FAMILY TALK: The Three E’s - Part 2
Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by DaVinci Resolve 18
Making a Difference
I truly have a deep desire to make a difference. This desire has been in my life since God called me. When God called me my senior year of high school, going to ministry, I just said, “Lord, I will go into ministry, but I really want to make a difference in people’s lives. I don’t want to just follow tradition and just to be a pastor to be a pastor. Lord, I want to really see that there’s fruit and that my life is making a difference in people’s lives and for the next generation.”
And it is my prayer for us this morning too, just as you ponder your life where you are at right now, all ages, praying that the Lord will really speak that and challenge you this morning to say, “Man, I want to make a difference,” and all of us can make a difference through the work of the Spirit, through our gifts and our talents, and coming together as the body of Christ, and when we step out in faith, we can make a difference. And I am excited about that. And I never want to stop, right? It’s like, even when I’m retired and I get to enjoy less meetings and different things in life, I still want to continue to make a difference. I never want to quit, right?
And I pray that it will spark something in your life too. What is God calling you to right now in your life where you can make a difference and make an impact in people’s lives? Because we all need encouragement. We need people that will make a difference in this world. It can’t just be those individuals and big names that we maybe see on TV. Those are all good things, and God has blessed them with gifts, and sometimes they don’t even know that God has given them those gifts. And I always think about some of these world changers, how they can really impact the world if they can steer their gifts and talents towards the kingdom of God and not maybe just for financial gain.
And so this morning it’s really my prayer, and I’ve been praying for us this week, just like, “Lord, spark a flame in our hearts today to make a difference and to look for opportunities,” that the Lord will birth ministries and dreams and vision in all of our hearts this morning and that we’ll just have purpose. We so need to be a church and individuals that have purpose again.
And again, our time is running out in this world, right? And we do see and we do know that there’s a lot of dark things happening in our world. And that’s not new, you know, it’s been dark and tough things happening since the beginning. And we can be overwhelmed and we can be discouraged by that, or we can say, “Man, my life can make a difference, and I will do the best I can do with the gifts and the talents that the Lord has given me,” right? And some of you have amazing gifts and amazing talents. And so if you have one gift, one talent, whatever it might be, use that one for the glory of God. If you have five, use all five.
Not Too Young
And so last week we looked a little bit from, just, I kind of got this from the BCA church. They talked about just excuses, why excuses that we might come up with to say, “Lord, you can’t use me.”
And so one of them might be, “I am too young.” Anybody here that’s under 15 today? Let me see. All right, some hands. I, first of all, love having you guys in church. All our young people, let’s give them a hand. Way to go! Thank you for not sleeping in, and I gotta say this too—all our young people are so involved in the ministry of this church. They’re either teaching, they’re worshiping, working sound, cameras, way to go. We are proud of you as a congregation. And thank you for allowing God to work through you. But it’s easy to say, “Man, I am too young.” Nobody is too young.
And actually I want to give you an example today, a story of King Josiah. And it is so wonderful because our kids are also learning that today in their class. So when they come out, make sure to connect with them about King Josiah. So what I want you to know, just, King Josiah, actually he came from a very dysfunctional family. His dad was really evil. This is what we see from 2 Kings 21. It says:
He sought omens and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
This is what the Lord is saying about King Josiah’s dad, right? And actually he led astray a whole nation and allowed different false gods into the temples, different temples throughout Judah. And so not a good thing, but this is the environment that Josiah grew up, and the same thing with his grandfather. But Josiah became king at the age of eight. And I love these words, 2 Kings, it says:
He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and followed completely the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.
What a complete opposite of his dad. So easily could he have said, “Man, I had this horrible example. My dad was doing all these wrong things.” And he saw that as an example. And somehow he had a different desire to follow God. And we actually see that throughout his life. By the time he turned 16 and by the time he turned 20, he was cleaning out the temples and getting rid of all of the different false god/idol things that they were worshiping and really brought in a revival and a spiritual renewal for a whole generation, turning a whole nation around—where there was a nation that was so far away from God, suddenly you have this one eight-year-old, obviously then turning 16 and 20 and stuff, how God used his life to turn a whole nation around again so that there will be people that is following God. And that is just powerful. I mean, he had many, many excuses to say, “This can’t be done. This nation is way too far gone. God can’t use me. Nobody’s gonna listen to me. My dad and my grandpa really messed up,” right? And we don’t see any of those excuses. We just see the impact that he had.
And so just even several things this morning as we think about the life of King Josiah. Josiah’s commitment to God started at a young age. This illustrated the impact of nurturing faith in the younger generation and the potential for youth to play a significant role in God’s plan. We need to continue to be a church that invests in young people’s lives, right? And it is. We have such a profound responsibility to cultivate that passion and God’s Word in our young people’s lives. Because we don’t know. We don’t know. And we just, we know that there’s so many distractions and challenges in the schools and in the culture that they’re experiencing. And so the church has a profound role to cultivate God’s plan and purpose for their lives. And we got to speak into their lives from a young age.
Josiah displayed faithful leadership by seeking God from a young age. His commitment to following the Lord set an example for others. I just think this is so important for us to be a godly example as a church. And the way that we act and the way that we live, right? We can say all the nice things that can be godly things that come out of our mouth, right? And we can act all religious, but people will pick up on our testimony and on our example. And how are we living from Sunday to Sunday in the workplace, in the school? Is everything lining up? And so we just, we need to be that example and show that commitment.
Josiah prioritized the restoration of the temple, symbolizing the importance of maintaining sacred spaces for worship and communal gatherings. This is becoming a really big problem in our culture today. There is so many different things that is pulling us in different directions. You know, we have busy schedules, there’s sports, there’s just so many different things. And in the busyness of life and all of the things that’s drawing our attention, we somehow lose sight of the importance of what it means to gather as a church. We somehow—in our culture today, it is not a priority in people’s lives to do what you are doing this morning. So first of all, way to go, right? Way to be here, way to get out of bed, to drink a cup of coffee, to show up. And if you’re prayer team, prayer team was here at seven o’clock praying, praying for you, right? And then you had the worship team, they’re here early, making it a priority. And then you showed up on a beautiful sunny day, February in Duluth, Minnesota, right? You could have been walking by the lake or staying in bed, but you’re here. And you said your spiritual life is a priority. And keep that in front of us. And as a church community, we got to keep that in front of us as well. And Josiah had to just, again, make that a priority in the nation. And that’s a big task. And so even for us, stirring up, how do we make that a priority? And how do we share that in our community? To show to our college students, man, it is important to be in a faith community on Sunday morning. So a big task for us.
Standing in the Gap
Josiah, upon hearing the words of the book of the law—probably the book of Deuteronomy—understood the gravity of his nation’s sin. Another, just, big thing. When you read the story of Josiah, when they found this book in the temple, and he was hearing just how God is speaking to him through the book, he was so convicted of sin and the sin of these nations, that they were so far gone, that he invited, you know again, the nation to just repentance. But it says that he was ripping off his shirt, his garment, right, because it was so intense. And I think for just us as a church again, in all of the different things that is happening in our culture, to be on a place where we are serious about godly lives, where we are serious about repentance and standing in the gap for our nation. And again, not just going with the flow with our culture, but to really look different and to pray and to intercede and to call things out, because that’s the only way that God can bless us.
And actually next week we have a little bit of a gap before we start with our new series for Lent. And so next Sunday, throughout this year, because we’re in an election year, throughout I want to share, where we have a gap, to talk about things—I actually want to just kind of name it—important questions that Christians are asking, because our culture is throwing so many different messages at us, and then especially then with all of the political agenda. So next week, I want to talk about how we should respond and how we should think through being pro-life, and how we should think about abortion, and how we should think about parents that have gone through, moms that have gone through that and have made those decisions. And not from, either from a political perspective, not from red or blue, but actually what does God’s Word say on that, and how we should navigate this culture, and how do we stand in the gap? Because again, we might so easily—if you don’t study God’s Word, you might think, “Oh, this has now become just a political thing,” right? If you’re on the blue side, then that means this. If you’re on the red side, that means that. But what does it mean for us as believers, as God-fearing believers, how should we view abortion? How should we view being pro-life? So that’s gonna be next week, that will be an important message as well.
Other Excuses
And then last week we talked about, “Hey, I’m too old.” Nobody’s too old. God wants to use you, you still—even if you can’t do much, you can still pray. You can still intercede. You can still love. You can still encourage.
“I’m too much of a failure.” We probably all have dealt with this at some point in our lives where it’s like, “God, you can’t use me. This is my past, this is all the things that I’ve done,” and absolutely not. God can forgive, God can turn things around, and your failures become part of your story, and it becomes part of your testimony.
“I’m too new to God.” Maybe you’re brand new in the faith, and you maybe say, “Oh, I need to go to Bible school first.” Those things are all important, and we need to continue to grow in our faith, and we need to mature in our faith, but don’t wait till you’re in church for ten years before you say, “Oh, God can use me.” You can share your testimony today. If you got saved this morning, you can share your testimony this afternoon. God can use you, because at the end of the day too, it is the Holy Spirit working through us, amen? It’s not in our own power and might.
“I am too hurt by others.” We see this all the time. Unfortunately, churches are broken, broken people. There is no such thing as a perfect church. Good luck. If you found that perfect church, let me know, I want to be a pastor there too, and then I will mess that up, right? Because then I’m definitely not perfect. And so we hurt people, but how do we work through all of that? And we saw in the life of Joseph, even in the life of Jesus, I’m so grateful that Jesus didn’t say, “Nope, I’m too hurt, I’m not going to the cross.” He went through all of that as well.
Our Calling
And then Ephesians chapter 2:10,
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I shared a little bit about this last week, but just—God wants to use you. You’re here not per accident. I know that your life plays a very important role for a time like this.
And then here’s kind of the overall big picture for every church. This is the thing that really should drive every church. This is the Great Commission, Matthew 28. It says,
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.”
Now, churches take this and then somehow they make that their own, right? And we put our own twist and our DNA around it. God calls every church to do this in different ways and have a unique niche. And so even for us here at Salem, we have a unique niche.
And so to kind of summarize what drives us, it’s this: “To be a community that partners with Jesus on his mission of restoration.” And the way that we’re kind of doing that, things that we’ve been working on lately, is the three E’s: It’s Encountering God, Equipping People, and Extending the Gospel. Now this morning, I can keep you busy till probably about four o’clock if I go through all of the details, and I don’t want to punish you, and you’re gonna get tired of me. And so I just figured I create the “why” for us, because I think it’s important to understand the “why” of these areas. Why is extending the gospel important for us? Why is encountering God important, and how do we create markers to make sure that we are effective?
So I don’t want to give all of the strategies and the details for you because you might be bored, but what I want to do is I want to encourage you to get involved in leadership. I want to encourage you to get involved in a commission or some ministry, because you will then be able to hear more of the details in that specific area on how that all plays out.
Encountering God: Why?
So this morning, just kind of looking at Encountering God, and here’s the “why.” Why is encountering God important for us here at Salem? So several things:
It creates a spiritual connection. Encountering God fosters a deep spiritual connection, and we want that for all of us. We, as staff and as leadership, I believe we’ll miss it if you leave here and you don’t feel deeply connected with God. We never want Salem and our gatherings to just be tradition. We want you to show up, and through the worship and through God’s Word and through communion, that you had a deep experience with the presence of God. It’s really important for us. And so everything that we plan, as we think about Sunday mornings and different things, this is the stuff that drives us and that we ask, “Will this help with a deeper connection with people?” And like I said, we’re not after tradition, but we’re after, really after this, after God’s presence.
That will create personal transformation. Encountering God will be a transformative experience. It has the potential to bring about positive change in one’s character, values, and behavior. And we see that throughout scripture, right? We can try and be clever people and try and do all of these things in our own power, and we can do self-help, and we can go to crystals and just different lies that are out there to become better people, but we just believe if you encounter God, that his Spirit will bring a transformation in your life, and that will change your behavior, and it will change the value of our culture. Can I hear an amen, you still awake?
All right, peace. When you encounter with God, we just believe that there’s such a peace that we experience. Actually scripture reminds us that it’s this, a peace that surpasses all understanding. When all of life is falling apart around us, we can be in this encounter with God and experience the Holy Spirit, and there’s just peace because you know that God is with you and that you’re not alone.
And then healing and restoration. Encountering God is associated with emotional and spiritual healing. Many turn to their faith in times of brokenness. We never know, right? And maybe even just think about your own life in moments where you have gone through hard things. It was probably in those moments where you really seek the Lord and where the Lord showed up in your lives. And so even for us as a church, we just want to—that’s why hospitality is so important for us. When people are coming through these doors, we never know the different things that people are bringing with them. Did they lose a loved one? Did they hear the news of, about maybe their marriage is falling apart, right? Divorce or whatever addiction, whatever it might be. And sometimes people walk through these doors and it’s like it’s their last sense of hope. And we want to be that place of healing and restoration for people. And again, you might even just as a greeter or as the coffee person think, “Oh, I’m just a greeter,” but you’re that first face and smile that is opening up that door and creating a safe environment for a person to come and meet with God.
A hope for the future. Encountering God instills hope for the future. Believers find assurance in their faith that God’s plan is ultimately for good, providing hope in the face of uncertainty, right? I don’t know about you, but when you listen to the news and all the doomsday stuff, right, and it just seems like, oh, our world is falling apart, easy to lose hope in all of what is happening around us. But for us as believers, when we’re encountering God, when we’re in the presence of God, when we read his Word and we realize like, “No, he’s got this, I don’t have to fear. I don’t have to worry about my future.” That’s really important for us.
Encountering God: Markers
And just some markers, I’ll go through this quick, but this has been a challenge for me personally, just in helping our staff and our leadership, how do we create healthy markers? So we still have some work to do in some of these areas.
But just for us, is there a hunger for understanding and applying the teaching of the Bible? We have to evaluate, we have to check and connect with you and say, “Man, is there a hunger in your life for God’s word? Are you bringing your Bibles with on Sunday mornings,” amen? Or on your phone.
A sense of unity and oneness among Salem’s family, fostering a spirit of love and acceptance, right? If it’s a church that’s constantly fighting and there’s turmoil, it’s like, hey, we’re probably missing something. So just some of the markers that we need to continue to develop and to make sure that we’re on the right path.
Equipping People: Why?
Spiritual maturity. Equipping people helps foster spiritual maturity by providing them with the knowledge and understanding and tools needed to grow in their faith. We all need to grow, and it takes a lot of work to grow. And so, is Salem—through small groups and the different things that we’re sharing with you—is that helping you to grow? Because at the end of the day, all of us need to grow. If you’re brand new, you’re a babe in the faith today, you can’t be a babe in five years from now. You got to be a teenager or an adult or, you know, mature in the faith. We got to continue to grow. It’s not healthy if you stay a babe in the faith.
Effective ministry. This is really a big part of my heart. Well-equipped individuals are better prepared to engage in effective ministry, serving the needs of the community and spreading the gospel with confidence. You have a role to play. And you have a ministry in your workplace. I was listening to John Maxwell. He used to be a pastor, but he’s very much into leadership and communication, and he really speaks to the marketplace environment. And I think he mentioned that they have shared through just this marketplace ministry with leaders, and he’s meeting with kings and presidents and I think it’s like, I think 60,000 people that have given their life to Christ, right? And that ministry, what about us? We all have different circles of influence and we want to give you the tools to do that.
Big one: biblical literacy. Equipping people enhances biblical literacy, enabling them to understand and apply the teaching of the Bible in their daily lives. Now this is becoming huge, because again, our culture is getting so confusing. We’re hammered with so many different messages on really critical topics, and we want to make sure that we can work through some of these things according to God’s Word.
Cultural engagement. Equipping people enables us to engage with and navigate the culture challenges of our times, addressing issues from a biblical foundation. I don’t want to be the guy, or I don’t want Salem or our Salem families to be the people where we have our head in the sand and say, “We’re not gonna engage in the culture,” right? We have the answer, and we can impact our culture. If we leave our culture, if we don’t impact that, then the world will and Satan will. And that’s probably why we’re already dealing with some of the stuff that is going on.
Stewardship. Equipping individuals including teaching principles of stewardship, encouraging responsible management of resources and talents for the benefit of the church and our community.
Empowerment of gifts. Equipping identifies and empowers the diverse spiritual gifts within the congregation, allowing each member to contribute meaningful to the life and mission of our church. Now let me just say this, I have a desire to make a difference, but I also have a desire to make a difference with you. Even when you look at the life of King Josiah, he was able to bring so many different teams and people alongside of him to clean the temples, to rebuild the temple, and to make a difference. There is no way that I can be effective without your help. It is bringing all of our gifts and all of our talents together in the different areas. There’s some of you that are with youth leaders, there’s some of you that are teaching kids, and we want that. We just want everyone to be involved somewhere and to say, “I can do this, I can make a difference in this area.” You have a role to play, and you have gifts.
Extending the Gospel: Why?
All right, Extending the Gospel, then we’ll close.
It is a Great Commission mandate. Extending the Gospel is a direct response to the Great Commission given by Jesus in Matthew, where believers are instructed to go and make disciples of all nations. This is not an option for us. This is what we do, amen? This is what we do. This should drive us as we gather. This should be our heartbeat and our passion. And so why do we do it?
It’s the salvation of souls. The primary goal of extending the gospel is the salvation of souls. Sharing the message of Christ offers individuals the opportunity to accept Him as their savior and experience eternal life. Somebody shared Jesus Christ with you, and how that impacted your life, you’re probably here today because of somebody that shared that faith. And so we need to do the same thing. There’s a whole lost world out there, and there’s plenty of opportunities for us to share the good news. And it is good news, amen? It’s not like we’re going in with bad news. We’re really going in with great news!
Transformation of lives. The gospel has the power to transform lives, bringing about positive change in individuals, families, and communities. This is what I know. It’s like man, families need hope. We need the Holy Spirit to bring transformation in people’s lives. I don’t want to be part of a church where lives are not being transformed, where we don’t think that God can still do miracles and where he can bring change and where he can set families free from addictions and different things. I just want to believe big. And I just want to really believe that when God is saying nothing is impossible for him, then I really want to believe that with all of my heart. And I need you to believe that with me and to grow your faith in this area.
Cultural impact. Extending the gospel has the potential to positively influence culture by promoting values such as love, justice, compassion, and forgiveness. This is happening in our culture to an area, but it’s in a way that is not always biblical, through social justice. And as a church, we want to extend the gospel through biblical justice.
And then eternal impact. Extending the gospel has eternal implications as individuals who come to faith in Christ experience a transformed life on earth and the promise of eternity with God. This obviously is the key piece for all of us that we desire. We don’t desire for anybody—when we come to the end of our lives or whenever Jesus is returning, that everyone will be saved. This is the heart for the church. And we got to continue to be effective in this area.
Steven’s Heart
I’m gonna just skip this because of time, but here’s what I want to leave you with, just kind of my personal heart for Salem and for my own ministry. Until, you know, the Lord calls me home, here’s really my heart, and I hope that you will continue to join me in. It is to expose the next generation to diverse cultures, preparing them for cross-cultural mission work. I just believe and I just want to see that our church sends and releases the next generation of missionaries and pastors and evangelists all over the world. And our church has a rich history in doing that. I am so grateful for the men and women that have gone before us. Kids that have been part of this church grew up and really have influenced nations, right? And you guys know some of those names. And you know what? I believe there’s some of our young people, and even some of you that are sitting here today, that the Lord is calling to do that. And I want us to just do everything we can to throw everything at it to make sure we don’t miss this, that we mentor them.
And then just kind of community outreach. Fostering passion for local outreach, this will allow the next generation to develop a heart for serving others and meeting practical needs in the community. It is so easy, as I think about just all the messages from Hollywood and the messages in our schools for our young people, even for ourselves, to say that it’s about me and how I can make it to the top and how I can become famous. But we want to instill in all of our lives and our young people’s lives to teach them from a young age to say, “Care for your community. Care for your neighbors.” And it’s got to start here. And so we have a big job to do as a church. But I’m excited. I’m really excited for what God wants to do with us. All I’m saying is I don’t want to do this on my own. I can’t do it on my own. The four of us can’t do it. We need you. And you have gifts and you have talents. And I just wonder if we have a big faith and we really trust God and we throw everything at this, if we can have the same influence as King Josiah where he changed the whole nation around. So I don’t know what that all will look like at the end of the day, but I’m gonna take a stab at it, and I need you to join me.
