teaching/sermons/col-1-15-20/expansion/icoc_alpha_omega/clean/29-together-we-proclaim-jordan-latoya-massey-icmc-2025-saturday-night-sermon.md

Together We Proclaim | Jordan & Latoya Massey | ICMC 2025 Saturday Night Sermon

Col 1:15-20 prep relevance: RELEVANT

Why kept: Saturday-night sermon. Reads and exposits Col 4:7-15 (Paul's "gospel squad") and Col 4:2-4 (proclaim the mystery of Christ). Direct exposition of Colossians 4 — letter's closing posture.

Key excerpts:

00:00:00 [Music] What's up, ICMC? >> Man, it's been a powerful several days together. Can we give it up for the worship team like was mentioned, my name is uh Jordan Massie, and this is my my amazing wife, Latoya. We lead in Atlanta. We serve there with an incredible campus staff. Kendall McKenzie. They lead the campus

00:00:31 ministry there along with Alamine and Nandi and Isaac and Chandler. They're incredible. And these are our three amazing boys right here. Camden is six, Caleb is three, and that's our youngest son, Kobe. And it is his first birthday today. >> So, we're going to say happy birthday, Kobe. Kobe turning one in LA. Are you kidding me? You know what I'm saying? We're going to say happy birthday, Kobe. And then in 10 years, I'll show it to him.

00:01:02 And hopefully in 30 years, he'll be preaching and he can show that. All right. >> All right. Y'all ready? So, we're going to go. One, two. Happy birthday. Okay. Here we go. One, two. Happy birthday, Kobe. [Applause] >> All right. So guys, together we're uh today we're going through together we proclaim. We're going to be diving in

00:01:32 this uh you know together tonight. And what we're going to do, we're going to have two points. The first one is we proclaim. >> Try that again. Here we go. We proclaim >> and the second one is we proclaim. >> All right, there we go. So we got two points and we got two kind of sub points for each one. So we're going to start here. reproclaim as one. But the first truth that I want you to remember tonight is that you're called not to

00:02:02 your team, but you're called to his team. So, let's pick back up again in Colossians chapter 4, and we're going to read this again together. So, in Colossians 4, starting in verse 7, we'll pick up here. Titicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister, and a faith fellow servant in the Lord. I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know

00:02:32 about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. He is coming with Onysimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here. And we'll continue in verse 10. My fellow prisoner are uh I practiced this and I still messed it up these names, man. Astarticus sends you his greetings as does Mark a lot easier. Then the cousin of Barnabas, you have received instructions about him. If he comes to

00:03:03 you, welcome him. Jesus who is also called justice. That would have been a tough name to have during that time if your name was Jesus. >> I wonder if any that someone said that's fire. That would have been confusing. Anyways, uh also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my co-workers for the kingdom of God and they have proved a comfort for me. Continuing verse 12, Epaperris, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you that you may stand firm

00:03:33 in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. You know, I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Leodysia and Hieropoulos who in our dear friend Luke the doctor and demons send greetings. Okay, that was a mouthful. It's very very interesting. At the end of Paul's letter, there's only four chapters. The entire basically the entire fourth chapter, the great Apostle Paul doesn't give his kind of final truths to

00:04:03 remember. He doesn't give his solo benediction. He talks about his gospel squad and he names at least 10 dudes right here and he runs through them. Man, I And then look at the ways he described his boys, right? He doesn't just say, "Oh, I guess we're in a Bible talk together." Or, "Those are people that kind of give me a ride on Sundays." No, he says, "My dear brother, my faithful minister." A little bit lower. He even says, "My fellow prisoner." Paul doesn't do anything alone. Even he doesn't go to

00:04:33 jail alone. He has a fellow prisoner. Co-workers for the kingdom of God. Man, they were wrestling in prayer. Man, they are dear friends. This is Paul's squad. As great, as mighty, as amazing as the Apostle Paul is, he knew that it wasn't just up to him, that Christianity wasn't just a solo act, but that it was a team sport. There's no such thing as a a an individual independent Christian. That's

00:05:06 always part of a team. God didn't just lift up Paul for everyone to stare at. No, he placed Paul on a team. It wasn't just Paul doing all the work. God built a team around him of people. Look at the end of each uh you know letter. It's just patched full of names of his team. What can we learn from this? that Paul didn't proclaim Jesus alone and you weren't meant to either. We're not supposed to proclaim Jesus alone. Paul

00:05:38 didn't and we shouldn't either, man. God the gospel advances not just through powerful preachers, but through faithful teams. >> It's faithful teams that God uses in amazing ways. And I want to put this call out to all ICO that no one goes alone this year in our ministries. >> No one goes alone. We're always going to do it together. That person when they're in pain, they're not going to be in pain alone. That person when they're experiencing victory, they don't have to

00:06:09 do it alone. That person when they go out to proclaim the gospel, they don't have to do it alone. Because if Paul in all his super apostl didn't have to do it alone, then we weren't meant to either. Amen. >> What else can we learn from this with the Apostle Paul? You know, um not only did was Paul not the central hero, but God didn't call you to be a hero, he chose you to be a part of his team. I don't know if you realize, but

00:06:39 Christianity already has a really good hero. And I'm sorry to break it to you. He's a lot better than you being the hero. >> Is that fair to say >> that Jesus is our hero? We don't need another hero in this movement. We already got the best one of all time. >> But what's wild is that hero chose you. He hand selected you and you and you to be a part not of your team. This ain't your team.

00:07:09 This is his team >> that you were chosen for. Amen. >> Now the power if it's not our team but it's his team then you don't have to walk under all the pressure as if it's all on you. You get to walk in his power. If it was up to you and you had to be the hero, then man, you have all the pressure in the world. But that's not the case. It's Jesus's team and he chose you. So you get to walk with strength and power. Not of you, but of

00:07:42 him because it's his team. Amen. >> Amen. So, you know, we're chosen for this team and we're chosen locally, but we're also chosen together around the world. Here is a picture of our churches all across the nation. It's outposting the kingdom of God. Here's what's God's done through our movement. [Applause] And and I just want to say, man, we faithfully believe that God has other

00:08:13 amazing disciples out there. We faithfully believe that. And yet, if we just for a moment talk about what God is doing amongst us. These are all outposts in the kingdom. We're all on different battle fronts, but we're in the same army. We're all on the same team together. Now, um, everyone's still trying to find you. I know some people aren't good with maps, but you're on there. Okay? You know what Paul talks about in, uh, to his letter to to the church in Corinth that, uh, man does not fight

00:08:44 against flesh and blood. Y'all remember that passage? That means another person is never your enemy. It's only Satan. >> And so, if we're working on a team, and while I got my local team on my campus, we got this big team right here. Don't ever let Satan convince you that someone else in your ministry or another ministry is your enemy. We're all allies together. When one part rejoices, we all rejoice. When one part mourns,

00:09:14 man, we all mourn. So when you hear about another ministry doing amazing things and God blessing that ministry, don't you dare >> get competitive or jealous or insecure, judgmental. Don't you dare do that as if they're the enemy. >> No, we're all on the same team. So when they win, you win. >> Cuz we're all on the same team. Amen. Now, when another team's doing bad, when another ministry is not is going through

00:09:45 a difficult season cuz seasons are real. Sometime it's the summer and you're blossoming and there's so much fruit. Sometimes it's the winter and there's not much. Again, when you see another ministry, you're not doing well. Don't you dare immediately get critical and judgmental or competitive. No, we rejoice with those rejoice. We mourn those who mourn. Walk with them. Help them. love them in those moments because we're all on the same team. Amen. >> Can we all say we're on this team

00:10:15 together? >> We're on this team together. >> Amen to that. Now, uh in a couple months or in a couple weeks, I'm sorry. We're all going to hit the pavement and we're going to find those souls that Jesus is preparing to be saved. And I know so many of us when you get out there, isn't it easy to feel alone? Am I the only one doing this? And I want you to remember this room that God has other people out there, but I want to remember this room that when you're out there sharing, even

00:10:46 though you might be by yourself on campus, know that ex that exact same moment in two weeks from now or in a month from now, whenever your school starts, at that exact same moment, someone else in this room is doing the same exact thing. >> And you might be physically apart, but man, you're united heart and soul with them >> because we're on the same team. Amen. >> Amen. So to illustrate this, I want to talk about a puzzle piece. And everyone can actually look under your chair. There's a puzzle piece under

00:11:16 all your chair, including an overflow. There's a puzzle piece under yours. Also, they said it was impossible. With all go with God, all things are possible. We all got a puzzle piece. >> All right, here we go. Sh. Everyone got their puzzle piece? >> All right. When you look at your puzzle piece, it might seem small, it probably doesn't look impressive. And by itself, it doesn't really tell much

00:11:47 of a story. But here's the truth. Just like this puzzle piece, you were never meant to be the whole picture, just a vital part of it. Now, have you ever put a whole puzzle together and at the end there was one piece missing? Have you ever done that? And then you say, "Grandma, where'd you put the last puzzle piece?" Anyone in here hide the last one so you can whip it out and be the last one? Anybody else? All right. Me and you, we're friends. All right. Yeah, there you go.

00:12:19 No. At the end, if there's one missing puzzle piece, you don't look at all the rest of the puzzle pieces. Where do your eyes go? right to that missing piece. And that moment, you don't look at all the other puzzle pieces that are there. All you can see is that one missing. You know, some of you came in tonight feeling like your peace doesn't matter, that you're too broken, too quiet, too messy. But that's not what God says. In the

00:12:50 kingdom of God, there's no spare parts. There's no leftover people. There's no extras. You were made with a purpose. You belong in the picture of what Jesus is doing in this world and what Jesus is doing on your campus. When you're missing, we feel it. >> The team isn't complete. The starting five became the starting four. The picture isn't full. The gospel isn't proclaimed the same. That's why Paul

00:13:20 named names in Colossians 4 like Titicus and Epaparus and Onissimus. Every single one of them mattered and every single one had a role. And I want to proclaim to you tonight that you have a role also. So here's my challenge. You're either in the puzzle or you're in the box. Don't hold your peace back. Don't stay in the box. Team Jesus only works when

00:13:50 every piece is in place. You're not the whole mission, but the mission isn't whole without you. Get out of the box. Partner with Jesus's team. We need your prayers. We need your boldness, man. We need your story. Your ministry needs you because God chose you for his team. And together, when every piece is placed, the world sees the full picture of Jesus. But it

00:14:21 takes all of us to make that picture. Amen. >> Amen. So, now we're all going to come up and try to put the puzzle together. >> No, we're not doing that. We're not doing that. You know, the second the second truth we want to uh remind you of is that you're a gift to his team and Toya is going to talk about that. >> Hello, ICMC. Um, this is such an important conversation for us to have because I'm sure you have seen it. The

00:14:51 world feels dark and heavy. But the best solution is God's kingdom as on earth as it is in heaven for us to bring the kingdom to wherever we are. And each person has a place to a role to play in your ministry. Everyone is needed. But have you ever felt like you're not that good at it? Uh have you ever felt like maybe other people, maybe the ministry staff or the older people in the campus ministry are just better at being on the mission than you? And sometimes that makes you feel like maybe I'm not

00:15:21 needed. Maybe I can stay in the box. Satan despises missionminded unity. Sharing Tik Toks and late night taco nights, that's fun and it should be happening, but that doesn't scare Satan, >> right? >> Sharing the gospel, that messes stuff up, okay? And that's what we want to do, right? If your campus ministry friendships are focused on God's mission together, working as a team with the gifts God has given you, the spiritual world notices. Satan gets scared and God gets to work.

00:15:54 It's not about God's church having a mission. It's about a missional God having a church. >> And that's us. It starts with God, not with us. You know, in Ephesians 4:16, it says, "He makes the whole body fit together perfectly." As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. Choosing to get out of the box and show up for the sake of the gospel is an act

00:16:25 of faith. It's a spiritual decision to say, "God, I'm going to see what you can do even though I don't see it." He makes the whole body fit together, not you. I graduated from Georgia State University. Go Panthers, bleed blue all day. And I remember going into the ministry for the first semester at Georgia Tech. Now, both schools are in downtown Atlanta, but they're a little different vibes. Okay? And so when I got to Tech, I remember the first uh one of the first Bible talks, we had an icebreaker. And

00:16:56 the conversation in that icebreaker led to jokes about physics and how if you do the math right, time travel might be possible. And I said, you know, these may not be my people. Like, I just can't relate. Like, what is physics? Why are we doing this? And you guys are really serious about this. I don't get it. I felt >> That would be awesome, though, if time travel was >> Yeah, he's a techie nerd alert. Like, I can't I can't do it, right? But I felt really out of place like who are these people? Why am I here? That semester at Georgia Tech, there were seven girls and

00:17:27 like three of us were interns. So, it was a small ministry. Three years later, God made the body work together perfectly. And there were 35 women in the Georgia Tech campus ministry alone. God made us and our little unique, quirky group of women work together perfectly in his way. And it notice I said it took years. We had to lock in and decide to be faithful for a while, longer than the first two weeks, after

00:17:58 the rejection, after the semester got hard, after finals came, a year after year, semester after semester, showing up faithful. And for me, as someone who didn't grow up in this church, it made a huge impact on me deciding to become a Christian, seeing every part of my campus ministry do its work. I remember a girl named Lauren who would give me a ride because I live 30 minutes away. I remember Nana who had a conversation with me about my decision to pledge or

00:18:28 not in a sorority and it led me to repentance. She was never in my Bible studies. I remember Alana who took my notes and I still learn from her today because I still have those notebooks. She didn't say anything much in my Bible studies but she's impacting my faith even today. I remember Chase from the brother's household who would host study nights and you had to actually like do your homework which was helpful for me but they provided snacks and drinks and stuff like that but more importantly they provided me with a visible example

00:18:58 of how a man is supposed to treat me as a woman in his home. I remember a group date. This is after I became a disciple. We were at the movies and the movie started and it was a little bit in inappropriate and the brothers in the group date got up and walked out and I was like, "Oh snap, I'm with them. Where y'all going?" Like, and afterwards, we talked about it in the lobby and they were like, "It was inappropriate. We didn't want to watch that." And for someone who grew up really religious with no Jesus, I was shocked. I was like, "Oh, this

00:19:28 disciplehip thing is bigger than Sunday mornings at 10:00. This is real life. We are different. God introduced me to himself through a team. >> Amen. >> No one person changed my life. The family of God at Georgia State University being led by the strengths of the Holy Spirit changed my life. And here I am 15 years ago still freshly remembering those stories. What gift did God give you to bring to your campus ministry? Can you cook? Can you be

00:19:58 hospitable? Can you host study nights? Do you have a car? Are there any drivers in the house with a car in your campus ministry? You guys are the real MVPs. This is your reminder. Please give them gas money. >> Gas money. Okay, >> write that down. >> Can you save someone a seat? Right. Can you save a seat? Can you initiate a prayer walk? Can you have a sincere conversation after DVO that's actually about the

00:20:28 lesson? Never underestimate the power of a future friend. Even if you're not the one leading or leading this or leading that, you can always lead people to Jesus. >> The family of God was introduced to me and it changed my life because of how radically different it looked. I just encourage us all get curious about the role that you might be able to play and jump into God's mission as soon as you can. >> Amen.

00:21:01 So that's my better twothirds right there. You can tell why I married her. Okay, I want to introduce you to my gospel squad when I was in campus ministry. This was the man cave. All right, this is when uh Kyle in the middle was getting engaged, but it was six dudes that lived in an apartment. Can uh can we give a shout out to all the brothers households? [Applause] And and I don't think it's changed from when I was in campus ministry. Sisters of the brother's household smell.

00:21:32 >> They've repented. That's the down. So we were called the man cave. It smelled like a cave. But we were men. So there's six of us. All right. We were so completely different in every way. There was two white guys. There was two Hispanic guys. There was two black guys. We had completely different personalities on a Friday or Saturday night. Some of us love to go out, meet people, hang out, play sports. Other guys said, "Don't talk to me. I just want to play on my game." Right? It was just completely different. And yet, we became best friends in the gospel, man. We prayed together. We battled in our

00:22:03 character together. We went to class together. We gave rides to each other. Man, we we cried when someone got broken up with. We celebrated when someone started dating. But even though we did so much together, what united us was fighting for Christ and each other together. because Christ mattered more than our friendships. And we were willing to risk a best friendship in order to protect their friendship with God. >> And then we were in a mission to help other people know Christ together. Man, we were in so many Bible studies

00:22:34 together. You know, on campus, we partnered together to proclaim and share the gospel constantly. Every beginning of every semester, we would do slip and slide kickball. Anyone done that before? Every base is slip and slide. You throw the, you know, the Dove soap on there in the middle of the freshman quad, right? You got hundreds of people leg broken. You know, Jesus, right? Like it was perfect. We would do uh the what we do all the time was bigger or better. You start with a paper clip. Everybody starts with a paper clip. You walk up to

00:23:04 somebody. Hey man, do you have anything bigger or better for a paper clip you want to trade? They might give you a pencil. Next time you might get a pen. So on and so forth. And then after you get the pencil, you go, can I tell you about the biggest and best thing I know? His name is Jesus Christ. Can I tell you about how he changed my life? And you start your conversion story. Then boom, you're off to the races in a great conversation. One of the guys went door knockocking at one of the apartments, hit several hundred doors, and at the end he started with a paperclip. At the end, he had an iPhone,

00:23:34 >> but more importantly, he proclaimed the gospel. Amen. >> What we would do all we would also put down uh we would have we had so much fun. I'm trying to share. Proclaiming the gospel in a team can be so fun. So, we would put, it doesn't have to be boring. And the thing you hate doing, we would put down bubble wrap across the main walkway on campus that thousands of people walk. Think about on your campus, the main walkway that has a thousand people walking. Bubble wrap, right? And we would just sit over to the side and just wait. And it doesn't matter who you

00:24:04 are. It would be the football players and they'd have all their boys, the biggest guys on campus. They would walk and as soon as their foot hit the b and they would look down all together, you would have thought they were six just bouncing on the bubble wrap and we go, "We got him. Hey, what's up, man? What do you think about Jesus?" And we'd have all these conversations. One guy, uh, we were we were, you know, trying to park our car and I didn't have change for the meter and I saw a dude walking over across campus, you know,

00:24:34 across the dark parking lot 10:00 at night. So, I I run over to him and I say, "Hey, listen, man. man, you got any change for this one? I'm just trying to do the meter. And he says, "No, I do and I'm sorry." I said, "Okay, well, do you want to make a change in your life for Jesus?" [Applause] And then he goes, "Did you really just say that?" And I said, "I do." And do you need to make a change? He said, "Yes, I actually do." And he got baptized two years later. >> I said I said, "Two years." It was two months. His name is Abram Champion. He's lit literally Mr. Champion. He got

00:25:05 married to Chelsea. She became a champion when she got married and now they have two little boys and they are the champion family. So the champion is a Christian. Praise God. But man, let me tell you, we were in the battle together. Man, when someone stopped studying the Bible and your heart was broken, man, when you were in the man cave, you we didn't go through that alone. >> We cried over that person together. But man, when that person got baptized, we were all there supporting them because a

00:25:35 new person was added to the family. Um, in 2013, I graduated and I started interning part-time. And at the Georgia, so at at uh North River Campus Ministry down in Atlanta, there's three major schools, Kennesaw, Georgia State, Georgia Tech. I was at Tech. Um, there was 10 students from the campus ministry when I graduated. And then eight of them were guys, and then most of them were the man cave. I just showed us six guys. So, we study the Bible like I was just sharing so much. Over the next four years, those eight guys baptized 60 men

00:26:08 just at Georgia Tech. Not at other schools, not the women. The women got baptized too, including women that those men married. Amen. But we were in it together. And let me tell you, if a school is what builds your friendship, it'll pass. If a sport is what your friendship is based off of, it'll it'll pass. If it's what type of music you like, that'll pass. But when Jesus is the center of your friendships, it lasts. And so, just last year, the

00:26:39 man cave had a man cave reunion. We brought all of our kids, all of our wives. We had one Airbnb. We We look a little more dad body up there, but it's okay. Um, the guys planned the trip. There wasn't enough room for our kids, so Caleb slept. My son slept in a bathtub. That was awesome. They were literally fighting over who gets to sleep in the tub. But listen, guys, this was my gospel squad. Who's your squad? Who's your gospel squad?

00:27:09 Write their names down. >> Go talk to them and say, "Man, I want to do this together with you. Can we commit to each other to proclaim Jesus on our campus together?" Don't just be the people that are in a Bible talk together. live out as chosen people on God's team. Amen. >> Amen. >> So, we're going to continue here. Uh, our first point, help me out, is we proclaim. >> Now, we're going to go to our second point. We proclaim

00:27:40 >> awesome. And I want to charge us with the second point with two things. The first thing I want to call us to is proclaiming Jesus is greater than personal comfort. It's greater. Let's go back to Colossians 4. You guys with me? >> Colossians 4 verse two. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, and pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our

00:28:11 message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. And pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. So, first of all, Paul is in prison. It's one of the prison epistles. He's in prison. He literally says, "I'm chained." As he's writing this, he might be chained to the floor. At the end of Colossians 4, look all the way down or scroll all the way down. He says, "Remember something." You see that? He says, "Remember my chains."

00:28:41 Now, if Paul in this verse, he's chained up. He's in prison and he's asking people for prayer. He's saying, "Devote yourself to prayer." And he's asking for prayers. I I just have a simple question. When Paul is asking for prayers, why did he ask for an open door for the message instead of an open cell? >> I mean, if that was you in jail knowing that prayers work, there's a lot of things I would ask for. Man, can you pray? I get a hot meal. I I caught a crazy cold in here. Can you pray for my

00:29:12 health? Can you pray to Paul? Remember uh back in Acts in Acts 16, remember he was in jail and the doors miraculously opened because of an earthquake that God sent. Do you remember that? >> So he had already experienced a miracle of an open cell. He knows it's possible. And yet he doesn't pray for that. Why? Why doesn't he pray for that? For Paul, he is more worried about other

00:29:42 people knowing Christ than him being chained to a wall in a jail cell. Comfort. Why does he Why does he worry more about other people knowing Christ than himself? Because Paul knew something. He knew that comfort didn't die for him. Jesus did. >> He knew that Jesus was the one that gave it all for him. For Paul, the mission of Christ was bigger than his personal comfort. How about you? Are you more comfortable with the couch

00:30:14 or are you more comfortable with courage? Now listen, we all go through seasons where we hit rock bottom. Something happens in our family, something happens at school and we're empty. And those moments, maybe we don't have it in us to go comfort somebody else. That's why we're a team. In those moments, we can help comfort that person to be filled up and then to pour out into somebody else. But at the end of the day, I want us to be honest here. When Christ is your everything, your priorities change.

00:30:47 They change. When Christ is your everything, you'll stop settling for comfort and start praying for courage because it's all about him and not about you. You guys with me? You see, Paul, man, he didn't pray for an exit. He prayed for boldness. What do you ask for prayers for? >> What do you find yourself praying for?

00:31:18 You know, in fact, if God answered all of your prayers from this last week, would anybody new be added to heaven because of your prayers? Are you praying like Paul or are you only praying for what's in front of you? >> You guys with me? >> You know, I'm so grateful that people had prayed for me in eternal God-sized dreams for me. Whenever I get in front of a new crowd, I want to beat my chest

00:31:50 and sincerely say to God, "Have mercy on me, oh God, for I am a sinner." Because I when I got met, I was an atheist. I was immoral. I was a drug dealer. I was a party holic. And I was as arrogant and insecure as all get out. And as you know about your sins, when you get baptized, even though you're forgiven of all your sins, doesn't mean that all your sins are zapped away because Christ loves to work with you to mature you. But we know

00:32:21 that, man, no sin is bigger than God's grace. that his grace is bigger than all of our sins. So no matter where you've been, he can still use you. You know, in fact, my first ICMC, I wasn't a Christian yet. And it was in 2009 in Virginia Beach. And I, if I'm honest, I went for a big reason to meet the ladies, right, to get my Christian Matt game on. You know what I'm saying? And my one of the guys in my Bible studies saw me just kind of going

00:32:53 from girl to girl. You know that dude that kind of pulls away the girl to sit down and you know what I'm talking about. Just weird, right? And so and so my this brother pulled me aside and he goes he shows me 1 Timothy 5 verse two, right? Treat younger women as sisters with absolute >> purity. And then he goes, if I see you talking to another one of my sisters, you're never coming to this church again.

00:33:23 And I went, "Dude, that's not loving, man. Like, what are you talking about?" But in fact, as the spirit convicted me of sin and righteousness, it was one of the most loving things that anyone ever told me. >> You see, I didn't have a sister. I didn't know what it meant to actually fight for a woman for her purity. >> I didn't know what it meant to be brought into a new creation family where we literally treat each other like family. So to see a dude literally fighting at as a brother to a spiritual sister to protect her. I never seen that

00:33:54 before. And I walked away from that moment going, I want that. I want to have that family. And it changed me. So I almost got dysfellowshipped before I was even a fellow. Right? And if God can take someone at his first ICMC and almost dysfellowship him to speaking at an ICMC, then what can God do with you? What can he do with the person that's a knucklehead that you're studying the Bible with? There's nothing God can't

00:34:24 do. You know, as the guys were studying the Bible with me, talking about being devoted to prayer, they decided, it took me a year to study the Bible. They decided to fast for me until I got baptized without telling me. So, they gave up TV or sweets or whatever it was. Ended up being two months. They didn't hang it over my head. I didn't even know till months after I got baptized. But they were devoted and they weren't praying first for themselves. They were praying that God would open a door in my

00:34:54 heart. And they were praying for courage. I'm here now because people were devoted to prayer for me. those people on your campus, if you're not devoted to prayer, man, the door will not be opened without the hand of God. Amen. >> Amen. So, I do want to thank you though, guys, cuz I know I'm talking so much to the crowd right here because so many people in here, you are committed to helping other people know Christ. You're committed to giving up your life of comfort. You're committed to fighting for other people instead of for

00:35:24 yourself. And to all of you, I want to say ICMC, thank you for what you do. And I want to call you to remember this passage in Hebrews chapter 6. God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. >> It doesn't matter if your friends see what you do on campus. It doesn't matter if your campus minister or your church

00:35:54 leader sees what you do on campus because God sees what you do. And we when you are giving up that more when you decide I'm not going to watch that next episode on Netflix so I can go share or I'm not going to scroll so that I can go get in this Bible study or I'm going to lose some sleep because somebody needs me tonight. >> God sees your love and he's so proud. He's so proud of this room. And I hope when campus starts up in a couple weeks,

00:36:25 you don't feel this pressure of God kicking you into gear, but you feel like your daddy's just proud of you for what you're and how you're loving his people because he will never forget how you love people for him. Amen. >> Toya's going to talk more about this. You know, it's convicting thinking about where God has taken me. I think Jordan's story is so powerful. Um, I was kind of

00:36:56 the opposite. Incredibly religious and incredibly worldly. And it it can cause shame if I'm not careful that I would do all these things and throw Jesus's name on there. It's almost like Jesus followed me. I wasn't following him. So now, as a disciple, I'm honored. I'm honored that someone like me would get to stand here before you and with a clear conscience proclaim the gospel to you. That's a role that I treasure. And at the same time, I'm going to be honest with you, I do not enjoy sharing my

00:37:26 faith. I don't the cold contact where you walk up to someone you don't know and spark conversation or what whether you call it evangelizing, whatever you call it. I've been in the ministry for over a decade and I've never liked it. So, you can quote me on that. It probably won't change and that's okay. But a more important thing to quote is scripture. I want to reference two scriptures that really help me. One is in 2 Samuel. The other one is in Judges. And in 2 Samuel, he says, "I will not present a burnt offering to the Lord my

00:37:57 God that has cost me nothing." I don't want to give to God what's easy for me. There's parts of being a disciple that come easy to me. I want to find the things that are hard because God is worth that. In Judges chapter 6, he says, "Go with the strength you have." You don't have to be on a hundred. That's okay. Do a little bit. Do it faithfully. I can't tell you the amount of times I've been sharing my faith and I talk to one person and I go in the bathroom and I text someone, need some courage. And I go out and I talk to one

00:38:28 more person. And I go back in the bathroom and have a little anxiety attack and then I come back out. Like I have learned that that's not my strength. But I don't think the cross was Jesus's strength either. >> Amen. >> He didn't want to go to the cross and he didn't have to. He could have called legions at any moment, but the crucifixion happened. When I sit with a friend and look at scriptures, I could do that all day. That's like one of my favorite things. But my obedience to God's will cannot be based on whether or

00:38:58 not I like his will or not. What's the point of God's will if mine supersedes his? I encourage you, have your own scriptures to get into when God's will is not your own. And prioritize friends that expect you to choose God over your comfort. I think about one of my best friends to this day. So, when I got baptized, I was a senior at Georgia State. I was an RA. My roommate at the time, we became disciples together. And between I was baptized in December. And between December and February of the

00:39:28 following year, 12 of my friends were baptized, too, because I knew I was a hot mess. I was like, "Y'all hot messes, too. Come on. Like, we got to talk about this, right?" Um, and so God's mission was moving. And one of my best friends, her name is Jennifer, we were roommates and we came up with the phrase pig. We called each other pig. It stood for partner in the gospel. And we worked the field together. We were like, "Look, who are you praying for? or who you studying with. Hey, she relates to you in this

00:39:58 way. Can you >> brothers, you can't call the sisters that though, right? >> Don't do that. No, no, no, don't do that. But just that partnership, we would we were we were roommates and we would pray for the women we were studying the Bible with. We would get advice from each other and we would cry together when things when we felt like we didn't know what we were doing. To this day, we still have that partnership. I encourage you to ask yourself, how do your friendships impact your willingness to suffer for the gospel? And I also want to ask you a

00:40:28 quick hot take. If you are dating, >> yeah, take a deep breath. Here it comes. What if your dating relationship was actually more rooted in God's will more than your comfort? Are you dating on a mission? Mission-driven relationships just are not only about you and what you like and your comfort and your perspective. They actually push you to love others. Have you ever thought about doing a double date with a couple you or your significant other are reaching out

00:40:58 to? Have you prayed together or got advice about how to lead a certain conversation that maybe you not be might not be great at, but someone you're dating is? I remember calling Jordan and we were dating and asking advice. How do you do this? How do you explain this scripture? Is this what this means? like we wrestled in that together. When I was a college student, there was a couple that was known if you ever went on a date with them, after the date, the brother and the sister separately would ask the brother and other sister on the date, "Did we make you feel excluded at any point?"

00:41:28 A quality of their dating relationship is that they were considerate, a selfless relationship. I remember going on a date with a brother and I asked him what his kingdom dream was and it impressed me so much I married him. >> Come on baby. [Applause] >> I want to ask you what is a character trait of your dating relationship it doesn't reflect Jesus. I dare you to ask

00:41:58 you a mature ask a mature friend in your life. I also dare you to ask you the ask the person you're dating. And honestly, sis, if he's not helping you get closer to God and actively involved in helping other men around him walk towards God, he may not need to be your man right now. And to anyone that is dating, [Applause] to anyone that's dating, what does dating bring out in your character? Because sometimes, if we're not careful,

00:42:28 our dating relationship is where we suffer the least. We're so comfortable. We're so validated. We're so saturated in each other that we lose sight of other people. Who you date will impact your life and your faith more than you realize. And can I just say something to the brothers on behalf of your sisters. >> We really, really need you to lead spiritually. >> We need you to set the dating culture that is rooted in God.

00:42:58 A lot of what I was in awe of as a young Christian was watching spiritual men be spiritual men. We need your example. Jordan used to challenge me to remember chapters of the Bibles together. I was impressed if I could remember like Jesus wept. This guy was like, "How about first Timothy 3?" And I'm like, "The whole thing?" He's like, "Yeah, >> we didn't finish for the record." >> No, we didn't. But it was a goal, right? And I think what is so moving now as a mom of three sons is I watch him do that

00:43:28 with our children. Teach them scripture, memorizing prayers of the Lord. Our prayers that our friendship and relationships, our partners can be beacons of light in a really dark world. Because like we've been talking about, it's hard to share the gospel. It's suffering. It causes suffering sometimes. And don't be mistaken, what we're saying is an invitation to suffer. But as hyped as you guys were on singing here and my send me, let's bring that energy to campus. When the music turns off, let's go do it, right? I think

00:44:00 about a time where I was devastated in the ministry. Um, one of my good friends, Nandi. Hey, Nandi. Canvas minister over at Georgia State. We were studying the Bible with this girl and it was just like a breath of fresh air. She was so kind. She was so sweet. It was like you're talking to your best friend. And we were studying, having great conversations, and out of nowhere, she just ghosted us. Like tech wrote the book on ghosting. Like we were like, "What happened to her?" And we felt like we were we had given our heart over and

00:44:30 over and we're like, she we didn't even get a chance to explain like where is she? It could be really tempting in those moments to be like, you know what? This is why I don't do this and completely back out. But a couple months later, Elise was baptized in the campus ministry at Georgia Tech. And it just was a reminder that the person after might be the person you're looking for. I pray your campus ministry days are filled with these moments where the mission has empowered your friendships in your dating relationships to risk it

00:45:01 all for the sake of the sake of the gospel and to see what God does with it. >> Amen. [Music] >> All right, guys. Are we still with us? >> Let's close out here. The last charge I want to give you is to dream with eternity in mind. Last scripture, we'll read it briefly back in Colossians 4. Pray that I'm proclaim it clearly as I should. Be wise and the way you act

00:45:32 towards outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace and seasoned with salt so that you may know how to answer everyone. So Jesus says, man, make the most of every opportunity cuz that opportunity didn't start with you. Paul says it's not Jesus. And why? Because the spirit started moving in that person's heart way before you met them. Their their story doesn't start with you. Their story starts with God.

00:46:04 And he led them to that moment. whether they're sitting next to you in class, you're moving into the same dorm, or you just meet them on campus. And he led you to that moment. He says, "Make the most of that opportunity. Use your words, use your conversation, let it be seasoned with salt." But why? Why should we make the most of our every opportunity because eternity is on the line. >> You know, just the chapter earlier, chapter 3, remember this is the NLT. It says, "Set your sights on the realities of heaven. Think about the things of

00:46:35 heaven, not the things of earth. Paul says, don't dream about things on this earth. Dream about the things of heaven. What do you dream about in your life? Are you dreaming just about things in this life? Are you dreaming about eternity? I want to call us to have our dreams baptized by heaven. Because the only two things on this earth that are eternal are the word of God and human souls.

00:47:06 Every single other dream will pass. But only the dreams for other people knowing Jesus will last. Amen. And God loves partnering with you to do this. I want to call everyone in here to have a kingdom dream. And not just so you can get a cute girl to like you, right? Amen. but because of Jesus. Dream for something beyond yourself. Not because of how big and great you are, but

00:47:36 because of how big and great he is. Because he's big, we can dream big. Because nothing is impossible with God. You know, uh, back in Atlanta when I got baptized in 2009, there was about 30 or 40 of us in the campus ministry. This was actually an ICMC back then. and uh and God moved in powerful ways and about eight nine years later in 2017 2018 there was 240 people in the campus ministry

00:48:06 and it was incredible [Applause] there there was on three major schools there was about 60 at Georgia Tech, 60 at Georgia State and there's 120 disciples at Kennesal State University. And here's the thing, about 85% of those people are not kingdom kids. They were met by living moving into a dorm room, sitting next to each other in class, or just, "Hi, I'm Jordan. What's your name? What do you think about Jesus?" And God

00:48:36 used those awkward moments. Isn't sharing your faith with the stranger awkward? Can we be honest? It's awkward. But God is big enough to use an awkward moment to change someone's eternity. You know, every single one of those people was a story, but there's one in particular that I just want to share. Uh this sister was this this girl was studying the Bible, and um you know, she had this long-term boyfriend that was her high school sweetheart. They had been dating for three or four years, and then there's a point in in the Bible

00:49:06 studies on a Friday, she decided we need to break up that he is hurting my walk with God. So, he had gone to a different college. So he she picks up the phone and calls him and you know he lives a couple hours away and breaks up with him on a Friday because she wanted to get baptized on Sunday. That was Friday. On Saturday she gets a on the on her door and she opens the door and her now ex-boyfriend is on one knee >> and he already had the ring. He was just waiting for the moment >> and he says, "Will you marry me?" And

00:49:38 then she goes something along the lines of, "I can't marry you because I'm marrying someone better tomorrow." And she closes the door. You only God. Only God. When you meet someone and you study the Bible, you're not just trying to get them to join your Christian club. You're trying to get them to help them marry the creator of the universe. >> It's so much bigger. It's so much

00:50:08 better. You know, to close out, I want to do an illustration. >> So, this is a Francis Chain analogy. >> So, imagine that this rope right here is the timeline of your existence and it goes on forever. But this is your time on Earth, this tape. and then the rest of your existence you're spending someplace

00:50:41 else. >> Yeah. >> Now, it's so interesting to me why if that's the case if eternity has been set in the souls of man and we go on and on and on, why do we only dream about this? >> Why do you dream to get a good grade here, to graduate here, to make good money here and get a job here and finally get married here and then maybe you can go on a good vacation here? Why dream? Does that make sense? >> Don't dream for this. Dream for this moment right there.

00:51:14 >> The first time you meet Jesus and >> you get to see him for the very first time. Dream for that. Now it's 2024. I want to call an ICMC reunion right about there in a thousand years. Can we do that? We'll ask Jesus. Jesus will preach, you know, a lot better than this, right? And imagine in a thousand years that it's it's this ICMC plus every single person that you helped me become a Christian and that they helped become

00:51:44 a Christian and they helped become a Christian. And it and in instead of 2,000 people, it's 2 million people. And then at that time, Jesus did a great job. we're worshiping and then afterwards in fellowship you get a tap on your shoulder and you turn around and it's Jesus and he gives you the biggest hug and y'all have hugged like a million times by now but every single one is so special and he says hey I wanted to reintroduce you to someone you knew back on earth and and you look down and he

00:52:14 says this is this person and you look and it's that person that you met in fall 2025 a thousand years ago And you go, "Oh, snap. I haven't seen you. I was a little worried you weren't here. I'm so glad you're here. Where have you been?" And he goes, "And you and you notice this big crowd suddenly behind him." And he goes, "Well, I wanted to get my whole family." And he goes, "This is my, you know, my wife and you know my kids, but that's my grandkids right there. And then that big

00:52:44 group right there is my great grandkids. That that hundred people back there, that's my great great grandkids. And then and then and then that I I forget how many greats, but that's like that that hundreds of people. Everybody waved. And he goes, "Guys, this is the person I've been telling you about. >> We're all here because of how God used him a thousand years ago." And they one by one come and give you a hug. Thank you for meeting my husband.

00:53:14 Thank you for baptizing my dad. Thank you for giving up your time so that my grandpa could become a Christian and give it to me. And that whole time you're just sitting there with hugs and you're just staring at Jesus cuz you know there's no reason why all of them are here. It's not because of you. >> It's because of Jesus. >> For some crazy reason at when you were on campus in fall 2025, he used that awkward moment to change a lineage >> and something that's only palable with

00:53:44 him. But we're never meant to do it alone. Amen. >> Because our two points were we proclaim >> and we proclaim. >> Amen. I love you guys.