Q+A 2: Where Are We?

Tim Ross | January 10, 2021

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Transcription

Hey, Embassy City Church. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to bring you the word of God on a snow weekend. The weather outside is frightful, but in here, it's so delightful. Since you have nowhere to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. That's what's happening in the DFW Metroplex, and so we had to cancel our service for this weekend live. Only our second week back, and we already had to cancel. No worries, we are still getting the opportunity to open up God's word. If you started with us last week, we are in a series called Q&A and this weekend is part two.

If you're taking notes, I need you to write this down. The title of this message is, "Where are we?" It's the question I want to answer this weekend, where are we? I have a lot of ground to cover this weekend. I make no apologies for diving in deep into God's word. To give you some context, there's three categories that I want to cover in this message. I want to cover where we are spiritually, I want to cover where we are geographically, I want to cover where we are relationally. I hope that as I go through these categories, you find out where you are in each one, once again, spiritually, geographically, relationally.

If you have your bibles, I want you to open them up to Ephesians Chapter 2. Starting at the 11th verse, here is what it says. Paul's writing, "Don't forget that you Gentiles--" us, if you're a Gentile. If you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile. "Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called uncircumcised heathens by the Jews who were proud of their circumcision even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days, you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them."

"You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now, you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now, you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.

"Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility towards each other was put to death. He brought this good news of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us." That's just good stuff right there. Again, if you're taking notes. We're answering the question, where are we? Let me pray very quickly, and let's dive right in. Holy Spirit, show us where we are. Amen.

All right, so check this out. Like I said, I have a lot of ground to cover, so I want to dive straight into this first category and talk about where are we spiritually. Where are we as believers spiritually? Now in order for us to really address this correctly, I want to give you the context that Paul gave as he was writing to both Jews and Gentiles about the reconciliation Christ did in his own body on the cross to bring us together and create what we call the church. We talked about-- We read about, I should say rather, that Paul says that you Jews were far away from God and that the Jew-- I'm sorry. The Gentiles were far away from God, but the Jews were near.

Here is how I want to break this down. The Jews were near, the Gentiles were far. What made Gentiles far? What made Gentiles far is that they were outsiders. Meaning that they did not have a promise that was given to them. They were outsiders. They were uncircumcised. They had no covenant with the Lord. They were excluded from citizenship as Jews. They were outside. They were unaware of the covenant made by God, and lastly, they lived without God and without hope.

For those of us that were born not given the promise that was given to Jewish people through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Paul says these of the five things that made us far from God. For Jewish people, they were near to God. What made them near to God? Well, what made them near is that they were insiders. They had been given a promise and they were born into a bloodline through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that made them a part of that promise. They were insiders. They were circumcised and showed that covenant. They were people that had a covenant with God. They were citizens of the Jewish community.

They were aware of the covenant made to them by God, and they lived with God and with hope. Now it may seem like wow because the Jewish is so near and we're really, really far, we have so much to do to catch up. No. Here's the common denominator that brings those that are far away from God and those that are near to God together with God, the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus brought everyone that was a Gentile far from God straight to God, and those that were near, they were near but they weren't in until they got the same blood that the Gentiles got.

Gentiles need the blood of Jesus because we were far from God, but Jews need the blood of Jesus even though they were near to God. This is why Jewish people cannot brag and Gentiles cannot brag. We all need the blood of Jesus. There are several years ago when people that-- I would hear this a lot in sitcoms and comedy shows where people would be like you need Jesus and it would say it almost like ha, ha, ha, laughing it up, but the truth is we all need Jesus. We all need his blood to be in right relationship with God, the Father. This is the context I want you to have because it will help you understand that there's only two places that you can be spiritually with God.

Some of us are far from God. Some of us that call Embassy City home, you are far from God, but I'm here to encourage you you can get closer. The same blood of Jesus that brought Gentiles and Jews into one new group of people as Paul described is the same blood that will bring you close into a relationship with God. We need the blood of Jesus. Some of us spiritually we're just far away, but some of us are near to God. If you're near to God, you shouldn't boast because what brings you near is the same blood that would bring somebody far away from God into a relationship with him.

Now even though this is not going to officially be a point, I do want to put a little nuance caveat in there and say that there are some of us that are far and near to God. Let me just put that out there real quick. Anybody beside myself can honestly say that there are certain parts of your relationship with God where you feel really close and certain parts of your relationship with God that you feel really far? Anybody would be like, "I have devotion every morning. I'm so close to God," and then at the same time, you're like, "But I ain't forgiving my aunt. I'm far aware from forgiveness. She hurt me bad. I'm not ready for that yet."

If you're in this relationship, spiritually there are people that are far and there are people that are close. If you're far, you can catch up and if you're near, you can actually get closer. If you're far and near, you just need to humble yourself because you're probably being stubborn. Let me give you some Bible in James 4:8, I love this verse. The first sentence, "Come close to God and God will come close to you. Wash your hands you sinners, purify your hearts for your loyalty is divided between God and the world." James is giving an exhortation and here's what he says, "No matter where you are, far or near, there's one thing I want you to know. If you come close to God, God will come close to you."

Listen, here's the visual I've always had in my mind every time I see James 4:8. I think of somebody being far away from God and they're thinking to themselves, "I can't get close to God, I've done so much bad stuff, and there's no way he would want to have relationship with me. I'm so far." All God's saying is, "I just want you to take a step of faith." One step of faith. Even if it's a baby step, I want you to take one step of faith. Here you go, you're like, "Okay, I'll go. I took the step of faith, Lord, I'm so far away," but you didn't account for God's step.

That one step of faith that you took, it seems like you're still so far until you realize God's step is like this. He can make up the difference between where you are and where you will be if you would just humble yourself and say, "I'm coming closer to God." For some of you, you think, "There's no way I can get any closer. I'm doing everything right." Psych. You find out very, very quickly there's always more distance that can be covered in your relationship with him. Where are we spiritually? When we answer answered that question, you're only one of two places. You're either far or you're near.

"Hey, I'm going through some things right now, and I feel off spiritually," you either far off or you're near or you're gaining ground because, through humility, you've said, "I'm going to strive to be closer to God," knowing that he will come closer to us. Here's the second category I want to cover. I want to talk about where are we geographically. Where are we geographically? I'm making this very, very specific to Embassy City Church, to this physical location of 6300 North Belt Line Road, 75063. It caught out the whole address. Where are we geographically?

Here's the truth. Some of us are far from Irving. Many people that are watching us right now, you're watching from far away. Some of us are near to Irving. You all see how basic this is going to be throughout the whole thing. Is there a theme that you see that's progressing here? You're either far or you're near spiritually. Geographically, you're either far away or you are near our physical location. For those of you that are far away, that you watch us on the weekends and you love what is coming out of this house, I'm so grateful that you feel connected here.

For those that are near and after 10 months, you're so happy that we get to have live services again, that's wonderful. I'm grateful that you feel connected to the house. Whether you are far away or you are near, we want you to feel connected to this house if you feel like you are getting fed from this house. Here's the two categories that I want to break down. There's two types of people that I feel that are called or connected to Embassy City Church. There's two mindsets that I want to address. The two types of people that feel connected to Embassy City Church, here's the mindset that I believe that you have.

Number one, the first type of person, here's the mindset they have about Embassy City Church. "This is my church." That's their mindset. "This is my church." The way that I would define someone who feels like Embassy City Church is their church and the reason why they can declaratively say it with such passion and possession is because all of their time, talent, and treasure is brought here. I'm going to say that again. If you feel like this is your church, you claim, "Embassy City is my church," then the way that we would judge that is that your time, your talent, and your treasure is here.

The most time you spend getting spiritually fed is from Embassy City Church. The most time you spend showing up to a location is at Embassy City Church. You may not even live in the metroplex, but you still spend most of your time feeding from what we give out at Embassy City Church. Your talent is given here. You bring that talent. You bring your gifts, you serve here. You write letters. Even if you're far away, you do something to encourage us every single weekend. You bring your treasure here, you tithe, and you give your offerings here. "This is my church."

I know some people that, listen, they'll fight you over Embassy City Church. It's hilarious to me. I got some people that go to this church, they're quite gangster. I have very diplomatic people that go to this church, "Yes, this is my church, I really love it a lot." I got some other people that are like, "Yes, I wish you would say something about this church." It's pretty funny. The first type of person says, "This is my church."

Here's the second type of person. Here's their mindset about Embassy City Church. They feel connected here, but they don't feel like this is my church, but here's their mindset, ready? Their mindset is, "This is my other church." That's their mindset. "This is not my main charge, but this is my other church." Here's the context I have for somebody that feels like Embassy City is their other church, "I get something from Embassy City that I don't get from my church." Let me say that again, "I get something from Embassy City that I do not get from my church."

How do I process that as a lead pastor? I process that is I'm a supplement. Our church is the supplement. Anybody here you take supplements? Do you have to take some vitamin E or some vitamin C or, you take some kind of multivitamin? It's not showing up in your everyday diet, but you know you need it. If you don't have it, you're going to become deficient. You feel like you're not the same. That's what happens with a lot of people. When they tune in Embassy City, They're like, "Listen, I live in Georgia and I go to a great church and I love serving there, but Embassy City are part of my supplemental diet. I get something there that I do not get from my home church."

Let me tell you something, that's absolutely okay. I'm not a hater. The body of Christ is bigger than this building. Everybody that gets fed here is not going to belong to this church so it's all good. Here's what I would say. This is my only caution that I would give you if you feel like we are your other church. I'm so honored that you would put us out of all the churches in the whole world, that you would consider us one of your other churches, supplementally. Here's my admonishment to you. If we are your supplement church, your other church, don't compare us to your home.

If this is your supplemental church, don't compare us to your home church. What do you mean by that, Tim? Don't try to make your home church be Embassy City. We're a supplement. Your church is never going to be everything that Embassy City is and vice versa, which is why it's a supplement. You would never scream at your vitamin C pills for lacking vitamin E. "I can't stand you vitamin C, how come you won't be filled more with vitamin E?" "Because I'm vitamin C, I just do C. That's what you asked for? We have a whole jar and it's just C."

"I need more E." "Well, you won't get it from this jar because we're C and E's over there and there's not going to be a C-E hybrid." Even though we are E-C, but you get it. Don't compare us to your other church. Just enjoy what we give you supplementally and let that be that. Let me get some shout-outs right now because I talked about some people that feel like we are their home church. I talked about people that feel like we are their other church. Can I tell you that every weekend, we literally have people watching from around the world?

We pulled some analytics from YouTube. I want to shout out the places that are most frequently watching our content, the countries that are most frequently watching our content. Obviously, United States came in first. Yay. Second though, United Kingdom. What's up, UK? Can I have a spot of tea? I love you, my British folks. You all have the Queen's English, which is the best English. It's better than American English. Oh my goodness. Lord, have mercy. Wish we spoke with the Queen's English, but we don't. Canada is third. What's up, Canada? It's what I'm talking about, northern, northern. Up North. Salute to Canada.

South Africa, all my peeps in South Africa, thank you so much for being a part of what we do all the way here in Irving, Texas. Next, Philippines on the map. Salute, Philippines. I love you all. Filipinos, Filipinas, I love you guys so much. Thanks for watching. Nigeria, yes. Let's go, Nigeria. This is what I want to say to you. Embassy City is my church. Embassy City is my vitamin C. Don't be mad, Nigeria. I tried my best and I am part-Nigerian so I get to give it a shot. You, watch your mouth. Nigeria's on there. You want to know who's after Nigeria? Kenya. What's up, Kenya? Thanks for joining us. I love you, guys. I appreciate you making us a part of your spiritual diet.

New Zealand, listen. You already know we love New Zealand. If this is where the Lord of the Rings' world is, then count me in. New Zealand, I love you guys. I actually get a supplement from you all called Athletic Greens. Nobody asked for that shameless plug but now you guys know what my supplement is. It comes from New Zealand, so salute to New Zealand. I love you, guys. You guys got rid of all your COVID cases so maybe I should plan a church there, I don't know. Last but not least, [sings] so long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye. Germany is in the building. 

I want to salute those of you all that are in Germany that watch Embassy City. Listen, whether you feel like this is your church or this is your other church, your supplement church, I just want you to know that you're not just watching us, we see you too. I'm so grateful that you feel a part of our family. Not only do we have people that are watching literally around the world, but we got testimonies that are coming in from people as well. Somebody wrote in, "Been watching during this pandemic, and I've been so blessed by all the messages. Thanks for this wonderful reminder and truth of who we are truly in Christ. I appreciate you encouraging us."

Another person wrote in and said, "This was so good. Needed to hear these words to refresh my spirit. Thank you, Holy Spirit." That shout-out lets me know that you are more than just a casual viewer because I love saying, "Thank you, Holy Spirit." One more, this is coming from S. We only got the first initial, but, "It has been a year since I have been following you on YouTube. You have no idea how much my world has been turned upside down. Let's go." I love to hear that. Thank you, and bless you and your family.

Listen, I just want to say thank you. Whether you watch on the weekends or you watch Juliette's show, Unpacked, I am so grateful that you are spending some time in God's word, either receiving it or unpacking it for your own spiritual growth and development. I got one last shout-out to two couples. It's more than this but I can only pull a couple. It's one thing if somebody just gets online and types in the chat, "Hey, I enjoy this service," so they leave a comment. It's another thing when somebody takes a stamp, and they put it on an envelope, and they put it in the mail, and they mail it to you. They've actually opened up a card and written with their own hand how they feel.

Listen, I love old-school mail. I still love it. I'm cool with all the social stuff but when you rip open a letter and someone has actually taken the time to write with their own hand pen to paper to tell you how they feel, that just feels so good to me. I want to shout out two couples. One is Wayne and Carla Phillips in Rhome, Texas. I don't know if you all knew out there that Texas has its own Rhome?

Okay, but our Rhome is better than the original Rome because we have a “H” in our Rhome. It's R-H-O-M-E. We had to one-up the Romans. Texas is always one-upping somebody. Wayne and Carla Phillips in Rhome, Texas, just let me say thank you so much for making Embassy City a part of how you feed yourself spiritually. We are happy that you've joined our family. I've received more than one letter from this couple, Robert and Anna Schanz, in Carmichael, California. They watch us every single weekend all the way from Cali. I just want to let you know I'm honored to serve. I'm honored that you're a part of the family.

Again, whether you feel like this is home, far or near, or this is my other church, far or near, we are so grateful that you have found a place to be where we are. You all got time for a little bit more?

Okay. My last category that I want to cover is where are we relationally. Where are we relationally? When I first started-- I just want to pause and say that I know that some of you all were probably disappointed by the way I took this particular message, the direction I felt the Holy Spirit told me to go because anytime you hear the words, "Where are we?" You're like, "Yes, tell me where I am. Tell us where the nation is. Tell us where we are spiritually and prophetically. Declare to us what's next." No, mm-hmm, no, not happening. Spiritually, you need to figure out where you are. Spiritually, you need to figure out, "Am I far?" or, "Am I near?"

Geographically, I think it's time for a lot of people that have been on the fence about this particular church, I just feel led to say this, to finally choose what type of church this is going to be to you. Either you like it enough now that you need to go ahead and be in or you don't like it and you need to be out. You need to come to the conclusion that this is my church or this is my other church. Either way, we're going to be fine. We're going to be happy for you, but this is where you clear the air and really start to define what God is speaking to you in this season.

This leads me to my last one, where are we relationally? Where are we relationally? Here's what it says in Colossians 1:24, "I'm glad when I suffer for you in my body for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. God has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you. This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past but now it has been revealed to God's people. For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles too. And this is the secret." Shh-shh-shh. Don't you love when somebody has a really good secret to share, right?

Shh-shh-shh-shh, "This is the secret, Christ lives in you." That's the secret. Shh-shh-shh. "This is the secret. Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory." "That's why I work so hard and struggle so hard depending on Christ's power that works within me." Listen. Oh, I think I skipped a verse. Verse 28, my bad, "So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. That's why I work hard and struggle so hard depending on Christ's mighty power that works within me."

I want to go back to that secret for a second. This is the secret, the secret is Christ lives in you. Christ lives in you. If you come into a relationship with Christ, he lives in you. Under the category of spiritually, I said you can either be far or you can be near. Geographically, I said you can either be far or you can be near. Here's the revelation of your relationship with Christ. You are either in a relationship with Christ or you are outside of a relationship with Christ. Though far or near here, when it comes down to the relational status, you're either in one or you are not.

I know Facebook has given you a myriad of options to define your relationship. It could be complicated, you could be divorced, you could be separated, you could be friends, you could be pseudo friends. There's all these different definitions that you can have for a relationship but not with Christ. You are either in a relationship with Christ or you are outside of a relationship with Christ, and so here's the question that I want to end on, where is your relationship? Where are you in your relationship to Christ? You are either in one or you are outside of one.

Now a lot of people think, especially if you grew up in a legalistic environment, that if there's problems in a relationship, that you get kicked outside every time. It's not how a relationship with Christ works. It's not how a relationship with your own girlfriend or boyfriend works. It's not about how your relationship with your fiancé works. It's not about how your relationship with your spouse works. You don't wake up every day like, "Oh, I'm in love with you." Sometimes you wake up like, "Oh, man. Those darn vows. I guess I got to keep them."

A bad day doesn't mean a bad relationship. It just means a bad day. A bad week doesn't mean a bad relationship. It just means a bad week. A bad season doesn't mean a bad relationship, it just means a bad season but you're still either in or out. Here's my appeal to you as I close this message, where are you? I want you to be able to answer these questions definitively. Spiritually, I want you to be able to answer the question, where am I spiritually? "I feel closer to God than I've ever felt in my life." If that's your honest answer, ride with it. If your answer is, "I feel farther away from God than I've ever felt," listen, own that. That's where you are right now.

God won't be mad if you define your spiritual connection that way. There's all times that we can be going through stuff where we feel further away from God in certain seasons and closer to him in others, but you'll never be able to know where you're going until you answer that question. "Where am I spiritually today?" You're either far or near. I want you to answer that question. Geographically, I want you to do the same exact thing. When it comes to Embassy City Church, specifically, how do I feel about this church? Do I feel like I am near this church? Do I feel like I'm far from this church? Whichever one I answer, is this my church or is this my other church?

You need to answer that question. I'm not asking the question for me to have an answer. You need to answer that question so you can have an answer. Listen, I just need you to know right now, nobody wrote me a bad email this week, nobody said nothing to me and I'm like, "I'm going to talk to someone." I've never taken a sermon based off somebody's feedback, positive or negative. The only feedback I get is from the Holy Spirit. What he tells me to say, I repeat and I say nothing beyond that. I want you to answer that question for yourself. You owe it to yourself to know if this is your community or not. Far or near, you owe it to yourself to know if this is your church or if it's a supplemental church. Lastly, you need to answer the question, where am I? Relationally, where am I in my relationship to Jesus Christ? Not God, Jesus. Not God the Father, Jesus, his son. The only way to the Father is through the son.

You might be listening to me right now and be thinking to yourself, "I know the answer to that question. I'm in a relationship with Jesus. Good, bad, and ugly, I'm in a relationship with Jesus. He is my Savior, he's also my Lord and through every up and down, I rely on my relationship with Christ to navigate me through the seasons of my life." If you answer that question, amen. You might be here and when I asked you that question, you know right away, "I don't have a relationship with Jesus. I've had relationships with denominations, I've had relationships with church culture, but I've never opened up my heart to Jesus Christ and asked him to be Lord and Savior."

Here's the greatest thing right now, you can change your relationship status right now from outside to inside. The question I just want to ask you simply is are you opposed to giving your life to Jesus Christ today? If the answer is no, then my follow-up question is, what would you need to do to ensure that you make that commitment today? I'm telling you, God has made it so easy by simply saying that you believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God raised him from the dead and by changing your mind about the way you think about your own life, what we also call repenting, you can be in a relationship with Jesus Christ right now.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes. What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message? My prayer is that something you've heard in this message has allowed the missing piece to just snap into place. Maybe you've been all over the place and you haven't really had a sense of where you are spiritually, you haven't really had a sense of where you are geographically, you haven't had a sense of who you are relationally. I hope that one of these categories something has snapped into place. I can only pray that two of these categories something has snapped into place.

It's very, very rare that I can be excited about trifectas, but I hope all three of these got clear for you. Holy Spirit, I pray for every person that's listening to the sound of my voice, and I ask you, God, that you would take these words and that you would bring clarity to my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters about where they are with you. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for making all things clear spiritually, geographically, and relationally. In Jesus' name, amen.

Hey, listen, everybody, whether you are watching in the DFW Metroplex or you're under some blankets, hopefully, you got some hot cocoa, or whether you are in England sipping a spot of tea or in the Philippines, doing whatever you do in the Philippines, somebody write me and tell me. I'm so grateful that you decided to join us today, and I can't wait to come back next week for part three. I love you all. Peace.