The Three Commitments

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“Mayday : Part 2 : The 3 Commitments”

May 26, 2019

By Ed Young

I want to say hi to everyone at all of our different environments. Thank you so much for showing up during this Memorial Day weekend. Wow. You know, at Fellowship Church we’re one church in many, many locations and when you walked in you were handed a brochure, and this brochure says Fellowship Church. And I’m going to go through this.  It’s very, very important that you keep up with this and fill in the blanks, because whenever you see a blank it kind of, screams, “Fill me in. Fill me in.” So, we’re going to fill in this as we run through this material. Also, too, there is a card, set this card aside I’ll refer to this later. It says Fellowship Church Membership Card. Set that aside and I’ll refer to that in just a couple of moments.

Mayday, mayday, mayday. Today is a day in May and who knows, this could be your mayday. It really could. Mayday, mayday, mayday is a distress signal.

It’s something that was adopted in 1923 that you say over the radio if you’re in trouble. Mayday, mayday, mayday. You say it three times so no one will get confused you’re saying something else, and again, it’s all about help, it’s about an emergency situation.

Maybe, just maybe you’re experiencing a mayday right now. Maybe, just maybe you’re one of our … You’re at one of our different environments and you’re experiencing a marital mayday, a moral mayday. Maybe a mayday at the marketplace, maybe a spiritual mayday. Today though, can be your day to say mayday, mayday, mayday. Today can be your day to get rescued. To get help no matter who you are. So, as you listen to what I’m saying don’t think about the person on your right or left, think about yourself, because God has you where you are for a reason.

He’s brought you here by his sovereign hand to hear what we’re going to talk about, because I’m going to basically discuss three commitments, three things that we need to say and do that will give us the rescue that we desire.

So, take out your brochures and let’s just run through this, because I want to unpack with you really, the most important thing I could talk about. I’m going to talk about three things that are arguably the most important things out there. Are you ready? I can tell.

So, brochures in hand. I’ve got this super cool technology (Telestrator). Whoa. I’ve got this finger right here and there’s no telling where it will lead us. Mayday at Fellowship Church. Watch this. Watch this.

A commitment … A commitment to what? Believe. Believe. What does it mean to believe? Belief is the most important thing that we’ll ever do. Everything starts with belief and it’s stunning to see how often we believe in things, it’s stunning to see how often we have faith in things just as we live life, we have faith.

Now and then I’ll talk to someone and they’ll go, “I just don’t have enough faith.” I go, “Yes you do. You get behind the wheel of a car, you have faith. Oh yeah, you drive a boat, you have faith. You sit in a chair, you have faith.”

We walk and live by faith. A commitment to believe, that’s what faith is, “I believe something.” Here’s what Jesus said. Jesus said, “This is the most important thing in the universe.” They asked Jesus, “Okay Jesus, what’s the net effect of everything you’re saying.” He said … Read it with me, (Matthew 22:37-38) “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. This is the what? First and greatest commandment.”

So, the greatest thing anyone will ever do, anybody, I don’t care if you’re on welfare or a billionaire, is love God with all of your heart. Well, how do you do that? Commitment. Commitment. What does commitment mean? Commitment means pledging yourself to a position no matter what the cost.

Lisa and I have been married for 37 years. 37 years. And yesterday I had the privilege of marrying my son. He and Jessica were married and they’re now, I think somewhere in Cabo on their honeymoon and that was fun to be a part of that celebration, of that commitment.

I talked about, when I did the wedding, love is not a feeling. Oh yeah, they’re feelings. Love is about pledging yourself to a position no matter what the cost. It’s committing, and obviously you have to have feelings, I’m not saying that. Feelings though, come and go like the tides. Low tide, high tide, slack tide. You know? Low feelings, no feelings, hot feelings.

So, if you’re waiting for feelings, “Oh, I’ve got to feel it and if I don’t feel it, it’s not real.” You’ll never stay married. You’ll never be committed to anything or everything. And I’ve written a lot about this as I’ve written about marriage and relationships.

Marriage is not always the easiest thing. So often it’s the hardest thing, but it can become the greatest thing if you’re willing to work. Following the Lord, it’s a easy decision, it’s a faith step, a belief step and obviously feelings flow, high tide, low tide, slack tide, as we pledge ourselves to that position then the feelings will follow.

Yet, commitment, that 10 letter word, is a game changer, it’s a C change. So, Jesus said, “You got to love God.” Well, how do you love God? Let’s talk about it real quick. (Matthew 22:37-38) “The second is like it, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” So, if, I’m right with God I’ll be right with my neighbor.

Okay. Here’s several things I want you to understand. God loves us with all of His heart. Isn’t that great? It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it doesn’t matter where you are God loves you right where you are. Doesn’t matter what you did last night, last week. Doesn’t matter what family you’re from, doesn’t matter what you have or what you don’t have, I’ll tell you right now, bottom line you’ve never locked eyes with someone that does not matter to God.

Everyone matters to God. God loves us with all of his heart, but there’s an issue. Okay? “God so loved the world that he gave His only son,” this is John 3:16, “whoever believes …” There’s the word again, Has faith in him, “…shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

Okay. Something else, Man broke God’s heart, because of heart failure. Heart failure. Heart problems, I believe the last I checked, one of the top causes of death in the world, heart problems. I had open heart surgery two years ago. I had a tiny valve that wasn’t working, part of the valve. Most of the valve was doing fine, but there was one little part that wasn’t.

They cut me open from stem to stern, stopped my heart, opened my heart just to fix, not replace, a mitral valve. Sowed me back up and look at me now. Better than ever.

Man broke God’s heart, because of heart failure. What’s our failure? We’re not perfect, we sin, God is righteous, he’s holy, he’s perfect, he can’t look at sin, he can’t wink at sin. We are in a dilemma. An eternal dilemma, because we have chosen to turn our backs on God and to do our own thing, our own way. We have a sinetic condition given to us by the first man and woman who failed, who chose to rebel against God.

(Romans 3:23) “For all have sinned…” Now, what does the word all mean? Every single person. So, on one end you’ve never locked eyes with someone who doesn’t matter to God, but then on the other you’ve never locked eyes with someone who is not a self centered sinner. “I just know how to sin. I’ve never been tutored in the subject, I just know how to do it.” All right.

 

Number three. God’s solution to our heart failure is, say it with me. Jesus. Jesus.

Jesus. We don’t deserve this. This is complete grace, something that I’ll never, ever, ever earn. Something I’ll never work for. It’s God’s solution. There’s only one solution, it’s Jesus. People say, “Well, oh, there are many ways to God.” No. I mean, if that were true God would not have sent his only son to live a perfect life, to die a torturous death, to be buried and to rise again.

In fact, Jesus said, John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s what Jesus said. It’s the exclusivity of Jesus.

So, God’s solution to this problem is Jesus. {2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)} “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,” Check this out. Jesus became sin. The sinless one took all of our iniquities, all of our misfortune, all of our mistakes, all of our mess-ups, he took it upon himself. He voluntarily was nailed to a cross, suffered, died, rose again, and if we believe, check this out. What happens? We become righteous.

In other words, {2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)} “For He made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” If you have believed on Jesus, when God looks at you he doesn’t see, “Wow, there’s a self centered sinner.” No, no. He sees the righteousness of Jesus. Isn’t that awesome? I want to clap my hands for that, because I don’t deserve that.

Here we go. See, it’s our choice. We choose to have a heart transplant or not. It’s your choice. I can’t make it for you. I wish I could, I can’t. I went to the heart surgeon he looked at my heart, did all these tests and he said, several years ago, “Ed, your mitral valve, part of the valve is not working. I’m going to have to make an incision from here to there, saw your chest open, stop your heart, open it and work on your heart for five hours and because you’re in great shape you’re going to be as good as new.” That’s what he said. One of the top heart surgeons on the planet. Just through a unique chain of events through my father and some other people I was able to get into him, and he performed the surgery. I chose to submit myself to him, because he told me if I waited for six months I’d die. So, I thought, “Let me think. Death, or huh, heart surgery. I’ll choose heart surgery. It’s my choice.”

I mean, I didn’t have to, right? I didn’t have to do it. And I had faith in him. Are you going to have some doubt with faith? Yes, because if it was certainty there would be no faith, there would be no belief. Certainty? No. People are like, “Well, I’ve got to be certain.” Well, you’ll never be certain.

I would argue, when I performed the wedding yesterday in Dallas with EJ and Jess, were they 100% sure? Really? I mean, 100% … Guys, don’t answer this. Just look at me right now, okay? I think you feel me.

We choose to have a heart transplant or not. Check this out, (Ezekiel 36:26) “I’ll give you a new heart. Is that good?, “and put a new spirit in you;” I mean, our world is going insane. Am I the only one? No. Look at the government, look at the world, look at Christians being martyred and murdered, look at just, the depravity of man. Human trafficking and abortion, and immorality. Education, that’s it. I mean, I’m for education, that’s not the answer. Legislation. That’s not going to work. Only a heart transformation will give you a new heart, a new spirit, “and will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” What a powerful, powerful thing.

Let’s read this together, (Romans 10:9) “If you …” That’s you and me, “If you …” Once again, let’s read it again, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your …” There it is again, “heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.”

Let’s do this right now. Maybe you’ve never made this decision. You don’t have to bow your heads or close your eyes. You can just say these words with me. I said this, God gave me a new heart years ago. Last weekend we had many people, many, many, many people pray this prayer of belief. God gave them a new heart.

I mean, why put it off? I mean, what do you have to lose? Let’s do it now. You know what the bible says? The bible says, (2 Corinthians 6:2) “Today is the day of your salvation.” You’re here for today. Today is the only day you have. And as I mentioned last time, there was a family at one of our locations who were in a tragic automobile accident the night before Easter. The husband and wife were killed, and the three children walked away.

Thankfully the husband and wife, when they had an opportunity to believe, prayed that prayer right here at Fellowship Church and they were baptized. And they belonged and joined the church.

So, today is your day. I’m not telling you that to scare you. I’m just saying that’s the reality. So, let’s say this prayer, if you want to. I want everyone to say it. I know a lot of people have said it, but maybe you’ve never said it and those of us who’ve said it are saying it to give others the Godfidence, confidence to say it. All right? Just look at me. Just say this.

Dear God.

Dear God.

I know you love me with all of your heart.

I know you love me with all of your heart.

I confess I’ve broken your heart.

I confess I’ve broken your heart.

Because of my sin.

Because of my sin.

I turn from my sin.

I turn from my sin.

I change my direction.

I change my direction.

I receive you Jesus.

I receive you Jesus.

Into my heart.

Into my heart.

Give me a new heart.

Give me a new heart.

A new life.

A new life.

A new spirit.

A new spirit.

Thank you.

Thank you.

For bringing me into your family.

For bringing me into your family.

I’m born again.

I’m born again.

I’m adopted.

I’m adopted.

In Jesus name.

In Jesus name.

Amen.

Amen.

 

You know what the bible says? The bible says when someone makes that decision there is literally a party going on in heaven. And for those in Texas a heavenly hoedown going on. Belief, commitment to belief. What is Fellowship Church about? We’re about belief. It begins there. The most important thing you can do is have this commitment to Christ, this commitment to believe, but there’s more. Okay.

 

There’s more. Okay. In Acts 2:37, let me set the context, the first church was established. Remember this, Jesus, after he had died and rose again after about 50 days of appearing to all these people, one time he appeared in the resurrection body to over 500 people. He ascended and then the Holy Spirit came down and the church kicked off. Jesus went up, the Holy Spirit came down, because Jesus had to go up for the Holy Spirit to come down. The church went out and the community came in. That is the pattern of the church. This is the first church. “When the people heard this,” when they heard the first sermon at this church, “they were cut to the… There’s the word again. What? Cut to the what? “…Heart” They said to Peter and the other apostles, I love this, “Brothers, what in the world shall we do?” What do we do now?” They were cut to the heart, they were convicted. They realized, “Wow, I’ve broken God’s heart. What do I do now? What do I do now? What do I do now?”

Commitment To Baptism. Thousands believed, and then there were baptized. You have belief and baptism. Say it with me- Belief and baptism- Belief and baptism. You repent, then you’re baptized. It’s really repentize. Once you repent, and repentance is not something that’s popular. It’s not something that sexy to talk about, but repentance is, “God, I am a criminal. I deserve eternal punishment. I deserve hell. I though, believe that you, God, sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins and to rise again. I turn from the way I’ve been living. I make this about face. I confess to you, I’m a sinner. I turn from that. I turn to you. I turn from the rejection of Jesus, and the reception of sin to the rejection of sin and the reception of Jesus.” That’s what it means when someone repents. We repent, and then the first act, the first step of obedience after repentance, is Baptism. You believe, then you’re baptized. Have you been baptized? One time a little kid said, “Hey, Ed. Pastor Ed, I want to get advertised,” and I laughed I’m like, “Ha ha,” then I thought, “That’s brilliant. That’s what it is. We’re advertising that Jesus has come into our lives.”

Let’s talk about baptism. (Acts 2:37-38) “When the people heard this, they were cut to the…” what? “heart. and they said to Simon Peter and the others, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter replied, “There we go. “Repent.” That’s belief, B-E-L-I-E-F. That’s belief and what?

Baptism. Baptism. That quick, there were to liquidate, get it. Go, Simon Peter said, after repentance, H20. Go H20. “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of… the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, “Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins.” When someone’s baptized they’re saying, “I’m advertising my faith. I am showing people that I’m a follower of Christ.” It’s a sermon, but a sermon with symbol. Here’s the Prerequisite For Baptism. Repentance. If you’ve been baptized, then you should have first of all become a believer.

How many people in here know what Louis Vuitton is? Louis Vuitton. Is there anyone who doesn’t know what Louis Vuitton is? I doubt it. Louis Vuitton is intergalactic. Louis Vuitton though, is the number one designer of knockoffs, of fake stuff. Have you ever seen some fake Louis Vuitton? Have you ever had some fake Louis Vuitton? My hand’s still in the air. It’s really hard to detect the real deal unless you know what you’re looking for then, “Well, is that? No, it looks real. Kind of really looks real. Can I look at that? Wow. That’s Louis, right? Oh, it’s fake. It’s fake.” You might think that. “It’s phony, I would never have fake Louis Vuitton even though it’s extraordinarily expensive. I’m going to save and I’m going to buy the real thing one day. It’s fake.” Louis Vuitton is knocked off everywhere, and people can really, really imitate Louis Vuitton. Are you a knock off spiritually, or are the real thing?

I mean, I’m just asking you, because when you repent, you represent, say that with me. You repent. You represent, how do I represent through baptism. If I’ve truly repented, if I’ve truly believed, what am I going to do? I’m going to represent. If you’re a knock off… Let’s say you have repented, but you’ve not represented, you’ve not been baptized, you are a knock off, you’re fake, you’re a phony, because you’ve turned your back on the first opportunity to go public. You’ve turned your back on the first command that Jesus has put before you. The first commitment. You’re phony, you’re fake. It’s really difficult to tell because you look real, but as you begin to ask some probing questions and kind of examine it, “Oh really? You’ve not been baptized?”

Now, technically, can you be a Christian without being baptized? Yes. I mean, a lawyer could argue that. Yeah. Hebrews 11, those people weren’t all baptized. The thief on the cross, he wasn’t baptized. But, every single person who had the opportunity, in the New Testament, to get baptized, they were baptized. Last week we baptized hundreds of people across our campuses. You probably saw on my social media, if not go to my social media, Ed_young, we baptized a woman who’s paralyzed from the shoulders down. Unbelievable.

If you’ve repented and you’ve not represented, you’re a knockoff. If you’ve not repented and represented, again, you’re a phony. It’s a knock on the work of Jesus on his death, burial, and resurrection. But, if you’ve repented and represented, you are GQ man. You are sporting and representing Louis man, the real deal. You’re a fashionista of faith. Because, the Bible says we’re clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. You think Louis Vuitton’s something? That’s cheap stuff compared to what we are clothed in.

The prerequisite, The Pattern Of Baptism. What’s the pattern? The pattern. Repentance, remember this? And baptism. Belief, baptism, you line up all the scripture about baptism in the scripture, it’s belief then baptism. “Yeah, I was sprinkled as a kid.” Awesome, my wife was sprinkled as a kid. But that was really for her appearance. I mean, she didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t understand that Jesus had died on the cross for our sins and rose again. She didn’t understand that she was a sinner in need of a savior.

There’s an age of accountability. Only God knows that age. If an infant passes away before that age of accountability they’re right into the arms of Jesus, there’s no worries there. There’s no worries in that situation. If you’ve been baptized as an infant, good for you. We’re not saying your baptism didn’t take. I would tell you though, if you said that with me, if you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” I would tell you to get baptized today, and today, at all of our environments, we’re baptizing. We have uniforms for you to put on. We’ll give them to you. Cool black shorts, black shirts, there’s some cool stuff on it. The pastors will be baptizing. We’ve never lost anyone in the baptismal pool. There are no sharks or snakes in the baptismal pool.

Every person that I baptize, and I’ve baptized thousands who’ve been sprinkled, I’ve never had one come up out of the water and go, “I wish I hadn’t had done that Ed. I don’t know why I…” They’ve all said, “Thank you, for putting it on the table.” Because so often it unleashes blessings and purpose in your life like you’ve never seen. Because if we balk at that first test of faith, the first obedience test, I mean, some other things are going to go off the reservation. That’s the pattern of baptism. I’m just simply telling you what fellowship church is about. We’re a bible teaching, bible believing church. We never ask anyone to do anything that’s not in the Bible, never. Isn’t that comforting? It is for me.

What’s The Picture Of Baptism? The picture is, you go under the water for five minutes, that’s… I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Point five seconds. That is identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The water symbolizes the judgment of God throughout scripture. Think about the Noachian flood, think about the ceremonial washings of the Jews. It was culminated John the Baptist, baptizing. Jesus had to walk 27 miles out of the way to be baptized by immersion. The best picture of baptism is submerging someone because that’s what baptism means in the Greek Baptizo, to dip, to immerse. There’s not one example of being sprinkled in the Bible. There’s not one example of a baby being baptized in the entire Bible.

The problem of baptism. Well, the problem is, we have different methods of baptism that aren’t in scriptures. Some have been sprinkled, spritzed, poured, whatever. The way to be baptized is by, and through, immersion. If you’ve not been baptized by immersion, get baptized today, you’ve repented, you believed, now get baptized. I’ve made the word up repentize, because of the Bible. You repent, you’re baptized. Are you tracking with me?

Yeah.

I’m talking about commitment to belief number one, that’s what fellowship church is about. If I never see you again, make sure that you’ve prayed that prayer to declare that Jesus is Lord. That’s the most important thing. Secondly, get baptized, get advertised. Very, very important. Number three, let’s talk about this, the Commitment To Belonging. Commitment to belief, commitment to baptism, commitment to belonging. Do you realize these commitments that I’m talking about, although simple to explain and underscore and highlight, are not shallow or superficial. They’re not. These commitments are the cure. They are the reason why we’re here. Everything plays off these. This next thing I’m going to talk about is belonging, where, to the church.

There’s one thing that separates attenders from members, that is the C-word, 10 letters, commitment. Commitment to belonging. Do you belong to a church? Obviously, I’m partial to Fellowship Church. I think we’re the greatest church anywhere. That’s just me. I always wanted to pastor a church that I would attend and I would attend this church. It’s funny, sometimes people come up to me and go, “Man, I just love your church. I know you’re so proud of your church.” I go, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Don’t you belong to Fellowship Church?” “Yes.” I say, “It’s not my church. It’s God’s church, so it’s our church.” The other night over dinner, I said, “I want you to say this with me because someone said that. Our church, our church, my church, my church. Fellowship church is our church.” Let’s say it. One, two, three. This is our church. One, two, three. This is our church- This is our church. Now personalize it. One, two, three. This is my church. One, two, three. This is…My church-My church.

A commitment to belonging. There’s A Biblical Reason. What did Jesus say? I can’t list all of the scripture verses Jesus said, (Matthew 16:18) “I will build My church.” The church is called The Body of Christ. That’s pretty big. The only thing Jesus ever built was? The church. Was? The church.

That’s right. Not a school. Not a hospital. No, the church.

A Practical Reason, it defines who can be counted on. Our culture is committed to being non-committed. We’re not committed to anything. Relationships, marriage, companies, sports teams. Well, we are… We’re more committed to sports teams than the church. “Oh the Dolphins, that’s my team. Fellowship. Church, oh, that’s your church. Cowboys are my team. Oh, Fellowship Church, yeah, that’s your church.” What? “Louis Vuitton, that’s my designer.” Okay. I think you feel me? A practical reason, it defines who can be counted on. I mean, you can’t be a member of the NFL and not be a part of a team. Yet so many people I meet, “Oh yeah, I’m a Christian.” “Where do you go to church?” “Oh, [mumbles].” “No, seriously, where are you a member?” “Well, I’m not really a member. I just…”

The Bible says we become believers, we’re adopted into the family of God. Can you imagine going, “I don’t feel, with my family. I’m going to go from this family to that family, that family to this family, this family to that.” Can you imagine asking your mom, “Mom, how is your family?” Isn’t it funny? Because, would it be planted, and when you’re planted, your roots go deep. Yet in our culture we’ve planted ourselves in one church, “Oh, I don’t really like that song and that subject.” We uproot, go to another one. We uproot go to another one. Uproot, go to another one. No wonder we’re so shallow. No wonder. No wonder we have so many problems.

A Practical Reason, a personal reason. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews 6:1, “…go on to maturity.” It shows us, and the church helps us personally with our growth as iron sharpens iron. The Bible says, “Love one another. Serve one another. Pray for one another.” That’s in the church.

A Purposeful Reason. God’s purpose for you and me is to be a part of the body of Christ. Here’s the church. There’s the steeple. Open the doors and see, whoa, all of the people! It’s God’s purpose.

 

Our Membership Commitment. What does it mean to be committed to Fellowship Church in membership? A lot of you need to join the church today. There’s no reason not to. But again, I can’t make you. But I’m saying, if you’re not an active member of the church, there’re dozens of things that you can’t do, that the Bible talks about. Let me say that again. If you’re not a member, an active member of a local church, you’re disobeying several dozen commands in the New Testament just like that.

Our membership commitment, so here’s what we say. Have you received Christ as my Lord and Savior, and being in agreement with these statements, strategy, and structure from the Bible? I’m going to be a part of Fellowship Church family. Doing so, I commit myself to God and to the other members to do the following. Again, straight from the Bible. It’s not my opinion. It’s not some group to just… oh, this will be cool. No. Straight from the Bible.

 

Number one, I Will Protect The Unity Of My Church. I will protect the unity of my church. What does that mean? By acting in love toward others. We love everybody at Fellowship Church. But we love everybody but we don’t agree with everyone’s behavior. At Fellowship, we never confuse acceptance with approval. We accept everybody. I don’t care where you are, what you’re involved in, and who you’re involved with, well, except you. Doesn’t mean we approve of your behavior though. I don’t approve of all my behavior. It’s okay to laugh. We’re just talking. By defending the vision of the church. You know the vision of Fellowship Church. It’s very simple. Matthew 22, love God with all of your heart. That’s reaching up. That’s worshiping God.

Then Matthew 28 says we’re to go out and tell others about Jesus. That’s evangelism. That’s reaching out, so we reach out, worship. We reach out, that’s evangelism. Then we reach in. Matthew 28, we’re to learn and to develop and become disciples. That’s reaching in, discovering who we are and whose we are, so I defend the vision. If you recommend Fellowship, you’ll have to defend Fellowship. We’re the church, man. We love everybody. But here’s who we are, what the Bible says.

Also by following the leadership structure of the church. We have a leadership structure. The Bible is a book about leadership. God has called leaders here. He’s called me as the senior pastor. 29 years ago, Lisa and I helped start this church with about 30 families. We had no idea it would end up being what it is. The Bible says in Romans 14:19, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification.” I love this thing, and I’m just getting so good at it, I’m starting to scare myself. (Telestrator)

Okay. Number two. I’ll Share The Responsibility Of My Church by praying for its growth. Pray for the growth of Fellowship Church. I mean, right now we’re in the growth phase of expansion with other campuses and so many other ministries. By inviting the community to attend, that’s how people show up. Who have you invited to fellowship? Who have you extended a hand to and said, “Hey, just come on to Fellowship.” If you’re not doing that regularly, you’re missing out. By warmly welcoming those who visit.

At Fellowship, I’m to talk to my friends, my quorum, to be in the small group and serve and all that, but also… and to reach out when I see people that I’ve never met, “Hi, I’m Ed. Welcome to Fellowship Church,” because the Bible commands hospitality. Romans 15:7 (TLB) says, “So warmly welcome each other into the church,” There it is. Oh yeah.

I’ll serve the mission of my church by discovering my gifts and talents. You have gifts and talents I don’t have. I have gifts and talents you don’t have. By serving regularly. If you’re not serving, you’re swerving.

As a part of Fellowship Church, part of membership is being active. The Bible says there are many members in the body, many members in the body of Christ. If a member is not working in our bodies, you’ve got atrophy and sometimes you have amputation.

If you’re not serving in the body, the body is missing something. You can do stuff that I can’t do, and we have a place for you to serve at Fellowship, at all of our different environments. Here’s what the Bible says. Serve one another with the particular gifts God has given each of you.

There’s another one, a last one, I Will Support The what? Life. The what? Life.

Life Of My Church, by doing what? By attending regularly. You don’t say to yourself, “Well, I’m going to have the church fit into my agenda.” “I’m going to have the church kind of squeeze into my… The only thing you build Jesus is the church, and I am submitting my schedule weekly to the church. So if you’re going to be a member of the church, you’re going to have to show up. I’m showing up at least three out of four weekends a month. Somebody. Somebody slap somebody, appropriately, appropriately, appropriately. Okay. By living in obedience to Christ. I mean, when people see you and me out in the community, they should go, “Wow, look at that guy. Wow, look at that girl. They are living the life.” We are the church. We’re the best advertisement out there. By giving regularly. That’s how we roll and that’s how we survive.

 

Summer is upon us. So many people will be out of town, yet when you’re out of town, when you’re traveling, I’m going to be traveling some, that’s when the ministries here are ramped up. Our different camps and children’s activities, and Fellowship Church, man, we’re going. We have an amazing June in store. My brother’s going to do… he’s a best-selling author, a two-week series on The Father, Heart of God. Then we’re doing at the movies like we’ve never done before during the month of July. We’ve got some amazing stuff, so we don’t need to have a shortfall. So often when people travel, they forget one of the first things, to give regularly. Make sure you download our app and sign up for reoccurring giving. That’s how we have what we have.

We have bitten off a major expansion, $30 million. You think we have that money? Wrong. When the money comes in at Fellowship, we spend it on ministry, so all of us need to make a difference. When it comes to tithing, which is bringing the first 10% of what we make to the house, and that’s what God says. I’ve always heard two testimonies about tithing, just two, and I’ve been a Christian for a long time, grown up in the church.

The first one is, “Wow, I’ve been so blessed. I can’t tell you how I’ve been blessed because I tithe.” I’ve heard that over and over and over.

The second testimony is this, “I just can’t afford to tithe.” I’ve heard it from rich people, middle-class people, and poor people. We just can’t afford it. When I say, “I can’t afford to do it,” I’m saying, “You know, God, I don’t want to be blessed, because you’ll never, ever, ever listen to me, ever receive the blessings of God, ever, until you begin to tithe, ever.

I work out at a small gym. It costs $75 a month to work out at this place, and there’s some real big guys there like me. When I walk into the gym, I have a little fob and I put the fob on the screen, “Enjoy your workout.” I get my keys up and I work out. And I’ve heard that, “Enjoy your workout,” that’s what happens. The other day, I took another fob and I put it in front of the screen. “See the manager.” “What? What do you mean?” “See the manager.” The manager comes over, “Sir, is there a problem?” “Well, this fob must be messed up. It’s rejected me.” “What’s your name?” “Edwin Barry Young.” “Oh, you’ve not paid your dues for this month. That’s $75. “Okay. No problem.” I put the credit card down and then I worked out out. What if I said, “I’m never going to work out again at that gym because all they want’s my money. I can’t believe that guy, $75.” I thought, what if we installed that system here at Fellowship Church. Wouldn’t that be interesting? I think you feel me.

You begin to do it, I’m telling you, great stuff will happen and you’re pushing the ball downfield because it’s going to take you and me, whether you make $30,000 a year, 3 million, or 30 million, you know what? It doesn’t matter. That first is God’s. Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus.

Here is what I want to do very quickly. You have in your hand a Fellowship Church Membership Card. Just fill this out. My name, Ed Young. My address, 3535 Heavenly Boulevard. City, Eternity. Email, all right. Phone. Everyone’s not writing. I mean, we need to have a lot of people to sign this, because membership have its privilege. We’re not going to force you. We’re not going to send you a fob. It’s between you and God. But I’m telling you, if you’re not a member, you’ll never, ever, ever discover the rescue and the help, and the life that God has for you. You never will. It goes back to those three things every single time. Those three things and the implications of those. I’m giving you the essence, the conclusion, the Wikipedia, the net effect, the Cliff Notes on the church.

I’ve only spent about 30 years researching it. This is it, so you either sign up or not. But if you say no, I’ve got to go, “Man, are you an idiot? Seriously, are you an idiot? You’re not going to sign up? This is the best deal out there.” Don’t be an idiot. Seriously. Don’t be stupid. The devil wants you to be stupid. Don’t. You sign this, you begin to do this, God does not bless your life, I don’t know, I’ll do a somersault off this roof into a Walmart swimming pool or something like that.

Date of birth, you lie about that. I was born in ’92, March 16th, 1992. I’m married. Then just sign this. It’s the same thing I said. You have those cards done?

(Sings various songs) Those are different musical genres for all the different people here. I did a little bit of Hip-Hop, a little bit of Country, Rock and Roll. Thank you. Okay.

Right now, we’re going to do something. We’re going to receive the offering. When we receive the offering, those who need to become members of Fellowship Church, official members, place this in the offering basket along with your tithes and offerings, okay? We’re going to do this, and then after we do the offering in all of our campuses, we are going to have an opportunity for people to come forward to get baptized. So, two things. Number one, number one, number one, . You join the church. You put this in the offering bag. Am I going too fast?

Along with your gifts, tithes, offerings, boom. Then after that, at all of our campuses, we’re going to baptize people. After the offering is passed, I’ll come back up here and say, “Okay, those who want to be baptized, come forward.” I’m preaching from a Miami campus. But I’ll turn it over to our other campus pastors, whether you’re in North Port, Florida, whether you’re in Norman, Oklahoma, whether you’re in Frisco, Texas, whether you’re in beautiful Grapevine, Texas, whether you’re in Dallas, Texas, let’s start clapping now, whether you’re in Southlake, Texas, whether you’re in Fort Worth, Texas, whether you’re at one of our Prison Campuses here in Florida and also in Texas.

Remain seated during this song. Do not stand at all of our campuses as we put this in the offerings, in the offering bag, then I’ll come back up following this prayer to lead people to come forward for baptism. Do not move or stir. We’ve gone a little bit over time. This is at the end of the game. This is Super Bowl, okay? Let’s pray together.

 

Father, thank you for this day. I pray that many people here would join Fellowship Church. I thank you for the scores and scores of people who prayed the prayer of belief. I thank you for the hundreds who were baptized last week. I pray for the hundreds more I believe that need to get baptized today in a few moments, because we’re going to baptize. And God, on top of that, I thank you for those who have joined the church today. We ask these things in Christ’s name, Amen.