Q+A 4: How Do We Do It?

Tim Ross | January 24, 2021

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Transcription

What's up Embassy City, family. I love you guys so much. Whether you're in the sanctuary with us right now or you're watching us online, we are so grateful that you came to grow with us today. Before I jump into the message, I told y'all the shout outs are something that people are loving. The shout outs is something that I'm loving. Let's do some shout outs and say hi to some people before we jump in. I got two shout outs that I want to give today. I'm just going to read the actual statement that they made and not calling out any names.

The first one said this, "This thank you for a word to stand on." That's good. "A word to get to what is bothering me? Holy Ghost to the rescue." I love this comment because they are clearly old school. If you're saying Holy Ghost and not Holy Spirit, I like you. "Holy Ghost answer the door." This is a good one.

Here's the second one. "This series has been life-changing." Thank you. We agree. "This was my favorite week, so thankful for the Holy Spirit living inside of me." Listen, shout outs to everybody that's posting comments, they're sharing comments. If you're live in the chat right now, thank you for engaging with us. If you're live in the room, thank you for the holler back because that's what I like.

Now, I told you all last week that if you're here, then I've made some assumptions about you. If you're here, it's because you want to grow. If it's here, it's because you are ready to give of yourself of your talent and your treasure. If you are here is because you want to connect to like-minded people that love God as much as you do. I'm committed to that growth. I'm here to serve you in that capacity. We are continuing a series called Q&A, simply question and answers.

These are not just any questions and any answers, we're answering the questions as it relates to what God is calling Embassy City to do. We just came off of 10 months where we did not meet at all. Now we're meeting back in person, now we're meeting online live, as a result of that, we want to answer what it is God is calling us to do. Last week, we talked about the question, "What do you do?" This week, the question we want to answer-- If you're taking notes, please write this down. The question we want to answer is, "How do we do it? We know what we do, but how do we do what it is that we do." Y'all ready to go?

If you're ready to go say, "Let's grow."

All right, so let's grow. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn-- What is my first verse? My first verse is going to be John 14. Turn there, and I want to dive straight into what it is that we do because if you understand what it is that we do, you are going to do it. I hope that you would do it. The first thing that I want you to write down is how we do what we do. How do we do what we do? We do it with truth. If you want to know how we do what we do, we do what we do with truth. It's how we do what it is we do. We do it with the truth.

Here it is in John 14:6, "Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.'" I love this. Jesus is saying three things in one sentence, and He's very, very serious about it. He says, "I am the way, I am the truth and I am the life." It's not a comma, it's not a semi colon. He says, period. "I'm the way, I'm the truth, I am the life." He could have put a period after all three of those things, but he wants you to know in the fullness, He's the way, He's the truth, and He's the life but there's a period after that.

The way to God is through Jesus. The truth of God is Jesus. The only way we're going to live with God is Jesus. He is the way, He is the truth and He is the life. Then there's another statement though. This is something that makes our faith, if you are really going to commit to a relationship with Jesus Christ, this is one of the areas where people hesitate to embrace the teachings of Jesus. "No man can come to the Father except through me."

This is a line of demarcation that a lot of people can't get over because people want many ways to get to God. "I want to know many ways, there's got to be more than one way. God can't be that selfish that He only wants there to be one way to get to Him. There's people on the other side of the world that have never even heard of Jesus, what about them? Who is Jesus? There's people that were born in different religions, and how can you expect them to turn to ours because ours is more than a religion, it is a relationship."

When we say that He's the truth, we stand with a conviction and a bonus that we are not wavering from. How do we do what we do? We do it with the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. We do it with the truth that there is no way to God except through Jesus. That is the truth. Now, listen, I need you guys to understand this because if you don't understand this, you might express the truth incorrectly. Make sure you got this right.

When I say that we give people the truth, we're not talking about a doctrine. We're not talking about a denomination. We're not talking about a theological stance. We're talking about a person. The truth is not what you been preaching, the truth is a person. We preach about the person, which is what makes our theology sound because we're talking about a person, we're not talking about an ideology. We're not talking about a variation of systematic theology. We are talking about a person. That person has a name and His name is Jesus.

This might even change the way you discipline your kids. "Hey, I want you to tell the truth." "Oh, you want me to testify of Jesus?" He is the truth. He is the way, He is the truth, and He is the life. The truth has a name. It's not merely something being true. The truth has a name and His name is Jesus. It's a capital T on that Truth. You might tell the truth about your age, yey. You might tell the truth about your real hair color, yey. You might tell the truth about your real height, yey, or your real weight, yey. Small T.

When you tell the truth, the truth has a capital T because the truth has a name. His name is Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit. I can't let it go. Okay, I got to calm down because I hear all kinds of stuff in my head right now. There are scriptures volunteering to me right now. What does God say to Moses in the Old Testament? He says, "Who am I going to say sent me?" He said, "Tell them, I Am sent you." Tell them I Am who I Am sent you. That was God the Father in the Old Testament giving Abraham a blank check name.

Whatever you need me to be, I will become. I am that. I am a cloud by day. I am a pillar of fire by night. I am water out of a rock. I am manna that comes from heaven. I am your defender. I am your healer. I am your protection. I am your banner. Whatever you need me to be, I will be that. I Am who I Am.

Jesus testifies and says the same thing in the New Testament when a couple of people ask Him-- This is John 6. He says, "Before Abraham was, I Am," and that I Am share the same power. When they came in the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus, they said, "Are you, Jesus?" He said, "I Am." They fell down. The I Am has power, so with that in mind, think about that sentence again. I Am the way, I Am the way, I Am the truth, I Am the life. There is no life outside of me.

When we give people the truth, we give them a person, and when you're introducing people to a person, it's different than a doctrine. It is different than a denomination. It is different than just some truth you want them to accept, you're introducing them to a person. "I would like you to meet the truth. He's so kind. Oh, this truth is so understanding, this truth is so filled with love, this truth is so filled with grace, this truth is so filled with understanding about the situation you're going through right now."

The truth is a person. If you could see the truth as a person, it would change the way you talk about Him. [laughs] When you know something to be true, and in this case, to be the person that is truth, you don't have to defend it like you do when it's your opinion because this truth is going to be here whether you believe it or not. I don't have to convince you, the Holy Spirit draws people to Jesus, not even my assignment to convict people of their sins, the Holy Spirit convicts people of their sins. The only thing I show up with is the truth.

I'm showing up with this person, this person has something to say, I'm going to speak on His behalf. You can accept Him or you don't have to accept Him, you're not accepting an idea, you're accepting a person, so speak the truth. How do we do what we do? We do it with truth. Point number two, please write this down, how do we do what we do? We do it with grace. You can't talk about the truth without bringing up grace, they go hand in hand.

Here's what it says in John 1:14. This is from the New King James version. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father," I love this part. These five words are delicious, "Full of grace and truth. Full of grace and truth." Would y'all say that with me?

Full of grace and truth.

Again?

Full of grace and truth.

One more time, real loud.

Full of grace and truth.

If you're going to be full of something… ”She is just full of it." "What?" "Grace and truth." "Oh, that dude, he is just full of it." "Full of what?" "Grace and truth." Truth with the absence of grace will harm. Grace with the absence of truth, won't heal. Let me say that again, truth with the absence of grace will harm but grace with the absence of truth will not heal. I know too many people on the furthest extremes of grace and truth, trying to hold one or the other not understanding it's not either/or it is both/and. People need the truth and they need grace. People need grace and they need truth.

If you have truth with no grace, you're just walking around telling people off even if you're right. You know you're foul, right? You know your breath stinks a little bit. You're a little musty, I smelled you.

I just got a whiff, so you need to take care of that, bathe more.

I'm just telling the truth. God wants holiness, God wants righteousness, God wants you to live right, God wants-- Hey, I'm just telling you the truth. You shouldn't be having sex before marriage. You shouldn't be cheating on your spouse. You shouldn't be watching porn, shouldn't be drinking, shouldn't be smoking, shouldn't be doing all of that. I'm just telling the truth. No, you mean, that's what you are. You're a mean person who masquerades as a truth-teller. [laughs] Oh, that feels good. You're a mean person masquerading as a truth-teller because you think the truth is all people need. Christ came manifest in the flesh full of grace and truth.

Let's just slow down on the words. The order of that is very, very particular. It didn't say He was full of truth and grace. It was full of grace and truth. Give people grace, chase it down with the truth. Somebody needs to write that down. For all the truth-tellers out there, that just want to give them people a piece of your mind, "They need to know. I had to read them, I had to learn them today." Grace chases truth, truth chases grace. They come as a tender. They come as a duo. They are a couple.

Truth doesn't walk into a room without grace. Truth will never show up by itself. Truth walking in the door, "Where's grace?" "I had to leave her at the house, she wasn't ready, so you're just getting me today." Grace never shows up without truth, "Hey, I'm here grace. I'm here. You all look so lovely. You look amazing. You're going to be awesome." "Hey, where's truth?" "He was tired, decided to stay in the bed." They're a couple, they show up together.

What is grace for? Grace is to give us that assurance that no matter where we are, we can come up. If you're far, you can come near. If you're near, you can come closer. Grace says, "Get up again." Grace says, "Try again." Grace says, "You can do this. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Yes, you will. You're not in this by yourself, get back up. I know you just made the mistake for the 119th time, get up. Do it again. Yes, you can." "Well, I went to the altar call 17 times, I'm not going for the 18." Here's grace, "Yes, do it again. Do it again, one of them is going to stick."

You think this is futile, you think, "I'll never get over this." Grace is saying, "I bet you do. Keep getting up because one of these time it's going to break." What if the 20th time is when it breaks, you stopped at 18? Grace says, "Try two more times." Grace says, "Come on, come on, come on, I got you in this. You're not in this by yourself."

I don't know if you've ever been in the gym, and they're hitting the weights, right? You're on that bench press and you're hitting those weights, and you got a spotter that's over you. The spotter is encouraging you, "Come on, come on, you can do it. You can do it." You're supposed to hit 10, but you get to 7 and you're like, "Okay." Anybody beside me, you'd be like, "Okay, well." The spotter says, "Come on, you got this, you got this, you got this." On that one, you were able to calibrate yourself through the encouragement.

Got seven up, and you want to give up right then, they go, "Two more." You're like, "No, Jesus, I bind you now. This can't be the Lord." He says, "Two more. Two more, two more, two more." They say, "I got you." That's grace. "I got you." You go back down, and this time you really feel it on the way up, now you're only here. They put their hand under that bar, they just start lifting just a little bit. They don't take all the weight off of you, they take just enough for you to feel like, "I guess I can do this."

Then they go, "There you go. There you go. That's eight. Give me nine." You go down again, and you start coming up. "I'm going to die. I promise you I'm going to die on this one." "No, you got it, you got it, you got it. That's good, now give me 10." You're like, "No." Then you bring it down this time and you're like, "See, it's going to crack my ribs if you don't-- I'm dead." They put both hands under and go, "Come on, you got it. You got it." This time, low key, they've taken about 70% of that off of you, but you still had to put in some effort.

See grace says, "Listen, even when you don't think you can carry anymore, I can carry you through this, but you're going to still feel something. I can't relieve all the pressure off of you, but I can give you just enough for you to understand, you are not in this by yourself." If there are truth-tellers in the room are still like, "Well, no, no, no. A lot of people got real sloppy with that grace, so I'm still a truth-teller." Then maybe it will interest you if I put the words-- well, I didn't put the words in red, but the writer did.

2 Corinthians 12:9. This is what Jesus says to Paul after Paul asking three times to take this thorn away, take this weight away, take this problem away. He prayed three times. Here's Jesus' response. The answer isn't red, and this is way out of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We are all the way in Corinthians and red letters are still popping up. That lets you know Jesus is still speaking.

For anybody that thinks that Jesus is done talking, He can still come and holler at you. All His red letters are not in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Here we are already all the way over in 2 Corinthians, He's still speaking. Here's what He says, "My grace is all you need." Jesus said, "My grace." Whose is it? It's His grace. It's His unmerited favor. His unfailing love toward us.

He says, "This is all you need. I'm your permanent spotter. [laughs] I didn't come to take this thorn stone out of your side, I came to tell you, you can be all right with this. If I never change the situation in your life, you're good. You can handle more than you think that you can handle." I don't know who that's for, but somebody needs to know, you can handle more than you think that you can handle. You are anointed to do more than you think you can do. You are stronger than you think. You have more in you than you even know.

He said, "My grace is all you need." He said, "My power works best in weakness." Oh, this is so good. Let me take my time. If Jesus is saying that His grace is all you need and that His power works best in weakness, then it sounds like we need to admit that we have weaknesses. Anybody besides me? Anybody weak in some areas? You just like, "I'm really strong like 80% of the time, but Ooh, I got 20% that catch me on the right day, ouch."

I've been telling you all about my fitness and journey and I'm getting on cardio and doing Peloton and I love it, but carrot cake is a thing. Carrot cake with the cream cheese frosting from Saltgrass, it's a calorie bomb. I mean especially the portions that Saltgrass gives, that's easily 600, maybe 700 calories if you eat the whole thing, which I clearly have a capacity to do. I have to admit that that's something I have to watch because if I don't, then I won't ask for any grace. Thank you, Holy Spirit.

If you're only asking for grace after you do stuff, you have a problem with being honest about your weaknesses. Oh, I feel this one. I feel this so strong. If you have a problem asking for grace, you have a problem admitting weakness. If you only ask for grace after you fail, it's because you weren't honest enough leading up to the failure. I got this. I'm strong enough to handle this. Thoughts start coming, you're like, "I'm good. I'm not going to get that cake. It's 20 miles away, I'm not-- It's not even close." Then you're putting on shoes.

"It's not even close to here. I'm not going to go get it. I'm chilling. No." Then you get dressed and you are like, "Well, I do have to run some errands, but I won't even get near that place. I'm going in the opposite direction." Then you start doing your errands, then you're like, "I could go over here and I could go to the cleaners and I do need an alteration."

Before you know it, you're within three miles of Saltgrass. You're like "Prrr chhh, I've been doing good. I mean everything can't just be workouts and sweating. I deserve to have some release, some treat, something, one slice. It's not going to kill me. I'll work harder tomorrow. I'll do two spin classes instead of one, and it will be like I never had the cake."

Then you're at home with cake all over your mouth, crumbs on your shirt, and there's another cake in the refrigerator because you thought, "I'm going to have to treat myself after this." Now I've been doing-- I just took you on a whole journey with cake, but replace it with your temptation, whether that's sex outside of the confine of marriage, whether that is anger unchecked that turns into bitterness and it takes root in your soul.

Whether that's, depression, low self-esteem, a fear of something, you start rationalizing why it's not that big of a deal and you're back in it again.

You think that your response to that is I'll pray twice as hard tomorrow to make up for what I did. When all God's asking you to do is, "Will you please admit you got weak areas because as soon as you do, I will step into that moment with my grace." In the same way, you're trying to push it off and you're like, "I don't have any more strength." He's like, "Oh, great, boom. Now I can spot you." Here's what Jesus is saying to Paul. "I can't spot you until you admit you're weak. I can't even dive in to help you until you admit I'm weak in this area."

How do we do what we do here? We do it with grace. If we got to tell you the truth, we're going to do it with grace. I love how Paul says this after he hears from Jesus, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." Paul's response to this is, "Now I'm glad to boast about my weaknesses, [laughs] so that the power of Christ can work through me." Once he got the clue of what this was, he was like, "Wait a minute, all I got to do is admit I'm weak, then you'll spot me with this?

I'm weak. I'm the weakest dude here? No one is weaker than me. The weakest leader of all time. I'm the chief apostle, I'm blind as a bat. People will listen to my sermons and they fall asleep and die. I'm weak. I need a lot of help. I need smart people around me. I'm not that smart, but God put me in the front, so please help me. I'm weak. I can't watch that movie, I'll get tempted. I'm weak. [chuckles] All the lights are off. I'm scared of the dark. I need the light. I'm weak. [laughs]

Paul says, "I boast about it now." He actually shows up to prayer meetings, "Hey, men, you want to know where I'm weak? This is going to crack you up. I can get depressed in a heartbeat, isn't that crazy? Pray for me." He boasts about it. He just walks into a room, "Hey, you guys doing okay. Hey, you got good. Hey, you good over there? Cool. I have a porn addiction. I know we're watching a movie tonight, but I just need to ask, there's nothing, there's no flesh because I will get triggered and then you have to take my phone away from me because I might be on the internet until four o'clock in the morning. I'm weak."

What if we got honest in church about our weaknesses? Instead of trying to show up with our strengths, "I'm anointed. I have a gift of prophecy. I'm strong. I have the gift of leadership. I'm amazing. I have a gift to sing and to speak in front of people. I'm a prayer warrior. Satan's scared of my voice." Yay, you. [claps] What if we all showed up and boasted about our weaknesses? What if we normalized weaknesses? Christ normalized it with Paul. Why don't we normalize it in the church? Why are we still shocked when people tell us their weaknesses?

When Jesus says, "My strength works best in weakness." We're going to keep showing up with strength? [chuckles] Hey, I love all the metrics we use, StrengthsFinders, and Disc Tests, and Myers-Briggs, and all that kind of stuff, but I wish there was a weak finder. We got StrengthsFinders already. "I already know where my strengths are. I'm connected, I'm responsible and a strategist, and intellection. Yes, I'm a relater, have responsibility. I love my strengths."

I wish some people knew their top five weaknesses. My top five weaknesses is pride, porn, people pleasing-- I don't know why they all start with Ps. Pie, I don't know. What if we showed up with our weaknesses? Would that hurt or would you be more authentic, and would you be more transparent? Would you be more humble if you had to show up? Not saying what your strengths was, but letting us all know where your weaknesses are found? It's so good. Oh, it's so good.

All right, last one. How do we do it? How do we do it? We do it with truth. We do it with grace. Here's the last one. Write it down, two words. We do it with love. We do what we do with love. Truth, grace, and love. That's how we're going to do everything that we are called to do. Here's what it says in 1 Corinthians 13, starting with the first verse. Paul writes, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but I have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging symbol." Here's what Paul says. "If I have all that other stuff and I don't have love, I'm just noisy."

Ooh, I wish I could. Ooh, Lord, have mercy on my soul. I feel this thing. Do you know how many noisy people are pastoring churches right now? They make a lot of noise, but they don't love well. They make a lot of noise. People are attracted to noise. They pay attention to noise, but if you have all that noise, and you don't have any love, it's a bad noise. It's not a good sound. It's just a bunch of racket.

Paul goes on. "And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but I have not love, I am nothing." Can you imagine? For all those spiritual gifts you have? The gift of healing, the gift of prophecy, gift of discernment, word of knowldege, miracles. You are the walking epitome of the five-fold ministry. [chuckles]

Here's what Paul says, "If I have all of that, and I don't have love--" He didn't say it's all for nothing. He said, "I am nothing." "And though I bestow all of my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but I have not love, it profits me nothing." If I do all the right things, but I don't have the right heart, doesn't even matter. Yes, you are a consistent giver, but you gave begrudgingly. Profits you nothing. You helped a lot of people, but you hated the people you helped. Profits you nothing.

Then he goes on to pen words that have made it to so many marriage ceremonies I can't even count. "Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. It is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked. I need to slow down. Love is not provoked. If you truly start loving like Jesus, you would no longer be triggered. Love can't even be provoked. People trying to trigger you, You just like scrolling through the social media feed, see some posts. You're like, "Oh, it breaks my heart," but you're not triggered why? Love is not provoked. I love too much to be triggered.

You can be mad. I'm not going to be mad with you. You can be mad. I'm not going to get mad at you. Yes, you say something, it was stupid. I refuse to be triggered why? Love is not provoked. It thinks no evil. Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. You all, I can't even get away from it. Didn't even think about that when I was studying. "It rejoices in the truth." Why? The truth is a person, His name is Jesus. Love rejoices in the truth.

Oh my gosh. I just feel like I need to do a whole series on love, maybe later in the year. Here's what it says to end in verse 7, "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." I remember being at a event. This was probably, gosh, it's over 10 years ago. Let's just say about 13 years ago, I was at a young adult conference. As a matter of fact, I was at my neighbors church, Irving Bible Church. They were having a young adult conference. The youth group that I pastored at the time showed up to be a part of it.

I was walking through the foyer and one of the young ladies had a kiosk and had some information about missions and stuff like that, and so sat down with her. We had a very engaging conversation and at the end of the conversation, I remember giving her a hug and I said, "I love you." She visibly, like she was shaking.

She was like, "Oh my God, you can't," like to the point she couldn't keep it to herself. Verbally, she said, "You can't say that." I said, "Why can't I say it?" She said, "Because you can't love someone you don't know." I said, "Yes, I can." I said, "I'm actually commanded to." I said, "Jesus told me to love you, so I love you. When I tell you I love you, I mean it, so I'm not taking it back. I love you." You could tell she was just like, "I can't say that back to you." I said, "I didn't ask you to. I love you. Okay, bye."

Not everyone will be equipped to receive the love that we've been assigned to give, but we give it anyway. We don't love to be loved. We love because we're commanded to. How do we do what we do here at Embassy City? We do it with truth. We do it with grace. We do it with love. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message? I truly believe that if you allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you, I believe he has something to say to you in at least one of these areas if not all three. For some of you all, the truth has been hard for you to receive. For some of you all, it's been hard for you to receive grace. For some of us, love is something that we're still a little bit apprehensive of opening up to. As believers of Jesus Christ and then specifically as residents of Embassy City, we are called to give people truth, grace and love.

The best people to give that are people that have received it. If you're here, under the sound of my voice, every head is bowed and every eye is closed, what is God speaking to you through this message? How might He want to minister to you through His truth, His grace and His love. Listen, there might be some people here, you've never given your life to Jesus. I just want you to know the truth. The truth is, Jesus loves you.

I want to tell you with grace that you have never done anything bad enough to be disqualified from His love. He loves you and He wants a relationship with you. I ask you this question, "Would you be against giving your life to a Jesus that loves you today? Would you be opposed to opening up your heart in receiving Christ's love?" If the answer's no, then what would it take for you to do that today?

Perhaps the only step you need to make is to open up your heart, confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead. Change your mind about the way you've been living and make Jesus Christ your Lord and savior. Listen, if you've done that and you're in this room today, I just want you to raise your hand. Raise it high. If you gave your life to Jesus Christ, I just want you to raise your hand. Good. Thank you. Thank you.

If you're watching us online, live, I just want you to type 'citizen' in the chat box. If you've given your life to Jesus Christ, you've become a citizen of heaven today. I just want you to type 'citizen' in the chat box. If you're watching us On-Demand, would you just leave us a post under this message.

Would you just leave us a post or would you email at us and let us know that you've given your life to Jesus Christ.

I'm so happy that you've decided to come into the kingdom of God and live for Him through His son Jesus. Holy Spirit I pray that you would bless every single person that has made a decision for Jesus. Those that are far have come into a relationship, those that are near have come into. Thank you for all you've done. Thank you for teaching us how we do what we do for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.