Ilife, Part 5

And you know what that type of environment is? It’s 3 things. And here’s the first thing.

It’s an environment where everybody is welcome. Everybody is welcome with Christ. Every single person is welcome in Jesus. You know, I thought to myself no matter what you’ve done -- your past, your present, no strings attached -- you are welcome with Christ. He cares for you. I ran into somebody the other and they stopped and...we were at the airport -- and they said, hey, I visited your church...pastor I came to your church. I said, oh, great man, whooo cool. Did you enjoy it? Did you like it? And they really didn’t say...they said no, we hadn’t been back. I said okay -- awkward moment, awkward moment. Okay, I’ve got to go to the restroom. God bless you. Amen. But it was just kind of weird. He said, no we hadn’t been back. I said well great. Anything we can do to love you, serve you, that’s great. We just want to be your friend. He said, you do know that there are sinners in your church. Seriously. He said, I saw a lot of sinners at that church. And I think he said something like, we don’t have a lot of sinners at our church. And I just started thinking -- how many has ever been in a moment and you thought about what to say later on? And I had that happen to me. I mean, I wanted to say when he looked and said, do you know there’s a lot of sinners in that church...I wanted to say this, not since you left. But I didn’t! But I wanted to zing him. You know what I said? I don’t know if this came out of me -- well, praise the Lord. That’s a buster remark. I got in my car and I wanted to come back...I thought I was going back to find him in the airport, you know...not since you left! Have a great trip, don’t come back! I didn’t. I was trying to be like Mrs. Sherry May our children’s pastor, and be saved and be kind, be sweet. I thought -- praise the Lord. That’s as good as I can come back with. And I thought, yeah, that is. Because I do praise God that this is an environment where sinners are welcome. Where those who have not yet got it...those that it hasn’t clicked yet -- the God factor, Christ, the Cross, new beginnings, set free. It just...they haven’t got it yet but it’s an environment where they can get it. Where they can receive it.

I’ll tell you the other type of thing I think is so important is a place where everyone is needed. I believe what we’re building here has to be a church and a group of people where everyone is invited and everyone is needed. Everyone is needed, even those who have not cut off their cell phone. I think that they’re needed. You ever hear a cell phone ring and you think that everybody hears it but the speaker? I hear that cell phone. Everyone is needed. See, remember this, you have something to contribute to what God is doing. But God can never use me, Pastor. Remember this, God is not limited by our limitations. See, if God only used the perfect people, nothing would ever get done today. Matter of fact, there would only be one story in the Bible, that’s the story of Jesus. The rest of the Bible would be blank. He always uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary. He always uses the natural to do the supernatural. He always uses the broken to bring healing; the hurting to bring guidance. That’s how Christ does it.