, ended up finding out the man of her dreams in the church of India and getting married as a real disciple and having children. And years later, her father had returned back to India and wanted to live with her and her family because her brothers had kicked them out of their house. He said, well, you tortured us so her brothers said, well, we're not going to let you stay in the house now in retribution. But Karina was a disciple and she had deep beliefs, she had radical beliefs, whatever it takes. She let her dad move in with her and her family, even though the things he had done to her, the way he had abused her. She moved in with her and her husband and her kids in a small, small apartment. He was sick from having to sleep outside because the sons had made them, but you know what? Just a couple months ago, Karina's dad was baptized in our church in India. And his sickness led to death and he passed on, but he passed on in faith because a woman had a radical belief that she would do whatever it takes, forgiveness, conviction to love whatever it takes. There's a picture of him right there in our church in India getting baptized. Do you have radical beliefs today? See, Jesus had a radical conviction and when the rich young ruler ran up to him, the rich young ruler really is all of us. You've all come to church today. Eager'd asked the question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus looks at him and loves him, but then he calls him to give up everything to follow him. And he's calling every one of us to give up everything for him and the gospel. He's calling every one of us to go, "Are my really willing to give up whatever is holding me down? Am I really willing to have a radical belief that God's ways are the right ways?" You see, for the Jews, and if you look at the apostles, when he told him, "Listen, it is hard for rich men to enter the kingdom," they were just flabbergasted by it. They were amazed the Scripture says. They were even more amazed, it says, as he said, "It's nearly impossible, but not with God." Why? In the history of the Jews, you find that very early on, "God said, "If you're obedient to me, I will bless you." If you're obedient to my teachings, I will bless you materially. We find Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob both gained great wealth as they showed obedience to God. He blessed their herds, and their crops, and their flocks, and they amassed great wealth. They ended up going into Egypt, and God blessed them, and they multiplied greatly. They were wealthy. The psyche of the Jewish culture was, "If you're faithful to God, you will be blessed materially." We even find, he says that in Deuteronomy, he says that one exact thing, and I want to show you this here. In Deuteronomy, I'll give you the reference, Deuteronomy 28, verse 11, God bottom line just says, verse 11 and 12, "That if you're faithful to me, I will bless you, that you will lend it to many, but you won't be in debt to anyone." That's what he says, that he would bless that nation. That was the psyche of their mindset, and yet Jesus has this radical teaching that real wealth is eternal wealth, that real conviction on serving God would cause you to give up whatever is holding you down, and this guy had wealth, and he comes to Jesus eager to find something deeper in his life, doesn't he? He even runs, he realizes that as a good businessman, you've got to be aggressive. You've got to go right to the source, you've got to ask the exact question you need to get answered. You need to cut through all the stuff on the surface and get to the heart of the matter. What must I do to inherit eternal life? I have all this other stuff. I'm sure I'm going to get this now too, and Jesus tells them the one thing he didn't want to hear, you've got to give it up. You know, in Jesus' day, practically speaking, he wanted him to literally sell everything and follow Jesus around. Well, why? Because Jesus was going to be, you know, changing the world in that day and age on a practical basis, and he knew he'd be supported by the work he's doing. This guy's talented, and gift-y, he'd probably become one of the top leaders. Maybe God had in mind, maybe he was going to be Apostle Paul ahead of time. This guy was a big wig, and maybe some people think he was the synagogue ruler. You read other references, he was wealthy, well-to-do, knew his Bible, said now all these I have kept since I was a boy, and yet Jesus challenges him with the one thing that's holding him back. Give it up and follow me. You know, do you have a radical reliance on God? Do you really believe God and take him at his words? Do you really? You know, there was an evangelist named George Mueller, who lived back in the 1800s in Germany, and he took God to this word. He said, "I know God, but he says it, it's going to happen, it's true. It's going to work." You see, a lot of times we just don't take God to this word. We don't really rely on him enough to put it into practice. But George Mueller, he saw in the book of James that true religion is taking care of widows and orphans. He saw that God says, "You know, if you put your trust and faith in me, I will provide. At the end of the day, I will come through." And so he began an orphanage, but he began this orphanage without asking for any funding from any person whatsoever. What he did is he situated in his own home so that he could take you in orphans. He talked about God's message, and then he would pray. He would ask God to meet the needs of those orphans as he and his wife began to serve. He never asked for any money from a single person, but only in prayer asking God to meet the needs. You know, he ended up meeting the needs of 10,000 orphans. He received donations of over, by today's dollars, over a hundred million dollars over a long period of time as he built these houses to handle these orphans. He had a radical belief that God would come through if you put his total trust in God in his word. There's a story that he writes about how he prayed for every need that occurred when the heater would go out. He would pray for the workers to get it done in a timely fashion as the storm was coming, and sure enough, it would work out. At the same time, all the orphans sat down to eat breakfast, and they began to thank God for the food that he would provide, and there was no food at that time. The door at the end of the prayer, there was a knock on the door, and the local baker had brought over a whole bunch of fresh, baked bread for all the orphans at the end of the prayer. And the story after story, you can read the history of George Mueller. He was radical in his beliefs. He had a radical plan to make a difference in people's lives. You know, where are your beliefs this morning? Are you willing to take God in his word? Sometimes, sadly, what we do is we think all God's promises, "Oh, I like those." But what about the obligations that God's calls us to? Are His promises for you but not the obligations? A lot of times, that's how we live. We think God's promise is, "Oh, yeah, I like those," but what about the obligations that go with it? You know, God calls us to total purity. One of God's radical teachings is total purity. Sexual purity in our generation is a newfound thing, because our generation is saturated with sexual impurity. Pornography is rampant across the world. Did you know that the income of the pornography industry exceeds the combined income of NBC, ABC, and CBS all together? If the income from the pornography industry exceeds the combined income of all the professional sports in the world, it's epidemic, and yet God calls us to total purity. Let not even a hint of sexual immorality be found among you. Not even a hint. That's God's expectation. Will we hold God to that? Will we hold ourselves to that? You know, there's a guy that started a ministry, and he started a ministry to help people out of the homosexual lifestyle, a disciple. He said, "You know, God can do it." I believe God's word is right. I'm going to hold to God's word. God says that he made men and women together, and he doesn't want there to be same-sex attraction in a sexual way. It's inappropriate, it's ungodly, and it's just not right biblically. He held to God's words. He ended up overcoming homosexuality, you know, you married, having children and starting a ministry, and you can go there strength and weakness.org by Guy Hammond is a ministry right now that he established because he took God at his word, had a radical conviction that flies in the face of the universalist thinking of our culture, and he's pulling people out of a challenge, is homosexuality worse than sexual immorality? No, it's sin. But God calls us out of it. God calls us to deep conviction that we can be pure. You know, I'm so grateful in our ministry. We have an incredible edge ministry that has our singles ministry and our young marriage without children's ministry. And we have five couples in that ministry who, all of them, dated, went through engagement, and were totally pure. That's exciting. They dated, totally pure, holding hands, a little peck on the cheek, you know, no sexual immorality before marriage, you know, that's unheard of in our culture, quite honestly. In fact, I know all their stories. I did their marriage count, most of their marriage counseling, and I know their stories. It was unheard of in their life before they became Christians. They didn't think that way, but God's word called radical beliefs. You know, God's word talks about encouraging one another daily, committed to total encouragement. You know, I want to hold up the edge ministry again for something really exciting. You know, for the last, like five months, the women in that ministry have prepared weekly for an incredible night and encouragement to the men, to hold up to men, to tell them how valuable they are to them. And last night, I hosted their brother's encouragement night, and I've just, I've heard the guys come in and say, "It was incredible. The first thing I did when I walked in, they were clapping for me. They were so excited to have us there. They were holding us and saying, "We love you, brothers." And I want to hold up the edge ministry sisters for doing that. Great job. Total purity is possible. True radical beliefs are possible. You've got to hold to God's word. You know, the thing I want to get to now is point number two, radical obedience. Radical obedience. You know, the rich young ruler ran up to him, wondering what he needed to do. And Jesus said, "You know the commandments." And so he goes through the commandments. He says, "All these I have kept. All these, right? Well, the commandments are, do not do this, do not do that. The only one is on to your father and mother's the only thing you do." And here's the thing, Christianity cannot be defined by what we don't do. Your faith can't be defined by what you avoid. Our Christianity needs to be defined by what we do to change the world. Today's you sit here. Are you a receiver of God's word or are you a reproducer of God's word? How do you know? Well, let me ask you something. Are you taking notes right now? Yeah. This is intended for you to think about. Right. We're taking notes. You know what? I'm my shelf at home in our office. Our rows and rows of journals of all the notes from every sermon that she sits in. She take notes on every sermon. It doesn't matter who's preaching. She takes notes. She's thinking about it. Why? Because she's a reproducer. She wants to pass on the teachings. She wants to change lives. She doesn't want to just say, "Oh, feed me. Oh, I like that. That's good. Oh, I feel good today. I'm going on my day." She wants to pass it on. It's not about, you know, it's not about what she's avoiding. It's about what she's doing to change the world. We can't simply just disinfect the world. That's a nice idea. Disinfect it. We need to disciple the world. Get it going. Get it changing other people's lives. We don't simply pull them out of the world. We pull them out of the world, train them up and put them back in the battle for changed lives, for souls. You know, the rich young ruler, he runs up to him and he wants to know the answer to this question, you know, "What's God's will for my life? How do I get to heaven?" And a lot of us ask that question, right, "How do I get to heaven?" And we ask the question, "I really want to know God's will." And yet the question really isn't, you know, "What is God's will?" The question is, "Will you obey God's will?" See, he says, "Good teacher." That's your first inkling that he's not going to get it, because he sees Jesus simply as a good teacher. Are biblical teachings just good teachings? Do you like to hear a little bit now and then? Is the Bible a pretty good book? I like to read that. Yeah, Jesus. He's a good guy. I trust that. Or is Jesus your everything? You know, Peter, he speaks up. He says, "We've left everything to follow you. We've left everything." See, they understood God's will and they responded to God's will. There's a family in Colorado, the He's family. I don't know if any of you guys know that He's family. They were missionaries in our ministry and they came back from the mission field back in 2003. And they came back to Colorado and they started a business there and the business became very popular. It was like a bicycle accessory shop. And it became very successful. In fact, it was rated a top 50 Colorado company. And yet, despite the success of the company, Jim Hies was searching and struggling to discern God's will for his life. And as he was praying, he said, "God, I will go anywhere you call me to go. I will go." And right at that time, an opportunity rose up that he found about in China where he could go and make a difference in one of our underground churches and still support his family. But to go, he would have to shell his entire very successful business in a very nice suburb of Colorado. And you know what he did? He did it. And just a couple of weeks ago, they said goodbye to the Hies family as they were leaving for Shanghai, China to help work in the church. They're going to have that little business that he's able to do over there. But he has two daughters, one entering high school, freshman daughter about to go into high school, basically being living here in Colorado, seeing what's going on and enjoying the suburban lifestyle of Americanized Christianity. And the daughters are like, "We'll go." What's exciting is, on that very day when the church said goodbye to them, she was baptizing to Christ. Amen. And they are now making a difference in impacting our work in that church in China. But you know, what about you guys? Are you willing to commit to a radical obedience? Are you willing to commit to the same thing that Peter said? No, we've left everything to follow you. Are you really willing to take Jesus at his word the radical calling of Christianity? Or are we stuck in the American dream Christianity? See, Jesus calls him to do something radical, and he was unwilling to do it, the rich young ruler, and he went away sad, didn't he? He looked down, he wasn't willing to give that thing up. He wasn't willing to let go and let God fully take control of his life, because it would have meant radical changes in his social condition. Radical changes in his viewpoint about his future. Radical changes in the, you know, the horse and carriage that he was driving that week, it meant radical changes. You know, as Jesus says, "give up everything." He doesn't only say that on a, you know, he practically told him, "sell everything right there." But we know the Scriptures teach every one of us is to give up everything in order to be a real disciple, the calling is the same. So whether you actually sell your stuff, Jesus isn't walking around anymore, he owns all your stuff. He owns your job, he owns your finances, he owns your future, he owns your talent, he owns your life, and because of the cross, he is able to call you to complete surrender and obedience to him. He is able to call you to give up your entire life for his mission of changing the world. And he says to give, we are absolutely to give God total ownership. And here's the thing about giving, I want us to think about our finances, we've been doing financial quiet times as a church, I want us to look long and hard at finances. We are the richest top 0.01% in the world without question, and we can't sit idly by as orphans, millions of them, around the world. Death from starvation takes place, I read a statistic, I'm like 27,000 kids die worldwide because of starvation every day. The sex slave trade, rampant all around the world, have any of you done anything for the sex slave trade around the world? I haven't, but it bothers me that it's going on. And billions are being made out of it. You know, we gave money to the tsunami in Japan and gave money to Haiti and gave money to the Civil War rebuilding in Abhijan and Ivory Coast, and I commend the church for that. Fantastic. Some of us have a heart to really meet those things, and hope worldwide is doing amazing things. Amen? But we can't sit in the church, handle our finances, and turn a blind eye to the world. We can't do it. We can't even just get in our budget as we're working on the church, we're getting our budget in line. We really want to be careful. We want to use it. God's giving us in a wise way. You know, it needs to be not, not, you know, okay, let me get my budget around exactly so I'm living within my means. It needs to be how much can I live with so that I can give away more and more. A scary thought I read in that book was, you know, we look back on the slavery issue in America now, right? And we think, can you believe people call themselves Christians and had slaves? What do you think about this? People look back, you know, we look back now and that time, we think, can you believe people actually had slaves and thought they were Christians? How Godly and crazy a mindset, yet our country, that's a lot of them, I'm a Christian, you know, and I'm giving my slave an extra chicken for Christmas, I'm a good Christian. And somehow we're patting ourselves on the backpack then. A lot of people thought that. Now praise God, not everyone, but I wonder if 150 years from now, we'll look back and go. You mean you were a Christian, you did nothing about the sex slave pornography, starvation around this world? Did you know that in the world today, there are 6.97 billion people, 312 million of them living in the United States. So some of us think, you know, I'm really interested in evangelism right here. That's my interest. Evangelism right here. And you know, God will handle the rest. If you only have a heart for the United States, or the heart for only your city, then you only have 4.4% of God's heart. Because the other 95% of the world lives outside of here. And only about a third is that even call themselves Christians, even think of Jesus. Have you even really even heard about Jesus? And we know that most people call themselves Christians are Christians. Because you call yourself one. So how interested are we in the 4 billion people outside, 4.5 billion? How interested are we really in world evangelism? How radical will we be? And it starts in your heart to say, if I'm going to be a disciple, I am about world evangelism. That's why we give every year to world evangelism. That's why we have people going to different places around the world. Did you know that they're asking for missionaries? I saw this email just this morning from Sean Wooten who leads our churches in Kiev where we got to go a couple of years ago and see our great church there. They're starting the church in Warsaw, Poland. They want to kick it off next summer at the World Mission Jubilee in San Antonio. And he's asking for missionaries right now. Any of us speak Polish? Anybody want to go to Poland? Because I'm telling you, I'm so excited to read that. You know, there's more plans. There's the idea out there. The details aren't worked out of playing the church in Rome. Now I volunteered for that because I love Rome. But you know, I also was reading, there are lots of churches that need campus ministers, teen ministers, married ministers. How many of us are dreaming to go in the ministry? Is it just the campus guys that I get with every week? Who's dreaming to be a minister, a missionary? I will go. We got to shake off the cross church, open our eyes more and more. And realize that we are being called to a radical belief system and a radical obedience. You know, I want to close out just holding up two awesome members of our church. I want to hold up. Firstly, a brother who's going to Manila, he's going there as a missionary. Here's the thing. He's self-supporting. He has raised the funding himself to get himself there. He's talked to the church leader and he's been telling them through the internet, arranging housing, some of the campus and edge, gave some money to help him get his airline ticket over there. And he's heading over there. I'm so proud of him. He's going to be going over later this month. That's Rob Hennigan. I'm very, very proud of him. And he's going to be working on one of our campuses over there that needs to be built up. It's a small campus. Another sister has wanted to take that one year challenge and she's had contact with our churches in China and the plans are being laid. It looks like it's going to all work out really well for her and she's going to be going to China as a missionary and that's Lindsey Patterson. I'm really proud of her as well. It looks like that's going to happen. So the details are being finalized. But what about you? Are you willing to hold the Jesus radical beliefs and are you willing to have a radical obedience? Jesus says, "You know, you give it all up, you're going to receive a hundred times as much right here. But you're going to be persecuted, but you're going to receive a treasure in heaven that is worth more than anything we can ever imagine." See, God specializes in showing us that we're not capable on our own. It's about him and his ways. His ways are radical. Let ours be as well. Ain't it? [applause] [BLANK_AUDIO]
Sunday lesson by Steve Lounsbury