[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. It's good to be in the house of the Lord.
Welcome to High Ridge Longview. I am glad you're here. We want to also say a very special welcome to all of you watching online from all around the world. So come, come on, High Ridge Longview family, let's welcome them in.
For many of you that might be sick or just lazy, too lazy to come to church, we're still glad that you're here. So grab your Bibles if you would. Luke chapter two is where we're gonna turn to today. We're gonna spend all of our time right there in Luke chapter two.
We're gonna continue on with our series called Legacy, reminding ourselves that we are leaving a legacy and it matters how people remember us and the work that God does in each of us and through us. And as we continue to focus on what it means to leave a legacy, not just for ourselves, but for the Lord. And I want to just remind you how important that is. People are going to remember you by a few things when you're gone. And I want to make sure that you're mindful of how will people remember me? What does my legacy look like? And so as a church, we've tried really hard to focus in on what the Lord has called us to do specifically. And I want to remind you of how important that is for you personally. So more than just being remembered as, you know, the guy that ate the 72 ounce steak, like you're more than that, more than just, you know, the person that got stuck in a yoga pose in the fire department had to come like, that's. Did that happen? Did it not? Allegedly. We'll see what happens. I don't know.
Your legacy is worth more than that. And so when we think about what does it mean to leave a legacy for Christ, today we get to look in Luke chapter two about the legacy of some blue collar workers who got to experience the most incredible news that the world has ever heard. And I love that it focuses on this particular part of the story, on some blue collar people, because these, these are my kind of people.
I'm so thankful that the Lord led me to Longview because Longview is full of a lot of Blue collar people. We're not a bunch of, you know, corporate hedge fund managers. We don't own sports franchises. I have a fantasy football team that's 2 and 10. But let's not talk about.
The Lord has humbled me.
Yes. Look at you. You're like, yes, you needed it, son. You needed it.
But that's not who we are.
We're blue collar people. And I'm so thankful. You know, I came here 10 years ago from Fort Worth, Texas, and we always kind of looked at Dallas as those are the white collared Dallas people with their Ferraris. And they all act like Scrooge McDuck, like, come on. And then Fort Worth, we're just normal people. Then God led me here to Longview. I'm so thankful he didn't lead me to Tyler. Come on, somebody.
Grateful, grateful, grateful.
But here we see how some amazing blue collar workers hear the greatest news that's ever been told. And so let's focus in right there, if you would pick it up. In verse eight, it says, and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks. At night, an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were terrified. I love that it includes that. It says, from this point on, they didn't need any more coffee. Like, we are wired. We are good to go. I'm not sleepy. Terrified. Can you imagine? Put yourself in the position of these guys. It's the middle of the night, you're watching over some sheep, and all of a sudden an angel shows up. The darkness turns into bright light, and he says, hey, don't be afraid. Like, do you know what you just did to me? Like, you understand that this is not normal. And that's the first words that the angel tells them. He tells them this. Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. He's saying, no, there's a party going on in heaven because something special is happening on the earth and we want you to get in on it. It's not a time to be afraid. This is a time to be happy. This is a time to rejoice. Because great things are happening.
And it tells them right here, very clearly. He says, today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord, and this will be a sign to you. You're going to find a baby wrapped in cloth, lying in a manger.
And suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom he, his favor rests.
I love that it gives us a wonderful clue about something that our entire world is looking for. Our world is longing for peace. But their idea of peace is, as long as I can have control, as long as I can manage my circumstances, as long as there is no conflict, I can have peace. And we will manufacture peace any way that we can get it. We'll find ourselves medicating to try to get some kind of peace. And the angels here give us a wonderful clue, said, no, no, no. Peace comes from the presence of God. Peace comes when his favor is on your life. That's real peace.
And it says peace on those to whom his favor rests.
And it says, you're going to have a sign. You're going to find a baby. You're going to find it wrapped in cloths. That's. That's an important statement that it gives them.
And it says, when the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds turned to one another and said, did you see that?
Like, that? I'm not having a stroke, am I? Like a.
Did you. Did you just see what. Did you see what I see?
Like, what was in that coffee, bro? What did you just give me?
No. They turned to each other, and I love. I love their response. They said, let's go, let's go, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about. And so they hurried off and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in a manger.
[00:05:40] Speaker C: And.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: And when they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told to them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
But Mary, Jesus's mother, says she treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. I love that scripture. It shows you the heart of a mother. It's like, this child is special. It's different. And she takes these things and she treasures them. She ponders them in her heart. What could this mean? And the shepherds, it says, they returned, but this time they're glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told.
What a wonderful story. No doubt you've heard it as part of the Christmas story. We continue to use it here. I want to speak about this particular story in the context of legacy, because until this point, you might not have ever, ever heard the legacy of some shepherds on the backside of nowhere until they get to become part of God's story.
And there's some wonderful things that I feel like the Lord wants to show us right here and right now today. Things that are important for you to see inside of this story.
Here's the first or three things I want to share with you. If you're a note taker, you might want to write this down. Number one. God uses forgotten people to do wonderful things.
And we see this over and over in God's word. He uses the people that nobody else would choose. He doesn't use the first round draft picks. He's just those one that's like, okay, like it's time to pick kids for dodgeball. And you have that sinking feeling like, I am not going to get picked.
And that's the people that God picks. Understand this. It explicitly tells us that these are the night watch shepherds. And if you understand anything about that vocation, this is not a job that a lot of people would choose because this is not the day watch shepherds. Which is bad enough. Why? Because sheep stink and sheep do things in the grass and you're wearing those sandals.
Come on now.
This is not the job that most people would pick. And as a matter of fact, if you understand what these shepherds would have gone through, this is a job that's given to the youngest, to the least experienced, and this is the worst shift that you could possibly give them. As a matter of fact, shepherds weren't even allowed to testify in a court case because they were considered unbelievable, unreliable witnesses.
So they're second class citizens. The kind that like everybody else forgets. Like, no, no, no, no. Oh, that's the night watch shepherd. Like it's, it's that kind of job. And I love that it includes that within this story because it tells those of us that have had to work jobs where you're like, where could God possibly, possibly, why would he want me here in this job? Why would he, why would he put me here? What, what, what difference can I make doing this?
And God said, that's exactly, exactly the kind of people that I choose. And it says, he, he comes on those night watch shepherds in the middle of the night. He explodes the heavens into the brightest day.
I want you to see something that's so important, it shows us that God's glory broke into the least glamorous part of the least glamorous job.
And notice what the angel says to them. Says, don't be afraid. I bring good News for you to you like, to us like we're the Night Watch shepherds. We're. Nobody said no. And I love how God singles them out and gives them identity long before he gives them a mission.
He tells them who you are. I choose you.
I choose you.
The forgotten ones, the youngest, the least experienced, the second class citizens, those that everybody else would say, I don't think you're important. God says, I choose you.
And he reveals his plan. He gives them a legacy.
They are now the first carriers of the news of the Messiah.
It shows us that God doesn't measure importance by the world's standards.
What we would say is important.
God says not. I beg to differ. And we see this because when we talk about shepherds, we can't help but be reminded of, of David, fantastic king. But long before he was king, he was a shepherd. And we know that when Samuel the prophet comes and, and is is going to anoint the new king, David isn't there. All the other brothers are there. They're big and strong and good looking and smart. And it's like, is this all the sons you have? No, there's David. He's on the backside of nowhere. He's one of those Night Watch shepherds.
God says, I choose him.
Says, you guys are looking at the outward appearance. I look at the heart.
This is exactly what's happening within this story. God loves to show us a new perspective.
And the first proclamation of the Messiah doesn't come from polished speakers and great orators or priests or scribes or kings. It comes from a group of blue collar workers on the backside of nowhere.
God says, I choose you. It shows us that God brings good news to unexpected people so that he can bring good news through unexpected people.
This is the reason why God says, I choose you. Right where you are in the middle of Longview, Texas. I choose you. Why? You're the unexpected person and I want to give you unexpected news.
Why? Because people will believe you.
It's the reason why we can't stay silent about what God has done in our heart, what he's doing in our life. You have purpose and it's part of your legacy. When you recognize that, God says, I choose you.
Why would you choose me? I'm nobody. That's why.
Because people will believe you and you'll give me the glory.
Here's the second wonderful key that we see from this story, something that I think is so important for us to see.
Number two encounters with God always lead to a response.
I want to make sure that you See this, because this is critical. Most people, when they think, oh, if I have a wonderful moment with the Lord, that. And I don't have to do anything.
It's just a feeling. But notice this, that every time that God appears, every time he sends angels, every time he speaks to someone, he gives them a step of faith to take. Always.
It's always, go do this. Go see this person. This is your next mission. This is what I want for you. And this is still happening. Right. By the way, on Sunday mornings, you're going to come into the presence of God. The scripture says he dwells in the praises of his people. If God's presence is here, you're not going to leave the same way you're not supposed to.
Oh, it's just the same old, same old. Went to church, went to Luby's. Anybody remember Luby's? Remember that?
Went back home, took a nap, watched some football. Like, if that's the extent of your relationship with Christ, you might want to rethink that, because an encounter with God is, It's going to change something.
It gives them a mission.
And by the way, not everyone in the Bible said, yes, There's a story about a man named Jonah that said, nope, God, this is what I want. You're saying this is what you want for me to do? I, I think not. I'm gonna go the opposite direction. I love that it includes the story of Jonah, because I, I, I am him. When God says, you're doing this, like, absolutely not. I knew that the Lord had called me to ministry. When I was five years old, he woke me up, he told me, this is your life. And I'm like, that is not God.
I understand what it's like to be a pastor's kid and to watch the weight of ministry on my dad. I watched how much people used him and abused him and how the things he had to walk through just to stand in front of God's people and try to proclaim his word and try to help people. I'm like, I will never do that. What a horrible job.
Be careful.
Be real careful telling God what you're not going to do.
And I remember finally turning my life over the Lord. I'm like, okay, Lord, I know that you've called me to ministry. Please, anything but youth ministry, please. I don't want to work with kids. They have horrible attitude.
[00:13:14] Speaker C: And.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: And I became a youth pastor because God hates me.
And here's the crazy part.
I fell in love with God's purpose for my life.
When you find his purpose. And you find his peace. You find his favor. You recognize that. The things that I fought so hard to not do.
You met me there. He said, I chose you for this.
Here's what we see. God uses those unexpected people and gives them fantastic news.
It becomes part of their legacy. It becomes part of their purpose. And I love that. When the angel shows up to these blue collar shepherds and scares them, freaks them out, tells them great news, here's what's happening. You're gonna find a baby. You know what their next two words were? As soon as that angel leaves, let's go.
And I want to focus on those two words because those two words are critical for us today. When God begins to move and you start responding, your legacy becomes something incredible, something beyond what you ever thought could happen with your own life. Those two words, let's go.
Understand, when they said those two words, it doesn't go on to say. And they left one shepherd behind to watch the sheep. They left them.
That's irresponsible. You could never do that.
This I want to, I want to show you. This is real risk, real risk. What happens if wolves come? What happens if somebody comes and steals these sheep? What happens if the boss shows up and we're all gone? We're going to lose our job. Like, I didn't like this job anyway.
It's real risk.
Why? Why are you making such a big deal out of this? Because anytime God asks you to do something, there is going to be risk involved. And you're going to have to combat this in your mind of what looks like your wisdom of doing the smart thing. Often what God asks you to do is not the smart thing. It's not wise, it makes no sense. And it's right.
Because God's wisdom is better than your wisdom.
So they leave the sheep behind and they say, lord, they're all yours. You watch these sheep till we get back. Jesus, take the wheel, right?
And they set off to do exactly what God had told them to do. I want you to see this. The obedience to God will always incur risk and the fear of real world consequences.
It will absolutely have real world consequences. Oh, if this happens, and this is what's gonna happen, I can't do that. And it will convince you that you don't have to follow what God told you to do. You never have to step out in faith. You never have to do anything that makes you uncomfortable. And that's completely anti Bible.
There's a lot of stories when God shows up and says, move and People incurred real risk. Let me just remind you, the cost of following Christ and being a disciple is everything.
It's a call to come and die.
And these shepherds says, let's go, let's go. See this thing that the Lord told us about? This is more important than trying to keep my job. This is following after the heart of God.
So this is the moment where they move from fear to, to obedience. They move from, from watching to seeking.
And they're forever changed. They'll never be the same.
I wonder what would happen when, when, when we step out of, of that fear and move into obedience from, from just watching to, to seeking. What, what, what, what would your life look like? What, what would it change about your legacy if you didn't care what people thought?
But I was willing to listen to what the Lord told me to do and obey no matter what the cost.
You would absolutely leave a legacy that's bigger than what you think your life could ever accomplish.
God loves to change our perspective, to change our mindset.
Let me say it this way. A true encounter with God never leaves anyone the same. It always produces movement and decision and change.
If you look at your life before you accepted Christ and say, I'm exactly the same, you might have something different.
You can't remain the same. You have decisions, you're going to have change, you're going to have risk, you're going to face fears.
That's exactly how it's supposed to be.
The question is, will you obey or not?
Here's the third and final thing I want to share with you about these shepherds is that God uses holy moments to transform the daily life.
Holy moments transform daily life.
And we see that as the shepherds run with the news that God has given them, they find Mary and Joseph and the baby. They see them and they return to the same old fields, the same old sheep.
But it says they went back glorifying God, praising God, same fields, same stinky sheep, same same dead end job.
But they have a new perspective on it.
And this is what's so important for us to see today, is that no matter what you may find yourself doing tomorrow, whatever you do for a paycheck, is it for the glory of God or is it for just the payment of you?
Because when you start seeing the job that God has called you to as more than a job, but a mission field, your legacy begins.
I'm here for a reason.
To bring glory to God, to praise him and whatever that looks like. Well, Pastor, you don't understand. All I do is change diapers, then change diapers for the glory of God.
And I'm thankful. That's not my job.
Do it for the glory of God. Do it and say, lord, I thank you that you've provided a way for me to take care of my family. I'm grateful for what I get to do.
Return to the same fields, same sheep, same shift, glorifying God. Here's what we know, is that when you encounter Jesus, even the mundane becomes mission, Becomes your mission. That's your mission. By the way, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you're on mission.
So these shepherds go back to the same field, and I promise you this, they don't look at that same field the same way. Especially sheep.
They don't see it the same way.
Why? Because the angel spoke to them in a language that they could understand.
You see, if you understand your history, know that the. The fields around Bethlehem are very, very specific to what kind of sheep are raised there. These are the temple sheep, the sacrificial sheep.
So every year, families would have to come to the temple and offer a sacrifice of a lamb. And not everybody was in the lamb business. That many of them are carpenters, and some were in the navy, and some did this and some did that. But they had to come every year to Jerusalem and offer a perfect lamb for the sins of their family.
And that perfect lamb, since you didn't raise it, you had to go and buy one. So these are the shepherds that are watching over the sacrificial temple sheep. And they understand that the lamb that people are gonna buy has to be a male, and it has to be perfect in every way or it's worthless.
And so they take specific sheep and breed them together, hoping for the perfect male spotless lamb. This is based, by the way, on Exodus, chapter 12. When God specifically says, when you come in and you bring me a sacrifice, it says, your lamb must be without blemish.
It needs to be a male one year old without defects.
And so when the shepherds would breed these sheep together and they would produce, the first thing they would check is, is it a male? Yes, it's a male. Is it perfect?
And then those.
Or the reason why they got into the business, and they would take that perfect male lamb and they would wrap it in cloths, and they would lay it in a stone manger to make sure it wouldn't hurt itself or damage itself in any way. This is their livelihood. This is what they're looking for. This is the perfect sheep that we can sell. This is why we're in business. And so when the angel tells them, go, and you're going to find a baby lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling cloths, we look at that story and say, oh, it's a swaddling, swaddled baby. What a wonderful story. That's not what it means to them.
Because for a group of shepherds that have looked for the perfect lamb their whole life, and they swaddled him and wrap him and lay him in a stone manger, they recognize that this is the lamb that's come to take away the sins of the world. This is what we've looked for. This is the Messiah.
And when they walk away, they don't look at sheep the same way ever again. Their perspective has changed. I am on mission to tell people what I saw. I understand the angels spoke to me in a language that makes sense to me, to me. And I love that blue collar workers doing the the least glamorous job. God speaks them in a way that they can understand and gives them a message of authenticity.
Like, you know how we're looking for the perfect lamb? Well, we found him and it's a baby. It's the lamb that has come to take away the sins of the world.
I wonder what God could do with a new perspective on, on your job, on the way that you see your customers, your people, your business.
What could God do?
I believe your legacy depends on it, on how you encounter the Lord and how you leave on mission.
Let me say it this way. God doesn't always change our location, but he always changes our perspective.
That's the God that we serve. He wants to change your perspective of how you approach tomorrow, how you approach your paycheck, how you finish out the year. It's part of your legacy.
And I love that God has used some blue collar people from Longview, Texas, the city that nobody else would say is on their Top list of 5 cities Best places to live ever. Except for us. I like it here.
God's leaving a legacy with us. He's doing something special.
And so last week I got to share with you all the different ways that we're able to minister to people that are in our city. We've been voted as the nonprofit partner of the year with our chamber of commerce and the way that been able to help and that's outside of children's ministry and youth ministry and men's ministry and women's ministry and all the wonderful things we're doing to love on our people. By the way, we had our youth that Was serving some CPS families this week. Those that their parents might have been locked up or incarcerated. We're able to give them Christmas gifts and pray with them this past week. That's a wonderful thing. Besides that, we're able to send gifts to a bunch of our people that are widows. This is a hard time during the holidays. You guys sent them Christmas gifts this week. I'm not even gonna talk about there. There's all kinds of stuff that were happening. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of stories. And let's move away from all that. I just want to show you to what's happening with the people that other people forget.
Let me show you what's happening outside of the city.
And by the way, next week I'm going to show you what's happening globally. It's going to blow your mind what God can do with some blue collar people that decide to be generous and be part of his story. God is using us to create an incredible legacy. So let me just give you a few of the partnerships that we came up with this year and some of the things that they're doing. We sponsored an event at Ware elementary called national night Out. If you've never heard of this, this is.
It's kind of birthed in what happened in 2020 with George Floyd and the all time low level of trust for first responders. And so we've come up with an idea with a lot of nonprofits getting the first responders to go into these underserved communities and those that have very low trust for them and just eat some hot dogs, just get to know each other so we're not seeing each other on the worst days of our life and start developing trust between one community and. And the other. That's a big deal. God has put us here to bring unity in this city and I love that we get to be a part of something like that.
I want to move on because we, we don't have a whole lot of time.
Our relationship with John Maxwell, who's by the way, incredibly connected, a lot of our biggest partnerships and our biggest networking has come through him. We brought him here to speak several years ago and of course his. His price was astronomical. We couldn't afford to bring him in, but several other churches all grouped together. We decided to put up the money and brought him here. It was like 80 grand to speak, by the way. I'm not supposed to release that online, but oops.
And so we finally brought him in and by the time he left and saw what we were doing, he says you're thinking too small. I want to invest in you. He wrote us back a check for 50 grand.
And so we went in January to visit him and to hang out with some people. And he said, I'm doing a massive seminar for a bunch of people that are looking for wealth and all these different things that are happening in this conference. He said, watch what happens when I take a left hand turn and present the gospel at the end. And I watched 500 people respond to Christ. That was beautiful. I want to share with that just a little bit about that. That was a wonderful thing that happened.
Love our partnership with him. Let's move on our relationship with High Ridge Church in Rockland, California. It's our youngest plant. They've been there about four years or so. And we know this, that until they get to year five, their chances of failure is like 80%.
Most churches will not live past that four to five year mark. And so we've worked with them, we've helped them. We sent two different teams. Pastor Levi, we got to take them on a sabbatical this year, give him a chance to get a break. And I came in and filled the pulpit. We brought in Pastor Chris and Julie to take over the worship team. Said, you guys take a break. We're here to help you call in reinforcements. I'm not asking you for a paycheck. I didn't tell them that. I said, we're here to bless you. Our church has paid for this. We want to be a blessing to you. These guys load in and load out every single Sunday. Their day starts at 6am with the loading of all their equipment in a rented building. Let me just tell you, church is difficult in California, but I love that they're our family. We're able to send some help to them and we're going to continue to help them. By the way, once they get past that year five, their chances of survival jump to between 60 and 80%. So they're right there. They're so close to being able to do what God has called them to do in this next season. I want to move on from there to Stillwaters Retreat, which is Pastor Doug Case's favorite pet project. And he is watching us from online today. So you guys tell him, get well soon, Pastor Doug.
And so I love what he's done there. So his thoughts revolve around how can we keep leaders in the game? How do we help people that are serving our communities and doing wonderful things, laying down their lives for many others? How do we get them to make sure that they're okay. And so he's developed something. It started out with some Airbnbs and people that have volunteered to say, hey, nobody's using this house for this certain days. Why don't you guys bring in some police officers, some first responders, some firefighters, even a group of pastors where they can speak their own language, or put them around a campfire, put them in a nice place, give them a good night's rest, and then let them start talking shop. And the things that. That they're dealing with and struggling with, with people that understand their language. And they're not going to freak them out, because some of the things that these people see would make a billy goat puke. You don't want to be in those conversations telling you unless you understand where they're coming from. And so you'd be shocked what a little bit of prayer and a good campfire will do. And so that Still Waters retreat. We love what's happening there. It's moving beyond Airbnbs. It's now got its own permanent home. And I love what's happening. God's doing some wonderful things there. And we love you, Pastor Doug. Also, let's move on now to Hope Local. Hope Local is a wonderful organization led by my friends Mark and Chelsea Reedland. And they exist to develop cultures in churches to help them see that adoption and orphan care is a big part of the heart of God. And so I love that. Many of you here have already embraced that. Many of you have embraced the foster and the adoption process. And the orphan care that's happening is a wonderful thing in our church, and we support these guys.
Let me just tell you, there's some wonderful statistics around this. I wish I had more time, but if one out of every three churches in America would just adopt one child, one church out of every three would bring one child into a Christian family. You would eliminate the need for orphanages in our country. Do you understand that?
And what better place to be for some child that doesn't have a family than in a Christian home? It's a beautiful thing. So Mark wants to say thank you for your generosity. Check this out.
[00:28:36] Speaker D: Good morning, High Ridge family. On behalf of our team here at Hope Local, I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you for your financial support first. It means the world to us to have you as our family, supporting our families. It's like when you're a kid playing sports and your parents are cheering you on from the stands. It's just special to know that you care about Us and our work.
Second, you need to know that your generosity is making a difference. This year, we expect to help 20 plus kids from foster care find their forever families.
On top of that, we're going to be providing direct support to hundreds of existing foster and adoptive families and helping many more decide to get in the game and serve these kids and families.
With your help, kids and families are being served. People's faith is great, growing as they step in to serve in this space. And God's kingdom is advancing. Thank you so much for being a part of this and helping us move this mission forward.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: We love that. We love what God is doing with Hope Local. Love you, Mark and Chelsea, for you amazing people. How about that?
Got two other things I want to share with you also. We've become a nonprofit. Consulting. By the way, this is not something where people are paying us money, but lots of nonprofits and churches. It's now 40 different organizations that will call us, schedule meetings that have reached out to us and saying, what do you guys do about this? And because we're doing so well as a church, we're able to export our ideas, export our processes, export our systems, say, this is how we do this. And give them real world solutions for the times when they don't have a clue how to proceed. And so this started, a lot of this started in 2020 when people say, how do you, how do we, how do we, how do we get trust back? We within the church, people just don't trust us anymore. And there's lots of churches that have done some really stupid things. And for those of us that are struggling and trying to do things the right way, how do we make sure that we develop trust? And I'm like, you know what, let me tell you something about legacy Sunday, why don't you show people where the money goes?
Show people where the money goes. Show them. Have people tell them thank you for the things that they've done. Show them where you're giving. And it's a beautiful thing to watch as this has become something that has been exported to a lot of different churches. And I love how they're just saying, oh, we came up with this idea like, you stole it from me.
Who, honestly, I probably stole it from somebody else.
Let's be completely honest. The Holy Spirit gave it to me. But we've exported our eldership, we've exported sermons, the messages, sermon series, all kinds of processes. And one of the things I'm so proud of, we've started exporting our Daddy Daughter dance. And this started from the idea of let's stop creating little girls with daddy wounds. We gotta do better as fathers. And so we've recently partnered with a group of people called God Behind Bars. Jake Bodine is a wonderful friend and his idea was to bring a daddy daughter dance to Angola State Prison in Louisiana. So what would it look like if the prison, if the prison could choose 29 inmates that have biological daughters that we could prove through DNA and they haven't seen those daughters in forever because 95% of these guys are going to reenter society and, and then the statistics tell us they're going to come right back to prison because they don't know any other life. But what if you showed them what it was like to just be a normal dad for one night? What would it look like if you didn't create father wounds but you created a special memory in their eyes? And to not do that as some like second class citizens. Oh, they get. They're the horrible people that are locked up. Did you know this, that the largest unchurched people group in America Right now, 1.9 million people, are those that are incarcerated.
And prison ministry has needed some innovation for a long time. They need some new ideas, some fresh blood, some innovation. And I love that our God Behind Bars family, our network partners, have done incredible things of trying to think differently, of putting this event together, of what would it look like if we didn't do it like some second class. But what if we did it first class?
What if we did it the right way?
And so because of your generosity, we were able to support their very first ever. And I wanted to wait until December so you guys could see it and see it first. But this thing has already gone viral. It's been huge. But this happened because of you. So take a moment, turn your attention to the screen and grab some tissues underneath your seat if you need it. This is pretty wild.
[00:33:00] Speaker C: The last time I saw Sabrina was.
[00:33:02] Speaker B: Probably seven years ago. This will definitely be a beautiful reunion.
[00:33:08] Speaker C: It means that I'll be able to see my daughter and actually share an experience with her. And I get to, you know, we just have a conversation one on one with her.
She's my world. I have two. They're my world.
They mean everything to me.
They're the reason I keep going. They're the reason, you know, I push to be a better person, you know, to learn to grow.
[00:33:30] Speaker D: I mentioned the Bibles, right?
[00:33:31] Speaker C: You can write a note inside there.
[00:33:33] Speaker D: Get your suit on.
[00:33:35] Speaker C: Gather your thoughts.
I wrote, Chloe, my baby girl, love you for infinity dad, dance with darling.
I'm just telling her my favorite scripture is First Corinthians 10:13. But I want her to start off by reading Philippians 4:13, because I believe she could do all things through Christ.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: Jesus, who strengthened us.
[00:34:19] Speaker C: Letting I know this, today is our new beginning. Beginning for our relationship with God. We're gonna go on this journey together.
This is actually my first time putting the suit on.
I've never seen myself like this. I seen a man that I was supposed to be.
It means a lot.
[00:36:06] Speaker B: It's.
[00:36:06] Speaker C: It's a moment that I'll never forget to bond with my daughter and create a memory. She means the world to me. More than the world words couldn't even express.
This is a picture of my daughter, my beautiful baby. I put this picture on my tablet because when I look at it, it gives me a reality check on what I have to do to get back to her. The things that I enjoy, the reason I. I love her. And it just, you know how wonderful it is to be a father. Just looking at her beautiful face, very excited. I get to see my daughter. I ain't seen her in three years. This is my first time putting on the tux. Make me feel like a gentleman. Sa.
Sam.
Sa.
[00:38:37] Speaker B: I told you, grab tissue. Don't blame me.
I want to read you a text I.
I sent to the founder of God behind Bars. His name is Jake. And I said, jake, I love what happened at Angola this weekend. This is first class, man. Well done, bro. And he writes back, thank you, Tim, and thank you, High Ridge family, for all you guys did and for all your support. We did this together.
I said, we're going to do more. We love God behind Bars. We love your vision. He said, well, thank you. We love you all, and none of this would be possible without people like you. We are truly grateful.
So, by the way, in May, he approached us and said, in May of this coming up year we want to do. We've been invited to do a father son fishing day. Can you. You guys think you can get behind something like that? I'm like, I don't think we have to take up an offering and ask. I think our answer is yes, we're going to be happy to do that. And so we're going to get some great footage, and maybe by next December, we'll show you what happens when you put some daddies and some sons together with a little fishing line. How about that? It's gonna be a beautiful thing. Let me just remind you, God's done some wonderful, wonderful Things with us, a place on the map that not a lot of people would say this is the greatest ever, like, but God says, I choose you. He's leaving us in a wonderful position to create a fantastic legacy.
As we finish up today, just, I'm, I'm just reminded that we're, we're grateful not, not for the, the spotlight being on us, but that God would entrust ordinary people like us with extraordinary news to steward something so great. And we're going to steward that with, with the, with the best, the best that we have.
I love being a part of this church and love what God's been able to do this past 10 years and just want to remind you, hey, if you're, if you love what we're doing, if you want to stand behind what we're doing, the easiest way to do that is to, is to get involved. And so at the end of every one of these things, we've given you a little way to get involved and you're more than welcome. Lots of these places need volunteers, they need help, they need support. And we'd love for you to get involved with them. I think God's doing some wonderful things. I'd love for you to be a part of that as well.
If you'd like to support what we're doing, we'd like to end the year with a generosity challenge. And so I want you to pray about it, to think about it, and if the Lord is moving something upon your heart, listen to him. If you need a year end tax deductible donation, let me just holler at you, boy.
Don't give the government any more money than it absolutely has to have. So you need a good tax deduction. We would love, we would love for you to consider us a couple different ways that you can give. Highrichlv.com give. You can give on the Church center app if you have that. We also have the High Ridge Longview app. There's also a small envelope on the seat back pocket in front of you and there's some giving stations at the back of the room. We're not here to pass baskets or to make you feel guilty or put any kind of pressure on you. I would never do that. You get no credit from the Lord when you give that way. I'm simply going to present the vision to you and say we've got more to do. And by the way, there, there are literally thousands of stories that I can't tell you that God has done because of your generosity. And the best of our, the The. The best days of our church are not behind us. They're in our future. We've got more to accomplish. It's part of our legacy. Amen. Would you bow your head and close your eyes with me as we finish up today, I want to just pray for you.
Father, I thank you that you've entrusted us with so much.
You're giving us a call, a mandate to become all that you've called us to be, to not shrink back in fear, to not think of ourselves as less than or unimportant.
You've called us to be a light and to help those that everybody else has forgotten about.
So, Father, today we choose you.
We say, yes, Father, would you unlock a heart of generosity here that we could do more than we ever thought possible because we move together like the shepherds that said, let's go, and they moved together or they left a legacy for us.
Use us, Lord.
Use us, Lord, to do more than live lives of selfishness in Jesus name with heads bowed and eyes closed. Perhaps you're here today and you're saying, pastor, I don't have a relationship with Jesus. Maybe you were even raised in church and you've gotten away from your relationship with God. You might be watching online saying, I'm so far from Jesus right now, my friend, then this is for you. If you want a relationship with him, if you need to come home to him, now is the time to do that. So with heads bowed and eyes closed, I'm gonna ask you to pray a prayer. The same prayer that somebody helped me with one time. I would love to help you.
I wanna ask you to pray this prayer with me. I'll help you. And as a matter of fact, all of us are gonna say this prayer out loud together so that you don't feel singled out or embarrassed in any way. But pray with me right now. Come on, church family, let's say this together. Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
I believe that you came and died.
And I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for my sins.
Will you please forgive me and I'll give you the rest of my life in Jesus name, with heads bowed and eyes closed, with no one looking around. If you decided today to make Jesus the Lord of your life, if you took that prayer seriously with nobody else looking around, can I just see your hand all across this place? Would you lift it up nice and high and proud?
[00:43:48] Speaker C: Good, good.
[00:43:51] Speaker B: I'm proud of you that are making that decision today. And if you're watching online or even if you're in the room on the screen in front of you, there's gonna be a phone number that appears. I want to encourage you to text me. Text the words I prayed to that number and I'll send you back the link to some things that will help you understand what just happened and what to do next.
Good for you, Hyrush family, go ahead and look up at me if you would, and let's stand to our feet. For all of you watching online, thank you so much for watching today. Do us a huge favor, if you wouldn't mind, share this video with your friends. God's doing some wonderful things through his church and it's time for people to get back into church. Come on somebody. It's time for people to get back into their relationship with Jesus and we want to see every single person that wants a relationship with Jesus to to come to know Him. So it's a big deal. When you do that. We have our elders and their wives stepping forward to be available to pray for you and for everyone else. Let me bless you and send you out today.
Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Would you keep your hand upon them? Would you lead them by your spirit? Help them, Lord, to be led into their mission field, glorifying and praising you like those shepherds of long ago. Help us to see things from your perspective and to be on mission with what you've called each of us to do. Would you bless them? Would you strengthen them? Would you heal them? Lord, I pray in Jesus mighty name and all of us said together. Amen. God bless you as you go. I hope you have a wonderful week.
[00:45:04] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening.
[00:45:15] Speaker B: If you want to be a part.
[00:45:16] Speaker A: Of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv. Or you can check out our
[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
