Summer Shorts V // Pastor Chuck Colegrove // July 20, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up?
Free Church man.
What a powerful day in thepresence of the Lord already.
And if you're a guest today,thank you for joining us.
Church family, welcome ourguest today.
We know you could be a lot ofplaces.
We're glad you chose to be here.
Everybody watching online inthis region and around the world

(00:20):
we welcome you as well.
And if you are a guest maybefirst time or first time in a
long time we just invite you toa little area down in the lobby
right after service called NextSteps, and just get a chance to
put a name with a face meet.
Some of our team love to meetyou.
We have a gift as our way ofsaying thanks for being our
guest.
And, man, we are moving forwardin this summer season.

(00:43):
Can you believe, man, we aremoving forward in this summer
season.
Can you believe, man, thismonth of July is almost July, is
almost, almost done and but notto not done yet.
Somebody tell your neighbor notdone yet.
So, but we're gonna close theservice today, as we do every

(01:04):
weekend, giving you theopportunity.
Two things Number one, to makea decision to follow Jesus and
for church family this is notfor our guests, but church
family a chance to give yourweekly tithe and offering and we
thank you for your generosityto this house.
It helps us move the vision ofthe church forward.
We have big things happening inthe fall moving to two services
, a 9 o'clock service, an 11o'clock service, making room for

(01:28):
the things that God is doing inthis house, and I'm so excited.
Listen, I'm ready to preachGod's word.
Are you ready to receive ittoday?
The year was 2003, and we wereliving in Houston at the time
and we were serving at a church,great church, our home church,

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and had a team that was growing.
And you know, in church lifeyou have Sunday service and then
you'll have all kind of eventsthrough the week and occupying
different bits of space, likethis week in this building.
There was even in the summermonths.
We have college here.

(02:09):
People college from our friendsdown in the city.
They use our building onTuesdays.
They had graduation on Saturday.
We had staff meeting on Tuesday.
We had gatherings WednesdayDuring the fall season.
There's small groups, there'switness that meets on Sunday.
There's young groups.
There's witness that meets onSunday.
There's young adults.
There's always something going.
Freeway's coming up next weekfor everybody to get plugged

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into church life.
So church life is busy lifereally.
And so we were in Houston, had agathering that was the
membership class like ourfreeway and had a great class,
had a lot of people attendingand at the end of it, everybody
starts to clean up.
And you know, when you're apart of a servant-hearted

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culture leadership team,everybody pitches in cleaning up
.
If there's something to be done, we get to do it.
It doesn't matter what our roleis.
Our title is this is how weserve.
And so we were cleaning up and,as one of the pastors on staff,
I was stacking chairs and oursenior pastor and their wives

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they were cleaning up in thekitchen and moving stuff here or
there.
And one of our staff memberswas having a conversation with
one of the new families and oneof the new families says wow,
everybody's cleaning up.
Do you need to be cleaning up?
And the staff member lookedback at the new member and said,
oh no, I don't do garbage.
And about two months later shedidn't do staff members either.

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She was out the door.
It's the year I learned when youmodel servant-hearted
leadership, you liveservant-hearted leadership and
there's nothing below whatevertitle you live in.
Anybody can be great becauseanybody can serve.

(04:00):
Why don't you turn to yourneighbor and say we are having
some summer shorts, and justlean over to the one next to you
and just say I'm glad you don'thave yours on, that's a gift.
That's a gift.

(04:22):
That's a gift.
We're getting ready to closeout this summer series.
Next week.
I'm gonna close it off with onemore stint through the Gospels,
but we've been in this patternReally.
It's a passage of Scripturethat's in Ezekiel, chapter one,

(04:44):
in verse 10, and you can pullthat up on the screen and it
says this as for the likeness oftheir faces, each had the face
of a man, the face of a lion,the face of an ox and the face
of an eagle.
And we know that this is avision that Ezekiel had of of
the Lord, not in terms of likephysical appearance, but in

(05:08):
terms of character appearance,who he was, how he would operate
.
And Jesus, when he walked onthis earth, he walked with this
character trait that Ezekiel sawin the Old Testament.
And we know that the book ofJohn, the book of John, john
talks about the face of the lionthat Jesus walked in, because

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Jesus walked in powerful,anointing, he was a hundred
percent God.
And then Luke talks about theface of man, that Jesus walked
not only with powerful anointing, being a% God, but he was also
100% man and he was personallyrelational.
He built relationships, hecared for people and spent time

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with people.
And we say this that as leaders,as followers of Jesus because
how many know, as we followJesus, we're leading somebody
you don't have to have a titleto have influence.
Anyone can have influence,anybody can be great because
anybody can serve.
And so this is the thought thatwe have to be anointed, we have

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to spend time with Jesus, wehave to spend time seeking the
Holy Spirit.
We need to live with ananointing because it's not by
might, it's not by power, it'snot by strength, says's not by
strength, says the Lord, but bymy spirit.
So it's the anointing thatmakes the difference, it's the
anointing that lifts the burdenand destroys the yoke.

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So we have to live with ananointing, we need to pursue the
anointing in our life.
But we can't just be all aboutthe anointing.
We have to be good with peopleand if you pray for patience,
you might be anointed to bepatient, but you're going to
have to be patient around people.

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I dare you to drive through OakPark and stop at a stop sign
for too long.
And stop at a stop sign for toolong.
You pray for patience.
You're gonna have to sit at thestop sign for a minute and not
be mad when they honk their hornat you.
We gotta be good with people.

(07:18):
People are not an interruptionto our business, people are our
business.
So that was the book of Luke.
So John talked about thepowerful anointing of Jesus,
luke talked about the powerfulministry or relational aspect of
Jesus.
And then last week we talkedabout Matthew.

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Matthew was an accountant.
Matthew gave us the face, thecharacteristic of the face of
the eagle of Jesus, that he didall things well.
And man, what a lesson for usto learn.
Last week, as my mic went outin battery power while I'm
preaching on excellence, Ialmost fired myself, but I don't

(08:04):
fire people on Monday, so Imade it, and then I was calm by
Tuesday.
So we should pursue excellence.
Excellence is not perfection,but it's doing the very best
with what we have in front of us.
The very best with what we havein front of us.

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It means when we see a littlepiece of paper on the floor, we
don't walk past it.
Husbands, when you walk throughthe living room and the pillows
on the couch are a little funkybecause the kids were laying on
it earlier, fluff it up.
Put it straight you want agreat marriage, pursue

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excellence in your home.
That's just extra credit, man,it's so fun to preach in this
house.
You are the best audience topreach to.

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So now we get to the book ofMark.
We say Mark for last, which isironic, because Mark talks about
the characteristic of Jesus inthe face of the ox.
And if you know anything aboutthe ox, the ox is there to serve
.
The ox is what digs, ditches,the ox is what carries heavy

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loads, and the book of Markgives us the example of the
servant-hearted leadership ofJesus.
Which is interesting to me,that Mark, that we're looking at
this book last, because Markwas actually the first one to
write the gospel.
It's second in order of the NewTestament, but he was the first

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one to write it.
Which is interesting becausedoesn't the Bible say the first
will be Like things don't justhappen.
Which is interesting becausedoesn't the Bible say the first
will be Like things don't justhappen for a reason.
Everything happens for a reason.
Things don't just happencircumstance like oh, it was a
coincidence.
There's nothing that ever justoccurs to God.

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So Mark talks about the servantheart leadership of Jesus and
Mark wrote his letter that wecall the gospel of Mark.
It's actually John Mark, but inorder to not be confusing
between the book of John and thebook of Mark, we don't want to
call it John Mark.
So Mark wrote to the Romans andthe culture of the Roman culture
of that day.
This is why.
This is why Mark skips tellingabout the genealogy of Jesus,

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because Roman culture wasn't soconcerned with the birth of the
savior.
They wanted to know about thebeginning of the ministry of the
savior.
So Mark writes and begins withthe beginning of Jesus' ministry
, which was his baptism.
Look open up the book of Mark,chapter 1, if you've never read
it, it's a great read.
And you read the first opening,like Mark's, letting you know.

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This is what's happening.
John came to preach a message.
But here we go Jesus getsbaptized, and that's the
beginning.
And so Mark spends time.
Gets baptized, and that's thebeginning, and so Mark spends
time.
In fact, one of the keyscriptures in the book of Mark
is Mark, chapter 10, verse 45.
And it says this even the sonof man did not come to be served

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but to serve and to give hislife as a ransom for many.
Mark tells us about the servanthearted leadership of Jesus,
tells us about theservant-hearted leadership of
Jesus, and it's amazing to methat Jesus flips the script or
flips the culture upside down.
It's not the greatest will bethe greatest.
It's actually.
If you wanna be the greatest,you're gonna have to be the

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least.
If you wanna be first, you'regonna have to be used to being
last.
There's a little book that ifyou want to be first, you're
going to have to be used tobeing last.
There's a little book that ifyou're a leader and you want to
distinguish yourself in anaudience, in a community, in a
workspace, in church life,there's a book.
It's entitled Leaders Eat Last,eat last.

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And it is a principle ofleadership that even though I'm
the leader and maybe I should gothrough the line first, maybe
I'm entitled to that.
No, you're not Eat last.
Let everybody else go first.
I always love it when I sit inan audience of leaders and I
watch when it's time to havelunch.

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I just love watching who goesfirst and it makes a big
difference Because you can seeit, not only when they go
through first in line, but inthe rest of their leadership.
That's just extra credit.
So Jesus flips that upside down.

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And Jesus did not comeexpecting a crown.
He came carrying a towel.
And what do you do if you'rethe strongest person in the room
?
You wash feet.
And Jesus showed us the wayinto the kingdom.
Authority is through serving.
It's not through title, it'snot through a throne.

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It is through serving.
It is through picking up thetowel and getting some work done
.
Shelby shared in our team rallytoday and she shared a passage
of scripture out of the gospelsthat sometimes really, I'll be
honest, sometimes I don't likeit when people share it, and

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it's the story of Martha andMary.
And Martha was the one who wasserving in the kitchen, serving
around the house, hosting Jesusand all the people in the house.
The house was full and Marthawas serving, serving, serving,
serving, serving man.
There's nothing like going intoa home where there's a good
host.

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That's why I love coming intoFree Church, because we have
such a great host team and youcome in here and you feel right
at home, you feel welcome, youget the best cup of coffee,
feels like home.
So Shelby was talking about thisnot in my notes, but it just
occurred to me as I was thinkingabout this moment and there's

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Martha who serves, serves,serves, serves, serves.
And then there's Mary who'sdoing nothing but sitting at the
feet of Jesus and Jesusactually says she's doing the
most important thing.
But listen, nobody gets to thefeet of Jesus unless somebody's
serving and hosting.
And that's what Shelby said andI was like I was about to be
mad because she was sharing thatscripture before team rally.

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And then she flipped it and Iwas like well done, shelby, as a
great word, because no one getsto get to the feet of Jesus
unless we serve, unless we dowhat God's called us to do Open
the door for somebody.
Smile, have good breath,welcome High five Fist bump,
good cup of coffee.

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Find a seat, get close to thefront.
Leaders lead from the front.
Nobody gets into the presenceof God if we just all expect it
to be all about us.
Anybody can be great becauseanybody can serve.
Servanthood is the front doorto the kingdom of God and his

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power.
The foundation of aservant-hearted leader is found
in attitude and motivation.
Why am I serving?
Am I serving so I get good patson the back and that-a-boys and
way to go and accolades and theattention and advancement and
acceleration, or am I serving tomake a difference in somebody's

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life, to help them find theirway to Jesus Attitude and
motivation?
Jesus did not come to be served, he came to serve.
And in our culture we live in aculture that is give a little
but get a lot culture.
Did you hear that we serve in aculture of what have you done

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for me lately?
Ooh, yeah, that's Miss Jackson,if you're nasty, sorry, I'm
sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'msorry.

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We live in a culture what haveyou done for me lately?
But our attitude as servantleaders is what can I do for you
?
We have to flip that scriptupside down.
We come into a room.
We're not there to be served,we're there to serve.
We're there to say what can Ido?

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How can I help you?
Man, it's so good to see you.
Can I get?
Let me, let me get you over tothe coffee bar, let me get you.
Come on.
Do you need some water?
What do you need?
Do you need a mint?
People listen.
This is the thing when you livein a give a little, take a lot

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world people's hearts, motivatedby self-interest, put their own
agendas, their own safety,their own status, their own
gratification ahead of thoseaffected by the decisions
they're making.
You hear that it is impossibleto make a decision to help
somebody else if you're livingonly for your self-care, your

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self-need, yourself-gratification, your
self-fulfillment.
In fact, if you study thehierarchy of fulfillment in
sociology, psychology, thegreatest level of fulfillment is
not doing something that youlove, it's doing something great
for somebody else.
And I need to preach a serieson that.

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Write that down.
So look at this passage ofscripture 2 Corinthians, chapter
six, verse seven.
It says this Paul's writing wefaithfully preach the truth.
God's power is working in us.
We use the weapons ofrighteousness in the right hand
for attack and in the left handfor defense.

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We serve God, whether peoplehonor us or despise us, whether
they slander us or they praiseus.
We are honest, but they call usimposters.
We are ignored, even though weare well known.
We live close to death, but weare still alive.
We have been beaten, but wehave not been killed.
Our hearts ache, but we arestill alive.

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We have been beaten, but wehave not been killed.
Our hearts, our hearts ache,but we always have joy.
We are poor, but we givespiritual riches to others.
We own nothing, yet we haveeverything.
That is the attitude of aservant-hearted leader.
I don't live for the applause,the applause, the applause.

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I live for the audience of one,and if I do what I'm supposed
to do and what I'm called to do,no matter what anybody else
thinks, it does not impact myattitude or my motivation to
serve.
Listen, you have to learn totell your feelings, what you

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think and what you believe.
If you're going to serve, ifyou're going to model
servant-hearted leadership, youhave to tell your feelings, what
you think and what you believe,because, listen, your feelings
are real, but they're not alwaysright.
And notice how Paul had allthese things that were stacking
up against him, but it did notimpact his attitude.
Because my attitude, I'm notserving.
So you say good job, it feelsgood, I like it.

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I'm serving because this is themandate on my life Jesus came
to serve, not be served.
And therefore, if I want tomodel the ministry and the
leadership of Jesus, I have toserve and not be served.
And so this meansservant-hearted leader.

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This means for you wake upevery day and say this I will
wake up every day and have thebest attitude.
Remember Charlie Brown, thecomics man?
Students, young adults, y'allmissed the days like you missed

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out on the comic section.
Google it.
But Charlie Brown had a littlefriend Linus no, not Linus.
Who was the other guy?
Who was the guy that was somessy and dirty?
Oh, his name was Pigpen.

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Imagine that Walked around inthe comic strip with a little
cloud of dirt and dust over hishead.
That's the way some of you walkinto a room every day.
And how are you going to servepeople when you've got a crummy
attitude?

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I'm cold, I'm hot, I'm thirsty,I'm tired, I'm hungry, my feet
hurt.
What have you done for me?
That's what you're saying.
But, man, we need to trainourselves and teach ourselves as
servant-hearted leaderships.
I'm gonna flip the script.
I'm gonna have the bestattitude every day when I wake

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up.
Guess what?
Because my attitude is notbased on how you treat me.
In fact, in the book ofProverbs it says doing good
things and kind things to peoplethat mistreat you is like
dumping coals of fire on theirhead.
Listen, you don't have to tradeinsults or bicker back and
forth or point fingers.

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Just be nice and serve, and man.
It'll ruin their day but makeit so much better.
So there's a word for havingthe best attitude in the room,

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there's a word for having thismotivation inside of you that's
not predicated on how peopletreat you, and it's called joy
man.
I know I always tell you thisabout my parents, sorry,
sometimes I have thoughts.

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My dad passed away a few yearsago and sometimes I have
thoughts my dad passed away afew years ago and sometimes I
have thoughts that are just thatemotion of losing him like just
sneaks up on me.
But they used to sing this song, this joy that I have, the
world didn't give it and theworld can't take it away.
And they lived that.

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Pastored in eight years in BayCity, michigan.
Pastored for 35 years in GrandRapids, michigan.
Had people treat them terrible,do terrible things to them.
They were not honored in manyways that I feel like they
should have been honored andstill they never lost the joy of
serving Jesus and servingpeople.
I was thinking about it whenUrs and I were dating.

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My dad had a Chevy pickup truckand it was this two-tone blue
and gray pickup truck.
It was a big truck.
It was so much fun to drive.
It was really fast for a truckand I could pull a boat with it
and my dad gave it away tosomebody that needed a vehicle.
Well, there goes, my truck hadthe best cassette player in it.

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And then he bought another carand it was an Oldsmobile Cutlass
and I was like, well, this iscool too.
It's got some wider tires, it'sgot some good rims, this is
kind of fun to drive.
And he gave that away.
And then he had a car, a MonteCarlo, and he let me drive it.
But he bought a Lincoln becausehe wanted a little bit fun.

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Like the Monte Carlo hurt hisback when he was riding in it
and so he let me drive the MonteCarlo.
Monte Carlo hurt his back whenhe was riding in it and so he
let me drive the Monte Carlo.
He bought a Lincoln and then hegave that away.
But he never did it for theresponsible people.
He did it because that's theway he served.
He gave, he was generous andeven when people treated him

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poorly and hurled insults hisway, I would watch him just
stand there and just be a manand stand up for what he knew,
but then serve the mess out ofthose people Because he had this
joy that the world did not giveand the world cannot take away.
You see, people need us to walkwith anointing and they need us

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to walk with the ability to berelational and get along well
and be good with people.
They need that and they need usto walk with excellence so that
there's a standard that createscomfort and honors God.
But people need to be aroundpeople who have joy and serve
with joy.
Doesn't the Bible say serve theLord with gladness that will

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wreck some churches.
I'm so thankful, lord, I justgotta give thanks to God.
I'm so thankful that FreeChurch is not a church where we
have to like prod and poke andpull you to serve the Lord with
gladness.
That church can be enjoyed.
It doesn't have to be endured,like when people like Christy

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stand here leading worship.
Stop and have a vulnerablemoment to tell you.
This is why I don't give up inpursuing the presence of the
Lord, because he healed me.
Listen, we'll write checks forthat all day long.
We'll give to this house asmuch as we can give.
Why?
Because some of us with thegift of giving.
We give to that, because weknow more miracles are on the

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way.
So people need the anointing.
People need to be inrelationship because it develops
discipleship.
People need the pursuit ofexcellence because it honors God
and creates comfort.
But people need to be around usbecause we have joy, we serve
with gladness.

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It's like you could just saythis this is why I married
Urshana, because Urshana haslived her life with this
principle I will be the life ofthe party.
I will bring the party to anyenvironment.
If you've ever been around her,you know that's right.
A lot of work to do, but youknow what.

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We're going to stop and have aparty.
A lot of work to do, but youknow what.
We're going to stop and have aparty and, like man, when it's
time to plan a party, be aroundthis one, because it's just.
There's so much excitement andlists and honey to do's,

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excitement and lists and honeyto do's.
I think she said one time shewas like I think we're going to
redo the whole kitchen beforeSaturday.
I was like for what?
But you know why?
Because she brings the party tothe environment and I'm going
to tell you if you would livewith that attitude, people won't

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run from you in the office anylonger.
You know who you run from inthe office.
Hey, how are you doing today?
I'm out, I'm out, but getaround the one who had some fun,
bring some joy in the room.
Man, come on.

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That will change theenvironment.
I will change the environmentwith a party attitude.
I know that sounds simple, butit is so powerful if you will
live in it.
Joy isn't just a byproduct ofserving, it is the fuel to serve
.
Product of serving, it is thefuel to serve.

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If you serve without joy.
There's a two-word thing thatthere's a few words I don't like
about church words and one ofthe church words that's used
nowhere else.
But there's a word calledburnout, because people are like

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well, I was serving and I wasreally giving my all in the
church, and then there's a listof things that happened the way
people responded, the way theywere treated or the way they
were not treated, and thenthey're like so I burned out.
But really what happened wasthey were serving with joy and
then they stopped serving withjoy and then they burned out

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Because they weren't servingwith the proper motivation or
fuel.
I want to cancel that burnoutattitude.
If we're going to cancel thingsin this culture, let's cancel
burnout and let's serve with joy.
It is a joy.
It is a joy to serve the Lord.
It is a joy to be in God'shouse.

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It is a joy to be in God'sservice.
Nehemiah 8.10 says this Skip up,okay, this is the best.
This is why I love the Lord.
Look at what Nehemiah says Goand enjoy choice food and sweet
drinks.
Oh, by the way, in August, youknow?

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In January, we have 21 days ofprayer and fasting.
In August, we're going to have21 days of prayer and feasting
Because of this verse right hereCome on somebody.
Eat, be merry, have fun, breakbread with one another, take

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over restaurants.
Let's go.
Go and enjoy choice food andsweet drinks.
I'm going to get some sweet teatoday that's what I'm having
and then send some to those whohave nothing prepared.
This day is holy to our Lord.

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Now watch this and do notgrieve.
Watch this For the Lord.
The joy of the Lord to our Lord.
Now watch this and do notgrieve.
Watch this, for the joy of theLord is our strength.
The joy of the Lord is ourstrength.
Why can I serve the Lord withgladness?
Why can I serve his house withjoy?
Because the joy of the Lord ismy strength.
It's what sustains me.

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I have sustainable joy, notbased on circumstance, but based
on the Lord, is my strength.
It's what sustains me.
I have sustainable joy, notbased on circumstance, but based
on the Lord.
And the joy of the Lord be inmy strength.
All right, let's close it, wrapit, liam.
You better come.
This is why, listen, yourstrength is not for ego, it is

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for assignment.
Strength is not for ego, it isfor assignment.
That's why Jesus, notably thestrongest person in the room,
got down on his knee, grabbed atowel, a basin of water and
washed feet.
Because your strength is notfor ego, it's for an assignment.
In fact, romans Paul says thisto the Romans.

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He says each one of you needsto look after the good of the
people around you, askingyourselves how can I help?
That's the motivation, not whathave you done for me lately?
How can I help?
Those of us who are strong andable in the faith need to step
in and lend a hand to those whofalter, and not just do what is
most convenient for us.
Because look at this passage,underline this Circle.

(32:44):
This, take a picture of it.
This is the line that we liveby at Free Church.
This is servant-heartedleadership Strength is for
service, not status.
It's not the joy of the job, itis the joy of being.

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It is not the joy of beingrecognized, it is the joy of the
Lord, joy sourced Jesus, joysourced Paul.
And that is a strength thatcannot run out, because it is a
strength you do not earn.
It is a strength you are given.

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Because it is a strength you donot earn, it is a strength you
are given.
When I go to the gym and I liftmy weights.
I have this recurring theoryabout going to the gym and
lifting weights, that I could goto the gym every day for years
and it not really changed mylike, my arms have been the same

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in the gym or out of the gym.
So some of you may say, well,you're not lifting enough, and
then I would say, well, I'mlifting everything I can, Like
that 35 pounds.
Listen, when I am in the gym Iam getting stronger Because I'm

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earning that strength, becauseI'm investing.
But listen, the joy of the Lordis not a strength that you earn,
it's a strength that's givenand it can't be taken away.
Scripture says that the Lord,when he gives a gift, he doesn't

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take it back.
He never he doesn't take itback.
It says the gifts of the Lordare without repentance.
A number of ways you couldwrite that and work on that and
like preach it out.
But the reality is, when Godgives you something, he's not
gonna take it away.
That's why you can have joy inany circumstance and that's why

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joy can fuel you to serve.
It gives you a strength thatyou didn't earn, and so I can
serve in any circumstance.
Strength is not a platform,it's a plow.
Strength is not just aspotlight, it's a shovel, and
God gives you joy so that youcan go further than your

(35:37):
feelings.
So back to this thought.
I bring the party to theenvironment.
It comes from this joy that theLord gives you and you can
actually just prepare yourself.
I'll be the happiest person inthis room.
That's gonna.
My gift to this room is I'mgonna be happy today.

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Why are you smiling?
Because I'm happy and even if Idon't feel it, I'm gonna talk
myself into it.
I'm alive, I'm awake, feel it,I'm going to talk myself into it
.
I'm alive, I'm awake and I feelgreat.
But, pc, you stayed up allnight working on a project.

(36:23):
Yeah, I know, I feel great.
Talk me down, try to talk medown.
It's just, it's the gift God'sgiven me and the gift God's
given you.
It's the same gift.
I know there is a fruit of thespirit that is joy, but God gave

(36:45):
you joy before he ever gave youthe spirit, and that joy is
your strength.
Set yourself apart, distinguishyourself apart, distinguish
yourself, be a positive.
Yes, we can person.
I mean, the world is going tohell, but we can do something

(37:09):
about it.
We can, we can, we can, we can.
God has a plan, but he justneeds somebody to believe that
he can do it.
Listen, man, summer crowd.

(37:33):
This is a big crowd for summer.
It looks good in this house.
Well done, coming to church onSunday.
Our young adults, our youth,are coming back tomorrow.
They land at like 10.30.
You'll feel the ground shakewhen they land and they'll be in
this house next week and it'sgoing to be electric.

(37:53):
And then Sunday night they'lldo a this house next week and
it's going to be electric.
And then Sunday night they'lldo a combined service with young
adults and the youth andthey'll be in this house sharing
testimonies.
You're welcome to be a part ofthat on Sunday night.
And listen, god has a plan tosave this community.
Do you believe he can do it andare you willing to allow him to
do it through you?
Because he's not going to do itif we don't serve?

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We gotta make room for peopleto get to the feet of Jesus.
We gotta serve our way to makesure everything's ready, in
store, in stock, ready to go.
Doors are ready, open doors.
Somebody turned the AC onearlier this morning, all these
things.
Somebody came and turned thesound system on.

(38:37):
Somebody came and set theinstruments up.
Somebody came.
All that was done before wewalked in here.
You know what?
And most of you made a decisionbefore you ever got into this
room if you'll ever come backagain based on how you felt
walking in the room and none ofthat gets ready if we don't
serve.
So listen, I'm gonna close thisservice by just compelling you.

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You'll find your greatest joyin fulfillment when you serve.
I mean, it's great to be inchurch.
Two of you, thank you.
It is great to be in church,man.
We have great services, but asgreat as our services are,

(39:19):
you'll feel even better serving.
And if you've never joined ateam, been on a team, I want to
invite you next week to freewayextreme.
We call it.
We're going to call it extremefor one sunday and then it'll
forever be just called freewayagain, but extreme because we're
doing it all in one one-on-one,two-one one, three one.
We're doing it all in like anhour and a half to hour and 45
minutes.
Maybe two hours, we'll just see.

(39:40):
But no, it'll be, we're gonnastreamline it.
Get everybody that can.
If you've never done freeway orif it's been a few years since
you've done freeway, you shoulddo it again.
We'll have a light continentalbreakfast, a little brunchy kind
of style, ready for you, andwe'll have childcare.
And our goal is to get you to bea part of a team as we get

(40:01):
ready to launch two services.
Because how many know thevision, the vision?
There's some weight to thevision of filling this house two
times, not because we wanna bebig, but because people need
Jesus and God has a plan butneeds us to be willing to
believe it.
And so my thought is this thatif we can double our team as we

(40:25):
get ready to go to two services,if you're not serving, that
means we're making room for youto serve and find more
fulfillment and walk in a powerand an anointing and a joy that
you never experienced before.
So sign up, register throughRenee forward slash freeway,
register for freeway man.

(40:46):
There's so many things coming up.
We are going to race our waythrough the end of this summer.
We are going to launch intosmall groups.
We're going to launch into twogroups.
We're going to launch into twoservices.
Big Ask is coming.
It's going to be how many arehaving the best year of your
life?
And guess what?
It's going to keep gettingbetter.
You know what my prayer is everyday God, show me how good it

(41:07):
can get.
Show me how good it can get.
God, because you're able.
All the gifts from God are good.
Man, what a great day to be inGod's house.
Can you receive that word today?
I need to quit preaching.
Let me pray for you.

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Father, I thank you for thisroom.
I thank you for every person inthis room.
I thank you, god, that you'vegiven us the ability to follow
you, to follow you, be more likeyou, and even in all the areas
that we might fall short in,you've given us a grace to get

(41:51):
back up and keep going.
Hey, listen, if you're in thisroom, you never made a decision
to follow Jesus.
I'm going to pray this prayer.
Maybe it'll be the first timeyou've ever prayed it, or the
first time in a long time, and Ijust want you to pray this
prayer.
Church family, we're all goingto pray this together, but maybe
this is your first time, orfirst time in a long time.
You ready, let's all pray.
Dear Jesus, thanks for lovingme, for paying a price I could

(42:14):
not pay to give me a gift Icould never earn.
Be my Lord and Savior.
I turn from my own ways and Iwanna follow you in Jesus' name.
Amen, amen.
Hey, if that's your first time,first time in a long time,
praying that prayer text, thisword decided the number's coming

(42:37):
up on the screen Text, the worddecided to that number, you can
stop by.
We have Bibles down in the nextsteps area to give you as our
way of helping you take nextsteps and listen.
God's up to something good.
Register for freeway.
Hang out a little party in thelobby.
Maybe not the patio, dependswhat the weather's doing, but we
have a popsicle for everybodyin the house, all the kids and

(42:59):
all the adults that thinkthey're kids.
Everybody gets a popsicle inthe house.
Today's gonna be delicious, hey, if you're giving today, thanks
for your generosity.
Come on, let's all standtogether and just thank God one
more time for a great day in hishouse.
Hey, may the Lord keep you,bless you, cause his face to
shine upon you.
We'll see you next week,everybody.
God bless you.