Relevant

we are concluding our series uh tonight didn't see it coming carrie neil wolf is the name if you haven't yet purchased the book please do so add it to your library it will come in handy many times in life i have no doubt a lot of chapters if you'll notice for those of you who have it and i've read there's several chapters that we did not cover don't have time in this particular series so i admonish you to get a copy of it and uh spend some time in it we we did begin uh in june we began anybody remember our first lesson didn't see it coming was sin yeah no cynicism yeah what does it mean to be cynical untrusting others have a motive if you will and then the week following that we went to what compromise didn't see it coming compromising does anybody ever don't answer that compromise something yeah from there we went to boy somebody got hit knocked on that one pride yeah i've been working on me for a month yeah pride what does pride do to us makes us fall that's right last week we continued and we talked about burnout burnout uh it's a very real thing in our world in our society and culture in which we live you can burn out very quickly on things tonight i'm going to end this with i think a lesson that is probably very pertinent to a culture of a church what does it mean to be re relevant what does it mean to be relevant what is it up to date yeah relevant somebody needed i thought you said let's eat it i'm like man he's got food on his mind needed yes very good relevant what's it mean influential okay anyone else topic of discussion relevance what does it mean to be irrelevant unneeded thank you herb outdated oh there's one um something very interesting that the author put in his book he talked about uh going to his grandparents house now this i remember very distinctly my grandmother when i was a kid growing up her living room we all called the museum in fact it was an open anybody else's okay there was an opening that went into the the museum that my granny would have my grandfather tack a bed sheet over the opening on sundays when all the family came over to keep people out of it because it was the museum it even had plastic on the cushions on the couch so all the family understood the value of the museum and because of me and my ability to not mind getting in trouble i would pass the curtain and i'd go in there and sit on the couch with the coat i would i'd be real quiet and then not hear it who's in my living room i'd just be sitting there she'd come in i'd act real still what are you doing in here wouldn't say anything what are you doing house i'm acting like one of these dolls in here you got porcelain dolls and stuff everywhere and i'm like get out of here so anyway when when when older folk do that okay stick say with me something happens when they pass away or when they're they're downsizing or whatever and now they have all this stuff you know it's the kind of stuff that it's probably something you'd want why why laughing i mean everybody wants a green avocado green couch with plastic on it everybody wants a big rug that matches nothing everybody don't you what ends up happening with all their stuff donated sold at auction the best pr right now some of it's it's valuable agree you know the pictures and things that nature but what what we find is that what our grandparents or or you know family members called important or valuable when it comes to the next generation or the next one they consider it to be irrelevant i don't need that i don't like that that is not my decoration style that is not what i'm doing in my house and then i think for spike no it's just me and i'm probably wrong but i think for spike there are some minimalists out there that don't even want anything on their walls nothing there take that because like you go to my mom's house and there's stuff as everywhere everywhere mom i need to set this down where there's no flat surface available that's the whole purpose she's probably watching right now saying you're right um stay with me stay with me i think we understand that in the context of stuff it does not need that it's not as valuable to me as it was to them so let me ask this to begin number one how successful would you rate your life oh you don't have the handout so i'm joking come help me dakota who else who else can help who else duran do you mind thank you sir you don't have to do everything in church but just this that's what he would say my god do everything i'm sorry i didn't hand these out because i figured out last week y'all were perusing through while i was talking all right ignoring me going all right thank you guys thank you sweetie for keeping me out of the weeds how successful would you rate your life would you consider your life to be a great success or not so much okay i'll make it easier i'm gonna make this easier while they're passing out these handouts very slowly they're praying over them they're they're they're anointing them and yeah here we go we're okay yeah let me ask it this way look at the person to your left or right doesn't matter which direction find one how successful are they yeah that's easier huh you're like wow they're not successful or they're very successful or they're this or they're that now for yourself a lot of us have a difficult time putting the value or putting the meaning of success when it comes to us agreed i've often wondered about multi-cabillionaires at what point do they say you know what i've got 88 billion 621 kajillion dollars in the bank i guess i might be successful you think they think that i was successful years ago i was very successful i killed a deer because i'd never had never had killed one before and i haven't since i was like wow look at me go huh one time i fixed my car that's a successful day because there's many other days that weren't such you know today today is a great example my wife she has very little faith in my ability to time things honey i'll be there quickly and in her love and compassion and her desperation of understanding me to understand me yeah and so i proved her wrong i got here 10 minutes early because i'm not sure what i would do successfulness we all have what we believe what is in our mind to be successful whether it's a financial position whether it's that you when you read a reach a certain amount of stuff or when you get that education or you get that diploma you would consider yourself to be successful okay now question number two how would you describe watch this arriving to a level of life because it when you're newly married or you're let's go backwards even when you're in high school and you get your first job how much money do you really have i mean i was two dollars and 90 cents an hour my first real paying job besides hauling hay and cutting grass and man i had money everywhere i did of course gas was 49 cents a gallon you know uh you could eat at mcdonald's for about 99 cents see i was rolling in the doe and i didn't even know it but now what's the minimum wage like 92 an hour or something right it just keeps going up doesn't it but what you do in life is you realize once you've graduated high school for an example let's say you go to college or you get to start a career whatever it is there's a level that you're looking for it's in bread within us you talk about it growing up maybe around your table what do you want to be when you grow up people are still asking me that i'm still not sure what do you want to be when you go i asked some of these kids and these high schoolers and stuff what you going to be on how can you mail them you know just me mine what i did is i did not want to go to college i enjoyed school but only when it was closed uh lunch they wouldn't let me go to all day so but i my senior year of high school end of the year of you know the december i went into january and i went and joined the military delayed entry swore in i knew what i was going to do was it the right choice bachelor i don't know i just did it that's what i did so you know here we go the levels of life again back to success the levels of life when you reach a certain point not just successfulness let's say but what about when you get to a level in life where you feel like you know what things are finally coming together i i have a place to live and i'm paying payments on it or i have a bank account with 64 dollars in and it's usually at 30. or i'm able to buy this or i'm able to have a little extra or i've got some investments going how does it make you feel when you pay something off for an example anybo or does anybody have anything paid off how does it make you feel why you don't have to make the payment then right i mean it's pretty exciting what what about when you're done with with a project how does that make you feel i'm looking at y'all like y'all looking at me how does it make you feel when you've accomplished something good why you worked hard huh the proverbial got to remodel the bathroom thing when it's done how do you feel thank you jesus come on revival revival why you're tired of the mess and the dust and the stuff and you're ready for it to be done agreed here's the point here's the point we as humans we have levels of things that we get to we have steps in our lives we have places we climb to we have a a place that we want to arrive and for all of us it's different agreed some people in here want to retire by the time you're 65 others are shooting towards 55 others even 45 and some don't care until they're 105. everybody is going to reach a different place because of your desire your drive your your education whatever it is you're going to get to a place but the facts are this you while you are on that journey you are doing things that matter they're very relevant to your day they're very relevant to what's going on in your life here's here's one do you do you still feel that you're at the top of your game or has the edge if you will become a little dull meaning meaning you're able to do you're able to move things are happening i realized when i was looking at this lesson that we have a really young church and some of you guys can do a whole lot of things but if you live long enough you won't be able to can i get an amen see i used to be able to do all those silly things too and now i don't even think of the silly thing i think of how i'll feel after the silly thing and then i'd say no that's like when you guys want to play basketball or softball of all things i'm like okay um and you know no don't you know how to play bad i do but and then they had the nerve to you don't you want a glove why do i want a glove aren't you going to catch the ball then why are you playing i don't know here's my point you get into a position in your life where you have the drive you have the desire but then as you get older things begin to change levels begin to change the success that you are searching for and that point that you're wanting to get to begins to come into sight next thing you know hey i've come to help some of you young parents in here there will come a day when you will be able to call yourself an empty nester it's different and it's kathy it's different kids are gone and michelle still calls those rooms the kids rooms i'm like well now they ain't been here in months but that's her rumor that's his room i built this house why can't it be my third room number number four how look at that how uh how yo seen have you seen that you took a break have you seen the culture around you change just write a you in there you know what i meant have you seen culture change when it comes to the levels of life you know i can vividly remember for some reason when i was a kid i'd hang out with my uncle a lot and i remember him one time coming we were headed somewhere we fished a lot and did stuff growing up that's just what my uncle don did we worked on cars together with my brothers you know here we go and i remember him coming in from work one day and he sat down and he said you know what i figured out today i've made my first million dollars he said that took me 18 years to but i finally made it and i'm thinking to myself as a kid man i ain't never going to have a million dollars because if it took him 18 years what's it gonna take me well i still haven't but if my uncle did i guess one day i will that's that rich uncle that gets out of the poor house here's my point things in life their your desires your drive for them your thirst for them change they alter you can go 100 miles an hour with your life moving forward everything's fine all cylinders are kicking and then have a health scare doesn't it change you or something happened to your job and all of a sudden where you thought you were successful now you're you're at a position of question so culture even now teaches us some very very interesting things y'all hold on to me for just a moment years ago again i'll revert back because i can our vacation for the summer was going to see family and it was fun we would have to borrow a vehicle to do it because there was my mom and my dad and me and my brother my sister my other brother and we would go to pennsylvania normally to see family now the beauty of borrowing a car that's a four-door is what anyone has anybody seen a four-core four-door car all right seth you have a four-door right what is behind the front seats of your car a what no what is behind your seat a what a floorboard that's kind of a bucket i slept in this one and my brother slept in this one guess what else is in a car a back deck it's where my other brother was and my sister got the seat that was vacation we stopped one time got to spend the night in the hotel brother duron i mean we didn't realize that they had these things i mean it was a room and everything well there's six five of us five of us six of us seven of us because a friend went we got a hotel room for two we didn't know the difference we get in this hotel room and it's just really cool and my dad said you break something guys i'm going to shoot every one of you so we're like sitting there guess what we had for supper ready for it mom and dad went out to the van came in and had the coleman gas stove mom fixed a supper with a coleman stove in the hotel room guess what you're not supposed to do in a hotel room us kids thought the fire thingy alarm going off was cool it was a loud noise and everybody came wow this is do it again you know somebody knock on the door you're cooking in this room and my mom and dad are standing there lying all of us kids are standing with our fingers crossed that way it don't count right that was success we would go to anybody remember opera land theme park in nashville yeah okay it was down it was nashville where gaylord is now that was a theme park we'd go there and guess what my job was i carried the paper bag that had the lunch in it you know how fun it is to ride a water ride sam with a bag of groceries you like they're wet can we eat lunch can we just eat all this to be gone that i want to carry it guess what we were successful we had arrived y'all think it's funny don't you you know why because there ain't one of you out there that would do that now most of us in this room and even online most everybody here would spend 500 to go to disney and think nothing of it times have changed what that does is it presses us into a culture to where our successes and our failures now are not determined on how much fun or how much good time you had but it's determined on how much money you spent doing it i asked these kids coming back from camp do you have a good time they go yeah you want to go on a cruise now they're all like whoa camp to me was summer i want to go to summer camp one time so bad my dad said i'll help you go i'll pay for it you will i need you to get the ladder out and go take all the storm windows down and clean inside and out scrape it and put them back up we had 13 windows on my house man i got five dollars a window so guess how many wendy's i did all 13 because my dad's house if you started a job finish the job here's my point kids go to camp now i had seven dollars for spending money sister eunice that's right and just pray you don't find somebody that comes up and says well you buy me a drink and she's looking on you just buy me something at the snack bar all right that's a girl you know what yan yong i got a quarter for donkey kong and i'm out you know stay with me stay with me something happened to the relevance of our day now what is happening is there's a different standard there's a different line there's a different place that people start one of the greatest challenges you hear it all the time in our 2022 culture is the kids that are coming out of high school in college and getting their degrees and stuff they're trying to start their lives where their parents are currently and you you i hope my kids are successful and i do i hope i hope they achieve but that's not an easy task because it's taken us this many years to get to this point something else can happen number five do you feel that you are stuck in the past or do you adapt and change with the times anybody in here have a cell phone that's one of these okay let me ask it this way does anyone not have one okay i want to help you guys out all right sister sarah if you go see sister ethel what kind of phone does she have it's a flip phone and she hates it but she loves it because she hates the other ones more do you know how to send a text with that she says a what never mind there are things i know at my age that i feel like i'm stuck in the way that i've always done them the way that i've always accomplished things i have an ability to fix things or do things but i have to do it my way because that's what i'm used to for example somebody gets a smart idea of buying something for our home that's in a box and then someone decides that i am well capable because i have a garage that has things in it called tools that i should be able to take said box open it open it up and put said piece of furniture together anybody know what i'm talking about huh and then after said piece of furniture has been put together and it's wrong guess what come on logan help me uh the baby bed what are you gonna do 4 600 pieces laying there yeah my wife says baby did you read this get out of this room just get out of the room i was trying to put it together wrong so that i could learn now go she said well isn't it glued together you know what so there i wanted it this way what are you going to do with the extra parts what extra parts stuck in the past because that's how i always did things now i'm finding out for an example my greatest challenge honestly is this i know how to use this because i can i can check my email on it that's what it does for me but some of you guys when i ask you i don't know how you guys do this i'm not sure you what are you doing isn't it i'm like what are you doing i'm sending a text no you're not you're looking at me huh yeah nobody listens to me i'm like man if i sent that do you know what it would do you know what it would say because i found out spell check on these things is not very spell checky i wasn't at all the word my wife was sending me oops i said well ooh did you mean to type that it just went to it here we go hang on to me adapting to the times is an incredible challenge you young folk out here that are very capable very talented can do a lot of things i am telling you the truth right now your kids are going to do things that you are not able to do you don't think so but you watch and then you'll get mad tell me no using that phone i mean it'll probably be a planet in your ear or something i don't know and i don't know and then then you know the kids are this generation out here now they've had phones and electronics and computers their whole lives i had to learn that stuff my first computer was dos 5.0 and windows 3. i had to use code anybody know what code is you remember typing with fingers and not just thumb okay you can get stuck in the way you've done things and you it'll frustrate you now there's some things that are happening in our culture today i don't care who you are i refuse to accept it i'll give you an example go to walmart and stand there with your item of purchase and they're all looking at you sir there's 65 places you can check out i don't work at walmart so you say why what do y'all manage me for hey see y'all better adapt what i'm saying huh so i'm standing here i ask the lady every time i go in there what time what day's payday get in line get in you ain't no greeter at all you're a terrible greeter coming out the door why ask where something's at hang on to me hang on believe it or not we're headed somewhere with this lesson life right now what is your best assessment for your life right now are you on the top are you doing things do things make sense or are things beginning to frustrate you i'm talking about on your job i'm talking about at your home talk about with your health finances whatever at the house of god do things frustrate you here's something that i stand constantly in battle with using new technology to prop up an old idea i do because i know how to make a piece of paper to lay on that table out there for somebody to sign up for something we know how to do that don't just cathy we just say you go put your name on there and so i share that idea with the leadership folk and they look at me right there just right there in the pen name right there then i'll have it that's all i need and then they look at do you want something to do god's about i don't know what you said well i gotta just put everything back in there come out there and type it in and go inside that way you have paper say it again google doc i don't know what that is well it's where you go and seeing y'all young figure like well you use these all the time and do it why don't you just learn it i've seen her go wait a minute i don't want to learn it because i know how to do this it's a struggle stay with me stay with me are you opposed to change or do you literally crave what you you like because it works because it makes sense the the lesson tonight that we're talking about is irrelevance in all of life's things and all of life situations and all of trials and learning and experiences and all there will come a time in life that you won't know it's happening until you finally get to a point that you will feel like you are out of date out of touch and you don't know how to stay connected i will be very honest with you this is a struggle for most churches how to allow new technologies new methods new things come is not changing the message not changing baptism in jesus name and feeling of the holy ghost repent and none of that it's simply how it's done back in the day knocking doors was a joy huh my wife still does it honey go knock on that door she tells me anyway i'm joking but now this generation no you don't knock doors you send them a thing so i talk to the leadership and i'm trying to learn the vernacular and the technology side of it sam can we do this and he'll go yeah just smoke with my watch great spum there does that is that the same thing yeah now just invited 250 000 people you didn't knock any doors you don't have to that ain't fair to the doors now i re i realized that this this is this is almost comical because it's that generational thing the younger looking at the older one well just change just get it here's the point we will all get to the place at one time or another where we'll feel like we're out of touch unable to communicate unable to to to connect with can i take it a step further that some of you may not even realize there's something about an old timer if you will set in his ways or set in her ways you can ask them to pray for you and honey you better know that carpet's coming off the floor you can ask one of these young folk to pray for you and this is what you get now who you want praying for you see here's the fear if i as a pastor here's the concern that i have if you will is i i know what a 24-hour prayer chain does for somebody i know what a monday night prayer works i know how that changes people's lives i know the power of an altar because i've spent hours at them i wonder sometimes if we become so irrelevant if you will the altar now you can back basically pass by it lord bless everybody up there at the altar i've i have said this from this podium and in meetings that i've been in just as a as a pastor i'm looking at this and i'm saying okay my grandparents went to church five nights a week 15 times on sunday i when i was my parents they went on sunday sunday morning sunday night wednesday night and friday night and probably a prayer time in there and then when i was in growing up in church i went on sunday morning sunday night wednesday night and friday night youth service let me ask you how many times we go to church now anybody know once on sunday and wednesday is that right my question is this what's the next generation going to do will they even want to go to a building to worship i have kids nieces and in my family that oh get together in a church why what else you gonna do stay home and watch the computer phone thing in my hand listen let me carefully i i'm willing to change and adapt to new technologies in new ways y'all know that look around you how many churches you go in that has you know the only reason i do is because i i'm lazy you know what i'm standing right here and i can see 15 screens i just go you know i only have to move that's why when they're not working i'm like we put all this technology together you all can't get it to work and they're looking at me like you're the one i'm like oh never mind um listen carefully irrelevance guys can drain the joy the peace and the love of god out of your soul because you will feel as if you no longer matter life will pass you by rate your current success does your current position hinder your future condition if you've been able to do things up to this point you've been able to be involved you've been able to make changes and do things and help people in life what about the future because the greatest concern that that a church needs to have is are we going to live continuously and constantly on yesterday without reaching and pulling ourselves into tomorrow there are things as a church family that we have to constantly be doing so that we're relevant with what's going on in our culture do you agree so the question is this if there is and if you have settled in your mind this there is a heaven and there is a hell if that is secure in you then you have to decide per the word of god how do i get to that one and how do i stay out of this one agreed that simple now here's my point if you could come to church once a week and feel like that you're going to make heaven your home according to the word of god then you do that but i promise you there will come a time in your life that it will not sustain you it won't i will tell you the truth it won't and the enemy many times doesn't even fire a shot at you he just simply puts his hands in his pockets and lets you make decisions that are no longer relevant questions to ask yourself if culture is constantly in this shifting in this movement we get that right i mean we're living in some crazy days guys crazy days i never thought that i'd be in a situation to where our supreme court would make a decision to overturn a decision that was made in error they all said by the law and our nation come apart at the seams if you will and it's all over the life of a child why can't they have that same zeal and desire to want to make sure and take care of praying for people helping folk if you will now i'm not going to be political tonight i don't have to be all i have to mention this and the church and every one of you have an opinion here's the point do you realize that as a church we can live in our culture but we can be irrelevant to our culture you know what church i can get that offline i can sit down and watch right now 35 messages being preached our online presence if you will tell the guys all the time the media guys are constantly trying to do with excellence do what they do why because if somebody hits our website and they watch our service and something doesn't go like they want to what guess what they're going to do well they just go to another one i can take y'all know i love you right as pastor i thoroughly appreciate and i am thoroughly thoroughly glad that you guys come to the house of god to worship i am on sundays you're here to worship but then on monday or tuesday when i see a post somebody points out to me that says so so posted this said they went to this church and had a great service and it's not your home church what did you just do what did you just say i know some of y'all i know some of you think i'm meddling here i'm not i'm trying to help you the church you need it the church needs you to connect to it and if you simply you know i've said this multiple times from this desk and an individual you guys gonna be here next week and then for somebody to go yeah we'll be uh yeah i think we'll be here why is that even a question i'm just asking well see cause you know and no no i'm gonna visit and i got this one and then they're okay fine but then i see postings of yeah i went and had good time in this church server you ain't never posted that about your church am i being petty no i want to know where your heart is i want to know if you still feel like cac is relevant or not or if you can find food at somebody else's table kick your feet up under it and walk out and not pay the bill all right we're in a position now as a church you all the wednesday night crowd that means all the peanut butter and jelly crowd right we're in a position right now as a church god has been so faithful to cornerstone our financials are strong still we still i mean things are happening our finances are strong enough to support ministries and things but you know what we are at the at a point in our church future and past that we've got to make some decisions