Membership Has It's Privileges · Part 1

0:00 Have you guys ever done something, maybe, have you ever been somewhere and you've not really thought deeply about where you are or what you're experiencing? I'll confess, I do that all the time. For example, I saw a picture of some mountains the other day. And when I saw the picture, I thought, that's beautiful.

0:30 I bet people, I thought to myself, ski on that mountain. I bet, you know, people snowboard and probably good trout fishing there, you know. That's what I thought about, and I went on. But if I thought deeper about it, I would realize that a mountain range is very important in the ecosystem. it's very important in our water source rivers and lakes and mountains serve as protection just geographically but I'll be honest with you I don't really think that deeply about a lot of stuff that I do how about walking down a sidewalk I've been on sidewalks already this morning.

1:30 Walked down the sidewalk to enter Fellowship Church and then walked out, got in the car, drove to our Frisco campus, walked down another sidewalk. And then I just walked into another sidewalk and through a sidewalk here. Sidewalks. Just cement, you know, just, you know, walking. but I don't really think about sidewalks in a profound way.

2:01 Architects design sidewalks. They make a statement. They are built for community. They protect us in inclement weather. They're interesting. sidewalks. I can walk on cement, not dirt or grass. And speaking of grass, we walk out in our yard and we look and maybe our yard doesn't look that great this time of year, but just kind of work with me. Then we'll maybe see some trees. Maybe we look at the ocean, a picture of an ocean, or Maybe you've been near an ocean and you see some algae in the ocean. I just kind of think, well, that's kind of gross, algae in the ocean.

2:54 Look at that tree, no big deal. But all of those plants are critical, if you think deeply about it, to our existence on this earth. And without it, I don't think I could breathe if my biology serves me correctly. I think it's also true we deal with that when it comes to the church, don't we? We see a church, it's like, oh yeah, that's the church. Or maybe we're a Christer, Christmas and Easter only attender.

3:28 And sometimes we just keep the church at a distance. We don't really think about it deeply. We don't really think that Jesus built it. We don't really consider what he went through and how he invites us to be members of his body. We don't think about our abilities and spiritual gifts that God has given us, and chiefly, they're not for me, and they're not for you. They're for others.

4:04 There's like 100 different one another statements in the New Testament. And if we're not a member of a church, we're disobeying a myriad of commands just by not participating as an active member. It's pretty interesting, isn't it? It's pretty deep. I mean, the church is the only thing that Jesus built. The church will last forever. Wow. today I'm going to talk to you about the church we have two groups of people here I mean I hate to limit you but about two groups group one would be those of us who are members of fellowship church or a church great I'm a member I've been a member here for 34 years I think this is the best church around. That's my opinion. Of course, I'm biased. There are great churches all over the place.

5:01 Okay. So I'm a member. When I go through some of these things, it's going to recalibrate and renew a lot of things that I've known, but maybe I've not thought deeply enough. Okay. The second group would be those here, you're not a member of a church. You're not a member of Fellowship Church. Today's your day to join the church. You'll have an opportunity right where you're seated to join fellowship. You need to join. You've been kicking tires and testing the waters for far too long. You've been keeping church at an arm's length distance. It's time to commit and to join and to become a part of the body of Christ. Yes, there are 2.2 billion Christians worldwide. We become believers. We're a part of the universal church. But as I said earlier, almost every time the word church is used, it's used in a specific local sense.

6:06 So if you're not using your unique gifts and abilities as a member of the church, the body is incomplete. Do you remember in 1987, some of you were alive then, remember that? American Express came out with this whole ad campaign. Membership has its privileges. And it would show all of these hip things, all of these A-lister things you could do if you had an American Express card. And they would close the commercial down by saying, membership has its privileges. Well, I'm going to argue membership to the body of Christ has its privileges. And the privileges are so potent and powerful. I want to let you in on some of these principles.

7:03 The Bible says in the book of Acts chapter 2, it says specifically in verse 42, they, and this is the early church, were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship. Wow, that's a great name for a church. Well, let's talk about some principles, some strategies, if you will, of the church. What is the church? What should the church be about, and what should I be about in the church? And I've taken the word fellowship and made an acrostic. I love acrostics. F-E-L-L-O-W-S-H-I-P. Give me an F. We're focused biblically. You'll see it there on your message map. we're focused biblically.

7:58 We believe the Bible. We even believe the maps. A few of you laughed. Those were the, I guess, folks who grew up in the Baptist church. We're focused biblically. What does that mean? Two things. I'm gonna read to you the great commandment and the great commission. Here's the great commandment. They asked Jesus one day, okay, Jesus, what are you talking about? What's the net effect of your whole deal? He said, 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. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.

8:42 So if I'm right with God through Christ, I'll be right with my fellow man. That's the great commandment. The totality of ourselves loving God. Matthew 28, this is the Great Commission, 19 through 20. Therefore, go and make disciples. What's a disciple? A full court follower of Christ, an incurable learner. Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And I'm with you always, even to the end of the earth, the end of the age.

9:17 Those two verses, the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, lead us to our strategy. Yeah, we have a strategy at fellowship. We exist to reach up, to reach out, and to reach in. Do that with me, reach up, reach out, and reach in. What is reaching up? Reaching up is expressing love to God. I just read you the great commandment, loving God with our all.

9:47 That's worship. Worship is something that everyone does. If you don't believe me, just watch some of the football games. I want to go, man, great worship, wrong object. And I'm not anti-football. I love sports and all that. I was just using that as an example. I don't want to get any of the bros mad at me. You don't like football, man. Yeah, I do, yeah, I do. As a believer, everything we do say, touch, and feel should be an act of worship. So as a believer, we should come to church worshiping, not, oh, I'm coming to church to worship. You see what I'm saying to you? Yet we're commanded, Hebrews 10, 25, to come together to worship because something supernatural takes place when the body of believers gather together to worship. but worship also happens out there.

10:45 So what happens in here should affect what happens out there. We exist to reach out. We also exist to reach out. That's communicating Christ with others. That's sharing through our example and through our words to others. Because we all have people who are drowning around us. We all have people who need to be redeemed and rescued by the blood of Jesus. I have people in my life that are unique to me. You have people in your life that are unique to you.

11:19 So as I'm reaching up, I need to be reaching out to them. That's why our church must never stop growing. Living things grow. So we want to continue to develop and continue to reach out. Then we exist also to reach in. This is, again, that discipleship issue. Reach in is developing our relationship with Christ. It is part of our, and it is our sanctification. We grow through the motions. we grow through infancy, adolescence, remember this? Maturity, that's the goal here, to become full court followers of Jesus Christ.

12:17 So here's the phrase that pays. Are you ready for this? A great commitment to the great commandment and the Great Commission will grow a great church. And that's a fact, Jack. Slap your neighbor on that one. That's as good as it gets. I mean, I didn't make that phrase up. I'm just, I read it years ago. A mentor of mine said that. But I've never forgotten it. It's so true.

12:48 I mean, we don't want to commit to anything these days, do we? But a great commitment to what? The great commandment and the great commission will grow a great church, yes. And that brings us to, give me an E. I love that letter E. We engage creatively. What? Oh, yeah. We engage creatively. Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created. The first thing we know about God is creativity. We're made in God's image, thus we're creative. We're creative. So turn to your neighbor and say this. Hey, neighbor, I didn't realize that I was seated beside a one-of-a-kind creative freak.

13:40 Man. That just blesses me to hear that. I'm made in the image of God. I'm a creative being. I have creativity that's unique to me, and so do you. Creativity, creativity. The church should be the most creative entity in the universe. If you ever go to church and are bored, don't blame God. Blame the leaders. Have you ever thought about Christ teaching ministry? That's all we're doing, taking a page out of his playbook. He preached from boat boughs and beaches. He drew in the sand. He picked up a child. He used things that the culture could connect with. Most of his teachings had to do with parables and word pictures. In Matthew 13, it says Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables. He didn't say anything without a parable.

14:39 So that's all we're doing here. So when it comes to this innovation, God invented it, creativity. Jesus modeled creativity. The Holy Spirit empowers it. The Holy Spirit inside of our lives ministers, teaches, controls us, and gives us these creative ideas. So God invented it, Jesus modeled it, the Holy Spirit empowers it, and we get to do it. We don't have to do it. We get to do this. We get to do this. So what is creativity? Here's the phrase that pays again. Turning what if into what is. If you're a business leader, do you want to change the course of your business meetings?

15:35 Two questions is all you got to ask. Number one, what if? Number two, what is? What if, what is? What if, what is? What if, that's the intangible. What if we tried that? I know this is a stupid idea, but what if? Okay, what if, what if, what if? And so you try it, and then once you try it, it becomes tangible, and you go, okay, what is? It is what it is, we say. What if, what is? What if, what is? That's a biblical principle you see. What if, what is? and we've tried a lot of things over the years that don't work, that's okay. Hopefully you try a lot of stuff that doesn't work either. But if you do enough, what if, what is, you're not gonna believe how your creativity will flow. But somewhere along life's journey, we have the creativity beaten out of us, don't we?

16:25 Talk to any child from one to like seven years old, they score off the charts as far as creativity. but somehow our culture just gives us this creative cramp. We trade in dreaming for dogma, the artistic for the analytical and then it's just boring.

16:51 That's not God. That's not God. this is fun isn't it give me an l oh we're flying now i got seven minutes left i can i can do it love radically love radically love radically we are to understand to the best of our ability the love of God. Jesus said in Mark chapter 2, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Our church, obviously, we're built on the Bible, and we're all about proclaiming the gospel of God. What's the gospel of God?

17:46 Listen to me very carefully. It's the fact that Jesus lived righteously. That's huge. Died sacrificially, rose bodily, and he gives us a freedom of choice in the matter. the Bible talks about this from cover to cover. You see the gospel. The gospel should be lived out in every facet of our lives. God's love from above is the first thing that we need to consider when we're thinking about the gospel. You matter to God. God loves you and me so much. If we understood it, we would fry circuits. We're loved that much.

18:39 Unconditionally by God. God's love from above. Jeremiah 31.3, I've loved you with an everlasting love. Wow. but God's solution to our pollution, we have a problem, and I'll talk about that. John chapter 14, verse six, Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, and this is the exclusivity of Christianity. Muhammad didn't say that. Confucius didn't say that. Some Buddhist monk didn't say that. Joseph Smith didn't say that. Jesus said that, And if there had been another way, do you think God would have allowed his son to have gone through what he went through? No.

19:26 But we have pollution, the Bible says, in our lives. I'm a natural born sinner, so are you. Our sins separate us from God. Our sins pollute our lives. There's nothing we can do to take care of this. God took care of it. His love from above, his solution to our pollution. What's his solution? What Jesus did for us on the cross, Jesus died in our place. So the third thing, after we understand God's love from above and his solution for our pollution is God's call for our all. we have to own the fact that God prepares people by the work of his Holy Spirit before that person even receives Jesus Christ. But I'm gonna tell you something.

20:19 What I just told you is the most important thing you can hear anywhere for all time. It's how to be rescued. I'm not talking about religion. I'm talking about a relationship. And my question to you is, have you been rescued? Have you? Because a lot of us are using poor flotation devices, and we're drowning in that pollution of sin. God, though, as you've heard me say, threw out the life ring, Jesus. And we either receive the life ring or not. So right now, I want to pause and just give you an opportunity to make this decision right where you're seated, okay? Would you bow your heads with me here, downtown Dallas, Fort Worth, our other campuses, our camp in Elasso Ranch?

21:15 I want you to say these words aloud, even if you're a believer, because it'll give people the confidence to say it next to you, maybe, or in your section who've never said it. Just say these words. Dear God, I know you love me and have a great plan for my life. I admit to you that I'm a sinner, that I'm polluted because of my behavior.

21:50 I turn from my sin and turn to you. I believe, Jesus, that you died on the cross for my sins and rose again. And right now, I ask you to come into my life. to forgive me, to cleanse me, to place the person of the Holy Spirit in my life. I give you all that I am and all that I'll ever be. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer with me, that's the greatest thing, the most amazing decision that you'll ever make.

22:49 And after this service, we'll have some people around at some of these tables here, and we would love just to talk to you about this decision. Because at Fellowship Church, we're about introducing people to Christ, and then we're about developing them by God's grace into full-court followers of Christ. That's why the phrase that pays is, the radically rescued rescue radically. You see that? I've been radically rescued. Wow. So I want to rescue others radically. Well, now we go to L.

23:35 I could tell you couldn't wait. Give me an L. Learn enthusiastically. Learn enthusiastically. We are a church of incurable learners, which, by the way, is a great definition for a disciple, an incurable learner. We learn through video. We learn through drama. We learn through solos. We learn through bands. We learn through, I like this side row here. We learn, don't we, through all sorts of things at Fellowship Church. Just think already the different senses that our worship team has tried to touch in this service.

24:29 I mean, the Bible says, I've read this verse to you already, Acts chapter two, verse 42. It says they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to be doers of the word and not hearers only. So we learn by seeing. man we've seen some cool stuff today some godly stuff by hearing i know we've heard some great stuff from the worship music to the word of god i mean i can go on and on feeling you know god has feelings too we we think about the feelings the emotions whenever we do anything at fellowship church. But it doesn't mean like, oh man, I didn't feel it. It must not be real. You know, that, I understand, but it's, so often, so often we don't feel our faith or feel the Lord Jesus every waking moment. I mean, obviously we have times where it's amazing, but, you know, I think you feel me, don't you?

25:47 Yeah, you got it, you got it. It's like marriage. I mean, I feel feelings of love for Lisa 24-7. For 42 years, it's just been marital bliss. No, okay. We have a wonderful marriage, but we have not felt feelings of lovey-dovey, love is in the air, all the time. And I know for some of you who are young and maybe you're dating that special someone, you're engaged, you're thinking, well, not me. I'll be different.

26:27 Sometimes we have to live by facts, don't we? So we learn by seeing, hearing, feeling, and doing. So information without application is an abomination. So 69% of Christ's words were words of application. 69%. Application is so what? What do we do? What do we do between services? I did a series, a seven-week series on theology. Theology. and we learned a lot of great stuff about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the doctrine of God, the doctrine of the Bible, all of those things.

27:23 But when we planned this, we didn't go, okay, wow, this is some great information from all these theologians. Well, yeah, we said that, but we said, okay, how, led by the Holy Spirit, can we apply this to where we are? What does this say to the businessman or woman who's struggling in their business? What does this say to the person who's just received this windfall? What does this say to the student who's like at the end of his rope or she's at the end of her rope? We're constantly thinking, and that's where the Holy Spirit comes in to give us the ability to do that. So information without application is an abomination.

28:06 Give me an O. we're organized simply. We're organized simply. Colossians 1, 18, and he, Christ, is the head of the church. 1 Corinthians 14, 40, everything should be done in an orderly and fitting way. You know, I'm kind of paraphrasing some of these, but you see them. Lisa and I have had four kids. We have seven grandkids now. I know it's hard for you to believe. You were thinking, man, Ed, I thought you were just 35. No, no, I'm a 1961 model.

28:52 But here's what I've discovered about kids. Now, when you have babies, the toys are inexpensive. And they're great. They're very simple. Like a block. I love the block. It might be the greatest toy of all time. It's just a block. And they can be so creative with it because remember, kids are creative geniuses. Or maybe a ball. That's another great toy. Very simple. I mean, the block and the ball, they don't really break, you know? A two-year-old's not gonna break the block. Yet when they get older, oh no, you know what happens. The toys become more expensive, more intricate. On Christmas Eve, you need a degree from MIT just to put the stuff together.

29:52 I like the simple stuff. And that is why Fellowship Church has a very simple structure. Here it is. God founded. We're God's church. Not my church. It's God's church. Also, we're pastor led.

30:13 Throughout the Bible, God has a plan. He picks a man. We're staff directed, or you can say elder directed. Those words can be used interchangeably. We're board accountable. We have a fantastic board of directors. If there's a legal issue, an accounting issue, we are audited once a year, we've passed with flying colors,

30:37 then we're member-activated membership as its privileges, remember that? That kind of sounded like Trump, didn't it? Remember that? I'm gonna dance like him in a little while, you watch. You wait. You think I'm kidding you? You think I'm kidding you? I'll do it, but I'm waiting for a time because our creative team, you know, we have planned this. And I'm kind of giving it away because it's better just to do it. You get a bigger laugh, but it's going to make sense.

31:12 So member activated. You guys are the ministers in a lot of ways. We have, in a lot of ways, we have some 1,500 volunteers that make fellowship happen each and every week. And again, I'm just blown away by the membership activation. And we have a small staff for a church our size. Most churches, I mean, there's not a lot of churches our size, but the ones that are our size, they have like, some have five times more staff than we do. But we do so well, by God's grace, due to you. so the church is amazingly simple and simply amazing I like that phrase so let's talk about membership membership has its privileges right uh ephesians 4 25 we're all members of one body every team has a roster every school has an enrollment every business has a payroll every army has an enlistment every country has citizenship even though right now ours is sort of tenuous No, I'm all for people.

32:35 All sorts of people coming into our nation. They just need to do it in the right way. And that's why. that's why I'm doing this message. It's not like, well, if you just show up, if you show up, you're a member. No, I want us to do it in the right way to officially commit to these things. Membership identifies our family, our family.

33:06 So that ushers in, you ready for this? The membership card. Everyone take out the membership card because we're going to do a song right now that really wraps up what membership is all about. You ready? Keep this music up. This is good because this is exciting. We are family. One of the biggest metaphors in scripture is that of the church being a family. Isn't that cool? So all you got to do with this membership card is just fill it out right where you are. No pressure.

34:00 It's between you and God. But it's time to get off the bench and enter the game. I like to keep going. I like it. Yeah, okay. So do you want to fill this out? And after you fill it out, we'll have some of our ushers to come forward. And we have these buckets. You can just drop the card in the bucket. But a lot of times, you know, we talk about newcomers class. We talk about joining the church. We talk about membership. First of all, we have to be a part of the family of God. We're adopted into the family of God. We're born again. Now, once we're born again, we need to be baptized. And then we become officially, we should, a part of the church.

34:58 Because if we're not a part of the church, there's no accountability. There's no responsibility. There's no loyalty. See, I mean, there's so many things you cannot do. But once you join, there are a lot of things you can do because you're a part of the family. But no one can sing it like the Pointer Sisters. How many in here have never heard that song before? We might have a couple of young people. Well, it's a great one.

35:26 All right, you can come down and collect the cards, guys. Let's give it up for these amazing helpers. These volunteers! Yeah, Trump really moves his arms, not his body, right? Yeah, I like that. Woo! After this, I've got some insider information I want to share with you. You'll love this. I like this music. Just keep this music. I love this. Okay. I've got something so fun to talk to you about. I'm a little bit over time. That's okay. We're in the fourth quarter. And hopefully we'll have a better fourth quarter than SMU had last night. But, oh, it was tough. Anyway, we are embarking on a new project that I am so thrilled about called the Anchor Project.

36:35 The Anchor Project, and you'll hear about this officially in January, it's going to be a 60,000 square foot addition to Fellowship Church for our students, families, for our brand new Fellowship University. We'll have pickleball courts, a cool lobby. Oh, there's a cafe. You got to have the coffee. I love that.

37:11 And this is part of a playground scheme that we're using from the Children's Building into our new addition. And here we are walking into this. This is a 1,200-seat worship center that will be used for our student ministry and also weddings and funerals. And we're in desperate need of a space like this.

37:36 Man, a nice crowd. Different offices, counseling centers, classrooms, coaching. What else do we have here? You know, we have Bible study classes that meet before and after these services. We'd love to have you a part of that. We'll have some of those rooms available. That's going to be the indoor and outdoor playground. Isn't that great? That's going to be fun.

38:14 Now, the total cost for this is going to be $30 million. $30 million. Now, the good news is we have the money. But the challenging news is the money is in our accounts.

38:35 I got you, didn't I? You're like, oh. Oh, we got it. The question is, how do we get it from your account and my account to the Anchor Project?

38:55 So again, Anchor Project, you saw what it entails. We're doing the outdoor amphitheater. Lisa and I, just between you and me, we are giving in the process of giving. the most massive gift that we've ever given. Now, when I say massive, what is massive? I don't know.

39:21 Our massive might not be massive to you, or maybe our massive is massive to you. I don't know. But that's how God works, you know? So no matter where you are, you can play a part in this endeavor because sometimes people come to fellowship church, I know, and you're like, Man, this is a nice church. This building, wow. It's kind of cold in here.

39:48 Well, our HVAC system costs millions. Man, look at those screens. Screens are really, really good. Millions. How about those comfortable lazy boys you're in right now? I paid for a lot of that. And so did many of you. Are you feeling me? so he's going to be the next group that joins us as we move this ball downfield. We cannot make anyone do this or pay for this. I just joined Lifetime Fitness. Anybody remember Lifetime? I mean, that's quite a place. You're talking about membership has its benefits. They have all sorts of things there. Well, last night I went to work out. Bodybuilders call it train. I call it working out.

40:40 I went to work out and my app was not working. And so I went through this long process with the lady and she helped me. And she finally said, you know what? Your app is not working. And she looked up my information. She goes, well, you're good. You can work out. I wondered, man, what if we did that at Fellowship Church? Before everyone comes, excuse me, let me check your account. Of course, we're not gonna do that. We don't do that. Some are like, where's the exits? I'm out of here. No, no, no. But I'm just saying to you, it is a freedom, it's a joy to be generous to the only thing that Jesus built. Because if you think about this, why do you have money? Some people have maybe a small pile, others have a massive pile. Why do you have money? Well, chiefly, it's not for you and me. I mean, yeah, we're to enjoy the fruits of our labor, but it's for one another.

41:38 So I'm looking forward to this as we tackle the Anchor Center. And again, you'll be hearing more about it January and the 1st of February, okay? That's my insider information for today. I'm gonna pray and we will continue to move on. Is this the end of the service? Okay, I didn't know that. It just says pray right here on my little screen. Okay. I'm going to pray, and that will be the end of the service. But I think we've got to go out with that song cranked up. I really like that song. I bet the Pointer sisters are believers. I'm going to believe that. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this great day. Thank you for being a God of the family. Thank you for adopting us and allowing us to be a part of this, your family. We ask all these things in Jesus' name.

42:34 Amen.