Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Creative Connection with Ed Young. We're glad
you've joined us today to hear ED connect faith to
everyday life. Before we get to today's message, we want
to invite you to head online and sign up for
Ed's daily email devotionals covering relevant topics like forgiveness, anxiety,
and purposeful living. These life giving emails will provide you
(00:22):
with a spark of encouragement write in your inbox every
single day. Each one contains a piece of scripture as
well as encouragement from Ed to help you think about
and apply biblical truths to your life. There's also a
guided prayer at the end of each email. Just visit
edyong dot com slash emails to sign up now, and
(00:42):
while you're there, you can also browse previous devotionals as
well as watch and listen to messages from Ed. So
sign up to start receiving your daily devotionals today. The
website again is Edyong dot com slash Devotionals. Book forward
to connecting with you there. Now, let's get into today's
message with Pastor Ed.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Jan I want to talk to you about the finest
hour of the week, the meeting, the appointment, the corporate
meeting we have with God each and every week. The
first day of the week is Sunday. Sunday is the
(01:25):
first day of the week. Why because Sunday is Resurrection Day.
That's why it happens on Sunday. And the Bible says,
if we give God his day, he'll bless the rest.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I'll say it again.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
If we worship God on his day, set that day apart,
then amazing things will happen in our lives. Again, if
you met with Bill Gates, and if I met with
Bill Gates, we would do anything to be there, have
our best on. We'd be prepared. Yeah, we have an opportunity.
Don't each week to meet with God. In Hebrews Chapter ten,
(02:03):
verse twenty five, it says, let us not give up
meeting together.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
In other words, don't.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Diss this basic directive in scripture, as some are in
the habit of doing. But let us encourage one another.
The finest hour happens right here in this office with
our great game changing God.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
He extends his hand to us.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
We need to grasp the hand of God. The first
day of the week, our finest hour. That thing we
do is worship. Everybody worships no one taught you how
to worship. No one taught me how to worship. We
just know how to worship. We're passionate about something that's worship.
(02:49):
God wants us to understand the depth of worship. True
worship is not what just happens in here, it's what
happens out there. But what happens in here, what happens
out there? When I worship? What am I doing? It's
my response to God. It's your response to God's activity
(03:09):
and identity by what we say and what we do.
So it's great to get all emotional during worship, to cry,
to lift our hands, to bow our heads and hearts.
But if our emotion doesn't translate into devotion, we're just
talking smack and we're not doing jack.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Let's talk about preparation for worship, because.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
If indeed God is this game changing God that we
know he is, and I'm telling you he is, then
we better be prepared for the finest hour.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
How do we prepare for worship? Every single person.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Is passionate about something God says, don't waste your worship
and make sure God says you have.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Your rear in gear.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
You're here worshiping me corporately at least once a week,
So we got to be number one involved in preparation.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
That's the first blank on your message map.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I love blanks because blanks are kind of naked, aren't they.
Let's close the blank, Let's put the word preparation there.
We've got to be prepared for this meeting with our
great game changing God.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
He's going to take our lives to another level. How
do we do that?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, look at your hand, if everybody, do your hand
like that, do your hand like that. You see, I
have stuff written on my hand, and that is what
I'm going to talk about over the next several minutes.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And stuff that's written on my hand.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
No you can't read it, but it's written on my hand,
so I will not forget it.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
I've got to do whatever it takes to remember stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Right. If you want to grasp the hand of God,
if you want God to take your hand and lead
you into this life of worship, into this life that
is on another planet and plane of living, we've got
to be prepared. And it's about the hand the thumb
(05:03):
stands for. I've got to be prayed up, prayed up,
pray for the people who step out and lead in
this area. Also, Pray for those of us who are
the pastors. Pray that God would give us the words
to say. Pray for other people who will be at fellowship.
(05:26):
Pray for people who are believers and how they can
ratchet up their relationship with the Lord. Pray for those
who are not believers. Pray for those who are who
are dogged with doubt. Pray for those who have serious
questions about Christianity. Pray for those who are going through
times of suffering. Pray for those who have gone through
a time of loss. All those people, all types of people,
(05:48):
all stripes of people are represented here at fellowship.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
We've got to be prayed up.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Pray for our own life. God, what do you want
to show me? Have this expert expectation as you come
to church. Hey, if Bill Gates sent me an email,
he's telling me he's gonna invest in me. Now, I'm
gonna make all this money. Boy, when I walk into
his office, I'm gonna be expecting great things.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Do you have a sense of expectation when you come
to church? Be prayed up the pointer. You better be
rested up. Me get a good night's rest.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
After all, we're meeting with our game changing God, get
a good night's rest. You'll think you would get a
good night's rest before you met.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
With Bill Gates. Yeah, you would get a good night's rest.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Lisa and I talked to somebody a couple days ago
and they were talking about going to this concert and
they were like, yeah, now, now, now I'm gonna take
the day off before the concert to restop prior to
the concert.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
That's preparation.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
We prepare when we go mountain biking. We prepare when
we go snowball. We prepare before we go fishing. We
prepare before we go hunting. We prepare before we go shopping. Yeah,
we get up and go. Yeah, my go to church.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
If I can have some brunch and we can get
out early enough, maybe Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I think we have a service. I think going show,
that's not it.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
We got to be ready, rested up, expecting God to
do great things.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
The tall Man.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
We got to be dressed up, dressed up. If I
met with Bill Gates, I mean I would have I
would have a nice outfit on. Church should not be
a fashion show. It shouldn't be a flesh show. We
don't expect, though, believers to dress like believers until they
(07:50):
become a believer.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
So don't be judging somebody. Oh what's this girl thinking
any about? What's he doing?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
No?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
No, no, no, no, no no no. They might not
be follow with a price. Let God to deal with that.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
People ask me all the time, how should I dress
at fellowship church?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Casual? I mean, these are kind of genes and loafers.
I don't have any socks on. This is a cotton blazer,
you know. And I you know what, Here's what I say.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
How would you dress if you were going into God's
office and meeting with him?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Well, I don't know answer that question. That's the way
you dress.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
But it's not a fashion show. Why did people start
dressing up in the first place for church?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Why? You know what? Because it showed honor to God
to get dressed up.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Also the ring finger, get linked up, Get linked up.
We have linkage with all sorts of people. God has
placed all of us in different parts of life, for
different ages, different stages.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
We see people regularly.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
We should link up with them, extend our hand to
them because God has extended his hand to us. Invite
them and bring them where to the house, to the meeting,
to the.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Boardroom, great things will happen.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
If I am truly following Christ. This should be happening
in my life regularly. In other words, I should regularly
have people i'm praying for who don't know Christ. I
should regularly be linking up and bringing people here who
are far away from God. If I'm not doing that,
(09:39):
I'm not worshiping. I'm really not a worshiper. Because in
worship we confess the name of Jesus, we've sung to Him,
and it's easy to do that here a fellowship church.
But what about the gym, what about the golf course,
what about the classroom? What about the coffee shop? Can
(10:00):
you confess Him there as well? I don't mean to
be to be mean spirited or to preach to people,
but just to reach out to them at the right
time as you pray for them. Hey, why don't you
come to Fellowship Church with me? We want this place
to be a safe place for you to hear a
dangerous message. We want you to be comfortably uncomfortable, comforted
(10:22):
by Christ, but uncomfortable for him.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
You're listening to the creative connection with ed Young. Stay
with us to hear more encouragement from n before we
get back to today's message. Most of us spend our
lives avoiding pain at every turn, so when we inevitably
experience pain, it sends us into a tailspin and we
can wonder if God even cares. We want to help
(10:47):
you discover how your faith can deepen even in the
most tragic circumstances by sending you Ed and Lisa's powerful
book A Path through Pain. This resource is our thanks
for your gift to help faith to everyday life for
more people around the world through the Creative Connection. So
head over to Edyong dot com to give and request
(11:08):
your copy. Again, that's Edyong dot com slash give. Now
let's get back to today's message.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
The little finger stands for fess up. Fess up that
that's a little word for confession.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
You mean I should confess my sins as I'm going
to church. Before church. Where did you get that? Well,
I got it from the Bible. The Bible says in
Psalm one.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Sometimes you'll read some of the Psalms and it's not Palms,
it's Psalms.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Sometimes people say, hey, I like the Book of Palms. No,
it's Psalms.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
But sometimes you'll read a Psalm and you'll see in
little a little writing beneath one of the numbers, a
psalm of a sin. In other words, like you're climbing
a hill, think about a treadmill.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
You put it on a fifteen degree incline.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You know, so as people would worship back in the day,
they would walk up a hill because the House of
God was on a hill, on an incline. As they
were climbing the incline, people followers of the Lord would sing,
(12:26):
and they would chant. So Psalm one point thirty, for example,
is the sum of a cent.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Let's read it. Out of the depths.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I cry to you, think about a single parent, out
of the depths.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
I cry to you.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Think about a student, think about a family. Out of
the depths. I cry to you, O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
We all need mercy. Once we meet Christ, we get
messed up by his mercy. If you, oh Lord, kept
a record of my sins, thankfully he doesn't. Aren't you
(13:04):
happy about that?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
I am?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
If you, oh Lord, kept a record of my sins,
who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness. Therefore
you are feared. What a poignant passage of scripture, were forgiven.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
God has extended his hand to you and to me.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
He's made up the distance between man and God, between
you and God and me, and God calls.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
By our sin. God has extended his hand. We grasp
his hand. Our sins are forgiven, forgotten.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
We're messed up by his mercy, and we trade our
guilt in for God's grace, our failures.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
For his forgiveness.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
We confess as we're going to church, is this something
you're involved in? And once we do that, see we
got the hand and we can grasp the hand of God.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I'm prayed up.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Rest it up, dressed up, linked up, fess up the
hand of God.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
After our first service, it was cool.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
A couple of students had written this on their hand
and we took pictures of our hands together and I
put it on my put it on my Twitter account.
That's at ed Young if you want to follow me anyway.
So we've talked about preparation and if you're a Christ follower,
this is for you.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
You're prepared. We got that down. Preparation.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Nod your head, yes, wave your message map again. Yeah, yeah,
all right, all right, you goat let's talk now about
another thing we need Number two see the blank, participation, preparation, participation.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
How do we participate in that thing? We do?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Now we understand once again that worship is our response
to God's identity and activity.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
By what we say and what we do.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
We understand that I'm talking though, about the finest hour.
I'm talking about what we do in God's office because
what happens in here affects what happens out there. What
happens out there affects what happens in here, You feel
me right? Preparation, We got to have that participation. How
do I really get engaged in this meeting? I mean,
(15:40):
I'm sitting on the edge of this buttersoft leather chair
in Bill Gates's office, sipping espresso, staring into his glass.
He's like, wow, I mean, I'm taking notes. I'm like
laughing even if something is not really that funny. I'm like,
you know, over after, you know you laugh too much.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
You know, sometimes complimenting things. You're like, well, why am
I saying that?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
You know?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Just just so, how engaged am I when I'm in
God's office? Why do I get engaged? Write it down?
I'll say it again. Write it down, Write it down.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I read a stat several years ago about about.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
People remembering stuff, and about.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Three or four days people forget ninety five percent of
what a speaker has said. Wow, they only remember five percent.
You'll only remember five percent of what I've said Wednesday. Well,
how do you change that? How do you turn the tide?
Write it down? Write it down. You write it down.
(16:52):
You can go back and check your notes. Write it down.
You got it. Write it down. You know when someone
scores the basket. I used to say this when I
used to play. When you shoot a three string music,
I used to say this. I would sometimes trash talk.
I would say, write it down. Because you got a
scorekeeper in a basketball game.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
They had to write down, Okay, he shot the three.
Write it down. Isn't that cool? That's a cool sound.
Want to make a T shirt? Write it down anyway?
Write it down. Also, sing it out, sing it out.
I don't care if you're tone death. Sing it out,
sing it out.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
The Bible says that we're to sing unto the Lord
a new song seventeen times.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Say seventeen with me seventeen times.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
The Bible says, sing a new song, a new song,
we write so many incredible new songs.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Study church history.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
After every great spiritual awakening, it was followed by new songs.
Isn't that cool?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
New songs? Sometimes to me, people will go, well, I
want to go back.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
I'm talking about back to the old school stuff, back
to the.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Traditional singing of the church. And I say, oh, that's great.
How far back do you want to go?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
To the Jewish melodies of the early church, to the
Gregorian chants?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I mean, how far back do you want to go?
Some of the great hymns of.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
The Church were simply bar songs that people put Christian
lyrics to. So take the most popular beats you might
hear some club, they just took that and put Christian
lyrics to it. When Silent Night first came out, you know,
Silent Night, Holy Night, people said there was not enough
(18:54):
gospel in it. When Handel's Messiah came out, people said, well,
it's just too repetitive singing to the Lord of the
New song. Traditional songs are great. Hymns are great, don't
get me wrong. However, singing to the Lord of the
new song, and when you sing, you sing to God.
(19:15):
Sometimes you'll see people with their hands lifted that's cool.
You might be going, why aren't people lifting their hands?
What is the natural response when a little baby, a
little toddler sees its father or his parent. This, there's
nothing like that. Dad's picked the child up. It supposed
(19:37):
to be held. When we're doing that, we're saying God,
I surrender my life to you.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
You're God. I'm not. You're sovereign. I'm not. You're omnipothent.
I'm not. You're omniscient. I'm not. You're I'm not present.
I'm not. I'm not. You are.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
That's what we're doing. When we extend our hands to God.
You don't have to lift your hands. Maybe you want
to put your hand over your heart. Maybe you just
want to.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Stand there like a statue. Cool, sing though, to the Lord.
I don't care if you're tone death. Sing to the Lord.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Most of us don't. An athletic contest. We'll sing the
fight song or sing here or there. We're tone death.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
But let's let's let's let's bring it at church as well.
So sing it out. Also soak it in like a sponge.
Soak it in. We soak it, We soak in the word.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
We soak in relationships, We soak in worship, but we
don't soak it in just to.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Be all bloated and heavy.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I know some churches they're like the soaker churches, just
a bunch of sponges, you know, heavy sponges when it's
just pack full of water.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
What good, blitter? What good is that? I look at
a lot of people call themselves Christians.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
They're just old sponges, suck the life out of people,
the life out of everything.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
He just.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Sludge. The sponge is there to be used, right, we
apply it and we give it away. That's the fourth thing.
We soak it in, then we give it away. We
(21:37):
just squeeze the sponge. We allow God to take his
hand and squeeze our lives.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
As we pour a living water on people that we
see in our marriage, amongst our kids, our friends. So
we give it away, the water of life to so
many people who are thirsting for eternity. That's what we're about,
That's what Jesus wants us to be about.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
That is the beauty of the church and fellowship. I
thank you for understanding that fact.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
The finest hour, what happens in here affects what happens
out there. One of the tenth Commandments, honored.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
The Lord on the Sabbath. This is our Sabbath, the
resurrection day, the first day of the week. We give
this day to God. He blesses the rest. The same
is true with our finances.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You realize when we have an opportunity to participate in the.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Offering, that's worship. How we handle our stuff. One out
of every.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Ten things Christ talked about was money, one out of ten.
When I bring my first to the house, it tells me, hey, ed,
hey dummy, it's not about you.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
It's about God.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
He has taken his hand and blessed you and blessed
your family with stuff. He wants a portion, so it'll
remind me. And also it's an act of worship to
him that everything it says that's part of worship. Are
(23:29):
you involved in that? You know we can't force you
to do that.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
It's between you and God. I'm just throwing it down, man,
We're got to give it away.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
So that's what happens when we are prepared and when
we participate in the finest hour. To this directive is
really really a scary thing. Don't do it.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
God commands it and demands it.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Make sure you're here something supernatural takes place as we
respond to God's identity, as we respond to His activity
by what we say and do in this house the
finest Hour.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Thanks for joining us today on the Creative Connection with
Ed Young. We hope you've been encouraged as Ed's shown
you how you can connect your faith to everyday life.
We'd love to help you even more in your spiritual
journey by sending you Ati Lisa Jung's book A Path
through Pain. This resource will help you see God's presence,
(24:34):
love and care in the middle of your suffering. And
it's our thanks for your gift to help connect faith
to everyday life from more people around the world. Just
head over to Eddyong dot com slash give to request
your copy. Again, that's Edyong dot com slash gift. Thank
you for your support. We'll see you next time on
(24:54):
the Creative Connection
Welcome to the Creative Connection with Ed Young. We're glad
you've joined us today to hear ED connect faith to
everyday life. Before we get to today's message, we want
to invite you to head online and sign up for
Ed's daily email devotionals covering relevant topics like forgiveness, anxiety,
and purposeful living. These life giving emails will provide you
(00:22):
with a spark of encouragement write in your inbox every
single day. Each one contains a piece of scripture as
well as encouragement from Ed to help you think about
and apply biblical truths to your life. There's also a
guided prayer at the end of each email. Just visit
edyong dot com slash emails to sign up now, and
(00:42):
while you're there, you can also browse previous devotionals as
well as watch and listen to messages from Ed. So
sign up to start receiving your daily devotionals today. The
website again is Edyong dot com slash Devotionals. Book forward
to connecting with you there. Now, let's get into today's
message with Pastor Ed.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Jan I want to talk to you about the finest
hour of the week, the meeting, the appointment, the corporate
meeting we have with God each and every week. The
first day of the week is Sunday. Sunday is the
(01:25):
first day of the week. Why because Sunday is Resurrection Day.
That's why it happens on Sunday. And the Bible says,
if we give God his day, he'll bless the rest.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I'll say it again.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
If we worship God on his day, set that day apart,
then amazing things will happen in our lives. Again, if
you met with Bill Gates, and if I met with
Bill Gates, we would do anything to be there, have
our best on. We'd be prepared. Yeah, we have an opportunity.
Don't each week to meet with God. In Hebrews Chapter ten,
(02:03):
verse twenty five, it says, let us not give up
meeting together.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
In other words, don't.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Diss this basic directive in scripture, as some are in
the habit of doing. But let us encourage one another.
The finest hour happens right here in this office with
our great game changing God.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
He extends his hand to us.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
We need to grasp the hand of God. The first
day of the week, our finest hour. That thing we
do is worship. Everybody worships no one taught you how
to worship. No one taught me how to worship. We
just know how to worship. We're passionate about something that's worship.
(02:49):
God wants us to understand the depth of worship. True
worship is not what just happens in here, it's what
happens out there. But what happens in here, what happens
out there? When I worship? What am I doing? It's
my response to God. It's your response to God's activity
(03:09):
and identity by what we say and what we do.
So it's great to get all emotional during worship, to cry,
to lift our hands, to bow our heads and hearts.
But if our emotion doesn't translate into devotion, we're just
talking smack and we're not doing jack.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Let's talk about preparation for worship, because.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
If indeed God is this game changing God that we
know he is, and I'm telling you he is, then
we better be prepared for the finest hour.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
How do we prepare for worship? Every single person.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Is passionate about something God says, don't waste your worship
and make sure God says you have.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Your rear in gear.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
You're here worshiping me corporately at least once a week,
So we got to be number one involved in preparation.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
That's the first blank on your message map.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I love blanks because blanks are kind of naked, aren't they.
Let's close the blank, Let's put the word preparation there.
We've got to be prepared for this meeting with our
great game changing God.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
He's going to take our lives to another level. How
do we do that?
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, look at your hand, if everybody, do your hand
like that, do your hand like that. You see, I
have stuff written on my hand, and that is what
I'm going to talk about over the next several minutes.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And stuff that's written on my hand.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
No you can't read it, but it's written on my hand,
so I will not forget it.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
I've got to do whatever it takes to remember stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Right. If you want to grasp the hand of God,
if you want God to take your hand and lead
you into this life of worship, into this life that
is on another planet and plane of living, we've got
to be prepared. And it's about the hand the thumb
(05:03):
stands for. I've got to be prayed up, prayed up,
pray for the people who step out and lead in
this area. Also, Pray for those of us who are
the pastors. Pray that God would give us the words
to say. Pray for other people who will be at fellowship.
(05:26):
Pray for people who are believers and how they can
ratchet up their relationship with the Lord. Pray for those
who are not believers. Pray for those who are who
are dogged with doubt. Pray for those who have serious
questions about Christianity. Pray for those who are going through
times of suffering. Pray for those who have gone through
a time of loss. All those people, all types of people,
(05:48):
all stripes of people are represented here at fellowship.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
We've got to be prayed up.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Pray for our own life. God, what do you want
to show me? Have this expert expectation as you come
to church. Hey, if Bill Gates sent me an email,
he's telling me he's gonna invest in me. Now, I'm
gonna make all this money. Boy, when I walk into
his office, I'm gonna be expecting great things.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Do you have a sense of expectation when you come
to church? Be prayed up the pointer. You better be
rested up. Me get a good night's rest.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
After all, we're meeting with our game changing God, get
a good night's rest. You'll think you would get a
good night's rest before you met.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
With Bill Gates. Yeah, you would get a good night's rest.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Lisa and I talked to somebody a couple days ago
and they were talking about going to this concert and
they were like, yeah, now, now, now I'm gonna take
the day off before the concert to restop prior to
the concert.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
That's preparation.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
We prepare when we go mountain biking. We prepare when
we go snowball. We prepare before we go fishing. We
prepare before we go hunting. We prepare before we go shopping. Yeah,
we get up and go. Yeah, my go to church.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
If I can have some brunch and we can get
out early enough, maybe Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I think we have a service. I think going show,
that's not it.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
We got to be ready, rested up, expecting God to
do great things.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
The tall Man.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
We got to be dressed up, dressed up. If I
met with Bill Gates, I mean I would have I
would have a nice outfit on. Church should not be
a fashion show. It shouldn't be a flesh show. We
don't expect, though, believers to dress like believers until they
(07:50):
become a believer.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
So don't be judging somebody. Oh what's this girl thinking
any about? What's he doing?
Speaker 2 (07:56):
No?
Speaker 3 (07:56):
No, no, no, no, no no no. They might not
be follow with a price. Let God to deal with that.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
People ask me all the time, how should I dress
at fellowship church?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Casual? I mean, these are kind of genes and loafers.
I don't have any socks on. This is a cotton blazer,
you know. And I you know what, Here's what I say.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
How would you dress if you were going into God's
office and meeting with him?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Well, I don't know answer that question. That's the way
you dress.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
But it's not a fashion show. Why did people start
dressing up in the first place for church?
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Why? You know what? Because it showed honor to God
to get dressed up.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Also the ring finger, get linked up, Get linked up.
We have linkage with all sorts of people. God has
placed all of us in different parts of life, for
different ages, different stages.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
We see people regularly.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
We should link up with them, extend our hand to
them because God has extended his hand to us. Invite
them and bring them where to the house, to the meeting,
to the.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Boardroom, great things will happen.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
If I am truly following Christ. This should be happening
in my life regularly. In other words, I should regularly
have people i'm praying for who don't know Christ. I
should regularly be linking up and bringing people here who
are far away from God. If I'm not doing that,
(09:39):
I'm not worshiping. I'm really not a worshiper. Because in
worship we confess the name of Jesus, we've sung to Him,
and it's easy to do that here a fellowship church.
But what about the gym, what about the golf course,
what about the classroom? What about the coffee shop? Can
(10:00):
you confess Him there as well? I don't mean to
be to be mean spirited or to preach to people,
but just to reach out to them at the right
time as you pray for them. Hey, why don't you
come to Fellowship Church with me? We want this place
to be a safe place for you to hear a
dangerous message. We want you to be comfortably uncomfortable, comforted
(10:22):
by Christ, but uncomfortable for him.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
You're listening to the creative connection with ed Young. Stay
with us to hear more encouragement from n before we
get back to today's message. Most of us spend our
lives avoiding pain at every turn, so when we inevitably
experience pain, it sends us into a tailspin and we
can wonder if God even cares. We want to help
(10:47):
you discover how your faith can deepen even in the
most tragic circumstances by sending you Ed and Lisa's powerful
book A Path through Pain. This resource is our thanks
for your gift to help faith to everyday life for
more people around the world through the Creative Connection. So
head over to Edyong dot com to give and request
(11:08):
your copy. Again, that's Edyong dot com slash give. Now
let's get back to today's message.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
The little finger stands for fess up. Fess up that
that's a little word for confession.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
You mean I should confess my sins as I'm going
to church. Before church. Where did you get that? Well,
I got it from the Bible. The Bible says in
Psalm one.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Sometimes you'll read some of the Psalms and it's not Palms,
it's Psalms.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
Sometimes people say, hey, I like the Book of Palms. No,
it's Psalms.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
But sometimes you'll read a Psalm and you'll see in
little a little writing beneath one of the numbers, a
psalm of a sin. In other words, like you're climbing
a hill, think about a treadmill.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
You put it on a fifteen degree incline.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You know, so as people would worship back in the day,
they would walk up a hill because the House of
God was on a hill, on an incline. As they
were climbing the incline, people followers of the Lord would sing,
(12:26):
and they would chant. So Psalm one point thirty, for example,
is the sum of a cent.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Let's read it. Out of the depths.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I cry to you, think about a single parent, out
of the depths.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
I cry to you.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Think about a student, think about a family. Out of
the depths. I cry to you, O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
We all need mercy. Once we meet Christ, we get
messed up by his mercy. If you, oh Lord, kept
a record of my sins, thankfully he doesn't. Aren't you
(13:04):
happy about that?
Speaker 3 (13:05):
I am?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
If you, oh Lord, kept a record of my sins,
who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness. Therefore
you are feared. What a poignant passage of scripture, were forgiven.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
God has extended his hand to you and to me.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
He's made up the distance between man and God, between
you and God and me, and God calls.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
By our sin. God has extended his hand. We grasp
his hand. Our sins are forgiven, forgotten.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
We're messed up by his mercy, and we trade our
guilt in for God's grace, our failures.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
For his forgiveness.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
We confess as we're going to church, is this something
you're involved in? And once we do that, see we
got the hand and we can grasp the hand of God.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I'm prayed up.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Rest it up, dressed up, linked up, fess up the
hand of God.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
After our first service, it was cool.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
A couple of students had written this on their hand
and we took pictures of our hands together and I
put it on my put it on my Twitter account.
That's at ed Young if you want to follow me anyway.
So we've talked about preparation and if you're a Christ follower,
this is for you.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
You're prepared. We got that down. Preparation.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Nod your head, yes, wave your message map again. Yeah, yeah,
all right, all right, you goat let's talk now about
another thing we need Number two see the blank, participation, preparation, participation.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
How do we participate in that thing? We do?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Now we understand once again that worship is our response
to God's identity and activity.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
By what we say and what we do.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
We understand that I'm talking though, about the finest hour.
I'm talking about what we do in God's office because
what happens in here affects what happens out there. What
happens out there affects what happens in here, You feel
me right? Preparation, We got to have that participation. How
do I really get engaged in this meeting? I mean,
(15:40):
I'm sitting on the edge of this buttersoft leather chair
in Bill Gates's office, sipping espresso, staring into his glass.
He's like, wow, I mean, I'm taking notes. I'm like
laughing even if something is not really that funny. I'm like,
you know, over after, you know you laugh too much.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
You know, sometimes complimenting things. You're like, well, why am
I saying that?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
You know?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Just just so, how engaged am I when I'm in
God's office? Why do I get engaged? Write it down?
I'll say it again. Write it down, Write it down.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I read a stat several years ago about about.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
People remembering stuff, and about.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Three or four days people forget ninety five percent of
what a speaker has said. Wow, they only remember five percent.
You'll only remember five percent of what I've said Wednesday. Well,
how do you change that? How do you turn the tide?
Write it down? Write it down. You write it down.
(16:52):
You can go back and check your notes. Write it down.
You got it. Write it down. You know when someone
scores the basket. I used to say this when I
used to play. When you shoot a three string music,
I used to say this. I would sometimes trash talk.
I would say, write it down. Because you got a
scorekeeper in a basketball game.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
They had to write down, Okay, he shot the three.
Write it down. Isn't that cool? That's a cool sound.
Want to make a T shirt? Write it down anyway?
Write it down. Also, sing it out, sing it out.
I don't care if you're tone death. Sing it out,
sing it out.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
The Bible says that we're to sing unto the Lord
a new song seventeen times.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Say seventeen with me seventeen times.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
The Bible says, sing a new song, a new song,
we write so many incredible new songs.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Study church history.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
After every great spiritual awakening, it was followed by new songs.
Isn't that cool?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
New songs? Sometimes to me, people will go, well, I
want to go back.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
I'm talking about back to the old school stuff, back
to the.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Traditional singing of the church. And I say, oh, that's great.
How far back do you want to go?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
To the Jewish melodies of the early church, to the
Gregorian chants?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I mean, how far back do you want to go?
Some of the great hymns of.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
The Church were simply bar songs that people put Christian
lyrics to. So take the most popular beats you might
hear some club, they just took that and put Christian
lyrics to it. When Silent Night first came out, you know,
Silent Night, Holy Night, people said there was not enough
(18:54):
gospel in it. When Handel's Messiah came out, people said, well,
it's just too repetitive singing to the Lord of the
New song. Traditional songs are great. Hymns are great, don't
get me wrong. However, singing to the Lord of the
new song, and when you sing, you sing to God.
(19:15):
Sometimes you'll see people with their hands lifted that's cool.
You might be going, why aren't people lifting their hands?
What is the natural response when a little baby, a
little toddler sees its father or his parent. This, there's
nothing like that. Dad's picked the child up. It supposed
(19:37):
to be held. When we're doing that, we're saying God,
I surrender my life to you.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
You're God. I'm not. You're sovereign. I'm not. You're omnipothent.
I'm not. You're omniscient. I'm not. You're I'm not present.
I'm not. I'm not. You are.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
That's what we're doing. When we extend our hands to God.
You don't have to lift your hands. Maybe you want
to put your hand over your heart. Maybe you just
want to.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Stand there like a statue. Cool, sing though, to the Lord.
I don't care if you're tone death. Sing to the Lord.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Most of us don't. An athletic contest. We'll sing the
fight song or sing here or there. We're tone death.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
But let's let's let's let's bring it at church as well.
So sing it out. Also soak it in like a sponge.
Soak it in. We soak it, We soak in the word.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
We soak in relationships, We soak in worship, but we
don't soak it in just to.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Be all bloated and heavy.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
I know some churches they're like the soaker churches, just
a bunch of sponges, you know, heavy sponges when it's
just pack full of water.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
What good, blitter? What good is that? I look at
a lot of people call themselves Christians.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
They're just old sponges, suck the life out of people,
the life out of everything.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
He just.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Sludge. The sponge is there to be used, right, we
apply it and we give it away. That's the fourth thing.
We soak it in, then we give it away. We
(21:37):
just squeeze the sponge. We allow God to take his
hand and squeeze our lives.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
As we pour a living water on people that we
see in our marriage, amongst our kids, our friends. So
we give it away, the water of life to so
many people who are thirsting for eternity. That's what we're about,
That's what Jesus wants us to be about.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
That is the beauty of the church and fellowship. I
thank you for understanding that fact.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
The finest hour, what happens in here affects what happens
out there. One of the tenth Commandments, honored.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
The Lord on the Sabbath. This is our Sabbath, the
resurrection day, the first day of the week. We give
this day to God. He blesses the rest. The same
is true with our finances.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
You realize when we have an opportunity to participate in the.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Offering, that's worship. How we handle our stuff. One out
of every.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Ten things Christ talked about was money, one out of ten.
When I bring my first to the house, it tells me, hey, ed,
hey dummy, it's not about you.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
It's about God.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
He has taken his hand and blessed you and blessed
your family with stuff. He wants a portion, so it'll
remind me. And also it's an act of worship to
him that everything it says that's part of worship. Are
(23:29):
you involved in that? You know we can't force you
to do that.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
It's between you and God. I'm just throwing it down, man,
We're got to give it away.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
So that's what happens when we are prepared and when
we participate in the finest hour. To this directive is
really really a scary thing. Don't do it.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
God commands it and demands it.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Make sure you're here something supernatural takes place as we
respond to God's identity, as we respond to His activity
by what we say and do in this house the
finest Hour.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Thanks for joining us today on the Creative Connection with
Ed Young. We hope you've been encouraged as Ed's shown
you how you can connect your faith to everyday life.
We'd love to help you even more in your spiritual
journey by sending you Ati Lisa Jung's book A Path
through Pain. This resource will help you see God's presence,
(24:34):
love and care in the middle of your suffering. And
it's our thanks for your gift to help connect faith
to everyday life from more people around the world. Just
head over to Eddyong dot com slash give to request
your copy. Again, that's Edyong dot com slash gift. Thank
you for your support. We'll see you next time on
(24:54):
the Creative Connection
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