You are invited to step into your purpose by recognizing where God is already at work in your life. Trust Him to provide for your journey, knowing that your identity is found in living a real life for Jesus. Join this community to experience a deeper understanding of His love and participate in His mission.
What is up, Real Church? Look, I am excited about today. I know this podcast is going to encourage you because it's going to tell you our story a little bit more about who we are, where we came from, but also where we are going. Man, the "best is yet to come". Check it out, and God bless.
*Amen*. Well, good morning, church. It is an honor to get to be your pastor. I love getting to pastor real church. I do.
I love pastoring you guys. I'm glad that God asked me to to move here and plant this church because you're an amazing group of people. And you know today today is gonna be a little bit different. I actually named the message *Real Church, A Real Church* Family Update and I named it that on purpose. Thank you brother.
Because I want you guys to have a clear picture today of who we are as a church. I want you to have a clear picture of where we came from, and I want you to have a clear picture of where we're going. When I sat down to write the message today, Thursdays is my message writing day. I was actually in Louisiana at the time in a conference, so I couldn't do it then. But when I sat down to write it, I just I felt the Holy Spirit.
And he told me, don't want you to write anything this time. That's not normal by the way, at all. But he wanted me to just "speak from the heart". So today, I'm just gonna speak from the heart. So I do that every time.
But today's a little different, which is good. If this is your first time, thank you for coming. So thank you that you're here. And as my wife said in the beginning, we pray you walk away with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. You're here for a purpose and you're here on purpose.
And it's to know the purpose that God has for you in a deeper way so that you walk out of here and experience him in such a way that the inside is shifted, so that your thoughts are shifted, so that the way you speak is shifted, so that the culture of your home even begins to shift. The way you treat your wife, the way you treat your husband, the way you look at life, your perspective changes. Your whole life changes and it begins to impact the lives around you. Culture of your job shifts. Lives begin to be transformed because your life was transformed because you really had an **encounter with Jesus** that was much more than an encounter but an invitation to know him.
Pretty awesome, That's what we pray for you. So I wanna start and I wanna I wanna just remind you guys of who we are and where we come from. Not me and Courtney but just us as a church, but that does start with mine and Courtney's story. I was in Louisiana 6 years ago, helping my dad, was pastoring 1 of the pastors at my dad's church, amazing, the most globally connected church that I know, a church called "River of life". As a matter of fact, just and there may be a few bunny trails here, so but I was just in Louisiana.
1 of my mentors passed away on the mission field. He was actually 1 of the trustees of this church. Because when you plan a church, you have to have some trustees that you trust before you build some because we moved here and didn't know anybody had so we had some trustees from my dad's church. He was 1 of those. He was my youth pastor.
And and really because of his life, I had a passion for Christ from a young boy, 11 years old, that impacted the rest of my life. He died on mission in Namibia, doing pastor's conferences. And, we were there at his funeral this past week, and it was powerful and it was amazing. And it's the only funeral I've ever been to where the guy who died preached his own funeral. I'm not joking.
It was awesome and funny. Yes. But, he's singing. There was there was 2 and a half hours long because there's a lot of people that had a lot to say. That was very amazing and it's what a testimony, what a legacy.
But then, here comes this huge video and Matt singing his own funeral. And then, he preaches a message he preached just a couple years before on peace. And he said, death has no sting because we're in Him. As a matter of fact, we've already died. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
*Amen*. Come on. That's awesome. What a legacy. Anyway, so that's where I was.
I was 1 of the pastors at my dad's church, and my dad started and runs my best friend, 1 of my best friends runs the largest faith based drug rehab in the state of Louisiana. A rehab called Fresh Start. It's a 70 percent success rate. 7 0. Those drug addicts and whatever that go through there that finish and graduate, 70 percent of them stay off drugs for the rest of their life.
And the reason is because we don't teach them this program. We teach them who Jesus is. Yeah. Come on. Give that a hand.
Matt actually was the 1 that started that program, by the way. And it's a testimony because God delivered him from drugs when he was 23 years old. A year later, he was hired as the youth pastor because he was faithful, available, and teachable. And I saw someone who was a drug addict just a year before on fire for Jesus and faithful, a complete shift that God did in 5 days. He locked himself in a room for 5 days to deal with the the the detox and came out a new man.
And, lived for Jesus for the next 23 years, died at 46. I saw that. Was like, on fire for him and he "on fire for Jesus" because of that. He Matt was a man who lived the life for Christ that was so personal, it was public. It's not a personal religion.
It's a public religion. It impacts you personally so that you can impact the public. *Amen*? Amen. Anyway, I'm on staff at my dad's church and I meet this guy named Dre Bonney.
Dre, a few years before, was on drugs and in gangs in Clearwater, Florida. And, got a girl pregnant, couple had a couple of kids with her and just realized that the life he was living needed to shift. Had an encounter with *Jesus* and he knew he needed to go and be clean, got he ended up at a place called Fresh Start. He was in Fresh Start for 7 months. God completely changed his life.
Mighty man of God, Dre D'Olbani, and told him to stay in this little country redneck town of Winnsboro, Louisiana. He's like, I wanna go back to the city. Like, what's going on? Like, I wanna go back to Clearwater, go to Tampa, go to Houston, go somewhere. But, he obeyed.
And, a lot of times, the Holy Spirit will test to see if he's really the Lord of your life by telling you to do what he wants you to do, not what you wanna do. That's part of your plan, part of the process he uses to develop you. Right? And that's where we say, yes, Lord. Well, because he said, yes, Lord, a couple years later when I moved back, I met him.
And I pulled him into 1 of my jobs there. Was I was the youth pastor too. I pulled him into youth ministry with me. He pulled me into music with him. Believe it or not, your pastor raps.
And he asked me to start praying for his family back home in Clearwater, Florida. Well, a lot of times, and this principle I want you to remember for the rest of your life. When you pray, a lot of times God will use you as part of the answer to your own prayer. A lot of times. Drado called me up and said, hey, Dee.
What's up, man? Man, would you would you start praying for my family back home? So I started praying 6 months later, hey, Dee. Puts me on the phone with somebody that was really close to him, struggling with the same lifestyle he used to struggle with. And I just tell him the love of Jesus.
I tell him that God's called him, God has a purpose for his life, he loves him and he died for him, and he wants him to receive that. This this young man had already been born again, so I told him I didn't tell him about the drugs, I told him about the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I told him, you're not a drug addict. I know you think you are right now, but you're not. You're a born again new creation new creation in Christ Jesus.
And these drugs, that's just because you have an issue in your mind that you need to let go of. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. When He paid the price for you, He paid for your past, present, and future sin. The reason you're not living it right now is because you don't believe how much God loves you. Young man was weeping on the phone, being reminded of how much God loves him.
Where you see God at work, another principle. Where you see God at work is your invitation to join him in what he's doing. Do you catch that? Where you see God at work. Because God's always working.
He's working all the time, all in in many many places. But he's the 1 who reveals to you what he's doing. You know what the purpose he reveals to you what he's doing? So that you can see what He's doing and join Him in that. Just like I show my 3 year old, which I don't have a 3 year old right now but I will, or my 6, my 7, my 9 year old, I have that.
I show them what I'm doing not because they can do it better, because I want to train them and help them to grow up and mature and live out the full purpose that God has for them and part of that is seeing their daddy work and then joining him in it even though they may just make a mess of things. Right? I'll tell you a little bit more of the story than I usually tell. So, a few months after talking with that person that was really close to Dre do, I am invited to go to Columbia, me and Dre, to rap together In Bogota, Colombia, it was like, I don't know, 29 different bands from like 11 different nations, and we're in the streets of Bogota, Colombia, and it's packed. The streets are packed with people from the from from Bogota, and we're we're we're rapping for Jesus and preaching the gospel, and people are getting saved and healed, it's awesome.
It's cool. And, this Venezuelan pastor that was helping there and kind of ministering in the streets while, you know, we're engaging the culture with the love of Jesus. Venezuelan pastor sits me and Dre Down and a couple of the others that were in a little group and he and he says, God told me gave me a word for you. I said, well, what is it? He said, I'm gonna pray for the night to make sure it's from him.
If it is, I'll tell you tomorrow. I said, okay. The next day, he sits us down, and I have a translator, I'm recording it. 45, this man speaks. I didn't under everything because he went through every person, but I just knew my life was about to change forever.
I knew it. He told Dre he'd go back home and win his family and friends for Christ. He looked at me and he said, you're his pastor. Well, yeah. I kinda am mentoring him right now, you know, but we're friends and doing ministry together.
I kinda get it. Okay. But it was something deeper than that. I knew my life was about to change forever. So I go home.
When you know your life's about to change forever, God's about to do something, and you don't know what, you fast. It's just what you do. Fasting helps you to hear his voice more clearly. That's why fasting increases your faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God.
K? Because you're setting aside things that you normally listen to, your hunger or whatever else, in order to focus on hearing him. So it increases faith. That's how. Just so you know.
Do it. There's a whole another message I have on fasting. Don't have time for that today. 2 weeks into that fast, I get a call from a guy. He says, you ever thought about planting an ark church?
I said, nope. I got some friends that might wood. Crushed his hopes and dreams. He thought he'd heard from God. 2 or 3 days later, he text me back and he said, well, if you ever plant a church, I'd like to be a part of your church.
And that was the text where God throat punched me, it felt like. Reminded me of Dre, reminded me of the time that I was praying for people close to him and how God was moving as a result of my prayers. Where I saw God at work and his family and friends back in Clearwater, Florida, reminded me of that what that Venezuelan pastor said, and all of a sudden in a moment, it all made sense. I knew I was supposed to pick up my family, move to Dre's hometown, and start a church. I knew it.
I was excited. I had to drive the bus because I was driving bus to pay for some schooling that God had told me to do in addition to working at the church. So I on the bus, I'm driving that afternoon, and the kids are abnormally quiet. And it's just like God's downloading all these ideas, vision of what real church is gonna look like. Guess what?
We're on the way. We're not there yet. We're not done, guys. Best is yet to come. But I'm I'm like excited, know, I'm stoked.
And I've been listening to a podcast when I got done. It's 1 of those fleece moments like Gideon, you know, throw the fleece out if this is really God. I was like, God, I'm really excited right now. You know, because he he told me what to do then he gave me a passion for it. So I I pull out my podcast.
I was like, it'd be really cool if you would show me that this was you through this podcast, but I know because I'm excited I can make anything sound like it's you right now. But it'd just be really cool. So on the podcast, it had nothing to do with church planting by the way. It was a podcast about John G Lake. But I I scrolled through the podcast to a random 1, and and it just said panel discussion.
So I click on it. The first words out of the mouth. I was in Louisiana, by the way. First words out of the mouth of the guy on there were, this is hey, today we're doing a panel discussion. This is a church planting panel discussion.
And, the first couple that we're we're gonna be interviewing is church planters in Florida. And I'm like, awesome. So I go home and I'm like stoked. And I tell Courtney this whole story, everything I told you guys. She knew I was fasting.
She knew I felt my life was about to change forever, but I mean, I do a lot of crazy stuff, you know. I go home and I tell Courtney this whole story, and you know what her response was? This is what came from her mouth. It might not be what she was thinking, but this is what came from her mouth. She said, baby, this is God.
We're going. Where's Clearwater? I said, I don't know. Didn't know if it was by a clear lake. Just knew it was Dre's hometown.
And so, we Google it. And so, we're like and, like, the third place we looked was Clearwater High School's auditorium. That in that session of Googling, and I said, that's it. That's where we're planting. Anyway, I go and tell my dad.
My dad's my pastor. And I believe God doesn't bless the leaving man. He blesses the sent man. Don't run from anything. Don't run to anything.
**"Walk hand in hand"* with your heavenly father*. He'll make a way. *Amen*? So I go tell my dad, and he he thought it was bad pizza I'd ate the night before. He was about to go on a mission trip that I happened to not be going on that time, and he said, well, just look into it.
We'll talk about it when you get back. And, he thought it it dwindle. When we get back, it didn't dwindle. So, I just I told him, I said, dad, I'm not gonna go unless you send me. But, I knew he would send me because I knew it was God.
So, I just started praying. 3 months later, this pastor from down the street, sitting in dad's office, pastor Calvin Davis, somebody that my dad had led to Jesus in the prison, and God had changed his life and became a pastor in Wisner, Louisiana. Nobody knew about all of this, just me, my wife, and and dad, and a couple of people from out of town that were mentors of mine. And so, I I mean, dad and pastor Calvin were in there and they'd become friends. And, dad said, let me tell you something about my son.
And, pastor Calvin says, oh no pastor. Let me tell you something about your boy. I had a dream 3 nights ago, and I saw this body coming up out of the ground. And river of life, that's my the name of my dad's church. River of life, it was the body coming up out of the ground, and I saw an arm coming out of the body, and that was your son.
*God* said, he's gonna plant your son somewhere else else. And that's pastor Calvin. He's amazing, mighty man of God. He actually didn't know that that was the thing that I had been praying for, you know, that I was answer to my prayer, that I wasn't gonna leave until God sent me, until this past week when I told him at Matt's funeral. He's like, wow, That's big.
I said, yeah. So anyway, my dad let me cast the vision to the just, you know, to share what we wanted to do to the elders of the church, and they sent us. They actually sent us their globally connected, globally minded church that has a heart for the kingdom and not just for their own. They sent us with a full salary for a full year so that we could come here and not be stressed out, but care about this this place, and care about the people, and learn to build relationships because we were parachuting into a place we had no idea of anybody. By the way, Dre stayed there in Louisiana because of some things that he had to finish there.
It wasn't time yet. He's moving here next next week. And that was 2 we moved here July 2017. Got here and began to to build relationships, and I just began to to go meet with pastors just because I I wanted to build relationships and ask how could we serve. Build some relationships.
I ended up serving at Radiant Church under pastor Aaron Burke and plowing another man's field before you "plant your own". It's important. There's 1 body and 1 body of Christ. Right? Just 1.
And, we're not in competition with 1 another. And, I helped them to to I just wanted to serve how I could. I was good at building teams. I just something God's gifted me at. And they needed a children's worship team.
You know, 1 of the first the first 1 of the first people I recruited to be on that children's worship team is our new children's director, De Asia. It gave before that, she didn't have a passion for children's ministry, but all of a sudden she she did. Back then in 2017, she God gave her a passion for children's ministry there, and and stay we stayed connected, and Courtney stayed kind of mentoring her, and and man, he said, she's supposed to be the 1 and God worked it out. So now, she's here. We hired her a couple weeks ago.
Isn't that awesome? Anyway. So past not only did my dad's church send us, but pastor Aaron Burke and them sent us locally too when it was time for us to plant. We started building a team and God miraculously did this crazy cool thing where on September chapter 09/16/2018, we launched Real Church with 400 people showed up the first Sunday. 400 people.
That's amazing. 16 people gave their life to Jesus. Almost every Sunday after that, people gave their life to Jesus. Clearwater High School is awesome. Baptizing many many people.
Now, you gotta understand when you start something, there's a lot of people most of the people there were just dipping their toe in saying, what is this like? I've seen all of the advertisement and, you know, I heard this guy's crazy story. Is this legit? You know? You'd only find out if it's legit over time.
Right? So we had as an ex alcoholic who's born again, creation is not an alcoholic anymore, God doesn't even remember that. That's the 1 that said it's legit. Yeah. It's amazing.
Restored his marriage, restored his family. It's that's awesome. It's cool. It's fun. By the way, we named it real church because it's been my motto since I was a kid, just a real person living a real life for a real Jesus having a real good time.
Deal with it. So anyway, through that process of being in Clearwater High School, God began to develop a team of people that have the same heart and same DNA. He was building a foundation. There was a lot of people that didn't stay. They were they were there for a season, but he was building a foundation.
COVID happened. We went online. I didn't know God. Hey, you called this in existence. I know we're gonna keep going because you spoke it.
So, what you gonna do? And, what you know through the storm we really formed and the people that the people that were with us, you guys are still here. Amen. You guys are a part of this. This is family.
This is you're you're family. I feel like we're we're stronger as a church than we've ever been today. Not because we have more people than we've ever had, but we have more people that are rowing in the same direction and their heart is to understand who Christ is, who Christ made them to be, and to impact the world around them. That's you guys. It's awesome.
Moved here, miraculously. I don't have time for that story, but it was awesome. Got this building September 1, and God began to grow what what real church is today. And, it's amazing. I found out a week and a half ago for sure that this building was purchased.
Okay. This building was purchased and it was purchased by another church in Tampa. Big church named Grace Family Church for 1 of their campuses. Now, I wanna tell you some context to this, and I wanna shift your perspective if you don't have a good 1 right now. When we moved here in 2017, I went on a run within the first 2 weeks.
On that run, I was just praying because I don't know anybody else. I'm just gonna talk to you Jesus, talk about this. It's all about real church and Lord, what do want me to do next? I ran, this is half a mile from our house by the way. I ran to the sign, the sign out there.
I put hands on the sign and I said, Father God, if it be your will, let this property be for your kingdom. If that means we get to have it, praise the Lord. If that doesn't, praise the Lord. Nevertheless, let it be for your kingdom. Remember, when you pray, God uses you as part of the answer to your prayer.
I'll tell you this, it was miraculous that we came here. Not only was it miraculous that we came here, I got to develop a friendship with the owner which is ongoing and it's awesome. And, I believe as a part of that friendship was part of the reason that he was able to accept the offer from Grace Family Church. So not only did we play a part in this, but we also prepared it, which is amazing. Number 2, it's 1 kingdom.
1 church. That means Grace Family Church is our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. So when I was sitting across from the pastor, you know what I did when I was over? I grabbed his hands. I said, Father God, I pray for this campus that is blessed.
I pray that it multiplies. *Lord God*, I pray what you do, whatever it takes in order to make sure that this church is sharing your name so clearly that the community around it is put on revival for you. Thank you for what you're gonna do. Thank you for who you are. You know why?
Because there's 1 kingdom. And just as pastor now, if I hear any negative talk about Grace family, I'm gonna rebuke you to your face. There's division is the spirit of antichrist. Do you hear do you hear that? Amen.
Division is the spirit of? The antichrist. Right. Because Jesus prayed John-17, father, make them 1 as we are 1 so the world may. So, the world knowing unity in the body of Christ.
Okay. Sharing my heart with you guys. I began to pray. God, what do you want us to do? Like, what's next?
*Jesus*. You spoke what I saw ain't done yet, and you got a lot to do. So, *Father God*. And, I just felt beyond the shadow of a doubt, depths of my heart. We were portable at Clearwater High School.
We're on a month to month lease here. It's time to be anchored. It's time to be rooted. It's time for us to either purchase a building of our own, or have a long term lease where we could be anchored and rooted, and where you root, you bear lots of fruit. Amen.
*Amen*? *God*, how is that gonna happen? And as I was praying and stuff, God led me to these verses. I'm gonna read them to you. I read these to our leaders.
And when I was texting 1 of my 1 of my mentors about this, I said in I was in Louisiana when I was texting, I said, and dead gum it, if if if our leaders didn't say, get more excited, almost more excited than I was about what was to come. You know, we just got done with the Glory of Living series. The Glory of Living series, we learned that we go from glory to glory. And a lot of times, the resistance is just an opportunity to grow. I don't ask you what you're going through, I'm asking you what you're growing through.
Resistance that looks like it's going to put you under, God wants to use to strengthen your character so that you can do everything that he's called you to do. Right? Remember the orange? You look at the orange and it's it's an orange. The glory of the orange is the orange juice.
You squeeze the orange and the juice comes out. Without squeezing it, there's no juice. So, it needs to be squeezed. There needs to be some pressure. What happens here's an opportunity.
What happens real church when real church is squeezed? It's an opportunity to be the fragrance of our king. It's an opportunity for his glory to come out and impact the community even more than ever before. Amen? Amen.
So he led me to this. And I want you to listen. I want you to really take this in. I'm about to read a lot of scripture. There's a couple things I'm gonna have you repeat after me because it's very important that you understand.
This is *God* speaking to Moses in Exodus-25. The Lord said to Moses, this is just God of Moses here. Joshua was probably watching too, because he was always with him. But, tell the Israelites to bring me an offering, you are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give. Everybody say, whose heart Whose heart.
Prompts them to give. Prompts them to give. These are the offerings you are to receive from them. Gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, scarlet yarn, and fine linen, goat hair, ram skins, dyed red, and another type of durable leather, acacia wood, olive oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and the fragrance and the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. Then have them make a sanctuary for me and I will "dwell among them".
Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. So God told him what to tell the people, and he told them how to tell the people, and he was very specific. Fast forward to where now Moses talks to the people. *Exodus-35*. That's where I'm a read a lot.
Pay attention. Now, God spoke to Moses. Now, Moses is translating to the people. Exodus-35 verse 4. Moses said to the whole Israelite community, this is what the Lord has commanded.
**From what you have** Everybody say, from what you have.
From what you have.
Take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing. Say, everyone who is willing. Everyone willing. Everyone who who who is Everyone willing.
That's that's perfect. I'm I'm just saying, *God* doesn't God free will, guys. You have a choice to follow what he puts on your heart. There's no pressure. There's no compulsion.
It's a relationship where we walk with him. *Amen*? Ain't that awesome? Okay. Everyone who is willing to bring to the Lord an offering gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, scarlet yarn, fine linen, goat hair, rem skins dyed red, and another type of durable leather, acacia wood, olive oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones, and other gems to be mounted on the ephod in breastpiece.
All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded. The tabernacle with its tent and its coverings, clasp frames, crossbars, posts, bases, the ark with its poles and the atonement cover, and the curtain that shields it, the table with its poles and all its articles, and the bread of the presence, the lampstand that is the for light with its accessories, lamps and oil for its light, the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense, the curtain for the doorway at the entrance of the tabernacle, the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles, and all of its utensils, the bronze basin with its stand, the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and basins, and the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard, the tent pegs for the tabernacle, and for the courtyard and their ropes, the woven garments worn for ministering in the sanctuary, both the sacred garments for Aaron, priests, and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests. Very detailed, very specific. The reason is because it all points to Jesus. Like, the cart the the the curtain that that separated the presence.
Jesus said, I am the way, the life, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. The curtain was torn in 2. Jesus' body was torn so that we could enter through him to to walk in presence in the presence of the Father "day in and day out". Everything, all the things they they point towards Christ Jesus.
It had to be detailed and specific. It was important. Okay? Do you see that? Alright.
Verse 20. And that's just 1 little example. Okay. Verse 20, then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses' presence. It's very important.
It wasn't an emotional decision. They withdrew. They thought about it. They prayed. You know?
And everyone who was willing, everyone say, who was willing?
Who was willing.
And whose heart moved them. There you go. You got it. Came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds, brooches, earrings, rings, and ornaments.
They were bringing what they had. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the Lord. Everyone who had blue, purple, scarlet yarn, or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins, dyed red, and other durable leather brought them. Those presenting an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it. Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun.
Blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, and all the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goat hair. The leaders, you might be willing and not have skill. Well, you might not have the skill and and I mean, you might have skill but not be willing. *God* has given you specific skill for a specific task and it's important. And if you're willing to do it, you can walk in it.
And if you're not, you're probably gonna say no. Okay. The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the Ephad breastpiece. They also brought spices and olive oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. Verse 29, all the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord **free will offerings** for all the work of the Lord through through Moses, for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do.
That's pretty cool. Watch what happened. But just so you know, verses 30 through 36 1 and 2, I'd encourage you to read it. I might as well read it. I'm gonna read it.
Just listen. Then Moses said to the Israelites, see the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the spirit of God with wisdom and with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of skill, to make artistic design for work in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. And, he has given both him and Oholiab, son of Ahisamek, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers, in blue, purple, scarlet yarn, and fine linen, and weavers, all of them skilled workers and designers. So, Behzalil, Oholiab, and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary, or to do the work just as the Lord had commanded.
Then Moses summoned Behzaleel and Neholiab, and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability, and who was willing Everybody say, who was willing? Who to come and do the work. There's a lot of work that God has left for Real to do, and you have purpose. You're sitting in the seats. If you call Real Church your home, the gifts and talents God has built given you hold a purpose.
And and without you walking in those gifts, talents, and abilities, Real Church will never be all that she's called to be. You play a part. Not everybody's called to preach. But man, every part's important. When 1 part hurts, the rest of it hurts with it.
Verse 3, they received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued listen to this. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings "morning after morning". They just wanted to be a part of what God was gonna do through the tabernacle. So they continued.
So, all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing and said to Moses, the people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord has commanded to be done. Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp. No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary. And so, the people were restrained from bringing more Because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work. Amen.
That was in a desert. Was a That was in a desert. That's amazing, isn't it? Mhmm. Thank you, Corinth.
*Real* church is a part of his kingdom. So, real church is gonna go from glory to glory. This is not a setback. This is an opportunity to grow. And, I want you to remember this principle the rest of your life.
The **resources are in* the harvest*. The resources for next season to plant next season are in the harvest this season. I'm gonna explain. Okay? Can we bring out the picture of cotton cotton?
You guys like cotton? I grew up, my papa farmed cotton, and when I was young. And, I remember getting off in elementary school, and going out to the field. Was so excited, and it was in the fall when this would happen. And, I was so excited.
We would we would climb into these these big cotton trailers. And, it was before the real nice equipment to tamp it all down, you know. And, so, I would just stomp cotton out there, which I was really wrestling and playing in the cotton. But, you know, I was helping papa, you know. That's cotton.
Alright. The the little ball of cotton that is it first starts as what they call a bowl. So, you've got 1 seed that plants a cotton plant, that 1 seed grows up go to the next slide. That's a bowl. It grows up, and from that 1 seed there are between 10 and 20 bowls on a cotton plant, depending on the species or the type of plant, depending on how good the soil is prepared and all that.
But, each cotton plant has between 10 and 20 bowls. Okay. Go to the next picture. There you go. That's what cotton looks like in a field.
Go to the next picture. Those are the seeds. Now, in each bowl of cotton, there are between 27 and 40 seeds. Now, 1 seed grows up a plant 10 to 20 bowls of cotton with 27 to 40 seeds. Let's just be conservative and say 10 bowls of cotton with about 30 seeds in each bowl.
That means 1 seed grows up and produces 300 seeds. 1 plant. You understand? The resources are in the harvest. If I were to take that 1 plant, multiply it out for how many plants are in the field, 300 seeds for every 1 seed there, I have the capacity, the ability for next year's harvest if I were to take all of the seeds to plant a field 300 times bigger.
Because, the resources for next season are in this season's harvest. You understand? Now, let's just take maybe you lose some seeds or you you know, some seeds get lost. Let's take just 10%. 10% of the seeds, that's 30 seeds per plant conservatively.
That's a 30 times greater ability to harvest 30 times more because you're faithful with what you're given and God, we the under the principles of who God is are found in nature and he wants us to go from glory to glory. So, wants us to farm well. He wants us to take what he's given us and multiply it because he's already put in the DNA everything it needs in order to multiply so that we go from glory to glory. Do you understand? The resources are in the harvest.
So, what I'm saying is, in these seats, and those watching online, everything that we need, time, talent, and treasure, the resources to go from glory to glory are in the harvest. *Amen*? I believe we have to be out I didn't tell you this. We have to be out by September 1. Sorry.
We have to be out by September 1. Praise God, they're being generous to us. We don't have to pay rent in July and August, which is gonna help. That's awesome. But, I believe that we're gonna find the right place.
That's either a long term lease or a purchase that is going to multiply the glory to glory of what God is doing now within a 3 to 5 mile radius. 5 max, but man, I'd love it to be in a 3 mile radius. Whether that's a old church building that we buy, whether that's a 15,000 square foot warehouse that we lease or purchase or whatever, or we find something else to lease. I don't know yet. But what I do know is that what is next for you guys is greater than what is now.
What I know is we're gonna wherever we end up, whether it looks greater or not, the church, you guys are gonna be greater. We're gonna reach more people. We're gonna impact not because we wanna look pretty to the magazines. No. No.
No. It's because we wanna plunder hell and populate heaven. Because we wanna be a major impact to Pinellas County, to Tampa Bay, and to the world. Because we wanna take those 1,362 *souls* that were that we were a part of winning in Pakistan last week, you guys, we wanna be impacting every nation. By the way, I I couldn't show the video because we didn't get it yet.
We should get the video of what we did in Pakistan this next week. So I'll be able to inform you completely then. The best is yet to come. *God* is just getting started and you're sitting in these seats for a reason. So, we're going to do what they did.
We're gonna take up an offering, but not today. For the next week, whatever comes in till Sunday, we're just gonna it's gonna be for this purpose. And I I say for the next week because we gotta make some decisions. So we need to know what type of building we're looking for. This might be our down payment or something.
I don't know. But, we need to know what type of building we're looking for. I don't have any expectations. I'm just God, I have a sense of expectancy. What are going to do?
I'm excited. I've been on this journey for 6, 7 years now. You guys have been on it with me for a couple years. Together, we're better. So, I ask you, when you leave this place, don't make an emotional decision, just like the people left Moses' presence.
Leave this place and go pray. What do I have, God? Do you want me to participate? How do you want me to participate? And those who are willing, participate.
And I promise, we're gonna have more than enough. Will you be able to give after that? Absolutely. The people continue to give morning after morning. If you want to, that we'll set up a building account or something like that.
That'll be great. But in order to make the necessary decisions we need to make in the next month and a half, you know, this is the way that we're gonna go about it. Fair enough? Yes. Now, you know who we are.
You know where we come from. You know how God has provided? I know he's provided. I was so concerned about raising the money of planting through Ark. They said, you know, you're moving to a new you gotta raise a $180,000 to plant a church.
By the way, it's expensive. I was like, woah, this is crazy. You know, here I am, this little country boy. What's going on? God, I don't know.
*God led me to Lamentations-3. It says, those who wait on the Lord*, I'm good to those who wait. You know, wait on him. I was like, alright, I'm a wait. I'm a and it said quietly.
I'm a wait and I'm a be quiet. 2 days later, I get 3 calls from 3 pastors, didn't ask anything. They said, I'm sowing into your church plan. I said, what? I would get random calls and people would say, I am just gonna give God put it on my heart, I had a dream last night, and give you $10,000.
Man, we had everything we need to plant this church so that we could be a major impact, and he ain't done yet. So my trust is not in you, in your pocketbooks. It's in Jesus. This is an invitation for you to participate in what God wants to do. When you participate, you get the joy of seeing the fruit of all the lives changed, knowing that you had a part in it.
So, let me pray for you, and we're gonna dismiss. And I tell you what, we're gonna dismiss a certain way. And, I'm a have to teach you how to do it, because the dream team knows. But, it's gonna be fun. *Father, I thank you for these amazing, mighty men and women of God* that are watching online or watching here.
And Lord, we trust you. You're our provider, and we're content. Lord, we're content to meet in the field. We just wanna follow your voice. Whatever you say, Lord.
I'm excited. This is a moment. It's an opportunity. Well, thank you for allowing us to be a part of it. The best is yet to come.
*Amen*. Alright. Now, to do this next 1, I wanna ask you to "stand and participate". And, we'll end on this. When I was at when I was at I I have I've had a motto since I was 14.
It's I'm a real person living a real life for a real Jesus having a real good time. Hence, the name Real Church. Just so you know, our vision moving forward is whatever it takes for you to know the love of Jesus and live out your God given purpose. We wanna "engage the culture" with the love of Jesus, Then, we want to equip those we engage to engage the culture around them with the love of Jesus. And then, we wanna empower the ready to live out their God given purpose.
That's who we are. That's what we do. It's all about laying our lives down so that you can live out what God has put inside of your heart. And, when you start living that out, you lay your life down so the next person can live out what God's put inside of their heart, and it's just the gospel, that's who we are as a church. But, this little thing that God gave me, I'm a real person living a real life for a real Jesus, having a real good time, because it is a real good time following him.
We're not a bunch of fuddy duds. We can smile and laugh. Yeah. Yeah. We can dance.
Anyway, and and when I was a youth pastor, I made them do this chant. I'm not gonna make you, but I'm gonna invite you. We'd do this chant, and I'd say, I'm a, and they'd all scream out, real. I'd say, person living a and they'd all scream out, real. I'd say, life for a and they'd all say, real.
And I'd say, Jesus having a and they'd all scream out, real good time. You guys ready?
Yeah. I
dare you to "let down the front" and just have fun with it. Alright? Because really Jesus hit the home run. He hit the winning home run for us so we can celebrate in victory even before we see what he does because he's already finished the work. So whatever happens, we've already won in him.
*Amen*? Amen. So we can celebrate. I'm gonna turn off my mic though because I'm gonna get loud. You guys ready?
Yes. Are you sure? Thank you for tuning in today to the **Real Church podcast**. I pray that you "walk away from today" encouraged with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. If you'd like to connect with us, we can't wait to reach out to you and pray for you.
You can go to www.realchurch.us/connect. And then also, if you would like to give to what God is doing in and through our ministry, you can do so at www.realchurch.us/giving, or you can text any amount to 84321, and then just search in the link that comes up. Search for Real Church of the Lord. God bless you, and the best is yet to come.