July 9, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're excited that you joined us for today's episode of
the Creative Connection with Ed Young. We'll get to Ed's
message in just a moment. First, we want to invite
you to head online and sign up for Ed's daily
email Devotionals to get a daily dose of encouragement sent
to your inbox, covering relevant topics like victorious living, trusting God,
(00:21):
and living for Christ in our darkening world. Each daily
email starts with scripture followed by fresh encouragement from Ed
to help you think about and apply biblical truth to
your life. You'll also find a guided prayer at the end.
Sign up today by visiting Edyong dot com slash devotionals,
and while you're there, take a moment to browse previous
(00:43):
devotionals as well as watch and listen to messages from Ed.
Head online now to sign up and start receiving your
devotionals today. That website again is Edyong dot com slash Devotionals.
We look forward to connecting with you there. Now, let's
hear what Pastor Ed Young, what's for us today?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Every church is unique, just like all of us. We're
definitely unique. I don't know if you realize that or not,
but God loves diversity. If you didn't realize that, just
look around. We're all different, We're all one of a kind.
Fellowship Church is a unique church. I believe we're the
greatest church in the Western Hemisphere. I'm just partial. Obviously,
(01:23):
you think I would say that, and I know many
of you think that as well.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
There's a lot of great churches out there. But what makes.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Fellowship Church Fellowship Church? The first thing I want to
talk to you about in Fellowship Fellowship begins with the
letter F. We're focused. We're focused missionally. We're focused missionally.
The mission of Fellowship Church is not something that we
(01:50):
just grabbed out of the air. It's not something that
we thought, Okay, culturally, let's do what the culture wants,
or historically, let's try to follow the footsteps of the
early church fathers, or let's just do something that we
think is really relevant. No, the Bible tells us the
purposes of the church and the purpose of Fellowship Church.
(02:12):
Our mission is built around two key scripture verses, the
Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Say that with me,
the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Well, what's the
Great Commandment? One day they asked Jesus, Okay, what's the
net effect of everything you're talking about? Here's the great
commandment Matthew twenty two thirty seven through thirty nine. Jesus replied,
(02:38):
love the Lord your God, with all of your heart,
with all of your soul, and with all of your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is
like it, love your neighbor as yourself. What's the mission
of fellowship church? We exist to reach up. That's expressing
(02:58):
love to God. That's loving God and loving others. Everything
I do, say, touch and feel should be an act
of worship.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I exist. We exist fellowship churches here to reach out.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
That's expressing love to God. So I don't come to
church to worship. If I'm a follower of Christ, I
come worshiping. How I treat my spouse if you're married,
is an act of worship. How I parent all it's
an act of worship. How I play on the football
field an act of worship. How I act around the gym,
(03:35):
or on the golf course or whatever at the hunting lease,
it's an act of worship. Everything I do should be
an act of worship. I'm expressing love to God. So
at Fellowship Church. We exist to reach up. We also
exist to reach out. Reaching out is communicating Christ with others.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Reaching out. We're commanded to reach out. Now.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
The next verse I'm going to reach to you is called
the Great Commission. It's not the Great omission, it's the
Great commission. Jesus said this Matthew twenty eight, nineteen and twenty. Therefore,
go and make disciples of all nations. The word go
is as you're going. I always say, get your as
in gear. That's as as you're living your life, as
(04:20):
you're doing what you do. Therefore, go and make disciples.
What's a disciple. A disciple is a full court follower
of Christ. It's someone who has a personal relationship with
Christ and they're growing and developing and maturing in that relationship.
So we said, go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them. First of all, I have a personal relationship
(04:42):
with God. I'm a disciple. Following that decision, I'm baptized.
Jesus said, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, the Son of
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
That's discipleship.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Right to obey everything eat of the Christian life is obedience.
It's commitment right, and teach them to obey Jesus that
everything I've commanded you, and I'm with you always. So
a fellowship church, we exist to reach up. That's broken
down in Matthew twenty two, the Great commandment.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
We also exist to reach out.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
That's connecting Christ, communicating Christ with others. That is the
great commission. Go and make disciples. Don't just sit there,
don't just say yo, Go make disciples, baptize them, teach them.
That's reaching in. We exist to reach up. We exist
to reach out. We exist to reach in. Reaching in
(05:42):
is developing our relationship with Christ. We're in the disciple
making business at fellowship. A disciple, once again, is someone
who has opened to litter their heart up to Jesus.
They've asked him to take control of their lives. They've
(06:03):
received the mercy and the grace. They've received the gospel.
What's the gospel. Let's say together, the Death, Burial and
Resurrection of Christ. Let's say it again. It's the Death,
Burial and Resurrection of Christ. They've received the gospel. Then
they're living out the implications. They're maturing in their faith.
They're growing up. We're born again where babes in Christ
(06:26):
you seeing this birth metaphor. Then we grow and mature,
We move through immaturity and we move to maturity. That's
what fellowship church is all about. So here's the phrase
that pays, Are you ready for this? I know you're ready.
A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great
(06:46):
Commission will grow a great church. A great commitment to
the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a
great church. That's what fellowship is about. Where a Bible based,
Bible centric church E stands for engage. We engage creatively.
(07:11):
We engage creatively. In Genesis Chapter one, verse one, fifth
word of the Bible in the beginning, God stay with me,
created right created. The Church should be the most creative
entity in the universe. Creativity is the core of who
God is. If you ever go to church and are bored,
don't blame God, blame.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
The leaders of the church.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Because the church should be a life giving, life application,
life applicating. It should be a changing it should be
a dynamic entity. And if you ever go and you're
not engaged with that, with the life application, what you
(07:55):
should do not just in the service, but in between services,
then I believe you're not going to a fully obedient
New Testament church. It's about life application, so we should
engage creatively. Matthew thirteen thirty four. Jesus said to the
crowd in parables. He didn't say anything to them without
(08:18):
using a parable.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
It's a parable story and illustration.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
He was the master of the word, picture of the phrase,
of the question.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Look at Jesus teaching.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
He used different methodologies to connect with different audiences, but
he used the same and always talked about the same message.
And that's what we do here at Fellowship Church. The
message is the same. We don't mess around on the message.
We don't jack with the message.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
The message is the revealed Word of God. We do, however, use.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Different methodologies to communicate this unchanging book. That's what Jesus did.
So basically, people say, well, man, your church seems to
be innovative. Your church seems to be creative. I'm like, well,
every church should be. We stood out because of our creativity.
In a way, it's sad, because every church should be creative.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Think about think about your kids.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Kids when when they're given tests, when these tests tests,
for example, they're creative quotient. Most kids, when they're young,
they just score off the charts creatively.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Yet somewhere a long life journey.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
We trade in dreaming for dogma, we trade in the
artistic for the analytical. We trade in you could say,
our imagination for memorization, and we have this creative cramp. Well,
it's time that we discover who we are, whose we are.
It's time we discover that we're all creative geniuses. And
(09:55):
it's time we discover the church to be the dynamic
entity that God wants it to be.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
We'll return to today's message from Ed Young in just
a moment. First, though, Ed and Lisa Young know the
kind of pain most of us never hope to experience
the death of a child, and in their book A
Path through Pain, they share their family's journey through sorrow
and anger to hope and healing after the tragic and
sudden loss of their daughter. A Path through Pain is
(10:25):
our Thanks for your gift to help connect faith to
everyday life for more people through the Creative Connection. This
resource will help you see that God really does care
for you, and in the darkest of places, his light
still shines to show you a way through. So head
over to edyong dot com slash gift to request your
(10:46):
copy of this encouraging resource. Again, that's Edyong dot com
slash give. Now let's get back to today's message.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
So, what's the theology of creativity is? Throughout the Bible.
You can fill in the blanks. God invented it. It
was his idea. He could have made us all the same,
right he didn't. He could have made all churches the same,
he didn't. Jesus modeled it. He preached from boat, bows
and beaches. He drew in the sand. He pointed to
a sower scattering seed. He talked about a building that
(11:24):
had fallen over.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
He said, look at this child. Pick the child up.
You need to enter the Kingdom of God like this child.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
So he was always using these different object lessons, these parables,
these stories, because Jesus knew what we're just learning today.
Most of us are multisensory learners. Oh wow, God invented that.
Jesus modeled it. The Holy Spirit empowers it. It's not like, oh,
(11:56):
let me think of another gimmick, Oh let me do no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
The Holy Spirit empowers it.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And the Bible says where the spirit of the Lord
is there is freedom. And in this last phrase, I
love this last phrase. We do it. Don't just talk
about creativity. We do creativity and people desperately need creativity.
(12:21):
Our God is creative as we walk in him. The
Fesian chapter five, verse one, where to imitate him. That's
another verse I just threw in. And we should walk
in creativity. So here's the phrase that pays maybe a
tweet of the day if you're into that sort of thing.
At Fellowship Church, we want to be comfortably uncomfortable. We
(12:42):
want to be comfortable to people who were asking questions.
We want to be comfortable for people who are like, going, men,
what's up with this? I'm not sure I even believe
that Jesus was the son of God. We want to
be comfortable for people who are like, have doubts about
the scripture. Yet we're a church that gets up in
your grill.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
We're a church that applauds. We're a church that inspires.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Also, we want to challenge you to live the life
because what happens in here should affect what happens out there,
and what happens out there should reflect what happens in here.
There are different types of churches. One church that we
(13:25):
see would be the institutional church.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
That's a category, that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Institutional Who I get nervous every time I start writing
institutional church.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Another one that we see.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
In our world today, especially in America, the intel exshoe all.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
The intellectual church that spell it right.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Amen, Amen simply means so let it be yeah who Now?
This one is going to be the emotional church, all right.
These are different streams, different vibes of churches. They all
(14:18):
have their strengths, yet they all have their weaknesses. The
traditional church, the institutional church, the denominational church, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian,
so on and so forth. They pretty much perpetuate programs
even if the programs aren't working. Even if the horse
(14:40):
died like two decades ago, they're still riding that horseh
the institutional church, and they do a really good job,
a really good job of.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Tradition they perpetuate.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Usually they're into scripture, the Bible, you know, they're into missions.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
And programs.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
The institutional church, well, one of the drawbacks of the
institutional church is they're so locked into the past. They
end up putting tradition on the same level as the Bible.
For example, I wish we could sing and still grasp
the great hymns of the Church. I love the great
(15:35):
hymns of the Church. I grew up on the great
hymns of the Church. Did you realize, if you study
church history, that most of the great hymns of the
church were barroom tunes, and they simply put Christian lyrics
to these tunes. So all these great hymns of the Church,
so many of them that we think are so holy,
so righteous, so pure, we're really perpetuated in pubs around
(15:58):
the world where people were drunk off their rear and
some creative people just put some Christian lyrics to them.
I'm sorry to reign on your traditional parade at fellowship.
Though we've learned a lot from institutional churches. I'm not
hating on them at all. We want to, though, refine
(16:20):
and define tradition. When we talk about baptism, I mean,
that's not tradition, that's Bible stuff. We explain baptism, why
are we baptized, what does it mean to get back?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Whatever?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
When we talk about communion or the Lord's Supper, we'll
discuss that.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
So we've tried to.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Take the best from the institutional churches. The intellectual churches
would focus on head knowledge. They do a really good
job of teaching scripture. Yet they are reformed in their theology.
You might be going, what is that. They're very Calvinistic
five point Calvinists reformed theology. Reform theology is very sexy
(17:02):
these days for the young.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
People because it's all about head knowledge.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Had knowledge, had knowledge, had knowledge, had knowledg head knowledge.
A reform theologian says, well, God is sovereign, so basically,
at the end of the day, those who are elect
are going to Heaven. Those who aren't they're going to hell.
So really, why should I be that hot and bothered
(17:26):
about sharing Jesus with my hell bound neighbor? Really, what's
the point? I'll just puff myself up with all of
this knowledge. And they spend so much time explaining the gospel.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
They never proclaim the gospel.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Somewhere within the sovereignty of God is the fact that
we have a freedom of choice. The good side of
this is they're Bible people. The downside is they don't
reach anyone. And there's some of the meanest people I know.
They're like the modern day Pharisees. Generally speaking, rarely will
(18:09):
you find someone who is a reformed theologian who is evangelistic.
Rarely you've got some serious pride and a whole vibe
of being highly condescending.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
If you ever go online, ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Percent of all negative Christian blogs tweets are from this vein. Also,
we have the emotional that would be the church that
is all about the heart. They tend to put the
heart over over the head. In other words, this group
(18:46):
can become so rational that they missed emotion.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
This group is so emotional that if I don't feel it,
it must not be real.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So we better have a pep rally every weekend. So
let's start off soft and then at the end we'll
go everybody's dancing, well, people are fouling out, and everybody's screaming.
And I've heard a lot of those speakers, and I've
(19:18):
spoken at all those different types of churches, and I
learned from that. But so often I would leave after
crying and running around and go, what am.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I supposed to do?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
They didn't tell me that, Well, you've not worshiped unless
you've sweated.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
You're not worshiped unless you've cried. That's not true.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I think we do a great job at Fellowship Church
of engaging the emotions. God has feelings too, no doubt,
there's got to be a heart in it. But we
can't allow just because we feel something to trump scripture.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
So these are different differnt streams. Generally, speaking of churches,
Fellowship Church is a life application church.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
We've synthesized the good, the bad, and the ugly from
those and I'll put life application. Are we the perfect church? No,
I tell people all the time, if you're looking for
the perfect church, don't join it because you'll screw it up.
L Love radically, Love radically, Mark chapter two, verse seventeen.
(20:31):
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, it's not the
healthy you need a doctor, but the sick. I've not
come to call the righteous, but sinners. If we believe Jesus,
which we do, look at the beginning of his ministry.
When you begin his ministry, he said, followers, fish. He
didn't say, well, you know, it's about the elect and
(20:52):
you know the people who are elected going to go
to Heaven and the people who aren't they're going to hell.
So let's just grow deeper and teach the elect all
of this junk and all of this stuff, and let's
just puff them up.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
No, he didn't say that. What do you say, go?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
He said, engage the sick, Engage the sinners within all
of it. There is a freedom of choice. I've been
married to my wife for thirty two years. No one
forces me to love Lisa. It's a choice that I make,
a choice followed by implications. And I didn't realize the implications.
I really didn't realize them thirty two years ago, and
(21:31):
I'm realizing them more and more. So. God loves us,
and God commands us to share the love. Jesus commanded
when he began his ministry to share the love. Then,
right before he ascended to the Father, he said, not yo, go.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Go reach up, reach out reach in. It's not complex.
Here's the gospel.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Three lines number one, God's love from above, God's love
from above. And young people, listen to me, because you
are going to be tempted to stray into this self
centered miistic mentality here and also this self centered meistic.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Mentality in the emotional realm.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
That's where so many young people go because you're immature,
because it's about you, and these streams kind of you
know perpetuate that also too. The institutional thing many times
is about it's about it's about me. So so at
Fellowship Church again we're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
It's not about me, it's about thee. It's reaching up.
I get outside of myself. It's reaching out. And when
(22:36):
I do those two things, then I reach in. We're
the object of God's love. It's the first thing. Jeremiah
thirty one to three. I've loved you with an everlasting love.
But here's God's solution to my pollution. I've messed up,
I've fallen. I fumble the ball, so have you? What
did God do? God has a solution to our pollution.
What's the solution? John fourteen six. Jesus said, I am
(22:57):
one of the options, one of the ways. No, he said, no,
he said, I am the way, the truth in the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me. That's
a very, very controversial verse. You will not see that
verse on coffee mugs or T shirts because it talks
about the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. You mean, wait a minute,
you mean you mean Jesus is the only way. That's
(23:18):
what the Bible says, what about the person? And Nicaragua
has never heard. We're gonna trust God. But what are
you doing with what Jesus has revealed to you? That's
the issue. Don't try to turn the issue into someone
in Nicaragua.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
How about you, my brother? How about you?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
So God's love from above, God's solution for our pollution,
and I'm glad about that, aren't you? And in God's
call for our all, it's my call, that's your call.
I have a decision within this process. God is sovereign,
He's in charge, he knows it all. We understand that.
But within that, we're not robots. We have a freedom
(23:58):
of choice. Have you made this decision? Have you made
this call? The Bible says if you declare with your
mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that
He rose from the dead, you'll be saved.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
We're so glad you've joined us for today's episode of
The Creative Connection with Ed Young. We'd love to help
you continue connecting your faith to everyday life by sending
you a copy of A Path through Pain. It's Ed
and Lisa Young's powerful book about God's loving presence in
your toughest trials. You'll be encouraged as they recount their
(24:31):
own painful journey of loss to show you that even
in the darkest of places, God's light still shines to
show you a way through A path through pain is
our thanks for your gift to help reach more people
with biblical truth through the Creative Connection. Jess. Visit edyong
dot com slash gift to request your copy. Thank you
(24:52):
for your support. We'll see you next time on the
Creative Connection
We're excited that you joined us for today's episode of
the Creative Connection with Ed Young. We'll get to Ed's
message in just a moment. First, we want to invite
you to head online and sign up for Ed's daily
email Devotionals to get a daily dose of encouragement sent
to your inbox, covering relevant topics like victorious living, trusting God,
(00:21):
and living for Christ in our darkening world. Each daily
email starts with scripture followed by fresh encouragement from Ed
to help you think about and apply biblical truth to
your life. You'll also find a guided prayer at the end.
Sign up today by visiting Edyong dot com slash devotionals,
and while you're there, take a moment to browse previous
(00:43):
devotionals as well as watch and listen to messages from Ed.
Head online now to sign up and start receiving your
devotionals today. That website again is Edyong dot com slash Devotionals.
We look forward to connecting with you there. Now, let's
hear what Pastor Ed Young, what's for us today?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Every church is unique, just like all of us. We're
definitely unique. I don't know if you realize that or not,
but God loves diversity. If you didn't realize that, just
look around. We're all different, We're all one of a kind.
Fellowship Church is a unique church. I believe we're the
greatest church in the Western Hemisphere. I'm just partial. Obviously,
(01:23):
you think I would say that, and I know many
of you think that as well.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
There's a lot of great churches out there. But what makes.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Fellowship Church Fellowship Church? The first thing I want to
talk to you about in Fellowship Fellowship begins with the
letter F. We're focused. We're focused missionally. We're focused missionally.
The mission of Fellowship Church is not something that we
(01:50):
just grabbed out of the air. It's not something that
we thought, Okay, culturally, let's do what the culture wants,
or historically, let's try to follow the footsteps of the
early church fathers, or let's just do something that we
think is really relevant. No, the Bible tells us the
purposes of the church and the purpose of Fellowship Church.
(02:12):
Our mission is built around two key scripture verses, the
Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Say that with me,
the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Well, what's the
Great Commandment? One day they asked Jesus, Okay, what's the
net effect of everything you're talking about? Here's the great
commandment Matthew twenty two thirty seven through thirty nine. Jesus replied,
(02:38):
love the Lord your God, with all of your heart,
with all of your soul, and with all of your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is
like it, love your neighbor as yourself. What's the mission
of fellowship church? We exist to reach up. That's expressing
(02:58):
love to God. That's loving God and loving others. Everything
I do, say, touch and feel should be an act
of worship.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
I exist. We exist fellowship churches here to reach out.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
That's expressing love to God. So I don't come to
church to worship. If I'm a follower of Christ, I
come worshiping. How I treat my spouse if you're married,
is an act of worship. How I parent all it's
an act of worship. How I play on the football
field an act of worship. How I act around the gym,
(03:35):
or on the golf course or whatever at the hunting lease,
it's an act of worship. Everything I do should be
an act of worship. I'm expressing love to God. So
at Fellowship Church. We exist to reach up. We also
exist to reach out. Reaching out is communicating Christ with others.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Reaching out. We're commanded to reach out. Now.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
The next verse I'm going to reach to you is called
the Great Commission. It's not the Great omission, it's the
Great commission. Jesus said this Matthew twenty eight, nineteen and twenty. Therefore,
go and make disciples of all nations. The word go
is as you're going. I always say, get your as
in gear. That's as as you're living your life, as
(04:20):
you're doing what you do. Therefore, go and make disciples.
What's a disciple. A disciple is a full court follower
of Christ. It's someone who has a personal relationship with
Christ and they're growing and developing and maturing in that relationship.
So we said, go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them. First of all, I have a personal relationship
(04:42):
with God. I'm a disciple. Following that decision, I'm baptized.
Jesus said, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, the Son of
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
That's discipleship.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Right to obey everything eat of the Christian life is obedience.
It's commitment right, and teach them to obey Jesus that
everything I've commanded you, and I'm with you always. So
a fellowship church, we exist to reach up. That's broken
down in Matthew twenty two, the Great commandment.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
We also exist to reach out.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
That's connecting Christ, communicating Christ with others. That is the
great commission. Go and make disciples. Don't just sit there,
don't just say yo, Go make disciples, baptize them, teach them.
That's reaching in. We exist to reach up. We exist
to reach out. We exist to reach in. Reaching in
(05:42):
is developing our relationship with Christ. We're in the disciple
making business at fellowship. A disciple, once again, is someone
who has opened to litter their heart up to Jesus.
They've asked him to take control of their lives. They've
(06:03):
received the mercy and the grace. They've received the gospel.
What's the gospel. Let's say together, the Death, Burial and
Resurrection of Christ. Let's say it again. It's the Death,
Burial and Resurrection of Christ. They've received the gospel. Then
they're living out the implications. They're maturing in their faith.
They're growing up. We're born again where babes in Christ
(06:26):
you seeing this birth metaphor. Then we grow and mature,
We move through immaturity and we move to maturity. That's
what fellowship church is all about. So here's the phrase
that pays, Are you ready for this? I know you're ready.
A great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great
(06:46):
Commission will grow a great church. A great commitment to
the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will grow a
great church. That's what fellowship is about. Where a Bible based,
Bible centric church E stands for engage. We engage creatively.
(07:11):
We engage creatively. In Genesis Chapter one, verse one, fifth
word of the Bible in the beginning, God stay with me,
created right created. The Church should be the most creative
entity in the universe. Creativity is the core of who
God is. If you ever go to church and are bored,
don't blame God, blame.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
The leaders of the church.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Because the church should be a life giving, life application,
life applicating. It should be a changing it should be
a dynamic entity. And if you ever go and you're
not engaged with that, with the life application, what you
(07:55):
should do not just in the service, but in between services,
then I believe you're not going to a fully obedient
New Testament church. It's about life application, so we should
engage creatively. Matthew thirteen thirty four. Jesus said to the
crowd in parables. He didn't say anything to them without
(08:18):
using a parable.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
It's a parable story and illustration.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
He was the master of the word, picture of the phrase,
of the question.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Look at Jesus teaching.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
He used different methodologies to connect with different audiences, but
he used the same and always talked about the same message.
And that's what we do here at Fellowship Church. The
message is the same. We don't mess around on the message.
We don't jack with the message.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
The message is the revealed Word of God. We do, however, use.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Different methodologies to communicate this unchanging book. That's what Jesus did.
So basically, people say, well, man, your church seems to
be innovative. Your church seems to be creative. I'm like, well,
every church should be. We stood out because of our creativity.
In a way, it's sad, because every church should be creative.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Think about think about your kids.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Kids when when they're given tests, when these tests tests,
for example, they're creative quotient. Most kids, when they're young,
they just score off the charts creatively.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Yet somewhere a long life journey.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
We trade in dreaming for dogma, we trade in the
artistic for the analytical. We trade in you could say,
our imagination for memorization, and we have this creative cramp. Well,
it's time that we discover who we are, whose we are.
It's time we discover that we're all creative geniuses. And
(09:55):
it's time we discover the church to be the dynamic
entity that God wants it to be.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
We'll return to today's message from Ed Young in just
a moment. First, though, Ed and Lisa Young know the
kind of pain most of us never hope to experience
the death of a child, and in their book A
Path through Pain, they share their family's journey through sorrow
and anger to hope and healing after the tragic and
sudden loss of their daughter. A Path through Pain is
(10:25):
our Thanks for your gift to help connect faith to
everyday life for more people through the Creative Connection. This
resource will help you see that God really does care
for you, and in the darkest of places, his light
still shines to show you a way through. So head
over to edyong dot com slash gift to request your
(10:46):
copy of this encouraging resource. Again, that's Edyong dot com
slash give. Now let's get back to today's message.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
So, what's the theology of creativity is? Throughout the Bible.
You can fill in the blanks. God invented it. It
was his idea. He could have made us all the same,
right he didn't. He could have made all churches the same,
he didn't. Jesus modeled it. He preached from boat, bows
and beaches. He drew in the sand. He pointed to
a sower scattering seed. He talked about a building that
(11:24):
had fallen over.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
He said, look at this child. Pick the child up.
You need to enter the Kingdom of God like this child.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
So he was always using these different object lessons, these parables,
these stories, because Jesus knew what we're just learning today.
Most of us are multisensory learners. Oh wow, God invented that.
Jesus modeled it. The Holy Spirit empowers it. It's not like, oh,
(11:56):
let me think of another gimmick, Oh let me do no, no, no.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
The Holy Spirit empowers it.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And the Bible says where the spirit of the Lord
is there is freedom. And in this last phrase, I
love this last phrase. We do it. Don't just talk
about creativity. We do creativity and people desperately need creativity.
(12:21):
Our God is creative as we walk in him. The
Fesian chapter five, verse one, where to imitate him. That's
another verse I just threw in. And we should walk
in creativity. So here's the phrase that pays maybe a
tweet of the day if you're into that sort of thing.
At Fellowship Church, we want to be comfortably uncomfortable. We
(12:42):
want to be comfortable to people who were asking questions.
We want to be comfortable for people who are like, going, men,
what's up with this? I'm not sure I even believe
that Jesus was the son of God. We want to
be comfortable for people who are like, have doubts about
the scripture. Yet we're a church that gets up in
your grill.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
We're a church that applauds. We're a church that inspires.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Also, we want to challenge you to live the life
because what happens in here should affect what happens out there,
and what happens out there should reflect what happens in here.
There are different types of churches. One church that we
(13:25):
see would be the institutional church.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
That's a category, that's right.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Institutional Who I get nervous every time I start writing
institutional church.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Another one that we see.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
In our world today, especially in America, the intel exshoe all.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
The intellectual church that spell it right.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Amen, Amen simply means so let it be yeah who Now?
This one is going to be the emotional church, all right.
These are different streams, different vibes of churches. They all
(14:18):
have their strengths, yet they all have their weaknesses. The
traditional church, the institutional church, the denominational church, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian,
so on and so forth. They pretty much perpetuate programs
even if the programs aren't working. Even if the horse
(14:40):
died like two decades ago, they're still riding that horseh
the institutional church, and they do a really good job,
a really good job of.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Tradition they perpetuate.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Usually they're into scripture, the Bible, you know, they're into missions.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
And programs.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
The institutional church, well, one of the drawbacks of the
institutional church is they're so locked into the past. They
end up putting tradition on the same level as the Bible.
For example, I wish we could sing and still grasp
the great hymns of the Church. I love the great
(15:35):
hymns of the Church. I grew up on the great
hymns of the Church. Did you realize, if you study
church history, that most of the great hymns of the
church were barroom tunes, and they simply put Christian lyrics
to these tunes. So all these great hymns of the Church,
so many of them that we think are so holy,
so righteous, so pure, we're really perpetuated in pubs around
(15:58):
the world where people were drunk off their rear and
some creative people just put some Christian lyrics to them.
I'm sorry to reign on your traditional parade at fellowship.
Though we've learned a lot from institutional churches. I'm not
hating on them at all. We want to, though, refine
(16:20):
and define tradition. When we talk about baptism, I mean,
that's not tradition, that's Bible stuff. We explain baptism, why
are we baptized, what does it mean to get back?
Speaker 3 (16:31):
Whatever?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
When we talk about communion or the Lord's Supper, we'll
discuss that.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
So we've tried to.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Take the best from the institutional churches. The intellectual churches
would focus on head knowledge. They do a really good
job of teaching scripture. Yet they are reformed in their theology.
You might be going, what is that. They're very Calvinistic
five point Calvinists reformed theology. Reform theology is very sexy
(17:02):
these days for the young.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
People because it's all about head knowledge.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Had knowledge, had knowledge, had knowledge, had knowledg head knowledge.
A reform theologian says, well, God is sovereign, so basically,
at the end of the day, those who are elect
are going to Heaven. Those who aren't they're going to hell.
So really, why should I be that hot and bothered
(17:26):
about sharing Jesus with my hell bound neighbor? Really, what's
the point? I'll just puff myself up with all of
this knowledge. And they spend so much time explaining the gospel.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
They never proclaim the gospel.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Somewhere within the sovereignty of God is the fact that
we have a freedom of choice. The good side of
this is they're Bible people. The downside is they don't
reach anyone. And there's some of the meanest people I know.
They're like the modern day Pharisees. Generally speaking, rarely will
(18:09):
you find someone who is a reformed theologian who is evangelistic.
Rarely you've got some serious pride and a whole vibe
of being highly condescending.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
If you ever go online, ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Percent of all negative Christian blogs tweets are from this vein. Also,
we have the emotional that would be the church that
is all about the heart. They tend to put the
heart over over the head. In other words, this group
(18:46):
can become so rational that they missed emotion.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
This group is so emotional that if I don't feel it,
it must not be real.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
So we better have a pep rally every weekend. So
let's start off soft and then at the end we'll
go everybody's dancing, well, people are fouling out, and everybody's screaming.
And I've heard a lot of those speakers, and I've
(19:18):
spoken at all those different types of churches, and I
learned from that. But so often I would leave after
crying and running around and go, what am.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I supposed to do?
Speaker 2 (19:31):
They didn't tell me that, Well, you've not worshiped unless
you've sweated.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
You're not worshiped unless you've cried. That's not true.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
I think we do a great job at Fellowship Church
of engaging the emotions. God has feelings too, no doubt,
there's got to be a heart in it. But we
can't allow just because we feel something to trump scripture.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
So these are different differnt streams. Generally, speaking of churches,
Fellowship Church is a life application church.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
We've synthesized the good, the bad, and the ugly from
those and I'll put life application. Are we the perfect church? No,
I tell people all the time, if you're looking for
the perfect church, don't join it because you'll screw it up.
L Love radically, Love radically, Mark chapter two, verse seventeen.
(20:31):
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, it's not the
healthy you need a doctor, but the sick. I've not
come to call the righteous, but sinners. If we believe Jesus,
which we do, look at the beginning of his ministry.
When you begin his ministry, he said, followers, fish. He
didn't say, well, you know, it's about the elect and
(20:52):
you know the people who are elected going to go
to Heaven and the people who aren't they're going to hell.
So let's just grow deeper and teach the elect all
of this junk and all of this stuff, and let's
just puff them up.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
No, he didn't say that. What do you say, go?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
He said, engage the sick, Engage the sinners within all
of it. There is a freedom of choice. I've been
married to my wife for thirty two years. No one
forces me to love Lisa. It's a choice that I make,
a choice followed by implications. And I didn't realize the implications.
I really didn't realize them thirty two years ago, and
(21:31):
I'm realizing them more and more. So. God loves us,
and God commands us to share the love. Jesus commanded
when he began his ministry to share the love. Then,
right before he ascended to the Father, he said, not yo, go.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Go reach up, reach out reach in. It's not complex.
Here's the gospel.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Three lines number one, God's love from above, God's love
from above. And young people, listen to me, because you
are going to be tempted to stray into this self
centered miistic mentality here and also this self centered meistic.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Mentality in the emotional realm.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
That's where so many young people go because you're immature,
because it's about you, and these streams kind of you
know perpetuate that also too. The institutional thing many times
is about it's about it's about me. So so at
Fellowship Church again we're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
It's not about me, it's about thee. It's reaching up.
I get outside of myself. It's reaching out. And when
(22:36):
I do those two things, then I reach in. We're
the object of God's love. It's the first thing. Jeremiah
thirty one to three. I've loved you with an everlasting love.
But here's God's solution to my pollution. I've messed up,
I've fallen. I fumble the ball, so have you? What
did God do? God has a solution to our pollution.
What's the solution? John fourteen six. Jesus said, I am
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one of the options, one of the ways. No, he said, no,
he said, I am the way, the truth in the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me. That's
a very, very controversial verse. You will not see that
verse on coffee mugs or T shirts because it talks
about the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. You mean, wait a minute,
you mean you mean Jesus is the only way. That's
(23:18):
what the Bible says, what about the person? And Nicaragua
has never heard. We're gonna trust God. But what are
you doing with what Jesus has revealed to you? That's
the issue. Don't try to turn the issue into someone
in Nicaragua.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
How about you, my brother? How about you?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
So God's love from above, God's solution for our pollution,
and I'm glad about that, aren't you? And in God's
call for our all, it's my call, that's your call.
I have a decision within this process. God is sovereign,
He's in charge, he knows it all. We understand that.
But within that, we're not robots. We have a freedom
(23:58):
of choice. Have you made this decision? Have you made
this call? The Bible says if you declare with your
mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that
He rose from the dead, you'll be saved.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
We're so glad you've joined us for today's episode of
The Creative Connection with Ed Young. We'd love to help
you continue connecting your faith to everyday life by sending
you a copy of A Path through Pain. It's Ed
and Lisa Young's powerful book about God's loving presence in
your toughest trials. You'll be encouraged as they recount their
(24:31):
own painful journey of loss to show you that even
in the darkest of places, God's light still shines to
show you a way through A path through pain is
our thanks for your gift to help reach more people
with biblical truth through the Creative Connection. Jess. Visit edyong
dot com slash gift to request your copy. Thank you
(24:52):
for your support. We'll see you next time on the
Creative Connection
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