You are invited to stop relying on your own strength and instead stand firm in the Lord's mighty power. When you face trials, choose to count it all joy knowing that your faith is developing perseverance and maturity. Take the next step of obedience by connecting with a small group to walk through this journey together.
Few groups are still finishing up communion, so we're just gonna take a moment to pray. Father God, I just thank you for who you are. Lord, I thank you for your goodness. Lord, I thank you for your presence. Lord, I thank you for that you're good no matter what.
Lord God, even when we don't understand you're good, then we can have peace that passes understanding, trusting in your goodness, knowing that by faith we understand. So father, let us take those steps of obedience that faith requires even when we don't understand. Knowing that you're gonna show us, you're gonna lead us into all truth. Somebody out there just doesn't understand why you're going through what you're going through. I don't know who you are, that's why I prayed the way that I prayed.
Is God loves you and he cares for you and he's good and you can trust him. You don't have to doubt his goodness because when you doubt his goodness, you can't hear from him. **Faith comes by hearing** and we learned through the Hearing God series that the faith is the "substance of things hoped for". And if you doubt God's goodness, you're not gonna hope in his character and nature. If you don't hope in his character and nature, it's gonna prevent your ability to walk by faith, meaning your ability to hear him in the moment.
The very moment that you need to stand in the midst of the trial through, you need to be able to hear him. So, regardless of what the enemy brings at you, you have to trust in his character and his nature and his goodness so that you can hear and obey and follow him no matter what you're going through. And after that, faith come By faith we understand, Hebrews-11:3. So stand. That's kinda what I'm gonna talk about here for a second.
Something very special planned for the second half of the service or the message, which I'm excited about. We're gonna get to hear testimony of Mark and Christine Becker, is gonna be great and awesome and something special planned for them and, for us as a congregation. But first, I wanna talk to you guys a little bit about something that God put on my heart. For those of you, maybe this is your first time, my name is David John Phillips. I have the honor and joy of getting to be the pastor here.
No place I'd rather be, nothing I'd rather be doing. It's been 4 years and 1 week since we started the church, and man, God is good. And we pray that, you know, this being your first time if it is that you encounter the love of God in a real way. So Bible says we love because he first loved us. So when we counter in his love, encounter his love and and we receive his love, it gives us the capacity to respond in love.
And that's the relationship that God seeks. And man, when you when when that happens, it begins to change the atmosphere of your heart, begins to change the atmosphere. And when that happens, became begins to change what comes out of your mouth because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And then the culture of your home and your job begins to change because you begin to speak differently. It's not just a Sunday morning thing.
And this is there's a reason we named it Real Church because this is it's it's a real relationship with him. As many real churches around, not saying this is the only 1, but man, it's been my motto since I was a 14, just a real person living a real life for a real Jesus having a real good time. And that's the way we should all live. Right? Man, you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of Christian fuddy duds out there.
Come to church all serious, and get all excited and happy at other times in their life, but when they when it when it comes to Jesus, it's just serious. But my Bible my Bible says that that Jesus had more joy than all the disciples. You realize a lot of times we magnify the tears in his presence. And the tears are great. It's a big deal.
But I think that sometimes it takes more faith to have joy in his *presence* than it does. Because because a lot of times those tears are just sadness because shame for what you've done or or or whatever and said, like joy. In order to have joy in his presence, you have to believe what he did for you. And when you believe what he did for you, then you're you know you're in right standing with him. So then you know you have peace with God And it and it brings this, oh God is with me in the midst of everything.
Like there's a joy unspeakable despite what happens when you know and you have the faith in what The finished work of what he's done. That's why we take communion and the way that Moriah said it was so beautiful. It's like we're looking in a mirror and when we look in the mirror, like the mirror of his word is supposed like his word is Christ. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. When we read this, we're supposed to be seeing Christ, but it's also a mirror reflecting to us because we are made in his image, born again, restored our original value in order to reflect His image.
And when we read this, we're supposed to be reading how Christ is being formed in us, and the more we believe it, the more He's formed in us, and the more the world when they look at us, they see Jesus. When they hear us speak they hear the words of Jesus and it causes them to want to know Him. When we take communion it's a reminder that what He did 2000 years ago matters for us today, and and every time that we remember and we believe it we reflect His character and His nature more and it impacts and change the culture around changes the culture around us more. Amen? My bible has a couple of verses and I just I've talked to you about this before.
And you we're in this who we are series. Next week is the last week of the who we are series. And, you know, we're we're kinda letting you know our leadership and hearing their hearts and everything. And and I'm excited about next week. Next week's gonna be super special, what you're gonna hear because I know who's speaking.
And then October 9, we start a new series named Corinthians where we're gonna go through Corinthians together. And it's gonna be powerful. There's a lot of stuff in Corinthians, guys. And I'm excited to dive into it with you guys and and see what it looks like to play it out in our lives. But back to what I'm talking about, *Ephesians-6:10* says, finally be strong in who?
Why do we so often try to be strong in ourselves? You know, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, boy. I mean, there's a time and a place to do that, but it's in Him. It's in His strength, not in our own. The more that we try to control things and the more that we try to make sure that we got it all together, the more we're gonna fail.
Pride comes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. And whenever you're focused on self and what self can do, guess what? You're gonna fall. Our focus in everything is Christ and reflecting Christ. Finally, baby, be strong in the Lord and in sorry.
I'm just get excited about real. I'm like, yeah, baby. I mean, I don't know. You guys, now leave me alone. Finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power.
His. Put on the "full armor" of God. Now, what we're about to talk about, you gotta keep that first verse I just read in your mind. Because if not, you're trust in your mighty power to overcome. And it's gonna be a struggle.
You're have another testimony of going through the struggle. Man, my Bible says we go from glory to glory, not from struggle to struggle. Every struggle is the enemy's scheme in order to take you out. But every scheme that he has in order to take you out is also an opportunity to make you. What he uses to try to break you, God wants to use that very same thing in his wisdom to make you, to prove your faith.
That's why we count it all joy when we face trials of many kinds. Because we know that the testing of our faith is developing this perseverance, this maturity that's reflecting His goodness. It's not struggle to struggle, it's opportunity to reflect His goodness. To opportunity to reflect His goodness. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
And boy, he's scheming. He's looking for a weak spot in your armor. As soon as he finds it, he's gonna come after you because he doesn't believe that you believe what you say you believe. Because here's the thing, he doesn't really care about you. He doesn't care about you sitting in a church service, he doesn't care about you lifting your hands to worship and having an experience, he doesn't care about you sitting down and reading the word, but what he does care about is you believing it.
Yes. What he does care about is you standing on it and remaining in it in the middle of the try of the times and the trials and the testing so that you become what you've been reading. Yep. See, he doesn't believe that you you believe what you say you believe on Sunday mornings. He wants to see it or he doesn't wanna see it but he's he's he's coming at you and scheming against you in order to prove to you and to prove to himself that you don't believe the word.
He cares about the word because it's the Word that He has to submit to because the Word is Christ. And when you actually believe and "stand in the Word", the Word is made manifest in you, and so your life is living and standing above where He lives. He's under your feet when you're believing and standing in the Word. When you're just singing about it and having experiences, which are great, I love them, but unless if they're not conforming Christ in you, if they're not making manifest His Word, then they mean nothing. I love the worship man.
I want to get in His presence. I encourage you every day to spend time, hours and hours in His presence if you can, reading His Word and doing those things, but if you're not taking steps of obedience to obey and allow what He said to manifest in your life and your daily life, then it means nothing. It's just experiences that make you feel good. Satan don't care about you and your religious experiences, he cares about the word made manifest. And you believe it and you live it, then your life is showing *Christ*.
And that's what he's scared of. *2 Corinthians-10:5. 2 Corinthians-10:5* 4 and 5 says, the weapons of we fight with are not the "weapons of the world". On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretend pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we "take captive" every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
I'll show you just a real practical example of how the enemy schemes so that when it happens to you, and I would wager, it probably happens every day. You know what it is, and you know how to stand against it. So, Kevin, would you come here, buddy? I was gonna ask for a volunteer, but then I decided just to voluntell somebody. Would you have a seat, my friend?
He told me he was gonna do a skit. He did not tell me he was gonna include me in it. This is true. This is not a talking part. So I wanna tell you a little bit about Kevin.
Kevin, gave his life to *Jesus* 3 months ago. This is not this is let's let's assume this is a fictional Kevin because Kevin gave his life to Jesus a long time ago. Right? Okay. But let's just let's imagine that Kevin represents you.
So maybe you gave your life to Jesus 2 weeks ago, maybe you gave your life to Jesus a year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years, 60 years ago you gave your life to Jesus, it doesn't matter. The enemy's schemes are the same. K. So this is Kevin, and Kevin represents you. And here's the deal.
Satan's over here, and he sees Kevin. And he says he calls his little imp, his little demon, just come here. Master, what do you want? Kevin's starting to concern me a little bit. Not much.
Don't worry. He doesn't really believe what he says he believes. I don't think he does. We're gonna prove it. You know, he's in his room right now.
You see him? Yes, master. I see him. He's in his room right now and he's reading the Bible, and he's been more consistent. Good job, Kevin.
He's been more consistent than normal, and I just need to reprove to him and prove to myself that he doesn't really believe what he's reading. So Master, I've noticed that. I've I've I've seen how he's been hanging around those Christians and things, and I've been concerned too. Shut up. I want you to go and I want you to talk to Kevin.
And here's what I want you to say. Oh, that's a great plan. A little demon gets there and he gets on near Kevin. Kevin has no idea. Right?
Because he's focused on the word. He says, hey, Kevin. Remember 10 years ago when you did that thing? Remember, focus on it because you've not really changed everything you think that you believe you don't believe it. You wouldn't be having this thought right now if you didn't if you were really changed.
Nothing's changed. Nothing. As a matter of fact, why don't you go do it again? Has anybody been stay there. Has anybody been reading your word, *worshiping*, or just minding your business?
Doing what you're supposed to do in your schoolwork, doing your job, trying to be the good husband, trying to be a good wife, good kid, good son, following Jesus the best you can. And then that random thought just comes out of nowhere. Bow. You're like, what was that? Where'd that come from?
Ever happened before? Is it just me? Maybe something you did in the past, maybe not. Maybe just something that your psyche happened to see in a film 1 day, and then you have this thought come in. Out of nowhere and you hate the thought.
Can I just give you the hint? The the fact that you hate the thought is is proof that you've changed. It's your new creation and that the thought didn't originate from you. But it's another example of why we gotta be careful little eyes what we see and be careful little ears what we hear. Because the inputs shift what we can think about and what we think about shifts over time what we feel and then what we feel plays with our emotions and what we think we believe.
Shift your inputs, you shift what you feel over time. You can't directly "change what you feel" but you can change what you feel by changing what you think over time. I've said it multiple times. Like America is schizophrenic. They think I am what I feel.
But marketers pay millions of dollars to get in your eyes and in your ears for 30 seconds because they know that if they can get you to see and hear or taste or feel something or smell something enough, you're gonna think about it enough. And if you think about it enough, then you'll have the feeling, oh, gotta have that drink of water, that Avion water, That Dasani water. Oh, I gotta have that drink of Coke. Just get thirsty all of a sudden. Why?
Because you thought about it enough now, your feelings have shifted. And then they play on it, Oh, you are what you feel. And people say, my truth. No, you've believed and swallowed a lie. That's not the truth.
The truth is Jesus Christ and what He says, and we set our mind on what He says. And when we set our mind and begin to think about what He says and trust Him, all of sudden our feelings change and we feel like following Him instead of doing what we've always been doing. So what does the enemy do? His scheme is to change what you think. So he can change what you feel about yourself, so that you begin to believe a lie.
And when you believe a lie, you empower the liar. This is just how it works, guys. It's the scheme. So Kevin, in that moment, remember you're all Kevin. He has 2 options.
Probably a couple more. 1 option is what he did. I can't believe I'm thinking that. Oh man, there's something wrong. I haven't been doing enough.
Oh, I need to I need to pray harder. I need to pray more. I need to oh, I need to call in. You don't need to pray more in that moment. You need to know what his word says about you and stand in it.
It's a simple standing in the word. A lot of people say, oh, I rebuke you devil in Jesus name. And then they start fighting the devil, which is getting your focus on the devil instead of focusing on who he says that you are. He wants you to focus on the thought, on the past, and on him. That's it.
I don't mind you saying I rebuke you in Jesus name once, but when you're done with that, get back to what he says about you. And what he says is the opposite of what the liar says. So you have that thought come in. Every thought you think is that your own. Some thoughts are from the enemy.
You know what you do? You don't do this. I can't believe I'm thinking that. I need to call 3 or 4 people and talk to them about it. You're just reinforcing it.
Now there is a time if you've been struggling and you can't rejoice in it, and you can't get in the word, and you're having problems. Yes, you call a brother and you confess your fault 1 to another, and then he washes you in the water of the word so you remember who you are and stand in it. But that's not the first thing. The first thing is go back to what he says. And here's the here's the reality.
The lie was, remember that thing from 10 years ago? That was the lie. That was it. Right there. Because *Jesus* washed you clean and doesn't remember it.
And your sin is separated as far as the east is from the west from you. I have a good friend of mine who told me this past week, he said, you know, I used to always think that that your sin was separated a really long distance from you because it's the as far as the East is from the West. And then I realized, wait a second, the East never touches the West. It's impossible to bring together. Your sin is separated so far from you, it can never touch because it's the opposite.
It's not who you are anymore. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You have been completely and totally "washed clean". Blessed is the person whose sin is never counted against them. The only legal right you have to look at your past is through the eyes of the testimony of what Jesus has done.
Because you're either a new creation or you're not. And if you're a new creation, it doesn't matter what thoughts come in your brain. You take captive every thought. You kick it out and make it *obedient* to what Christ says about you. And what does He say?
You're forgiven. You're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You're a new creation. He's with you. You are clean.
You know what? It doesn't matter what thoughts come at you if you're taking everything captive, but it's not just take it captive. Like how do you take it captive? Is you don't do this. Oh, man.
You go back to what his truth says about you. When that little imp, He's getting excited. Simmer down. Let let me do the acting. He's good though.
He's he's prepping. When that little imp when that little imp comes and whispers in your ear, here's what you do. Remember 10 years ago or remember and all those crazy thoughts that you never thought you would think or that 1 or whatever to try to slip in. Here's what you do. Oh Lord God, thank you *Jesus* that I'm not that person anymore.
Thank you that I hate that thought. That's Man, thank you Lord God that you've given me a new heart. Thank you Lord God that I'm new in you. Lord God, and man, I I praise you, Lord God, that that that that little *devil came and even put that thought in my mind because it's a reminder of the testimony of what you've done in my life, that I'm forgiven* and I'm new, Lord God. Thank you that you've cleaned me, and not only have you cleaned me, but you want to use me to share the testimony of what you've done to others so that others can be clean in the same way, because there's people that are living that way right now.
Lord God, would you touch them? Because I remember how I felt. I was empty, Lord God. Touch them. They don't even know that they need Jesus and let it push you into worship.
Let it push you into praise. Let it push you into prayer. You know what that little amp will do then? Oh, Master. Master.
Did you do what I said? Yes, master. I did what you said. Oh, he turned and he threw the Bible down. He quit, didn't he?
He ran back. He got disgusted and busted and broke, didn't he? He got all discouraged, didn't he? Started crying about his situation. He started focusing on on what he saw instead of who who is there and instead of the word that Jesus, we don't speak of.
He started focusing on on his circumstance, didn't he? Crying about it, didn't he? No, master. He's What? He started worshiping.
What? He started confessing the truth. That's how it is, guys. Amen? Good job, buddy.
So with that in the back of your mind, I wanna read those verses to you 1 more time. And this fits with the Who We Are series because this is who we are. *Ephesians-6:10*, finally, strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities.
The other thing that enemy would say is, don't can you believe it's what that church did to you? Can you believe that's what that person did to you? To get you focused on what they did. Your struggle's not even against them. Your struggle's against the enemy behind them so you can love them and not be offended by them and lay your life down for them and forgive them because you've been forgiven.
Amen? But against rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the "spiritual forces" of evil in the heavenly heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God. So when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to just stand in who he says you are.
Amen? Amen. Praise the Lord. You know what? Mark and Christine, as as if you guys will come up, they've been waiting.
They were supposed to speak a little bit last week, but man, we we we just got carried away. So, I'm thankful that they forgave us and they're coming and they're gonna speak. It's gonna be awesome. But would you guys just take a a moment just to praise him? Just to thank him for who he is and what he's done?
Hey, you have victory in him. Get your chairs. These are your mics right there. Come on. This couple is full of Jesus.
Morning.
Good morning. I think you gotta unmute it. There we go. Cool. There we go.
So and actually, 1 of you might need to mute yours at a time and then go yeah. There we go. This is Mark and Christine Becker. They're full of Jesus. Yeah.
Hi, Kevin. They've been with us for a year and a half?
Yeah. About.
About a year and a half now. And, man, God's been working and moving in their lives. And I just wanna give them the opportunity to share their testimony. So yeah.
Yeah. Sure. So I'll speak for a couple minutes and then Christine can fill in the gaps that I missed. So I guess to kind of start we got to go back to when I was a kid. My parents who are actually here today are believers and so I grew up in the church from the time I was a baby, I guess.
I gave my life to the Lord when I was a kid. I remember being baptized and all that when I was when I was young. The first time I remember experiencing *God*, like actually experiencing his presence. I was on a mission trip in The Dominican Republic when I was about 13. And it's still this very vivid memory in my mind.
We were there and we were outside in this church service. It was in basically a pavilion. It wasn't even indoors. It was outside in this open air service. And it was going back and forth, you know, between Spanish and English.
We were just worshiping. And I remember just encountering *God* where it was so real in a way that I had never experienced before. I remember just, they were singing in Spanish, and I didn't speak Spanish, but, like, my spirit knew what they were saying. And, you know, we were worshiping together and God was so real in that moment. I was I was crying.
I was just worshiping. And that experience took my relationship with God kind of from my head growing up knowing all the Bible stories, knowing things, and really brought it where it was real to me. There's there's a saying that says, a man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an opinion. And basically what that means is once you've experienced something, it doesn't matter what anybody can tell you. Right?
Somebody can tell me God's not real. Somebody can tell me that you know these bible stories were made up or you know that all the stuff that David just said is like you know, you've just been baked in it for so long that you believe this but it's not true. But when we have that experience with God, no 1 can can take that from us. No 1 no 1 can convince us otherwise because we experienced it. We saw it.
We felt it. And and I think that's a lot of what *testimony* is. Right? Is is our experiences with God, what God's done for us. And those are some of the things that that man, that people can't take from us.
And as, you know, I look back at my life, then that kind of propelled me into my teenage years and just seeking after the Lord and finding community, finding you know, a healthy church that I was growing in, finding, you know, pastors and mentors that were pouring into my life, investing in my life, the things of God and growing in my faith. And I remember all those experiences kinda stacked up and reinforced and reinforced the my experience. Right? That no 1 is gonna be able to convince me otherwise. And remember that was kind of tested when I went away to college.
So I went to the University of Florida, which is awesome. Loved it. But when I got there on campus, I remember just this overwhelming sense of like no 1 here knows me. I have no community. I have no accountability.
And I could be whoever I want to be and reinvent myself however I want and there would be I could walk away from my faith and there would be nobody here that would say, you know, that's not who you are because nobody knew me. And so I remember, you know, kind of asking the Lord to to provide community for me, to hold me, because God works a lot in community. And so there was this group of of guys that I got connected with very early, like my first semester there, that that encouraged me in my faith, held me accountable to to the things that I said I believed. Christine and I were dating at the time, but she wasn't at school with me. She was at another school.
And so, you know, holding me accountable in in my relationship with her and encouraging me and reinforcing all these things that, you know, I I believe. That group of guys, I think there were 6 of them in our wedding that stood next to me at our wedding because that's how much of impact they had on my life.
She correct. She correct you. It 7.
It was 6 or 7. I know my brother was there and then the rest of them were those guys. So right after college, this is the last kind of story I'll tell and then I'll let Christine fill in the fill in the gaps. But we right after I graduated from college, we got married a couple of days after I graduated, like a week and a half after I graduated. And then right after we got married, we loaded everything we owned into a car and drove to Los Angeles because I had taken a job there after college.
And so we lived there for for 5 years. And it was a season it was this awesome season of just being, you know, newly married, leaving everything we knew, leaving our church, and just this foundational season where we got to build. You know, we got to understand who we are in in God, who we are as a couple, who we together are, you know, in the body of Christ, how we serve together, how we grow together, you know, relying on each other to, you know, hey, I heard this from God. What did you hear from God? And being able to like make those decisions together.
And so that was, I think, an incredibly healthy, you know, challenging at times season, but but awesome. And God was with us through all of that. So I'm gonna let you fill in some of those details that I missed.
Hi. I'm Christine. I am his other half. But similarly, I grew up in the church. I remember being saved when I was like 6 and getting baptized and all those things.
But I had so much community. I had so much family and I had never ever been the new girl ever. So I didn't know what that was until we moved to LA. But before that, we had a questionable but *God* led us in the wipe in the right path youth pastor that really did drive home like go read your word. Go get in it.
See what it says. Know what it says for yourself. And we did. If anybody's kept a "soap journal", that's what that is. But it's really just go read it, go write it, go pray about it.
And we did for years, and it was great. We met when I was 15 ish. And that was it. There was a couple bumps along the way and graduations, but **God held us**. God held us.
And there are so many experiences that just reinforce like he said, who we were, what we were in God, what we were as ourselves. And then we realized, hey, we work together really well as a team. So let's just try and make that a thing. So we tried and it worked by some miracle of God. He promised to come home from college without another girlfriend.
So that that helped. So Yeah. Because like seriously, he had friends that were like, yeah, you can have college girlfriend and an at home girlfriend. I'm like, no, that's not a thing. You can't do that.
You're not okay.
So me and Jesus had a chat about that and we prayed him all the way through college to where he came home. So he did. And like he said, we graduated, got married and 2 days later got in the car. We had a real good time, in LA and it was a lonely season for me in LA actually. Like, I know a lot of you guys and I look forward to knowing more of you.
But, out there, the world goes a little fast. And we were in the season of building our careers and it was just really hard to get to know people because I'm like, oh, I have a work schedule. I You have a work schedule. It's different from mine. So where are we gonna find time to be friends?
So we made a few friends. We love them. They're still friends, but for the first time in my life I was the new girl and it was real hard. But thankfully Jesus said, you can go back to Florida now. You have kids.
They need grandparents so you can go. I was like, oh good, they get grandparents. So now they've got adopted grandparents, actual grandparents and aunties and uncles galore. Thank you for all of you. I appreciate all of you.
Yeah. So, you know, she was alluding to we moved back, to Florida in January 2021. So almost, you know, almost 2 years ago. We had our first baby in LA, and then we wanted and felt God kinda calling us back this way to grow have him grow up, you know, around family. And so when we moved back, we got you know, we were looking for churches.
We tried a few in the area. And, you know, a lot of great churches that we visited, but none of them felt like where we were supposed to be. Kind of in hindsight, when we walked in to real church, Jerry greeted us in the parking lot and that was
He greets everybody.
You know, it made an impression right away. But then as, you know, we sat under your teaching, you know, Courtney and just got to know people, it was where we were supposed to be. And in in hindsight, looking at it, 1 of the things that I I realized that God's kinda shown me is a lot of the other churches we visited were were bigger. Right? Like we visited Calvary on Drew and McMullen booth, and it was awesome.
But but like the what I felt like God showed me in a way is that that this house is built. Mhmm. You know, not that there weren't opportunities for us to serve, not that there weren't needs, not that there weren't things that we could have contributed to that body, but just a sense of this house is already built. And when we found Real Church, it was this house is being built Mhmm. And we have a place here where we need to help build it.
And that was exciting to us, you know, being able to establish that community, being able to use the gifts and abilities God's given us to to build this house into what it's supposed to be, what God wants it to be. Coming under, you know, your leadership with Courtney and the the other elders and just seeing what God's doing here and getting to participate in it.
So I I guess a question for you is what's how's God moving in your walk with him? What's some things that he's maybe since in the last year and a half, 2 years? What's some of the things that he's shown you, how you've grown, and and that kind of stuff?
Yeah. I'd say so so 1 of the biggest things that I had realized that God had shown me was that some of my faith had gotten almost like back into works
Yeah. A little bit.
You know, like what you were kinda enacting with that skin with Kevin. Right? Where it was, you know, I was thinking about those things like, oh, I hit I've whatever, I've sinned today or something or like things didn't go so great this week and it man, if there's something like really important that I need to pray for like, I'm not gonna pray for it today because today wasn't such a good day. I'm gonna try to like read my bible extra and then I'll like pray for it tomorrow or something. Right?
Which is which is silly, but but I think that happens to a lot of us. Just that natural thought of kinda I have to clean myself up before I go to God. And so that's 1 thing God has really shown me a lot. So through meeting with Jerry, through Gabe Mullins preached on righteousness at the beginning of the year, that had a big impact on me. Just understanding, you know, who I am, where I sit, that that I'm righteous, that I don't have to clean myself.
You know, you're you're teaching a while ago where you did the kind of the scale, right, where it's your righteousness versus God's righteousness and stuff. It's really powerful. And I think corrected where I had gotten a little off track down that that kind of works path.
*God*, amazing. Yeah. Go ahead, Christine.
So last year, year and a half. Backstory experiences. Growing up, I had absolutely no desire for anything else but to be a mom. So that's been the last 2 years of my life. And the last year, year and a half here, and in our home has literally just been God giving me the desires of my heart.
It's been hard. It's been wonderful. I've been blessed to be raising 2 little boys. We're having so much fun. And I'm so glad that they can be friends with all the other little boys and little girls around here.
Like this morning, somebody's running down the hallway yelling, River. Like, yes. Those are your friends. But the last year and year and a half has been a absolute privilege to live out what I've been called to and that's just being a mama.
Amen. Well, it was about about 8 months, maybe 8 or 10 months ago, God put on my heart, you know, for them. And a lot of times, like in John-16, it says the Holy Spirit will show you things yet to come. Know, as you walk in relationship with him, like he wants to show you his plan and his will for your life, his plan and his will for your job and and other things. And and God put on my heart that, you know, this couple is gonna be in leadership at our church 1 day.
And a lot of times, I'm if I if I did what I thought God was saying then, I'd be way wrong because it's not time. But if I wait on him, he'll be the 1 that promotes. He'll be the 1 that makes it happen. So fast forward, you know, 4 or 5 months and God's just proving through different experiences I'm having with Mark and with their family and things, man, that they they hear God, that they obey him, that they walk with him even when it hurts, even when it's a major self sacrifice, you know, and just revealing that over and over and over. And then, you know, come June, I just knew that it was time to appoint him to to leadership at our church.
And, so then, you know, we don't just do that willy nilly as we say in Louisiana. I called our *elders* and I said, hey guys. I said, this is kind of what I'm feeling in my heart. I want you to pray about it. I want you to watch them.
I want you guys to get to know them and if you don't already and see what *God puts on your heart too. Because as an elder* team, you know, we make decisions as a team. We don't just do something off the wall, you know. We we we do it unanimously and because we're in covenant with 1 another, in relationship with 1 another, and we should all hear the Holy Spirit together. You know?
And so I just asked them to start praying, so they did. I wanna I wanna read this to you, but, you know, Timothy is writing I mean, Paul is writing to Timothy. He's writing a letter. And, in the letter, he tells Timothy not to look let people look down on him because he's young. And because Timothy is is like 1 of Paul's proteges.
Call him a young apostle, helping Paul to set up churches in different areas. And Timothy, like Paul was writing to Timothy about how to appoint elders. And so this guy who he said was Paul said was young, was commissioned to appoint elders of churches. A lot of people, you know, today we're appointing them as an elder of this church, as as an elder, part of the elder team. A lot of people say, well, well, they're they're they're not elder in age.
You're right. They're not. But in spirit, they are.
Amen. Amen.
You know? And not only that, God specifically has called them to do so as confirmed not just by myself in the Lord, but by every *elder* that's a part of our team. And so I wanna read to you the qualifications, but then I also wanna have Jerry to come up and just bear witness because Jerry and Heidi were our first appointed elders of our church. It says, here's a trustworthy saying, whoever aspires to be an overseer, other versions say elder, desires a noble task. This is 1 Timothy-3.
Now the elder is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well, see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church? He must not be a recent convert or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders so that he will not "fall into disgrace" and into the devil's trap.
Jerry, would you come up? You can you can go up this way if you like. Yeah. Don't knock over that TV. That'd be bad.
Yeah. If you don't mind, just man, you Jerry disciples men. He meets weekly with many of you. If you don't meet with him and you like to grow in your relationship with Jesus, call Jerry. You can call me too.
There's other men in here to talk to, but I mean this is just his calling a part of it. The other party's doing a ministry called Belong, but man, Mark's been meeting with him every week. So, Jerry, what are your thoughts about all this, my friend?
You know, it's a privilege that I get to meet with Mark every week. And I've watched by being around him that just like Timothy says, this this guy has been vulnerable with me in his marriage, how he cherishes his wife, how he loves this church, and he is faithful. Why is he faithful? Because he pays attention to God being faithful to him. Yeah.
And you know, a couple of weeks ago, I walk up and I said, man, the body is kind of achy this morning. I said, but you young guys wouldn't know that, which I'm thinking he's 37. I said, so how old are you again tomorrow? And he says, 30 years old. I'm And walking to get my coffee and I said, jeez, this young man is so rich in wisdom, in speech, and knowledge of God, the mature man.
And I am blessed to look up to him. I'm blessed to look up to Daniel Mannix, Gabe, David, Kevin Feathers, and all the other young men. You just inspire me. And this guy right here, he is an elder. You can't look at being young as, you know, I'm the old guy looking up to you.
I mean, he's amazing.
Amen. Amen. There's a verse in Hebrews, and you can stay up here, Jerry. There's a verse in Hebrews that says, consider your leaders, consider their way of life, and imitate their faith. For God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And thinking about this verse, you know, there are leaders in my life who I've considered their the outcome of their way of life, and I want that same outcome in my life. So I imitate their faith. I ask them about their relationship with God. I asked them how they hear God. I talked with them, and and and I if it's they have a discipline or a thing that they know that I don't, I put it into practice in my life because I want that outcome in my life.
Why? Because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. There's a reason that verse is right after that that verse because the same process, the same thing that he put this person through in order to develop that character, You know, mean, I wanna learn from them so I don't have to go through that process. But man, if I do go through it, I need to go through it in the way that they submitted, the way that they learned, the way that they grew, so that I can have the same results of Christ in my life. Consider your leaders.
Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. I mean, that being said, just to be real blunt, if you get to know me and you consider the outcome of my way of life and it's not Christ and it's not it's not worth imitating, you should probably go to another church. And go to a church where you can consider the leader, consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Amen? Amen.
Well, in thinking about that, those that we appoint to eldership and to deacons in our church, I want to say, wait a second. Do I want people from the community that come in and consider Real Church their home, if they considered the outcome of their way of life and they imitated their faith, would they look more like Jesus? And I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that for Mark and Christine, answer is yes. So not only does it meet that wicked, but God confirmed it in my own heart, then confirmed it for our old whole elder team. And not only that, but specifically from Heidi, who's a little prophetic, that the time is now.
She said that back in, like, July.
Instead of the same day.
Yeah. So we're a little late on that, but, you know, now is relative. But I wanna call all of our elder team up when we just so you know and and as they're coming, I want you to understand something. Anybody that's appointed to leadership at our church, elders or deacons or whatever. Number 1, never will I appoint somebody that hasn't served at our church for a year, at least.
You know why? Because to lead is to serve. And how would I appoint somebody to leadership if they're not willing to serve the body? That means they're not fit to lead the body. Does that make sense?
Yeah. The other thing, I'm not gonna appoint somebody that doesn't tithe either. You know why? Because where your treasure is, your heart is also. And how why would I appoint somebody to leadership that's heart is not with his local body?
Man, praise the Lord. If they're have the character of a leader, that's great. Go somewhere where your heart is and and sow your time, talent, and treasure there. And then maybe that's where you'll be a leader. You know, if that's what God has want you to do.
But at this body, man, I mean, it's it's so important that your heart, if you're especially if you're in leadership, but also if you're a part of this mission. If God has called you to be a part of this mission, you know, ask the Lord, what does it look like for me to be a member at this local body? And how am I helping to move this mission forward? Look, I want you to know, you are welcome to come and sit in those seats and do nothing for as long as you need. But when you're healed and healthy, someone healed and healthy multiplies.
And this body of Christ is not gonna be who who's God's called it to be without every person God's called to be here helping carry the mission forward. Because your time, talent, and treasure is going to help this body to reach the community more effectively. And without it, we won't be as effective. But not just that. As you give of your time, your talent, and your treasure, not only you're building those strong relationships because you're giving of what's valuable to you and serving others, so you're building relationships and you're gonna receive more than you give.
And your purpose, you will walk out the purpose that God has for you more effectively when you're connected in relationship with the ones God's called you to be connected with connected with. Amen? And so I want to put people in leadership that will help to lead people who God's called to be a part of our church to be more effective in their relationship with Christ and more effective at carrying out the mission God's given our local body in the context of His global body. Amen? Amen.
Alright. Well, here's what we'll do. When I say that, I'm thinking about what we're going to do. I'm a have a couple of the women. Actually, I'm gonna have all of the women pray for Christine, and I'm gonna have all of the men pray for Mark.
And then I'll round it out by praying for both of them. That's what we'll do. So if you guys will just join us in prayer, and this is a special moment for our body. So
Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for Christine. I thank you for the anointing that she carries as a mother and as a mother who mothers, many. And not just her 2 boys, but that that ministry is loud and powerful and peaceful and full of your love. Not just a love that she works up within herself, but a love that you pour through her, that you lavish on her and pour out. Lord, I thank you that you anointed, this couple for this ministry.
And I I we just love you for growing this team that we can lean on each other in Jesus name.
*God*, I just bless Christine and I thank you for who you created her to be. I thank you for the special gifts that you put within her that is gonna complete this body and this and this team, Lord. And I thank you for this time that she has, that you are giving her the desire of our heart. But Lord, it's only the birthing, it's only the childhood stages of what you have planned for her and her future. And so God, I thank you for that.
And I pray that her heart would continually thank you in each and every season. And I thank you, Lord, for the joy. And I pray that you would pour out your joy so mightily in her, and that people would notice it even when they're around her. Bless her in Jesus'
name. Father,
we just thank you for Christine and for her love and her fervor for you. And Father God, I just thank you that you have given her the desire of her heart. And Father, I just know that you're going to, move in her life and and that she will just touch others by her love, her mama's love. And Lord, we just thank you, that you're going to bless this couple and bless their children, that they will grow up and grow up mightily into the kingdom of God. We thank you for them as parents, Lord Jesus, that they have such a fervor for you.
And we thank you, God, that they're going to speak truth and *wisdom* and discipline and for all of us, for all of us to glean truth from your word. So we pray, Lord, that you'll just bless this wonderful young mama, Christine. And I ask Lord that you'll that you'll just give such a love and a fervor that goes so deep. So deep that she'll minister the love of Jesus wherever she goes because she is a "lighthouse and a beacon" for you. And we are reminded that thy word is a lamp unto my feet and to our feet and a light unto our path, and that she is a beacon and a light for your path.
We thank you Jesus and we love you. Amen.
Hey, Lord. Thank you for the beautiful picture of of you and your bride and this couple, God. The picture of the church, the church that you've redeemed, God. Thank you that that this couple shines that. They shine leadership and and, your wisdom just through how they love 1 another and how they love and train up those boys and how they disciple others, God.
I pray that there are birthed many many young disciples in this church through this couple. Pray for it. I anticipate many being birthed from them, God. We love you, Lord. Thank you for this couple.
Thank you for Christine and everything that she is for this church.
Yeah. Lord, and we thank you so much for both of them. I feel like God showed me that you guys are gonna be "pillars of the house" that God told you that is being built. And it would be easy to think in in the terms of man as far as we're house that's being built, so we need lots of help and we need a building and we need these things. But what God was saying to you is is that the the people are the building.
And so the congregation and everyone that comes in here is the bricks and the the 2 by fours and the drywall. And you guys are called to build that house wherever we are, whether we're in a field or whether we're in a building. And so I see you guys as as being very pivotal to and as a pillar, you'll be long standing with this with this body and that you'll be able to bear much of the weight of it. So I pray that to be true. God, I pray that Mark and Christine will continue to look for the the gifts and talents and anointings you've put into them and lean into them as they help to bear the weight of this building and to do it in your in your spirit and in your strength.
*Jesus*' name.
[Speaker 4] [01:00:04] Yes, Lord. I just thank you right now in Jesus' name that you called Mark and Christina from a long time ago, but it was due to Mark's submitting to your **spiritual authority** that lines it up and his wife follows, Lord. And we just thank you that
[Speaker 6] [01:00:23] use 1, just find a young looking person. They can show you how to do it. But you just do it on your camera. It's it's pretty simple. But you'll sign up for that.
And then we also have small group sign ups on that same QR code or you can go to realchurch.us. My small group is happening on Tuesday nights from 6 to 8. It's really fun. You should come to mine. We pray at mine.
I do have my children there, so they they do their thing. So kids are welcome. But there's a lot of other small groups too that but you should be connected. You should look through the list, pray about it, pick 1 that the Lord is leading you to, and get connected. Thanks so much for being a part of the family today, guys.
We love you. You are dismissed.