On Life Beyond the Event | The Sandhurst Podcast

In this episode, Will discusses how to live after "the event" is over. Whether it is Power Up Clubs, a missions trip, or closing out the end of every day, Will unpacks how to have gratitude in these things to produce joy in the Lord. 

Transcript

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All right, what's up, Church at Sandhurst? Welcome to the Sandhurst podcast, Beyond Sunday, where we want to equip the Saints to think biblically about God, life, and culture so that our faith goes beyond Sunday. We just finished up an awesome week of power-up clubs and uh would love to be able to share some of the stories. But what I want to do this uh in our time together is I'm flying solo today. All right, we got a lot of people who are out on vacation and just uh do it doing all the good things. Um flying solo today and wanted to take the time to just think together. Uh, how do we uh honor God after power-up clubs? And to then to even go beyond the power-up clubs uh that just finished, and how do we honor God after the thing happened? Because we have a propensity to be like the lepers. Okay, you remember the 10 lepers whom Jesus healed? Um He heals them, woo, way to go. That's it was the long of the longing of their heart to see Jesus work in that way. He does, and then what do they do? We got we out, we gone, and uh we can do the same thing. And so after the thing happens, um, I want to help equip us from scripture to go, okay, well then what? How do we honor God after the thing happens? And so I want to think about that together so that we can honor our uh honor God, not just beyond Sunday, but beyond the event. And so uh want to give three thoughts about that uh from scripture. First, well, I'll give you the three thoughts. Okay, first is reflect on what happened with a heart of gratitude, and second, to follow up with the people who we engaged, and third is to revel in gospel blessings. Okay, that those those are the three things that I hope will really help us. All right. Because as a church, uh, this isn't the only time or the last time that we're gonna do a thing that we put a lot of thought into, a lot of prayer into, a lot of intentionality into, a lot of money into. And uh, so how do we honor God after the thing happens, whether it's power clubs or a worship night or whatever it is, a short-term mission trip. Uh the first is let's reflect on what happened with a heart of gratitude. We're not good at this. Uh we tend to go to the next thing. In fact, I'm coming to this uh almost straight out of a staff prayer time. And in that staff prayer time, um, we were praying, and my mind really quickly went to, all right, what's the next thing? And and I got to that point where I was about to pray for the next thing that I thought, you know what? This is our first staff prayer time since power-up clubs. And and I I don't think there had been a moment during that prayer time where we had stopped to say, Lord, thank you. So let's uh listen to Psalm 136. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His loving kindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of gods for his loving kindness is everlasting. Now, what he's gonna do is he's gonna start going from he's gonna start uh going through Israel's history and some things that he that God has done, and then following that up with okay, see what you did? And now I'm saying, thank you, Lord. This is what it says. To him who made the heavens with skill for his loving kindness is everlasting, to him who spread out the earth above the waters for his loving kindness is everlasting, to him who made the great lights for his loving kindness is everlasting, the sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness is everlasting, the m the moon and stars to rule by night for his loving kindness is everlasting. To him that now he's going from creation to things that they have seen God do in their past. To him who smote the Egyptians in in the firstborn for his loving kindness is everlasting, and brought Israel out of their midst for his loving kindness is everlasting, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm for his loving kindness is everlasting, to him who divided the Red Sea for His loving kindness is everlasting. And he goes on and on, just looking back and stopping to go, okay, God, I see what you've done. And here's what I want to do. I want to say thank you. And uh, so there are a lot of things that leading up to power-up clubs, and in the future, as we go do other sort of church-wide initiatives that we're going to ask God to do. Um, we asked God for a spiritual harvest in um front yards with kids. And guess what? That happened. Uh, kids uh placed faith in Jesus this week. Some of it with team members, some of it with uh parents who got to be part of it, some of it with kids who went home and prayed with their parents. Dude, give thanks to the Lord. His loving kindness is everlasting. Uh, we prayed for a spiritual harvest, not just among our kids, but among among our students. And guess what? It happened. God worked in that way. And there can be a maybe a lazy presumption that goes, well, what was gonna happen was gonna happen. And then we asked, and God worked, and his loving kindness is everlasting. We asked for safety, and God didn't owe us that, but uh, we didn't have any major instances. Uh His loving kindness is everlast is everlasting. Thank you, Lord. Um, we asked for uh that there wouldn't be a stomach bug. And I'd say he kind of answered that way. We had a little bit of a stomach bug, but it was a weird one. It was like it lasted for like two hours, and then people were better. So people who got it, uh, bummer, but they uh usually only missed one club. Uh thank you, Lord. I just want to look back on we asked God to work, and to the extent that he did what we asked, here's what we do we think back on it and we say, Thank you, Lord. And to the extent that we asked, and then he didn't do what we asked, what do we do then? We say, Thank you, Lord, because God is above and beyond what I can see. And I have good reason to trust that he's a good shepherd, and if he's a good shepherd, then it is possible that what I asked and what he did. Well, well, that his no was actually his no to my request was actually a greater, wiser way of him saying yes to him acting in his nature for his glory and for my joy. That's why I can say thank you, even if uh he says no to what I asked. Um and so uh one other thing that I just want to pause and say thank you to the Lord for is how he worked in the Saints at Sandhurst. Um, there is not a single thing we asked for in our church that that God, through his people, did not provide and more. Okay, so we asked for 30 hosts. We could have had more than 30 hosts, we had more than 30 offer. We needed uh students, enough students for 10 teams. Um, we had enough students for more than that. We had more than enough captains, we had more than enough adult leaders. In fact, uh we had we had a lot of people who really wanted to be adult leaders, and then it was just filled up. Uh we had more than enough food. In fact, I just went in the fridge this morning and we we had the donations came in. So really, um, just want to pause and reflect on what God did and say thank you. This is how we honor God after the thing. We reflect and say thank you. Um and and it's not just a power-up club thing or a big event thing. I think we can we we have a good reason to believe that it's not just the big things that matter, every day matters. And so I can um I can close out my day in the same way and look back on my day and say, Lord, the things that I've taken for granted, thank you. For daily bread, for life, for health, um, thank you. And we we've said it before, but we choose joy by choosing the disciplines that lead to joy. And one of those disciplines is gratitude. So, church, let's let's reflect with a heart of gratitude. Second is let's let's follow up with the people we engaged. Um there is we we talked about this in last in in previous podcasts, that there is a hesitancy we have towards like choosing our one that we don't want people to be treated as projects. Agreed. And this is where the proof is in the pudding. Were the people on our street, were they kind of a means to an end of our kind of feeling good about ourselves because we had a good club? Or um, or do we actually care about them? And this is a good, uh a good test in our own hearts and a good opportunity for us to um engage beyond the thing. Uh we had what we hosted this year and we had just just a phenomenal time with the kids in our club. And one of the one of the parents that we were talking to afterwards, she said, Oh, my kid had such a good time. And uh she asked me, you know, can we can we come back again? Like, come back to Root House. And I was like, heck yeah. I said, Yes, let's do this again. So now uh the the desire has been expressed on their part. The the desire has been in some ways like affirmed on my part, and now what do I gotta do? I gotta make it happen. All right. The I think the team left at the s the slipping slide at our house, Waterday 2.0. Okay, so that's a power-up club version. But I think anytime the thing happens after the thing, it's it's a good opportunity for us to follow up and engage, whether that's a power-up club or whether that's a greeting time. Um we had we had an elder meeting this morning, and there was a re-exhortation that we had, and just kind of a commitment to to as shepherds to be around the sheep and to leverage something, leverage the things that we're already doing. So, like greeting time, that two-minute time towards the beginning of the service to be able to be intentional, to find a face that we aren't familiar with, to meet them, and then to follow up with them with uh to get their number, shoot them a text, um, engage with them afterwards in some way. And so uh whenever the thing is over, we just want to acknowledge that the thing, whatever we did, it wasn't about that thing. It was about the God we love and the people we're going to serve. And so uh both of those are um present and relevant after the thing is over. So let's engage with our people. One other um sort of thing to to have on our minds in those ways is just knowing what do we do as a church that is strategic to be able to um follow up with. So as a church, we want to have saints who have identified and chosen our one, that's the the lost person that we're seeking to win to Jesus. Uh, we understand that it's by his doing. Uh and there's some strategic moments that uh that I would encourage us to follow up with our people. So if you if you hosted a power-up club, the next time that I would encourage you to invite them back again, go through that list. You you wrote all their contact names down to go back through that list and invite them to Fallback Sunday. Fallback Sunday is the first Sunday in November. There's a lunch after, and that is a Sunday kind of like Power Surge, where while usually we Sunday mornings are targeting the believer, there are a few Sundays that we are actually targeting the unbeliever. And those two are Power Surge and Fallback Sunday. So when you start hearing announcements about that, I hope I hope that would just be a thing, right? Like, okay, this is an opportunity for me to follow up with people that I've already been investing in. Um because that's what we do. So reflect on what happened with a heart of gratitude, we follow up with people that we engaged, and then uh last, when the thing is over, we revel in gospel blessings. This comes from Luke 7, and Luke 7 has I just I think I just I turn here often when I'm in the middle of something that I'm just really excited about and thankful for, and those power-up clubs. So Luke 7, uh Jesus sends the pairs them up, sends them out, and they have this awesome time doing their version of power-up clubs. Okay, they're going house to house, um, they're preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and here's what it says. Am I in the wrong chapter? Yeah, Luke 10, not Luke 7. All right. So he pairs them up, sends them out, and here's what happens. It says, The seventy returned with joy. They had a good time. Uh, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Like, just pause there, you think, wouldn't that be awesome if Jesus could have been at the a power surge and be like, Hey, um, I know what you see is the recap video, and you see smiles and you see you know all these things. But here's what I saw I saw Satan falling from heaven like lightning. I saw the I saw spiritual darkness being pushed back. He says, Behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Alright, now I'm pumped up if I'm one of the disciples. And then he says this nevertheless, do not rejoice in this. Like what? Don't rejoice in that. Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. It is so compelling to me because so many good things that we that are good and right to rejoice over are happening. The spiritual darkness is being pressed back, the the gospel is advancing, and uh and Jesus rejoices in it, but he says he goes, There's something better to rejoice in. It's not just God's work through you, it's God's work in you. And after the thing has happened, there can be uh uh a right uh rejoicing over what we saw God do. Uh but Jesus then rightly points us to what God has not just done through us but what he has done in us in the work of the gospel. He says that your names are recorded in heaven. And so power surge uh it was targeting the unbeliever, but I was particularly just impacted by the blessings attached to the gospel and what Jesus has done. If you weren't there in a nutshell, Romans 3 gives three important gospel words that Jesus has justified us and redeemed us as our propitiation. He's justified us, he's declared us righteous. Um, and the way he did that was by imparting his righteousness to us. Um, it is the the the gospel blessing is that when Jesus hung on the cross and said, It is finished, somehow that counted for me, that he gave me his righteousness. I'm justified. Um, and redemption, that he's bought me out, and propitiation, uh, that he has come between me and the wrath of God and absorbed that wrath for me. And these gospel blessings are the things that Jesus points his disciples back to and go, Hey, uh, it's good, yeah. Don't just rejoice in the great things that you got to see happen. Rejoice in this, the work of Jesus on your behalf. And and I think the the writer of Hebrews, which is what we we taught Hebrews 12 for the students um during Shape Shop, which is kind of our night sessions during Power Clubs, the writer of Hebrews would say this. He'd say, Therefore, uh, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. That is the the author of Hebrews, his way of going. Hey, there's great things that have happened. We got this great cloud of witnesses. Um, but here's where we're going to fix our eyes, not just in the past, but on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. The one who he was like the trailblazer, he was the initiator, the originator, he's the head, he's the team captain, and he's the finisher of our faith. We're fixing our eyes on him. And then um, that is the key, according to Hebrews 12, to running with endurance, the race that is set before us, which is another way to say so that when um so that the thing that we're doing, whether it's power clubs or short-term mission trip, doesn't stop at the thing, uh, but there's endurance, there's love and obedience to God to win the loss, to build believers, to equip workers, that happens beyond the thing itself. Fixing our eyes on Jesus. And so uh the impact of that, of fixing our eyes on Jesus is yep, we get to celebrate what God did through us, we get to celebrate what God has done in us, and then that becomes the thing that fuels long obedience beyond the thing itself. So um I hope this is helpful for us, church. There's going to be many things in the future that we are praying for, working towards, whether it's a worship night, whether it's a short-term trip, whether it's um promoting uh a good news club or whatever it is, um, maybe an outreach that you have or that you have in your ministry. And there's gonna be a lot of things that we are working towards. And when it happens, when it's done, there's an opportunity to honor God and remembering what did he do? Uh reflecting on what happened with a heart of gratitude, on following up with the people who engaged and reveling in gospel blessings. So I hope this equips us to honor God, to love and obey him beyond the thing itself. Be blessed.